Forgive your friendly neighborhood Nightcrawler if he has opted to embargo some of this month's breaking news until this April foolery thing shakes out.
In addition to notoriously enormous egos and hearts, the musical community at large is famous for oversized funny bones. And as it was time to flip from a sweat-soaked Kevin Youkillis to a dirt-stained Kevin Lowell on his official 2008 Red Sox World Champion calendar, the emails of supposed band shake-ups, break-ups and opening slots for Led Zeppelin reunions came pouring once again this April Fool's Day.
Luckily, the bogus items are often as easy to spot as the countless offers from Nigerian princes and members of the Sudanese consulate who need my assistance in transferring untold millions. In fact, the Crawler wouldn't be surprised if a preference button for automatically sorting such material into a "joke" folder is available by the time he has to go out and purchase his 2009 BoSox World Series calendar for next year.
That said, any skepticism concerning the steady of stream of national acts announced for this year's Green River Festival at its April 1 press conference was probably unwarranted. Readying for this, its 22nd annual run, Green River has certainly established itself as a major fixture on the Valley's festival landscape.
As organizer Jim Olsen explained in a follow-up, however, even enviable entities like the Green River Festival are not immune to the prospect of losing a headliner to another camp.
"In this case, John Mellencamp," he says. Olsen explains that Lucinda Williams, a musician he's wanted to book for years and finally secured this January, was offered a national opening slot for the pop-rock purveyor of "Pink Houses."
"We thought she would cancel, but instead, she's driving all night from Detroit to honor her commitment to Green River, and we're honored!"
Other '08 acts on Olsen's honor roll of scheduled performers include soul/gospel legend Mavis Staples, Texas blues great Jimmy Vaughan and masked instrumental faves Los Straitjackets.
To get a full list of entertainment, and to obtain deeply discounted "early bird" tickets, kindly point your browser to www.greenriverfestival.com.
In other news… while Olsen and company's multi-day offering will not kick off until July, Tonye Barrineau checked in to report that his Spinning Monkey Music & Arts Festival is decidedly more current (it occurs this weekend, April 18-20) than Green River, but it's similarly star-studded.
"I've been working on this since August, and this is easily the biggest venture we've undertaken thus far," the mastermind of BlasterMonkey Entertainment says. "Now that it's just around the corner, I can't wait to see how an event of this magnitude affects the way our scene operates and reacts together."
Aping the likes of Warped and Lollapalooza, the Spinning Monkey Music & Arts Festival will feature dozens of acts, including national notables Local H and Autumn to Ashes and local heroes The Fear Nuttin' Band on multiple stages in an outdoor setting—in this instance, the fields of The Crossroads on Rt. 20 in Palmer—along with a veritable potpourri of cultural offerings including, but not limited to, an art gallery, live comedy and a beer garden. Tickets range from $25-$75. For more info, visit www.themonkeysoven.com or call 800-514-ETIX.
Lastly, they may hail from New York and tour internationally, but whimsical folk rockers Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus of Dreams claim a special affinity for Paradise City.
"For a time, our bookings were through a Northampton company that also books The Nields, so we played the area a lot and found it to be a true cultural center with serious music fans," explains singer/songwriter Joziah Longo.
Look for Longo and the Circus this Saturday, April 19, when they'll perform a CD Release concert at Noho's Unitarian Society at 7:30 p.m.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
