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BIFA: Music at Festival Square begins in the Arts District

Grab a picnic dinner and a low-backed lawn chair for the Wednesday, Aug. 19, concert at Festival Square with Gaslight Street. The band melds pure Southern rock with charismatic vocals, traipsing the boundaries of blues and funk. Born in the musical bastion of Charleston, South Carolina, Gaslight Street’s regional presence has grown behind its relentless tours throughout the Southeast and beyond.
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Music at Festival Square schedule

Friday, Aug. 14 — Groanbox, Gipsy Moon

Saturday, Aug. 15 — Russick Smith, Edison

Sunday, Aug. 16 — Boureas, Holly Lovell

Monday, Aug. 17 — Blackdog, Andy Sydow

Tuesday, Aug. 18 — Kevin Danzig, Jen Korte and The Loss

Wednesday, Aug. 19 — Low Hanging Fruit, Gaslight Street

Thursday, Aug. 20 — Pandas & People, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band

Saturday, Aug. 22 — Local Folk, Post Paradise

Sunday, Aug. 23 — Jon Gamache, Chemistry Club

BIFA schedule for Friday, Aug. 14

All day — Art installation, Amy Scofield, Illinois Creek Trail

All day — Art installations, Steuart Bremner and Terry Talty, Iowa Hill and Moonstone trails

8 a.m. to 10 p.m. — “The Blue Trees,” an installation by Konstantin Dimopoulos, Blue River Plaza

9:30-10 a.m. — Trail Mix concert with Jon Gamache, Iowa Hill Trail

Noon to 5 p.m. — “Abound,” an installation by Julie Hughes, Old Masonic Hall

2:30 p.m. — “Swoon!,” a performance by Australia’s The Fruits, Riverwalk Center Lawn

2:30-3 p.m. — Trail Mix concert with Groanbox, Moonstone Trail

4 p.m. — “Swoon!,” a performance by Australia’s The Fruits, Riverwalk Center Lawn

4-4:30 p.m. — Trail Mix concert with Russick Smith Duo, Illinois Creek Trail

5:30 p.m. — “Swoon!,” a performance by Australia’s The Fruits, Riverwalk Center Lawn

6 p.m. — Groanbox, Festival Square

7:30 p.m. — Gipsy Moon, Festival Square

For more details on locations and a full schedule of events for the Breckenridge International Festival of Arts, visit http://www.breckcreate.org/bifa.

In addition to the headlining concerts being showcased at the Riverwalk Center during the inaugural Breckenridge International Festival of Arts, the festival will also feature a series of outdoor evening performances from Friday, Aug. 14, through Sunday, Aug. 23. The lineup includes a variety of regional and national musicians playing an eclectic mix of genres, from indie-folk and art rock to electro funk and experimental pop, all performed for free in the Breckenridge Arts District.

Serving as the heart of BIFA, the Breckenridge Arts District brings together studios, galleries, performance spaces, historic landmarks, public art, restaurants and cafes that animate and populate a vibrant cultural corridor in downtown Breckenridge. For the 10 days of the festival, the Arts District’s Ridge Street Arts Square becomes Festival Square, a temporary BIFA venue and hub of entertainment on the corner of Washington Avenue and Ridge Street. Festival Square serves as the ultimate pop-up festival hangout, playing host to live musical performances and other social activities.

Free concerts will be held nightly at Festival Square throughout BIFA. Music starts with the opening act at 6 p.m., followed by the headliner at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to pack a picnic or buy dinner from one of the area restaurants, bring blankets or low-back lawn chairs for seating and enjoy a great night of entertainment.



Please note that there will be no music on Friday, Aug. 21, at Festival Square due to the free Los Lobos concert at Riverwalk Center at 7:30 p.m. on that same evening. All outdoor BIFA events, including the musical series at Festival Square, are subject to weather cancellations and other delays.

For more information on the musicians and bands taking part in the concerts at Festival Square, visit this article at http://www.summitdaily.com.



About the musicians

Friday, Aug. 14

6-7 p.m. — Groanbox is the trio of accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman, Canadian percussionist Paul Clifford and Franco-American guitarist and banjo player Cory Seznec. Their music is a melting pot of styles from Nashville to New Orleans, Mali to Romania, anchored by the “Freedom Boot” — a shamanistic 6-foot stomping stick carrying bells, nails, rings and more than 400 beer bottle tops picked up on their travels. This performance is a preview to Groanbox’s full concert with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra on Saturday, Aug. 15.

7:30-9 p.m. — Gipsy Moon’s intention is to create music that will plant inspiration into the soul, start a fire in the heart, build community and invoke love in its wildest manifestation. The band’s sound, sometimes referred to as Gipsy-grass, is something like a backwoods hoedown meets the smoking basement of a New York jazz club. The soothing harmonies, raging solos and dirt-encrusted bass lines bring an old-time style into an exciting new dimension, one that hippies and poets, lovers and dancers, freaks and families alike can all come together and move to.

Saturday, Aug. 15

6-7 p.m. — Russick Smith is a Colorado-grown multi-instrumentalist and composer. His music moves freely among different genres, blending modern aesthetics and bucolic ruggedness.

7:30-9 p.m. — Edison is an alternative folk band from Colorado. Within a year of its inception, the band has played South by Southwest, toured nationally and released its debut EP, “Ghosts.”

Sunday, Aug. 16

6-7 p.m. — Boureas performs acoustic world, flamenco jazz with Thomas Haupt on classical guitar and Todd Anders Johnson on cajon and vocals. The duo also plays in their full band, Salem. Boureas tours throughout Colorado and Utah, with an annual summer tour to Nantucket and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

7:30-9 p.m. — Holly Lovell is a folk-rock artist hailing from Denver, by way of Australia. In the past year, she has constructed a band around the framing of her solo project and, in the process, found a new, exciting sound, mixing her folk roots with influences of blues, alternative and pop. Lovell will be releasing a new album in the fall of 2015.

Monday, Aug. 17

6-7 p.m. — In the internationally recognized Front Range music mecca mountain town of Nederland, perhaps no local musician today is more respected by his peers than Jon “Blackdog” Ridnell. A fixture in the Nederland music community since the mid-’90s, Ridnell has helped set the modern definition of melding genres as well as re-solidifying the high standard of musicianship the legendary town has been known for since the early 1970s.

7:30-9 p.m. — Andy Sydow is a true treasure of Denver’s rapidly growing music scene. His music dabbles in Americana, swampy blues slide guitar, Southern rock, folk and singer-songwriter, all tied together by his heavy New Orleans influence.

Tuesday, Aug. 18

6-7 p.m. — Kevin Danzig writes and performs modern folk and acoustic rock tunes, as well as select cover songs, accompanied by acoustic guitar, ukulele and harmonica. He plays tambourine and Porchboard bass with his foot. Originality is Danzig’s hallmark; his lyrics are invariably intelligent, and the instrumental arrangements are in perfect sync and skillfully executed.

7:30-9 p.m. — Jen Korte has established her style, her name and her band, The Loss. Known for her strong lyrics and powerful delivery, her voice has been the master instrument in defining what her music is, as well as her dynamically layered guitar playing. Teaming up with “golden throated” Jessica DeNicola, the two have created a pair of songbirds that leave their audience swirling in their harmonies and wanting more. Korte can be seen around Denver in various projects outside of The Loss; she is also a featured vocalist for local act The Vox Squad and has been seen as a featured guitarist in several local bands.

Wednesday, Aug. 19

6-7 p.m. — Low Hanging Fruit, which formed in 2014, is the brainchild of Colorado music-scene veterans Mark Brut (The Sneaky Bastards) and Matt Bauerle (Fried Grease and Big Richard). The two were looking to branch out into a project that focused on writing original material, without concern for a specific sound, style or genre.

7:30-9 p.m. — Gaslight Street melds pure Southern rock with charismatic vocals, traipsing the boundaries of blues and funk. Born in the musical bastion of Charleston, South Carolina, Gaslight Street’s regional presence has grown behind its relentless tours throughout the Southeast and beyond. Featuring the unmistakably soulful lyrics and vocal duo of Campbell Brown and Whitt Algar, the band strongly stakes its place as worthy inheritors of the Southern soul tradition.

Thursday, Aug. 20

6-7 p.m. — Pandas & People is a two-piece alternative folk band rooted in Northern Colorado. Held together by lead vocalist and bassist Joshua Scheer and guitarist Johnny Day, Pandas & People has played highly regarded shows such as the Big Gig at Fiddlers Green, Taste of Fort Collins and New West Fest and has opened for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Doobie Brothers.

7:30-9 p.m. — The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band has been creating a whirlwind with its riveting and unconventional elixir of muscular and high-voltage country blues, capped by gritty, growling vocals and striking finger picking. This energetic trio — complete with a washboard — blends blues, ragtime, folk, country and other traditional styles with the sleek modern energy of do-it-yourself, homespun, punk-fueled rock. Presented in conjunction with the Breckenridge stage of the USA Pro Challenge.

Saturday, Aug. 22

6-7 p.m. — Local Folk is a collective string band composed of players from the Summit County area. The band features an up-tempo mountain grass party, playing a fresh mixture of bluegrass, old-time, Western swing and fiddle tunes. Local Folk is a four- to seven-piece arrangement of guitars, bass, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and dobro, with various musical backgrounds from orchestra to the street corner.

7:30-9 p.m. — Post Paradise is a four-piece alternative rock band with a lead cellist from Fort Collins. This twist on the traditional rock lineup has garnered the band regional and national attention in recent years. After many notable performances, it is a seasoned and recognized entity in the Northern Colorado music scene. Post Paradise is set to release a new EP in the fall of 2015.

Sunday, Aug. 23

6-7 p.m. — Jon Gamache

7:30-9 p.m. — Chemistry Club is a Colorado-native sci-fi-electro-pop band with work including music, video games and comics. Formed in 2012, the band has worked to bring pop music and nerd culture together in a blend of synthesizers, guitar and science. Its newest project, “Copia,” is a science fiction story told across four concept albums, beginning with “Copia: The Electric Hush,” released in December 2014.

Presented by Breckenridge Creative Arts, the Breckenridge International Festival of Arts is a celebration of adventure, play and creativity that runs Friday, Aug. 14, through Sunday, Aug. 23. Find more information and a full schedule at breckcreate.org/bifa, or search “BIFA” at http://www.summitdaily.com.


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