Astoria Music Now
Astoria Arts & Music Hosts 7th Annual Astoria Musical Festival
September 16, 2015 / Astoria Neighborhood / Live Music Queens / Queens Buzz.
On Saturday, August 29th I headed over to Astoria Park to attend the 7th Annual Astoria Music Now music festival. It was a near perfect day with the temperatures in the 80's, plenty of sun and not too much humidity.
There were three stages on the Great Lawn - one at the top of the hill, a second one near the foot of one of the towers of Hell Gate Bridge and the third along the East River along the western perimter of the Great Lawn. In this manner one could choose from three performances, and once chosen, listen out of earshot of the other two stages.
Before I settled in to listen to the music I decided to take a walk along the waterfront there were a number of art galleries / exhibits in tents lining the waterfront.
Click here to read the rest of the story, view photos and a video of Astoria Music Now.
Astoria Music Now
Astoria Arts & Music Hosts 7th Annual Astoria Musical Festival
September 16, 2015 / Astoria Neighborhood / Live Music Queens / Queens Buzz. Continued.
Art Galleries / Exhibits At Astoria Music Now
I met and spoke with Blonde Jenny, who is an Asian artist who is married to an American. She tells us that following her marriage she felt more comfortable probing the American landscape artistically and she inserts her alter ego - Blonde Jenny in her photos and artworks. Her work is a mix of real, fantasy and playfulness and - as you can see in the photo - she was sporting green, not blonde hair. She has a website at www.blondjenny.com.
Sharing the tent with her, was fellow artist Linda Kleinbub, who is a writer, photographer and artist. The work she had on exhibit during the festival was a series of colorful, modern abstract paintings. You can find her at https://plus.google.com/+LindaKleinbub.
And of course, this month and year it was the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, which wasn't lost on a few of us - even though it seems like not much was made of it by the mega media. Perhaps that's because the large media is now run by corporate drones who probably don't know much about it. Anyhow, this artist had a work on exhibit entitled Love Kills, which I found of great interest. Love Kills is a tune by the Ramones, the Queens 70's punk rock group, and there was someting about the work that I found captivating. The artist's name is Drea and she can be found at twitter.com/faeiregrrl.
Astoria Music Now Concert Stages
I made my way over to the stage at the top of the Great Lawn. Jack Spann & his band were playing a mix of folk and country for the folks up yonder. He had put together a number of new tunes which they performed during their half hour gig. You can find and listen to some of Jack Spann's tunes at http://jackspann.com.
I then headed down to the stage at the foot of the Hell Gate Bridge. There was a Karaoke Show going on which I passed on given there were some gigs on the Main Stage that I wanted to see.
GIFTSHOP - NYC Rock Group at Astoria Music Now
The GIFTSHOP was up when I arrived, led by vocalist Meghan. She was accompanied by Matt on guitar, Damian on bass and Brian on drums. I can tell you they were good, but you can view and listen to them for yourself on the video below. After the show, Meghan told me they've been playing together for eight years and they perform all over metro New York City and periodically beyond.
Meghan and the GIFTSHOP may be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/giftshopnyc.
James Call & The Missing Teens Found at Astoria Music Now
The last performance I stayed for was by the Missing Teens. Happily they weren't missing this afternoon. The band is led by James Call, whose group has a rhythmic rock beat that makes for great dance music. But 
again, see for yourself on the video below. The group includes: Dan Gottesman on drums & DJ, Pu Yi on keyboard and guitar, Dave Tirolo and James Pertusi on bass guitar, David Schnug on saxophone, Spencer Chakedis on electric guitar and mandolin, Brer Brian on trumpet, Adrienne Efficiency on triangle.
An interesting footnote to the group is that James father wrote the hit single, 867_5309.
James Call & The Missing Teens may be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheMissingTeens.
Justin Finley Founder of Astoria Arts & Music & Astoria Music Now
And of course it's worth mentioning that this is the 7th annual Astoria Music Now music festival. The festival is organized by Astoria Arts & Music, a non-profit founded by Justin Finley of Astoria Queens [click here for earlier report on Astoria Music Now 2009 - and in 2010 Queens Rock Concerts and there are other prior reports on the site - just do a search]. Justin may be found at the Astoria Music & Arts website http://www.astoriamusicandarts.org.
In the photo above is Justin and Barbara Ann Wislosky in between things on Saturday afternoon, August 29th, 2015.
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