The prequel to the first annual Monongahela Pop Festival, set for Oct. 3 and 4 at the Government Center, is a feel-good story.
It starts with a book: earlier this year, founder/organizer Mike Shanley read “Weighted Down,” a biography of guitarist Skip Spence, whose band, Moby Grape, played the fabled Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
Soon after, Shanley, bassist for the Harry Von Zells, a local band, started to plan the Von Zells’ annual show to celebrate his October birthday. He also invited Benefits, another local band with a sound Shanley calls “orchestrated pop,” to play.
Then Greg Hoy, a former Pittsburgh musician now living in Colorado, sent Shanley his latest release, “Hit Music.”
“I heard that album and thought, ‘We have to play a show together,’” Shanley said. Maybe Hoy would like to join them in October?
Then, like any good impresario, Shanley started to think big: Would Ed Masley of the Frampton Brothers, one of the biggest local bands of the late ‘80s and ‘90s, want to reunite the original Framptons lineup for what was morphing into more than a birthday party? Masley, a former Post-Gazette pop music critic, left town in 2007 to work for the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Former bandmates live in Baltimore, Arizona and California. Shanley knew it was a big ask, but he asked anyway.
Everyone said yes. And Shanley realized he had the makings of a pop festival.
Why pop and not rock?
“Pop music covers a wide range of stuff but to me, at its core are hooks – things that grab your ear and feel catchy,” Shanley said. “ The Framptons are definitely poppy. I used to call the Harry Von Zells ‘noisy pop.’
“Everyone else is pretty catchy too, especially Greg Hoy,” Shanley added.
Masley’s excited to return with the Framptons’ original lineup (Sean Lally, Dave Vendervoort and Doug Blain aka Some Guy Doug), who haven’t performed together since 1991. The last Framptons iteration, featuring Masley, Lally, Ray Vasko and Bob Hoag, will play part of a set too. That’s a lot of Framptons.
“It truly is a stupid band name, but they were like brothers to me,” Masley said. “The Frampton Brothers were a huge part of my life for many years. I miss making music with my friends.” There’s even talk of a reunion album, he added.
With all that talent, Shanley was able to expand to a two-day event, stacking the lineup with local favorites, including the psychedelic-pop The Garment District (including NEXT’s own Jennifer Baron), the Denalis (featuring former members of the Mt. McKinleys, Steel Miners and Full Counts) and Pink Gin Marimbas, who join Greg Hoy and the Boys on Friday, Oct. 3. The next evening, Bat Radar is on the bill, along with the Framptons, Harry Von Zells and Benefits.
“It’s going to be a celebration of friends,” Shanley said.
Tickets are $20 per evening, or $35 for both nights. In addition to the Government Center bar, the Kinder Being Cafe will be open for coffee and snacks in celebration of its first birthday. “It’s a double party,” Shanley said.
Geography nerds might quibble that the Government Center is near the banks of the Allegheny, not Monongahela River. But it’s a six-minute drive from shore to shore, Monongahela Pop sounds much better, and it’s more reminiscent of that first pop festival, the one Shanley read about with Moby Grape (and Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, the Who, etc.) that started the ball rolling.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source nextpittsburgh.com ’
