The New York edition of the
Green Apple Music & Arts festival boasted marquee acts from three very
different genres: Wetlands alumnus-turned-pop-icon Dave Matthews, onetime struggling
grassroots harmonica player and
current American Idol star Taylor Hicks, and reigning kids champ Laurie Berkner.
The latter show took place in Central Park and drew a capacity crowd of 15,000 fans.
After Berkner’s performance, the Baby Loves Disco party spun tot tunes for
those in attendance. For his part, Matthews played to a capacity crowd at Radio City
Music Hall with longtime
side guitarist Tim Reynolds and
previewed his new song “Corn Bread” (which will likely be featured on the
forthcoming Dave Matthews Band album). In
a rare move, Matthews showed off his piano chops on the long-shelved Stand Up number “Out of My Hands.”
“[Green Apple] is something I wanted to do,” Hicks tells. “When I heard about this I hopped onboard. I think it makes
sense. I think signs [of global warming] are out there. I think the climate is changing,
personally. It’s interesting. But living in Alabama and dealing hurricanes, you’re
definitely aware of it. On the bus, we keep our plastics together. We try to
recycle on the bus as much as possible.”
In addition to Berkner’s Central Park show, a number of
other free performances took place outside New York’s Grand Central Terminal. Friday featured spots by Gandalf Murphy,
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Ozomatli, and Jon Anderson, who led The Paul Green School of Rock through a set of Yes
covers. Saturday featured performances by Zero, State Radio, and Assembly of
Dust. Both shows also featured a green vending village, which helped spread Green
Apple’s Earth Day message.
Throughout the
weekend Green Apple helped curate over 20 other shows throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the neighboring town of Teaneck,
NJ. The weekend’s lineup appealed to
a number of different music demographics, including singer/songwriter fans
(Edwin McCain, Mason Jennings), roots-music
aficionados (Junior Brown, John Mayall), indie rockers (Jesse Malin, Jonny
Lives) and jamband fans (RAQ, Particle). Particle headlined the Bowery Ballroom
on Friday and brought along special guest opener, Jerry Joseph. The guitarist joined Particle twice during its set,
lending his considerable guitar skills to both “Six Long Weeks” and “Silver Lining.” RAQ brought along a well-known support act, Jon
Fishman, who performed with the offensive comedy-rock group Touchpants.
In the bluegrass corner, Hot Buttered
Rum played Rebel and invited ukulele ace and fellow Green Apple performer Jake
Shimabukuro out for “Sweet Honey Fountain,” “3.2,” “Return Some Day” and “Guns
Or Butter.” Popular Phish cover band Phix played late night Saturday at BB King
Blues club, where guitarist Paul Murin was seen sporting a Relix shirt onstage.
A night later, the cover band ran through a complete version of Phish’s lauded
Gamehendge rock opera at Philadelphia’s
Grape Street.
A number of children’s performances also took place throughout the city,
including an appearance by Tom
Chapin at Symphony Space, a set by the Funk Monkeys at Mailor, and a pool set
by Life Aquatic at the 14th
St. Y.
New York’s
Green Apple festivities closed with a reunion performance by seminal jazz/jamband
Fat Mama at the Knitting Factory. Not only did Fat Mama frequently perform at
Green Apple founder Pete Shapiro’s former club Wetlands, but the group took
home the New Groove award at the inaugural Jammys. Though
the Boulder-bred group last performed in 2000, members of the septet remain
busy: drummer Joe Russo is one-half of the Benevento/Russo Duo, guitarist
Jonathan Goldberger scores films, vibes player Kevin Kendricks divided his time between A Big Yes…and a small no,
American Babies, and Electron, and keyboardist Erik Deutsch plays in the
Charlie Hunter Trio. For this
performance, however, the group focused on Fat Mama standards, which cast the
group in a decidedly jazzy context. The
group also ran through a new composition, “Simple Song” and brought out
occasional Boulder
collaborator Sonya Vallet (who appears on the group’s 1999 release
Loadstar. For more information please visit www.greenapplefestival.com
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