2009 Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival lineup - The Box Tops, three Feelies-related bands & more

April 22, 2009

Hoboken Arts & Music Festival, Spring 2006 (David Pfeffer)

The annual Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival is taking place this year on Sunday, May 3rd. Bands scheduled to perform include East of Venus, Yung Wu and Wild Carnation — all of which feature members of The Feelies — plus reunited ’60s group The Box Tops.

The Box Tops were a Memphis pop music group of the late 1960s. They are best known for the hits “The Letter,” “Neon Rainbow”, “Soul Deep” and “Cry Like A Baby,” and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period…Vocalist Alex Chilton went on to front the power-pop band Big Star and to launch a career as a solo artist…. [Wikipedia]

Chilton will be there as will 4/5 of the original group.

Feelies bassist Brenda Sauter plays with Wild Carnation, East of Venus has Glenn Mercer and drummer Stan Demeski, and Yung Wu includes Dave Weckerman, Mercer and others (basically the whole band has gigged with Yung Wu at times).

The Feelies have performances together coming up, too. The band is playing an acoustic set at The Whitney on Friday, June 26th, and has a pair of July 4th-weekend shows at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. The band plays ATP NY in September.

Catch a video of The Box Tops playing their most well known tune, “The Letter” — plus a strangely intense clip of the song on American Bandstand — with the Hoboken fest’s full schedule and directions, below…

Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival

MAYOR DAVID ROBERTS & THE CITY OF HOBOKEN
proudly presents…
The 15th annual Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival
Sunday, May 3, 2009 – 11am to 6pm

ADMISSION IS FREE
Washington St. – Observer Highway to 7th St.Featuring three stages of live music & over 300 artists, sculptors, photographers & craftspeople Live Performance on 3 Stages – schedules are tentative and subject to change

Observer Hwy – TBA
(bet. Newark & Observer Hwy)
12:00pm – Mad Happy
1:00pm – Wild Carnation
1:30pm – Yung Wu
2:00pm – East of Venus
3:00pm – Val Emmich
4:30pm – The Box Tops

Sixth Street Stage:
12:30pm – Bandwidth
1;15pm – The Verdict
2:15pm – 2nd Fiddles
3:15pm – Clueless
4:15pm – Joe Taino
5:15pm – TBA

Kidz Stage (Third Street):
11:15am Hanna Valente
12:00pm Polka Dot Pals with aka Ron Albanese
1:00pm A Year with Frog & Toad *
2:00pm Bonnie Bess the Pirate
3:00pm Polka Dot Pals with aka Ron Albanese
4:00pm A Year with Frog & Toad *
5:00pm Polka Dot Pals with aka Ron Albanese

*A Year with Frog & Toad: Interactive excerpts from The Theater Company’s production of “A Year with Frog & Toad”. Arnold Lobel’s well-loved characters hop from the page to the stage in Robert and Willie Reale’s musical, which follows two great friends, the cheerful and popular Frog and the rather grumpy Toad through four fun-filled seasons. Performed by an adult cast of 5 playing over 15 different characters. www.debaun.org

Special features include:
Fine artists are located between 2nd & 3rd St., so if you are an art collector, this is the place to be. Oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, sculpture, mixed media, etc.

Children’s area on 3rd street with rides, games, creative activities, ponies, petting zoo, magic show, face painting, clowns, balloons, live performances and much much more:

Crafters display / sell handmade: pottery, metalwork, wood items, furniture, blown & fused glass, quilts, household items made from recycled materials, cementware, batik clothing, hand painted furniture, candles, jewelry, dried florals, soaps & lotions and much more

Food: Lots of great food throughout the fair. Hoboken restaurants will set up street cafes offering an eclectic variety of international foods such as: Thai, Indian, Greek, French, Mexican, Cajun and Italian

Sponsors include:
WRXP, PATH; Port Authority of NY & NJ; Optimum, The Hoboken Reporter & The Hudson Current, The NJ Division of Travel & Tourism & NJ Transit

DIRECTIONS

FROM THE NORTH

Take the New Jersey Turnpike to exit 17 (Lincoln Tunnel). Merge onto I-495 E and take the Hoboken/Weehawken exit. Get into the right lane, which will put you onto South Marginal Highway. You will go down a hill and veer right at the fork toward Hoboken. This will send you through Weehawken via Park Ave. You will cross a bridge and make a left onto 14th Street (Amoco station is on the right, Malibu Diner is in front of you). Take 14th Street to Hudson and make a right. Please see PARKING detail for further information.

FROM THE SOUTH
Take the New Jersey Turnpike to I-78 E via exit 14 towards the Holland Tunnel. Make a left at the first traffic light on the Holland Tunnel approach onto Jersey Ave, which becomes Newark Ave as you pass under the green “Welcome to Hoboken” overpass. Stay to the right, as Newark Street then becomes Observer Highway. Take Observer Highway to the end and follow the road through a left hand turn. Make your first right onto Hudson Place followed by an immediate left onto River Street. You will see parking garages on your left at both 2nd and 4th Street. Please see PARKING detail for further information.

BY TRAIN
The Hoboken Arts and Music Festival is located just two blocks from PATH, NY Waterway Ferries, NJ Transit trains and buses and the Hudson-Bergen Lightrail.

Box Tops – The Letter