Jammin’ For The Animals II, 7/30-31 @ Blue Falls Grove

The Reading festival season is alive and kicking again with the second annual Jammin’ For The Animals Festival, an event benefiting the Humane Society of Berks County in memory of festival organizer’s brother, Bobby Jones, being held at Blue Falls Grove in Ontelaunee Township.

The second year also brings the addition of a second night of live music, with the festivities to begin on Friday evening (7/30) with two very solid bands, and did we mention, a Grammy Award wnner to fill in the gaps (and from what the rumor is, to sit in with BOTH bands to make the first evening, an epic night of improvisational jams and dueling solos).

The camping music & arts festival returns to Blue Falls Grove, a family fun picnic & camping site for over 26 years, complete with an Olympic size swimming pool (additional discounted cost), fishing (license required), over one mile of creek front, volleyball, basketball, hiking, and horseshoes.  It is adjacent to 3,000 acres of watershed and a 1,000 acre lake for fishing and it has become famous recently as the site of the “birthday party episode” of  the “John & Kate Plus 8” reality television series.

Gates will open at 5pm on Friday, July 30th with Grateful Dead tribute band, the Good Lovin’ Jamband kicking off the music at 6:30pm.  Grammy-winning guitarist David Cullen, a Berks County native, will be providing the “tweener” set before premier Pennsylvania bluegrass band Cabinet hits the stage to headline the first evening at 8:30pm.  There will also be an acoustic campfire jam with the members of Cabinet immediately following their set on the main stage.

Gates will re-open at noon on Saturday, July 31st with events for children and adults of all ages.  Scheduled events are juggling & hula hooping workshops, tie-dying & pottery workshops, piercing & tattooing seminars, glassblowing, fire performances, live painting in the art village, disc golf, Chinese auction, raffles, as well as dozens of kids activities in their own pavilion.  This is all happening while non-stop premier live music is going on from 1pm until 10:30pm with artists including Mike Miz, Flux Capacitor, Fellswoop, George Crow & Cody Chelius, Dakini, Estaban & Friends, and headlining the event is breakout gospel, funk, organic groove jamband, Natural Breakdown.

In only its second year, the Jammin’ For The Animals festival is leading the way in captivating the small, hassle-free festival scene with the caliber of music one would normally see at a larger festival.  Combine the top notch music with workshops, kids events, raffles, and a variety of vendors of all kinds with proceeds benefitting a great cause in the Humane Society of Berks County, and what you get is a great festival with a great vibe – something +VIBES is proud to be a part of.   

PlusVibes Productions will be providing the light show for the festival, as well as greeting you at the front gate and patrolling the grounds as the VIBES PATROL.  Our good friends at Scarlet Sound will be providing the crisp sound.

This event is an ALL-AGES, rain or shine, family-friendly (please be kind to the people AND the environment) event.    Friendly pets are also welcomed (leashed only).

A limited number of advance tickets are available for $30 for the weekend through CHRIS at PlusVibes Productions, at the Brass Lantern, and at the additional ticket outlets listed on the MySpaceand Facebook pages.  

Tickets will be available at the gate for $40.   NO DAY PASSES are available.  We highly recommend you take advantage of the discount and guarantee your ticket (we’re expecting a big crowd) by purchasing your ticket now.

Children under 10 are admitted free with adult.  Camping is available for an additional $5 per person (to be paid at front gate).

For more information or any additional quesitons, email info@plusvibes.com.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.    BRING A FRIEND!

The Brass Lantern Kicks Off A Strong Summer: Music/Food

In what has been typically called the “slow” season for most area bars due to family vacations, festivals, and national band tours such as Phish and The Dead, the Brass Lantern is kicking it into high gear and striving to break the trend.

They started by launching a brand new (pub style) menu with the return of some “Lantern favorites,” such as fresh cut sweet potato french fries and their famous quesadillas, as well as the introduction of some new special items, such as a grilled portobello mushroom burger and .  They have also topped the city-wide wing flavor list with an astounding 21 flavors available (and growing) and just to stand out in the crowd a little more they are serving a “Baker’s Dozen” when you order them from the regular menu. 

The entire menu, which is also available for take-out, can be viewed here.

The Brass Lantern combines this great new menu with the best food and drink specials in town, including an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT wing special every Wednesday for just $6.99 (with the purchase of a beverage) and a TACO SPECIAL [beef, chicken, or beans on a hard or soft shell] every Thursday for just $1.25 per taco (with the purchase of a beverage).

With the menu now expanded to entice more patronage, +VIBES is now working in full force to provide the ‘best of the best’ live music all summer long including expanding some monthly residencies that have proved to be exponentially growing (and also starting some new residencies), bringing back some favorites as well as bringing in some of the hottest new acts on the circuit, and then bringing in a few acts that you mave have thought would never come to the Brass Lantern.  

 
If you’re looking for some “WOW” factor, well this year will be the year for the Brass Lantern. 

This is just a preliminary announcement, so keep posted to www.plusvibes.com for all future show announcements. 

You can find the entire current +VIBES event schedule here.

You can also find us on Facebook.

ATTN: Music-Lovers — HELP SAVE THE BRASS LANTERN

Due to the relentless recession, the steady decline of patronage, and for various other reasons (any thing that could possibly break in the last year, HAS), the Brass Lantern joins the long list of privately owned companies in serious danger of closing its doors forever!!  The venue is currently on the market and will continue to be, until sold or until their business begins to thrive again.

The Brass Lantern has been a landmark for live music in Reading, Pennsylvania since around 2001, hosting prime national touring acts such as Melvin Seals & JGB, DJ Flow (of the Chappelle Show), The Recipe, RAQ, and Michael Glabicki (of Rusted Root), just to name a few.  More importantly, it has been the “stepping stone” venue for hundreds of smaller jam bands, building solid fan foundations for bands such as Lotus, Pnuma Trio, Quagmire Swim Team, Juggling Suns, Frog Holler and many others.

These bands played (and some are still playing) multiple shows at the Brass Lantern in order to capture the hearts of Reading live music fans and create the “travelling music fan” in an era where live shows (and turnout for live shows) is in direct proportion to keeping each band travelling and performing, thus keeping the band together.  Some of these bands have moved on to bigger venues and large festivals largely in part to building their fanbases at the smaller clubs across the country like the Brass Lantern.

By consistently providing the quality live music stated above, and using mainly word-of-mouth promotion with bits of Internet blogs and posts by its proud staff and satisfied patrons over the years, the Brass Lantern has gained the reputation as “PA’s Best All-Around Small Venue“, and truly is a hidden gem (although scuffed) nestled in the city of Reading.  People connect at the Brass Lantern, whether it’s over a fine craft beer or a top-end mixed drink, over a game of darts or pool, or over some top notch live music;  all patrons, whether it’s their first time there, or they’re a regular customer, are assured a safe and fun time.  It is for this reason that people want to come back.   Many patrons who come in from out of town remark, “this bar reminds me of my hometown bar” and it’s because we treat bands and out-of-town concert-goers so kindly and with open arms (yes, this is still possible in the heart of the city).

Simply put, the Brass Lantern is the reason PlusVibes Productions was even created.

So, I plead with you to KEEP THE BRASS LANTERN ALIVE.

Come in and spend a little money – have a drink or have a bite to eat, catch up with good friends and good people, see the best live music that Reading has to offer, and TELL SOME FRIENDS ABOUT the Brass Lantern.  We honestly have some of the best food & drink specials around the city and we absolutely need all the business we can get, plus we love seeing new faces!

I actually bartend every Tuesday evening from 5pm until 2am, with our $1.25 Taco special (chicken, beef, or beans, 7-10pm) along with $6 domestic pitchers.  I am also usually playing some of the best Brass Lantern live show recordings from over the years on our soundsystem.  Do you have a request? Do you want to talk about good music?  I would love to chat. 

Is there a live show from the Brass Lantern that you would love to have a copy?  I personally extend an invitation to anyone wanting a copy of a live recording to come in, have a couple drinks, maybe eat some tacos, write down the show you want, and I will personally make you a copy for free(first come, first served).  It will be ready for pick up  the following week (there, I got ya’ for two visits).  All I ask is that you buy a drink or two each time you stop by!

I thank you for your continued support of live music in the city of Reading, Pennsylvania, and I hope to see you soon.

Chris K

   Founder, +VIBES Productions
   Entertainment Director, The Brass Lantern

More information, including a full band schedule can be found here.

The Brass Lantern
1350 North 12th Street
Reading, PA  19604
610/372-9311

Hours:  Mon thru Sat 5pm-2am

Bodega, RYAT, Tim Conley, JUGGLING SUNS @ Brass

This weekend is cooking up to be a jam-roast, with instrumental powerhouse Bodega on Friday (10/23) night, and the now 4-piece jam veterans, the Juggling Suns on Saturday (10/24) night  at the Brass Lantern.

With the fireplace now in full roar, the Brass Lantern kicks into cold weather mode, which, more importantly, means its peak business (see older blog, “SAVE THE BRASS LANTERN”).

PlusVibes Productions has a full roster of great music scheduled through the New Year at the Brass Lantern, including confirmed shows with fantastic bands such as MIZ (featuring Mike Miz), PUSH, Quagmire Swim Team, Cabinet, Pychedelphia, Flux Capacitor, and a special Brass Lantern Christmas show with Gingham.

The Brass Lantern also features three residency shows every month with DJs Gregg Nyce and Evolution, the Manatawny Creek Ramblers, and the Good Lovin’ Jam Band featuring members of Pangea Acoustic and Neo Trio.  See the Brass Lantern‘s official website for further information.

THIS Friday, October 23rd, are the young (but certainly

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veterans on the jam band circuit) Bodega.  Billed as high-energy dance music, they always kill it at the Brass Lantern.  You can hear their past shows from the Brass The General rip , available now on Internet Archive. 

This time they are bringing the duo RYAT and Tim Conley (Grimace Federation) with them.  The duo perform a very unique electronic show with RYAT laying down captivating vocals with very spacey effects, and Tim playing his guitar through heavy effects as well, with both of them controlling beats, loops, and samples on laptops.  The whole show has a very Björk overall feel.

On Saturday, October 24th, the Juggling Suns come back to town.  The Suns have reduced their numbers to four, losing rhythm guitarist and vocalist Tim Morris, leaving the rhythm and solos to guitar master, Mark Diomede – a feat that Mark conquered immediately, as evident in the most recent rain-soaked Sun’s awesome performance at the Dragonfly Equinox Festival

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on September 26th at Blue Falls Grove.

The new ensemble has opened up space to return to its roots – the long intricate jam (much to any music fan’s delight).  The live shows have become havens for those wanting to dance, to sing, to play air guitar, and most importantly, leave every venue or festival grounds with HUGE smiles on their faces, saying, “Damn, that Juggling Suns show brought the house down!”

It’s a sight and saying that I have seen and heard multiple times this year.   This Saturday will be no different at the Brass Lantern.  Don’t miss it!

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Here’s all the information:

Bodega with RYAT and Tim Conley

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Friday, October 23rd, 2009

9:30pm – 2am

21+ only
NON-SMOKING venue

$5 @ the door

————— – ———— – ————- – ————- – ————-

The Juggling Suns

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

10pm – 2am
21+ only
NON-SMOKING venue

$8 @ the door

The Brass Lantern offers:
 - $2.50 domestic drafts, $4.50 micro brew drafts
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 - $3 Jager, Rumplemintz, Blackhaus, & other shots

Love Actually film

 - Wings, Burgers, Nachos, Patty Melts, Salads, & more
 - Kitchen open until 10pm!

Bottle Shock

 - Friendly service & great overall vibe

Hope to see you there.

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Dragonfly Music & Arts Fest on Saturday, September 26th

We are excited to annouce festival number three (out-of-four) that PlusVibes Productions is sponsoring this year.  This round it is the Dragonfly Music & Arts Fest at Blue Falls Grove, near Reading, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, September 26th, 2009.

It will be the final outdoor event this summer, at least in the Reading area – one remains on October 3rd at Snipes Farm, Morrisville. 

This one-day festival (with camping available*) is in celebration of the Autumnal Equinox (on 9/22) and features our friends and jam band veterans, the Juggling Suns headlining the pavilion stage.

Festival organizer, Todd Jones, returns to Blue Falls Grove, approximately 10 miles north of Reading, after a successful 1st Annual Jammin’ For The Animals Benefit show for the Humane Society of Berks County back in July 2009. 

The primary sponsor will be Dragonfly Studio and Glass, in West Reading, a prominent glass, art, and tattoo studio owned by David Dragonfly.  David has always been a kind friend to the live music & arts scene in Reading over the years, building a faithful clientele for his business along the way.  He will be doing tattoos all day on the festival grounds, for those of you up for some true body art!

The festival features live music from 1pm until 10:30pm with a side stage to provide music while the main stage is in transition.  A LARGE camping area is on site, not far from the stage, with car-side camping, and tree lines on both sides for shade, although it stays cool because it sits right off the water on a low level area.

Overnight camping is encouraged and the family-friendly event will include a kids pavilion (dedicated to activities for kids [or adults who feel like kids]), hula hooping and juggling workshops, swimming (at a small additional cost), and assorted food & arts vendors in between the pavilions.

A solid four-punch-combination of live music is this round’s primary focus, with the jabs coming in the form of bluegrass powerhouse jam band Cabinet, out of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania starting off at the main pavilion, followed by excellent West Coast newgrass string band Montana Slim String Band Thirteen Days out of San Francisco. 

Cabinet is a 6-piece blugrass ensemble, pushing the limits in the “duels” of each jam, creating beautiful improvisational moments, and making their shows both dance-filled and jaw-dropping (from back-and-forth seamless duels) from beginning to end. 

They are a Pennsyl-tucky favorite that have been filling up rooms such as the Brass Lantern and the River Street Jazz Cafe for the last couple of years, and currently are scheduled for a very special holiday celebration, billed as “Christmas with Cabinet“, at the Brass Lantern on December 26th.

Montana Slim String Band, hailing from San Francisco, is  a SOLID bluegrass 5-piece known for their “invigorating live performances, peppered with dueling melodic fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar improvisation.”

They most recently set up and played impromptu sets each night at Yonder Mountain String Band‘s Northwest String Summit, in North Plain, Oregon in early August 2009 and a writer for Jambase.com described them as, “Tenacious troubadours from San Francisco with snappy rhythms that inspired some delightfully dirty dancing, they won over several new fans before the weekend was over.”

They will be doing warm up shows (2 full sets) at Zeno’s in State College on Thursday (9/24) and at the Brass Lantern on Friday, (9/25)  to make a run of the time that they are in the area.  So show your support if you are able to attend any of the 2-set shows. 

 

The fight then moves on to the body shots, with conscious dub, roots reggae rockers, I Yahn I Arkestra.  Hailing from the “boondocks of Baltimore”, Kaseopi and Jah-D relocated to Philadelphia and, since forming in 1997, they have been sharing their positive conscious Rastafarian vibe to many of the city’s hottest jam band area clubs, such as The Middle East and the World Cafe Live.  

They have grown to become one of America’s most unique and original reggae bands, offering up cosmic rhythms – psychedelic, herb-induced soundscapes with an uplifting message and positive vibes.

The smooth riddums, Rastaman chants, including spoken word by “Joseph I”, and Nyabingi drums are the perfect opportunity to trance the mind and open up your consciousness for the knockout punch that is the called the Juggling Suns.

The Suns have been tearing up the jam band circuit since 1997, shredding up clubs, halls, theatres, and festivals along the way, and often referred to as extremely under-rated.

Their original songs have been covered by the Disco Biscuits and Keller Williams, and the Suns have hosted numerous guest musicians up on stage beside them, including Buddy Cage, Tom Constanten (Grateful Dead), Martin Fierro (Legion of Mary) and Jon Gutwillig (Disco Biscuits).

Guitarist Mark Diomede, who has been on the road as a musician since 1989, received the Asbury Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Diomede has shared the stage with Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Herring, Santana, moe., Mickey Hart, Bob Weir, and many more.

This event is fully packed with talented musicians on the bill, and will surely be an epic celebration of the beginning of the Autumn season.

PlusVibes Productions will be providing security, front gate meet & greet, and most importantly, spreading the word throughout the live music scene about a great festival in the Reading area.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please contact Dragonfly Studio & Gallery in West Reading.

JUST ANNOUNCED:  Superb guitarist & singer/songwriter, Mike Miz will be kicking off the festival at 1pm with a very special set, and also immediately after Cabinet during changeover to Montana Slim.

We hope to see all of you there!

A limited number of tickets are also available at the Brass Lantern (see ChrisK).

My Good Friends, The Juggling Suns @ The Silo for NYE

2008-12-27

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It’s NOT a PlusVibes Production, but we at PlusVibes  LOVE

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the Juggling Suns and want to support them,  especially when they are in the Reading area.

Through the years booking them at the Brass Lantern, they were, by far, the most under-rated musicians that have ever been to the Brass.  Every time they played the Brass, I was amazed that, considering the quality of music they brought to the table,  each show wasn’t sold out. 

They consistently brought magical nights of music to the Brass Lantern (even when there was sometimes only a handful of people there), and Mark is without a doubt in the top 5 guitarists that have ever graced the stage there.

Lord of War release

On New Year’s Eve 2008 at The Silo Nightclub,  the Juggling Suns will be supporting Donna Jean & the Tricksters, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. 

The Suns’ set will either start at 7:30pm or 9pm (call venue day of show for more information) and they will play for approximately one and a half hours.  Don’t be late!

It will be an epic night of friends, family, & positive vibrations!  
 

Tickets are $45 per person. 

The Silo Nightclub
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2017 Bernville Road
Reading, PA 19601
610-372-7373

Mostly Ghostly hd Come out & show your Berks County support! 

See you there.  Please come say “hello“!

The Land That Time Forgot

Chris @ PlusVibes

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End of an Era: The Brass Lantern To Change Ownership

Purchased by John and Ginger Ortiz in 1999, the Brass Lantern, located in the Northeast section of Reading, Pennsylvania, started off as your typical neighborhood bar and restaurant, with a standard American-style menu but focusing mainly on the [at that time] growing fascination with microbrews, which is simply another term for handcrafted beers produced in limited amounts (which varies by region).

The Brass Lantern featured seven different beers on draft and a massive bottled beer selection from microbreweries around the world.  If you wanted a “good” beer in town, you came to Northeast Reading.

After building a successful clientele in a short amount of time, the Brass Lantern became a pioneer in the live original music scene in the Berks County area.  They purchased an entire sound system, built a stage, and began showcasing the best musical talent in the area, such as Frog Holler, The Worms, The Youngers, Hexbelt, and Dakini.  All these bands built a large part of their fan base at the Brass Lantern over the years.

With talent like those bands listed above, the Brass Lantern quickly fit the bill as “Berks County’s BEST Original Live Music” and they established themselves as THE venue to play in the area.  This, in turn, brought the Brass Lantern to the attention of touring bands nation-wide, and they began to receive press kits and demos from bands around the country (so many that they filled an entire coat closet full of demo CDs!).

Acts such as Brothers Past, Townhall, Fat Mama, RAQ, The Recipe, and Lotus all had multiple successful shows at the Brass Lantern in the early part of the millenium before becoming headlining national touring bands.

By 2003 the Brass Lantern had caught the attention of NATIONAL touring acts and hosted maximum capacity shows with Michael Glabicki (of multi-platinum record selling band, Rusted Root) and Melvin Seals & JGB.

It was shortly after these shows when +VIBES founder, Chris Kratz came on staff at the Brass Lantern as a bartender and, by the end of that year, took over the booking responsibilities from the co-owner, John, who had booked all the phenomenal shows up until then (those were some big shoes to fill).

From there, it was full steam ahead for live music at the Brass Lantern, with shows two, three, four, and sometimes fives days a week for several years. It showcased THE premier artists (of ALL genres) in the jamband circuit, including Quagmire Swim Team, Alchemy, Jazzam, Cabinet, Living Earth, Future Rock, Jah Works, Pnuma Trio, BioDiesel, Boris Garcia, Kris Kehr & Julie Edlow, Juggling Suns, Family Groove Company, Natural Breakdown, U-Melt, Mike Miz, Codename, Bodega, Ronnie Penque (of New Riders of the Purple Sage), Jeff Bujak, David Cullen (Grammy winner), Marco Benevento, and many more.  It is roughly estimated that, through the years, the Brass Lantern has hosted over 1500 shows with over 200 bands with over 600 individual musicians.

Those numbers demand respect, especially in the fact that 90 per cent of those bands performed their own original material and not just a night full of cover songs (with the exception of the Grateful Dead and “reggae nights”), so every night was its own unique show.

It was undoubtedly evident that the Brass Lantern had established itself as a landmark for live original music in Reading, Pennsylvania.

But while the music flourished over the years, Father Time had taken his toll and danced his heavy boots all over the Brass Lantern property, leaving a trail of evidence – a leaky roof, a pothole-ridden parking lot, a shattered front marquee, broken tables, chairs, & bar stools, broken beer coolers, and many other little tedious broken things throughout the  building. 

Showing the utmost respect to what it had become in the music scene yet having its demeanor not going un-noticed, people have even called it the “Brokedown” Lantern, in reference to a Grateful Dead classic.

So these extra repair bills and responsibilities, in addition to a city with a rising crime rate, as well as a declining national economy (which hurts the overall patronage to the venue) and that equals a financial liability for the current owner, who has a family including a newborn to worry about, and also a thriving interior & exterior renovation business.

Understandably, the business was put on the market in 2009, and it is now official – the Brass Lantern has been SOLD!  The final day of the current ownership is tentatively Thursday, April 29th, 2010.

Although deeply saddened by the situation, PlusVibes Productions keeps its head high in knowing that it has provided the best hospitality around to all the artists, the crews, the patrons, and our beloved Brass Lantern “family” of regular customers, and also, that it has been such a positive experience for everyone involved – the memories, the lasting friendships made, the laughs, the tears, the smiles, and most of all, the MUSIC! 

It will NEVER be forgotten.

After speaking with the NEW owner, he has stated that he wants to give the Brass Lantern a much needed makeover and improve the general security inside and outside the venue, but keep the overall vibe the same.  Upon the urging of his wife, who ironically worked in the building when it was a seafood restaurant, he plans to simply name it, the ‘New’ Brass Lantern.

We are very anxious to see what the future will bring for the landmark Berks County venue and hope that +VIBES will be able to continue to provide the same quality live music to our beloved community of music lovers at the Brass Lantern.

Stay tuned for information on that as the changeover approaches.

In the meantime, +VIBES has put together a proper lineup of music from now until April 30th, with some of the artists that have been our true friends throughout the years.

Please be sure to catch one of your favorite acts before the changeover, and say goodbye to the current owner.  In honor of the years past, we are encouraging patrons to write down on a small piece of paper, a positive experience or good story about the Brass Lantern and attach it to our band wall.

Here’s the final lineup of the ‘old’ Brass Lantern:

3 on the Tree
9pm, Thursday 4/8

Three’s Company feat. DJ Gregg Nyce, DJ Evolution, & VJCA
10pm, Friday 4/9

I Yahn I Arkestra
10pm, Saturday 4/10

Cloud Party
9pm, Thursday 4/15

Good Lovin’ Jamband
10pm, Friday 4/16

DJ Alpha Zulu vs. DJ Spacecase
9pm, Saturday 4/17

Bodega
10pm, Thursday 4/22

Frog Holler
10pm, Friday 4/23

Quagmire Swim Team with Ben & Josh (of Alchemy)
9pm, Saturday 4/24

FINAL SHOW OF THE OLD BRASS LANTERN
Jah Works
9pm, Thursday 4/29
Kitchen CLOSED this evening!

For all show information, go to http://www.thebrasslanternlive.com/.

And KEEP POSTED to http://www.plusvibes.com/ for information on FUTURE shows at the Silo Upstairs Lounge, Trooper Thorn’s, possibly the New Brass Lantern and other venues near you. 

And we are ALSO sponsoring four festivals again this summer.  More information on that coming soon.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF LIVE MUSIC & ARTS!