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Taken from New Haven Register (Aug 13, 2015)
WimBash Beach Festival benefits West Haven schools music program
by Mark Zaretsky, New Haven Register
Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish, above, the Rockhouse School of Music, Mayor Ed O’Brien and the city put together Sunday’s beach bash. contributed |
WEST HAVEN - In the wake of last winter's successful WimBash Festival at Z's Corner Cafe, Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish and Nova Sound Studios are shooting for something much bigger, better ' and outdoors ' this Sunday down at the Savin Rock shorefront.
This time, for the first-ever WimBash Beach Festival at Old Grove Park, Wimbish will have Living Colour frontman Corey Glover on board for The WimBash All-Star Band, along with Jack White and The RUFF Pack drummer Daru Jones and guitarist Paul Pesco, who has played with Hall & Oates and Madonna, among others.
The festival, a benefit for the West Haven public school music program, is presented in conjunction with the Rockhouse School of Music, Mayor Ed O'Brien and the City of West Haven, organizers said.
It's in the same property where the Savin Rock Festival takes place each year.
The WimBash Beach lineup also features performances by Chemical Z; twin brothers duo The Brady Brothers; Maxx Explosion; Tears Fall Down with special guests Desiree Bassett (of Cirque du Soleil's 'Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour') and Caitlin Kalafus of Kicking Daisies; PLB; JME Strchld; Angela Luna; Klokwize; and more.
Oli Herbert of All That Remains, Berklee College of Music sophomore guitarist Kyle Ward, John McCarthy of Rockhouse School of Music and Chemical Z, vocalist Heather Joseph of Chemical Z and locally-based touring guitarist Rohn Lawrence will be among the special guests performing with the WimBash All-Star Band.
DJ Markie Gee will be spinning tunes in between the live acts. Fest hours are 4-9 p.m.
The WimBash Festival also will feature about 10 food trucks and ' for the first time since the Savin Rock amusement park closed some four decades ago ' a beer garden down at the shore, said John Ziada of Z's, who worked with the organizers to help make the festival happen.
'It's going to be a nice party,' said Ziada, adding that '100 percent' of the proceeds will go to West Haven public schools music programs.
The initial February WimBash 'was sort of a testing the waters sort of thing,' with Wimbish, who lives in Hartford, essentially coming down on his own, said McCarthy, who has organized past WimBash events in other places.
This one will be 'a great array of all types of music, all put together as one,' he said. But it will follow the pattern of past WimBash events for which organizers 'generally form these unorthodox projects ' people who don't usually play together,' McCarthy said.
Wimbish said by phone that the WimBash events began at Sully's Pub in Hartford just as a way to welcome back one of his mentors, Skip McDonald, and bring people together, including bringing the kind of 'weekend warrior' musicians Wimbish grew up playing with together with people like him who do it for a living.
'We're all family, man,' Wimbish said. 'We share a lot of the same clubs, we're driving the same highways. What I always wanted to do was keep the fun and the family vibe in the music.
'My first heroes were in local bands,' Wimbish said. 'I remember who helped me and how hard it was.'
The event will benefit school music programs because 'the funding for all the arts and stuff is just going by the wayside,' Wimbish said. 'We're just trying to keep kids motivated.'
Admission is free and the event is all-ages. There will be raffles, T-shirts for sale and other opportunities to give. Donations of gently used or unwanted musical instruments will be accepted.
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