Saint Bernadette

I know a lot of you will think I’m jumping the gun on this.  And of course, there’s more to do and plenty wrong, but today, after another wonderful weekend in Bridgeport, I offer you this.

When I was living in Brooklyn in 2004, sharing a loft apartment with 4 other people where our vaulted bedroom had no door and a hole in the ceiling, we dreamed of Bridgeport.  As we waited to be approved to be new residents of Read’s Artspace, we dreamed that Bridgeport was a mythical, waterfront nirvana with all the conveniences and culture of New York’s urban life combined with the outdoor park, sports and beach features of Los Angeles wrapped up in New England tradition and fresh produce.

And so, here we are.  And though I would find it difficult to describe Bridgeport as “nirvana”, I can’t say that our dreams are really that far from the truth.  On Tuesday, we jogged down to Seaside Park, walked its length, taking in the sea air and the view.  We jogged back, passing the Bluefish stadium preparing for a game – if we wanted to go, we could have procured (and afforded) a ticket and had our choice of a decent parking space or just walking down.  (We’ll go soon, we promise).  But instead, we headed right to Baldwin Plaza for the Farmer’s Market.

After we bought our fresh and local fruits and vegetables, we called a few friends to meet for drinks and dinner in the new outdoor patio at Epernay.  We had oysters, a bottle of vinho verde, and of course, plenty of conversation about how much we LOVE Bridgeport.

xo

Saint B

Peace.  Clean. Green.  These were words and symbols we saw all weekend at the Gathering of the Vibes.  And overall, there was a lot of all three.  But of course, we all know, there were plenty of problems as well.  Some unavoidable, some extremely sad, and some just a matter of taste.

For everyone who has complaints, suggestions, questions or is sure that they know how it all should have gone down, I invite you to ask yourself the following question:  “Aren’t you glad that you were not in charge of and responsible for everything that took place this weekend?”

Let’s talk about the part of it that you were in charge of and responsible for.

YOUR CAMPSITE:

photo by Chad Anderson

YOUR GRILL:

Photo by Chad Anderson

YOUR BALLOONS:

Photo by Chad Anderson

YOUR GARBAGE:

Photo by Chad Anderson

So before you begin your diatribe about how it was better last year, how they should have had different headliners, how the order should have been different or what else the organizers should have done differently, ask yourself how much better could the whole thing be if you had done your part differently.

Green peace, love and cleanliness.

Saint B

I could focus this entire post on the miracle that I and many of my friends were made aware of The McLovins through a perfect storm of exposure in our local media.  Just the fact that this is even possible – that a local band of young people who have practiced sufficiently to get good enough to merit being noticed, would actually BE noticed, and that some sort of mechanism to get the word out could be employed is enough to warm my heart about the potential of our fair city.

Though the announcer at their appearance this weekend at the Gathering of the Vibes festival stated their hometown as Bridgeport, their biographical materials indicate Hartford and a slew of shows at Hartford’s own Sully’s Pub seem to back it up.  Saint Bernadette is happy to support any band from our great state of CT, but if it does turn out that these young guys are indeed from Bridgeport or have considered to identify themselves as such, it will be only good news for both the city and the band.

I was tipped off about the McLovins during Grace Potter’s set yesterday at the Vibes and was additionally informed that they have been getting a “ton of press”.  Naturally, I was intrigued.  Years of promoting music in Connecticut has engendered a very healthy respect for anyone who can use what’s left of our local media and its limited reach to promote something, anything really, but especially new and original music.

Well, so it was kind of original.  The band opened with a high-energy cover of “Shakedown Street”, but it was definitely new and was absolutely really good.  Vocalist drummer, Jake Huffman, has a nice, solid groove and an uber-charming stage personality; Bassist, Jason Ott, has a pocket far beyond his years; and shredder, Jeff Howard, had some guitar solos that I can only describe as inspired.

And that’s just the music.  The Green Vibes tent was literally packed with young people, eagerly awaiting the start of their set, who jumped to their feet and started dancing at the first hit.  The energy was up and fun and infectious.  The band employs some classic stage banter delivered over danceable grooves which were very funny and engaging coming from such young people – probably wouldn’t work for every band, but they used it to great effect.

So, before the haters start chiming in, and I know you’re out there, waiting to hate, Saint Bernadette encourages you to take away the good news from this developing success story.  Local band capitalizes on the existing tastes of its audience by developing signature versions of popular songs and letting it grow organically into their own sound.  In addition, they are employing a classic rock strategy, so often overlooked in the early stages: the band is comprised of three members, all equally strong, anchored behind certain standout qualities in each.  There is a clear respect between each member for the strengths of the others and though their musical and on-stage chemistry is apparent, each is also given their individual time to shine.

If you already heard about them ,then you already know, but if you haven’t, then remember, you heard it hear first.  Come back often and Saint Bernadette guarantees to let you know about new and exciting music guaranteed to make you feel better about where you live!

This is going to be a hopelessly incomplete and irrational listing of absurd yet innovative ideas.  Though Saint Bernadette wants to be taken completely seriously as the lead singer in a rock band, as a theorist in social policy, she’s looking for a little more slack.  So, please, use these incomplete and irresponsibly tossed-off ideas as a jumping off point for your own discussion of how economic development can be achieved in our fair city.

Aren’t these the kind of times and isn’t Bridgeport the kind of city where we can all just finally say what needs to be said and forget about walking on the eggshells of the status quo?  Last I checked the status quo was in a heap of garbage at the dump next to Seaside Park.  Or maybe the status quo has reinvented itself as a 40,000 person mob of hippies reliving the 70s at Gathering of the Vibes this weekend.  Point being, everything’s gone to hell and though it’s always sad and scary when that happens, in many ways, it’s the most exciting and positive time because fresh ideas are given a chance to develop and grow. (And what would be so wrong with bringing back the 70s?)

Here are a few and I’ll be doing a follow up on each in the coming weeks:

TAX CREDITS/STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR MENTORING

Urban professionals get tax credits or student loan forgiveness for mentoring in low income communities.
Schools need after-school programs.  Recent graduates need job training.  Entrepreneurs need mentors.  Would you tutor, coach, or mentor one day a week in exchange for forgiveness of your student loans or a break on your income tax?

DITCH THE CORPORATE MODEL FOR A “MOB” MODEL

I found this article recently – http://sivers.org/the-mob.  It’s about the music industry but I think the same applies to most businesses.  Forget about corporate structure – let’s go back to local and family based businesses – just without the extortion and killing.

Why are we constantly trying to lure corporate business to Bridgeport?  Rents are finally cheap enough to bring back an economy of specialized, passionate tradespeople who cater to a specific consumer base.  Beyond tax relief for the enterprise zones meant to lure large companies who can create large numbers of soul-crushing jobs and supposedly solve our city’s problems in one fell swoop, why not offer small business training and loans that specifically match small business owners with vacant new space downtown and around the city.

The really good property owners already do this – they look carefully at their properties and try to cultivate what they believe will be the most successful tenant and the best contribution to the downtown environment.  What’s the core difference between a chain restaurant and a restaurant owned by an individual?  The individual does it because they are driven by a passion and an interest in food and people.  When you go there, they might remember your name, what you like, make adjustments to the menu based on the preferences of the people in the area.  Chains and large corporations can’t do this – they are working off a centralized model created to maximize profits.  Maximum profits are great, I’m all for large profits, but these are maximum profits to people that don’t live here and do not care about you or your dinner.  I’ll take Amici Miei and Fraiche Burger any day over the Olive Garden and McDonald’s and that goes for just about everything else, from hardware to office supplies.

SWITCH THE DRINKING AGE WITH THE DRIVING AGE

What happened to all of Connecticut and the rest of the nation’s downtowns?  That’s easy – they don’t let 16 year olds in anymore so everything went out of business.  All the bars, clubs and concert venues were kept in business by teenagers with dad’s money and that is how it should be.  What was the real problem here – that these same teenagers would get in their car at the end of the night and crash into our nice new telephone poles at best and kill themselves or innocent bystanders at worst.  Why don’t we fix it all in one here?  Get the kids off the road (they drive like maniacs anyway), fix the public transportation system and let the kids drink some beer and listen to some music.

Now Saint Bernadette knows that she is naive and that these ideas could never succeed in a world full of selfish, litigious, and entitled people who want everything as cheap as possible no matter what ill, evil, dishonest means were used to arrive at these cheap prices.  But she can only hope that these same people still yearn for a life where a person can work a decent job during the day, hop on a train or bus or trolley to meet some friends at a downtown establishment for some fresh food and a cocktail and then maybe take in a show or some really good music, jump back on that same train, bus, or trolley or even bicycle to arrive at their home that they can reasonably afford at said decent job and fall into their pillow topped mattress satisfied enough to enjoy a good night’s sleep.

This can’t be too much to ask in the 21st Century, can it?

Before I begin, let me just say that I love Bridgeport.  And I love and support everyone trying to do good things in Bridgeport.  So please don’t take this feedback as a sign that I feel that nothing in Bridgeport will ever be successful or that I am anything but super optimistic about the future of arts and events in the Park City.  That being said – let the feedback begin:

MMM, the BAM Festival.  Did you hear about it?  Probably not.  I didn’t either, though my band was scheduled to play for it.  Or were we?  Well, we thought we were.  We thought this because the organizers arranged for us to play live on WEBE 108, which we did a few weeks before the festival.  We played our song “I Wanna Tell You Something” and the announcer, Robby Bridges, co-host of BAM, as well as Pete Finch, the other co-host of BAM, let the audience know that we, Saint Bernadette, would appear live at the Seaside Park Bandshell as part of the BAM Festival.  This is one of the reasons why we thought we were playing.

The other reason we thought we were playing is because we attended two planning meetings for the festival where we interfaced and shared ideas with the other organizers.  Some of the organizers came over to our apartment where we discussed events and the arts in Bridgeport and offered to make introductions on their behalf to our network of other arts and events related people in Bridgeport and around the state.  We also forwarded our media contacts by email over the course of time between the last meeting and the day of the festival.

The final reason we thought we were playing is that our picture was used on the very limited circulation of the BAM Festival flyer.

However, despite all this, we received a text the day before the festival asking us who had “misinformed” us about our inclusion in the festival’s performance lineup.  This was just one of a series of, I’ll call them “technical difficulties” that plagued the day of the festival until it was eventually and mercifully drowned out by a near tornado.

The first difficulty is that this festival was scheduled to start at 3 pm on Friday afternoon.  Now, I don’t know what happens to you at the office on Friday, but most of the people I know are trying to finish everything they have to do so they can free their mind for the weekend and maybe ease the possibility of hell on Monday morning.  And maybe some companies have switched to 4 day weeks or half day Fridays for the summer, but more likely, they’ve laid off half the staff and everyone left is doing the work of 3 people and probably not able to leave at 2 in the afternoon to come to Seaside Park to watch music in the blistering sun.

The second difficulty is that the planning for this festival began far too late to secure volunteers, solidify performers and participants and most importantly to raise public awareness.  Though Saint Bernadette sent out emails and Facebook invites, we did not see ANY promotion for this event, except the radio appearances on WEBE and save one mention in Fairfield Weekly’s 7 Days column which read, and I quote “the flyer we got was short on specifics — like who’s playing and exhibiting”.  Also, this mention listed the event’s start time as 4, which was later changed to 3, most likely to accommodate the performance of Saint Bernadette who, after we called them up confused, the organizers quickly added to the roster the day before but did not manage to include t in the festival program’s Performer’s List (except, of course, for our picture on the front).

The final difficulty is that no one at this festival seemed to realize that musicians utilize large and heavy equipment that cannot be carried long distances, in any case, and certainly not in the afore-mentioned blistering sun.  When artists arrived at the BAM Festival, they were greeted by a sign reading “ARTIST REGISTRATION’.  Under the sign was an empty table with no one sitting there.  What we would be registering for was quite unclear anyway, but the fact remained that there was no one there who seemed to have the expressed responsibility of informing the bands where to park, load-in, find some water, etc.

However, there was someone there with the expressed purpose of saying things like “I don’t know who told you that you could park here.”

The musicians and bands of Bridgeport are a very talented and community-minded group, always willing to offer their services in exchange for an interested audience.  Some of the best groups were enlisted to be part of this event – Cosmic Jibaros, Left Field Rhythms and others – these bands who are customarily paid for their work offered to play for free in exchange for the opportunity play for a local audience.  But most of the prime slots, the slots AFTER anyone with a job had left that job – were given to out of town bands, unknown to Bridgeport and unknown in general, for reasons that are unknown.

In the end, Mother Nature took charge and cancelled this event before it could be declared an un-success, offering up the perfect Act of God explanation to anyone wondering what exactly it was supposed to be.  We’ll never know, will we, because by the time the city of Bridgeport’s residents got out of work on Friday, the skies had already opened up and shut down the BAM Festival before they would ever be able to see for themselves.

Saint Bernadette congratulates everyone involved for what they attempted to do and for the parts of the festival that did come together – excellent sound by Alltel, great video coverage by people from Clearlight, a truly diverse Bridgeport-tastic sampling of people (i.e. people from the Caribbean islands, alternative artist types who work for themselves, people laid off from work, homeless people, the Mayor).  And Saint Bernadette truly appreciates any opportunity to perform and would never discourage anyone from trying to do something fun and community based.

However, as we have all seen so many times before in Bridgeport, there are many, many, many factors involved with doing events.  If it were easy, then life would just be one long string of wonderful events.  But it is not easy and it takes a large group of people with a lot of experience working together with plenty of time to prepare.  It is a unique skill set that is different from the management and promotion of other kinds of business.  To all the budding promoters/event organizers/programmers out there in Bridgeport, Saint Bernadette strongly advises that you consult other successful promoters/event organizers/programmers and get their advice, get their suggestions, get their playbook before you take on the planning of your own festival.

The City of Bridgeport needs you and Saint Bernadette has faith in you!

Just when you think you’ve managed to get rid of the weirdos, they rebound stronger than ever.

Annual Ideat Village
Kick-off Party,
Music Marathon and
“Chinese Auction”

6 BANDS, 6 BUCKS

Your support will help keep Ideat Village
free and open to everyone!

As always, the fundraiser features a selection of performers from the prior year’s festival.
Here’s the line-up:

• West Rockers •
• Eula •
• The Simple Pleasure •
• Lamb Bombs •
• ‘Twas Windmills •
• The Roxies •
(rare acoustic appearance)

As I hope by now, ALL of you know, this Saturday marks INDOOR/OUTDOOR – the first of the Sweetport events in downtown Bridgeport.  I could not ask for a better first event to hype in this blog.  It’s the kind of comprehensive, all-hands-on-deck programming that we always believed was possible in Bridgeport, the Park City, a city perfectly beloved, reviled, celebrated and mocked to reclaim its past glory and greatness. Come on everybody – we have everything we need to make it on the national stage: the waterfront! college kids! a history of organized crime! environmental damage! a mayor busted for drugs!

Please come this weekend – enjoy two days of a program that truly has something for everyone – preppies, hippies, families, hipsters, punks, bankers, bikers, pastors, and, of course, circus freaks.

This weekend - May 30th and 31st

Saturday, May 30, 2009
2:00pm – 9:00pm
McLevy Green
State & Main St.
Bridgeport, CT

For more information on the concert and all the other exciting programming, please visit:

Sweetport on Myspace
City Lights Gallery
Sweetport on Facebook

Big shout outs to Margaret Bodell, Dave Schneider, Melissa Bernstein, Suzanne Kachmar and everybody else who made this event possible!