Free
music for the People, by the People:
Rosendale
Street Festival
by M.R.Smithby M.R.Smith
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With
only 70 dollars and 3 months to pull it off, they managed to cobble
together what ended up being the largest New York state music festival
of 1995. That spirit has continued on a yearly basis up to the present,
thanks in large part to the recent efforts of Jack Walsh, Charlie
Knicely, and Mark Bernard, as well as many Rosendale die-hards.
And
it is amazing to see it in action. A squad of volunteer in golf
carts careen along a maze of pathways that run parallel to Main
Street, Rosendale, where most of the action is. With Main Street
blocked off, this is the only way to get musicians and equipment
to the stages. The volunteers, mostly Rosendale residents, maintain
a genuine cheerfulness one doesn’t get from your average festival
security staff, even when it rains, as it did at last year’s
festival. A genial atmosphere revolves around the stages, with musicians
and artists catching up—no sequestered star-door dressing
rooms here. Much of the stage equipment is donated, as are the food
and beer tickets distributed to the performers. It’s a fun,
if somewhat loud, time in a great little town, unsullied by commercialism
and showbiz taint.
You are not going to find the really big bands at the Rosedale Street
Festival; it’s just not THAT kind of festival. But that doesn’t
mean there can’t be a wide variety of excellent music available,
a majority of which is being performed by your very talented friends
and neighbors, from right here in the Hudson Valley.
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