Since its inception, Greenfield’s Green River Festival (taking place July 20-21 this year) has amassed music lineups with enough nationally known names to make sister celebrations, well, green with envy.
While entertainment scheduler Jim Olsen believes that this will once again be the case for the 2013 installment (citing participants The Bernie Worrell Orchestra, The Ryan Montbleau Band, Brandi Carlile and more as prime examples), he is quick to note that this year’s Fest will also be featuring some distinctly local flavor.
“New for this year, we have The River’s Local Hero stage, where 13 Valley bands will have the chance to play for the festival voted the best by Valley Advocate readers for the past 11 years,” explains Olsen, best known for his work with Signature Sounds studios.
Among the homegrown talent that will adorn the new performance space this year are Who’da Funk It, Boxcar Lillies, Spanish For Hitchiking and Rusty Belle, to name a choice few.
Advance tickets for the festival are $65 per day (rising to $75 after July 19) and available at greenriverfestival.com.
The event happens rain or shine and and gates open at noon daily. No dogs, tents or alcohol are allowed on site.
For those who can’t wait until July 20 for some Signature sounds, you don’t have to. Olsen and his accomplices in superb audio are presenting a Green River Festival Kick-Off Party at the Shea Theatre in Turners Falls on Friday, July 19. NYC indie icons Rubblebucket headline the evening. The Valley’s own And the Kids gets the opening nod.
Tix are $22.50 in advance and available at signaturesounds.com.
In other news, hometown hero Aaron Lewis is utilizing the occasion of the release of his new video, “Granddaddy’s Gun,” to catapult two lucky winners onto the “The Simple Man Cruise.” Hosted annually by Lynyrd Skynyrd and featuring Los Lonely Boys, Molly Hatchet and more in addition to Lewis this year, the excursion departs Miami on Oct. 20 and returns to port Oct. 24 after visiting Key West and Great Stirrup Cay.
In addition to roundtrip airfare and a cabin for two on the Norwegian Pearl, the contest winner and guest will get to know Lewis… even challenge him to a game or two of bowling on the ship’s alleys.
To register for your chance to win, set a course for sweepstakes.cmt.com.
Last up, a concert and cause that, the Crawler can honestly say, appears to be one of the most compelling cases he has come across in his nearly two-decade career slithering around the regional music landscape. It’s fairly common knowledge at this point that New England lost one of its favorite frontmen when Grayson Minney of Connecticut’s Columbia Fields died in a car accident May 11 of this year. In fact, it was mentioned in a previous installment of this column.
Considerably less well known was the fact that Grayson’s mother Ava was also injured in a prior auto accident—and the resulting injuries were so severe that his father Fred had no choice but to take time off from work and take care of her.
The Minney home is now officially up for foreclosure, but friends and family say that they refuse to let that process play out to its conclusion.
As a way of ensuring that the actual sale never comes to fruition, they have set up a multi-band benefit starting at 11 a.m. at the Four Town Fair in Somers on Saturday, July 20. Dubbed “Hug More Love More” after Fred’s mantra since his son’s passing, the all-day benefit is slated to feature scene stalwarts Kick, Addison Station, an Article 19 reunion and Columbia Fields featuring Nick Santostefano, to name a choice few. For more acts and info, kindly point your browser to hugmorelovemore.com.•
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email garycarra@aol.com.
