Like all parents, Ed Balon admits he is no stranger to receiving the dreaded “look.”
That’s when a pie-eyed child stares up with equal parts understanding and sorrow before offering a meager “goodbye” to a work-bound mommy or daddy.
For the better part of the last decade, Balon’s business primarily consisted of pounding the skins for one of the area’s premiere cover outfits, Kaya. Thanks to their ability to tackle a multitude of genres and break off into cosmic jams at a moment’s notice, business was good for Balon and bandmates Justin Calcasola, Jay Chung and Jeff King back in the day.
Though they have since gone their separate ways (Calcasola now croons for Radio Ranch, and Chung hooked up with regional ska-core heroes Fear Nuttin’ Band), Balon says that a “sonic circle of life” has spurred the fabled Western Mass. party band to get together one more time.
“It’s my daughter Amanda’s 21st birthday,” he says of the Feb. 27 reunion show slated for Joanna’s Cafe in Somers, Conn. “And it just seemed so appropriate to throw a bash using the band that took lots of time away from her when she was a kid.”
Balon and King’s current project The Kings is slated to kick off the historic evening. Doors open at 8 p.m.
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Meanwhile, many are the bands with no loftier plan than alternately catching up on lost sleep and Tivo’d programs after a prolonged period away from home. As Canadian urban roots rockers Po’ Girl wrap up their current “No Shame Tour,” however, lead vocalist Allison Russell has announced that she intends to hit the road solo for at least one more day in support of a cause she has firsthand experience with.
“Whatever I can do to prevent what happened to me from happening to others, that’s what I have to do,” Russell says of her decision to run the Athens, Ohio marathon in an effort to raise funds for and awareness of child abuse. “It is my responsibility as a survivor. Not everyone is so lucky.”
All donations from Russell’s run, as well as partial proceeds from all merchandise sold at Po’ Girl’s March 1 Iron Horse engagement, will benefit the National Children’s Alliance.
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In other assorted acts of altruistic audio, another local benefit concert for Haiti has been scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 27 at Greenfield High School. This event is sponsored by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Greenfield and will feature The Kevin Sharpe Group, Jim Armenti (of Lonesome Brothers fame), The Smokin’ Hip-Os, the Greenfield Middle School African Drummers and more. Free-will donations will be accepted at the door, with all proceeds benefiting American Red Cross Haiti Relief.
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Incidentally, organizers of a similar act of musical magnanimity that occurred earlier this month in Shelburne Falls are reporting that their Help For Haiti benefit raised $17,000 for Partners In Health. That show featured a host of Signature Sounds notables including Eilen Jewell, Kris Delmhorst and Rani Arbo.
This Saturday, Feb. 27, fellow Signature labelmates Joy Kills Sorrow celebrate the release of their latest studio effort, Darkness Sure Becomes This City, at the Iron Horse. Tix for that show are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door and available online at iheg.com.
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Lastly, the clocks at the Holiday Inn in Holyoke will stop at 5 p.m. this weekend, Feb. 26-28, as the 15th annual New England Parrot Head Convention (wmphc.com) checks in for four days of Jimmy jams—courtesy of premier Buffett tributes Changes In Latitudes, Rum Runner and Calypso Nuts—sprinkled with cheeseburger buffets, a masquerade ball and a slew of other adult beverage-oriented activities. But don’t let all the leis and floral print shirts fool you, either. While these Parrotheads know how to have fun, they are also about raising funds for worthy causes. No less than the Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, Locks of Love, the Springfield Emergency Food Pantry and the Springfield Ronald McDonald House will benefit from this weekend’s Buffett bash.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or e-mail Garycarra@aol.com.
