It takes an awful lot of love - not to mention care and preparation - to put together one show around the Holidays to raise blankets and public awareness for the homeless.
Try doing it for 19 years.
"When we started doing this we weren't thinking that far ahead", states Blank-Fest founder and MC, Kenn Rowell. "At the time, we were just trying to get all the acts together - and the sound man insisted on charging me, even though I didn't have a job at the time. I had to borrow $75.00 just to put on the first show. We weren't thinking of 20 years from then, or even ONE year from then. We were thinking that we'd be lucky if we could just pull off THAT one!"
Over the years, the annual Benefit (which collects blankets at the door as a price of admission) has gone on to garner over 15,000 total donations between the original Blank-Fest (which still happens in the same New York City suburb of Nyack, NY - where it began in 1997) and the various satellite shows which have taken place in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia, Canada and the UK. For the NY "flagship" show, these blankets are handed out by volunteers - no middle-men involved - to the less fortunate on the streets of Manhattan and the other NYC boroughs, starting on Christmas Eve.
This year's show is scheduled for Sunday, December 20 at Nyack's Hudson House (134 Main Street - Phone: 845-353-1355), featuring upwards to 20 acts of local, NYC-based, indie and major label pedigrees. Past acts have included pedal steel guitar legend Buddy Cage (who appeared with pioneering radio great Meg Griffin's band, Train Wreck), Canadian Idol finalist Mookie Morris, and reknown guitarist Marc Rizzo from metal mainstays Soulfly and Ill Niño. "Mookie was just some 18 year old kid with a boatload of talent who appeared at the first Canadian Blank-Fest up in Guelph", remembers Rowell. "He kept asking me about the New York show and how he could be a part of it. He actually got on a bus with his brother, came to NY, paid for a cab to drive him up from the City, played his set and then left. Said he had to get home by the next morning because he had college finals to take. I thought he was nuts - but I really appreciated his enthusiasm and dedication to the cause. A few months later, someone sent me an email with a link for some Canadian Idol promotional stuff and there was Mookie's name and pic, front and center. He was all over national radio and TV. I was floored! This guy had a lot more going on than he originally let on; the fact that he wanted to be a part of our Benefit flatters me, still!"
On Buddy Cage: "Buddy was part of Meg Griffin's band. Just having Meg, who I grew up hearing on WNEW as a kid, was incredible enough. The fact that she brought this star to be a part of the show, man, I still can't get over that! I remember he got there while the club was still empty and he asks me if there was a place where he could get something to eat. I told him 'Buddy, you're a legend - you don't have to ask'.........I arranged for him to eat, on the house. How the Hell could you charge Buddy Cage after he volunteers to raise blankets for the homeless?".
Not just an organizer and the Master of Ceremonies, Rowell also fronts an indie band of his own, The Baghdaddios - an old school Lower East Side punk outfit that have been recording and touring for over 20 years. They'll be closing out the Noon-to-Midnight show with a pleasant mixture of originals and punked-out seasonal classics.
This year's returning greats include EMI alumna Patti Rothberg, former Misfits and front man for The Undead, Bobby Steele and ReW and Who talk show host ReW Starr. All have become traditions at the event.
"I've known Patti for over 20 years. I can still remember watching her on the Tonight Show, MTV and Letterman and marveling that this was the same girl-next-door that I met at CBGB. Then to think to today and how many times she's selflessly contributed to a majority of our shows - she played our second year show in 1998 and with rare exception has made nearly every one since - I'm still in awe."
"Bobby is just a sweetheart. He loves playing the standards as a solo artist and then switches gears and brings the band up on stage to rock the house. The only year we've had the show broadcast live, in it's entirety (2007) was Bobby's first show and when he went live it temporarily knocked the station off the 'net, we had so may people logging in to catch him!"
"With ReW we've known each other since she was part of the "Mother's Who Rock" concert series at the old Cutting Room back around '02. Her band features Television drummer Billy Ficca and she's had her stuff all over the Oxygen Network. When she started broadcasting she had a nice cult following that grew to the point where the NY Times online edition was featuring her show and she was taking it on the road to England and the West Coast. Needless to say, we're always grateful that she can take time away from her schedule to be a part of the fun!"
One of the newer acts added for this year is Rowell's long-time life-partner, celebrated L.E.S. bilingual poet Yvonnne Sotomayor. Sotomayor's latest poetry video ("Think 'music video' for spoken word, man!") for her published piece "Shrunken" was added, earlier this year, to the punk rock-driven BlankTV television, internet broadcast and YouTube channel's lineup. But the grass roots impressario bristles at any mention of favoritism when the subject is broached. "Seriously, I'm a little hyper-sensitive to that kind of critiscism. That's why I schedule The Baghdaddios for dead last - the earlier time slots are plum spots as far as playing for a packed house is concerned. In year's past we've played for 3 or 4 people at the very end of the night - and I'm more than happy with that, so long as we're involved. With Yvonne, we actually didn't include her for the first 3 years we were together because we didn't want anyone to say "Oh, there he goes, including 'the wife'. But over time, it just got too obvious to ignore. There's no way she would have been included this year if I didn't think her poetry was slammin' or if I thought it wasn't relevant to the spirit of the show. Her writings have found exposure in multiple countries and she's performed where Ginsburg used to do readings. She probably belongs on that stage more than I do!" True, her aptly named "Blank-Fest Poem" appears as a call to arms on the Blank-Fest official website.
Other returning acts include Lower East Side singer-songwriter Kama Linden, Hudson Valley regulars Johnny & The Alimonies, touring reggae masters Wadada and The Midnight Blackouts (featuring members from Warped Tour veterans Reflective Insight). Rounding out the lineup are Blank-Fest co-founders Joe D'Durso & Stone Caravan, Red Schoolhouse Records label mate Tim O'Donohue, NYC's eclectic rockers, Count of Nine and 2nd-year returnees River Acoustic Band. Sources report that Beki Brindle (Blues Hall of Fame) has not yet confirmed, but Rowell hopes that she returns for a second year.
"Beki actually has a show scheduled for later that night in Woodstock but she's trying to find a way of appearing at both venues. That's the way it usually goes with Blank-Fest shows: up until the very last minute we're adding acts, squeezing in another great band or songwriter - we always find a way of making it happen. That's sort of a microcosm of the whole series, in general!"
In a nod toward that epic, aforementioned show that was live-broadcast, as well as a dear, departed friend, this year's Blank-Fest show will be dedicated to the memory of Tommy Durkin (1970 - 2015), the late internet radio personality and originator of "Tommy Dee's Nutz", who brought the show to a world-wide audience, nearly a decade ago.
For more information, contact Kenn Rowell at SurfVietnam@Hotmail.com or visit www.blankfest.org.
http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/g3cvmeh2kv/Christmas_At_CBGBs.mp3
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=188095
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