Hello everyone.
Hope you are all ready to celebrate the 237th birthday of these
United States. Hanover got the party started a little early with the trifecta
of celebrations: the 250th anniversary
of the founding of Hanover, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of
Hanover, and last but most important, the 25th anniversary of my
arrival in Hanover. So what better way to celebrate such a momentous and scene
changing event than with music all day long at the third annual Music in the
Park at lovely Wirt Park in downtown Hanover.
Flying the flag. This is a show after all.
First and foremost,
many thanks to Josh Perkins and Eyedeal Productions. He does all the heavy
lifting with the Borough Council and lines up the musicians. The Council isn’t
all that keen on cool people putting on music and said people having a lot of
fun. They removed the port potties from the Park and only the intervention of
Tommy Hufnagle got them returned. So if you went to the bathroom, please thank
the Circle.
I also have to
give a shout out to Mother Nature. The weather was absolutely perfect. No, it
was beyond perfect. Temps in the low 80’s with no humidity. The whole preceding
week had been muggy and very unsettled. Friday afternoon was nothing but monsoon
showers. The sky was so dark I had to turn my lights on at 2:30 to read a
magazine. But Saturday was impeccable day. And what a line up Josh pulled
together. First up Hanover’s own Boxcar Social
Moonshine Revival, Push > Which Way
It Is > Push, The Greatest Day, Unrest > 43 > Symptoms, I've Just Seen
A Face, Frannie Mae, Secret Of The Tree, Pete, One More Time, River Road
They were scheduled to do an acoustic set at the Park and then a full
electric set in the Square after the 3 Pixies. But once again, musicians are
denied by the Man. The Borough Council has a lot of old Hanover uptight people
and they felt Boxcar would cause the moral fiber of the youth to be weakened.
So the band gave their all to a nice and tight set in the park. You could even
hear the mandolin in the mix due to the top notch skills of Hanover area’s own
sound genius, Slade. The set highlighted
the strength of their originals as they played only one cover.
Nick Miller was next and did his one man band thing. He appeared at the
Circle later that night with the amazing vocalist Gabe Green. Jason Weinburg then did his solo acoustic
thing until he was joined by the former members of Redwud for a new band called
the Hidden Step Project. It was only their second gig and they were really good.
It was mostly originals so I didn’t know the names but they are definitely a
band keep an eye out for. And here is a link for their first show
The Violet Hour, featuring Brittni Rupp and the incredibly slimmed down Eric
Costello, did their thing for a while and I was blown away by Brittni’s voice.
What a set of pipes! Eric also hosts Open Mic night every Monday at the Circle
so some on out and ask him the secret of his weight loss.
After them it was Dead Man’s Boots out of Gettysburg. This was also
their second ever gig and they kicked ass. While they have a mandolin and an
upright double bass, Boots plays a lot more than just bluegrass. The highlight
for me was the Dear Mr. Fantasy>Hey Jude Finale>I Know You Rider. If that
doesn’t put a smile on your face than I don’t know what will.
And to close it all out, who else but Hanover’s own Winter House Band.
Andy Miller skipped all pregame shenanigans because he said “I have to keep on
point. And we have a lot of surprises for you”. See folks, you live in a place
for a while, be a positive part of the community and you too will get your own
personal Grateful Dead band.
I didn’t write down the setlist but here’s what went down. They opened
up with Scarlet>Fire. Debut for them and the nailed it. Here Comes Sunshine
is another perfect outdoor song. Brown
Eyed Women was another standout. My favorite song of the show was Under My
Thumb by the Stones. Andy shares my love for the good old days of the Stones (I.e.
not now). The boys absolutely killed it. My favorite moment of the whole day
was during Eyes of the World. The sun was setting and all of my friends were
dancing in the Park to one of the most beautiful tunes Robert Hunter ever
penned. And Hanover doesn’t have an open container policy, so the refreshments
were flowing.
The unofficial after party was at Cliff and Sandy’s. He had so much food
it was nuts. I got there and he had the Rebirth Jazz Band and Kermit Ruffins
playing. Party Time! He had crabs, pulled pork, and a killer buffalo chicken
cheese dip. I made it until midnight but those damn cigs I keep bumming from people
wiped me out. I called it a night to get an early crack at this. Todd Robinson,
who taped the Boxcar show at Nate and Christie’s wedding, taped the whole
concert and I’ll post that link when it’s up.
Everyone have a safe Fourth and I’ll see you all down at Merriweather on
July 13th and 14th for my continuing 25th
anniversary celebration. Oh and I think Phish is playing as well.
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll
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