Legendary music producer Tony Visconti will headline VersoFest 2024 at The Westport Library, appearing in the Library’s Trefz Forum on Saturday, April 6.
Visconti will be in conversation for The Westport Library's third annual music and media festival, discussing his art and career as one of pop music’s longest working and most influential producers. This event is free and requires registration.
Beyond music, Visconti has created moments blooming into cultural movements (glam rock) and art linked to collective memory in David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World,” “Rebel Rebel,” and “Heroes,” and T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang A Gong),” “Cosmic Dancer,” and “20th Century Boy.”
Lifetime achievements, GRAMMY Awards, film and TV soundtracks, and many other honors celebrate Visconti’s production and arrangement vision, which also includes collaborations with Thin Lizzy, Paul McCartney & Wings (for their famed Band on the Run album), U2, Bert Jansch, Angelique Kidjo, Luscious Jackson, Alejandro Escovedo, the Strawbs, Fall Out Boy, Gentle Giant, Mercury Rev, Sparks, Badfinger, The Moody Blues, The Alarm, Kristeen Young, and D-Generation.
In addition, Visconti recently arranged the strings on New Haven musician and former Verso Studios Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast guest Kelly Reilly’s “Happiness Lasts.”
Visconti is currently touring the globe celebrating the release of the new 77-track box set, Produced by Tony Visconti. He is also the author of the book, Tony Visconti: The Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy, published in 2007.
David Bowie, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy — titans of rock ‘n’ roll music, all connected by the iconic touches of legendary producer, arranger, and VersoFest 2024 keynote subject Tony Visconti.
Visconti will be in conversation for The Westport Library's third annual music and media festival on Saturday, April 6 at 1 pm, discussing his art and career as one of pop music’s longest working and most influential producers. This event is free and requires registration, tickets are available now via this link.
Beyond music, Visconti has created moments blooming into cultural movements (glam rock), art linked to collective memory in T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang A Gong),” “Cosmic Dancer,” and “20th Century Boy” and Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World,” “Rebel Rebel,” and “Heroes.” Lifetime achievements, GRAMMY Awards, film and TV soundtracks, and many other honors celebrate Visconti’s production and arrangement vision, which also includes collaborations with Paul McCartney & Wings (for their famed Band on the Run album), U2, Bert Jansch, Angelique Kidjo, Luscious Jackson, Alejandro Escovedo, the Strawbs, Fall Out Boy, Gentle Giant, Mercury Rev, Sparks, Badfinger, The Moody Blues, The Alarm, Kristeen Young, and D-Generation. In addition, Visconti recently arranged the strings on New Haven musician and former Verso Studios Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast guest Kelly Reilly’s “Happiness Lasts.”
Visconti and Bowie, wayback when
“Now in its third year, VersoFest 2024 is shaping up to be another impressive and inspiring weekend for creators and fans alike. Announcing the legendary Tony Visconti, who has been at the helm of countless cultural touchstones is a tremendous launch for our 2024 program,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer.
VersoFest 2024 is a four-day music festival and conference happening Thursday, April 4, through Sunday, April 7. VersoFest includes panels where experts share their perspective and vision. Intimate workshops provide creators the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft. Performances entertain and inspire.
Previous years have featured a diverse and eclectic mix of performers and subjects including the Smithereens, Sunflower Bean, Grand Wizzard Theodore (inventor of scratch DJing), producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Talking Heads, Dave Matthews Band), Richard Butler (Psychedelic Furs), Dennis Dunaway (Alice Cooper), Miriam Linna (Norton Records, Kicks Books, Kicksville Radio), actor/producer Michael Jai White, Little Steven’s TeachRock Foundation, Connecticut Public, and many more.
Visconti is currently touring the globe celebrating the release of the new 77-track box set Produced by Tony Visconti. Visconti told popular music blog Super Deluxe Edition, “This boxset covers five-and-a-half decades of my efforts in the art of making iconic recordings. Some of it is familiar and some will have a eureka moment, ‘I didn’t know Visconti produced that one!’”
Near the end of their set during the VersoFest 2023 kickoff concert, Sunflower Bean lead singer and bassist Julia Cumming posed a rhetorical question to the audience: “Did you know this isn’t the first time we’ve played in a library? But it wasn’t as cool as this library. This is the COOLEST library!”
For four days, The Westport Library was indeed the coolest library, playing host to its annual VersoFest — a celebration of music, media, and creativity featuring concerts, panel discussions, workshops, and so much more.
The festival truly had something for everyone, from the rollicking keynote conversation between renowned producer Steve Lillywhite and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Chris Frantz to the insightful Malloy Lecture in the Arts with artist and Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler to the emotional oral history interview with the legendary Miriam Linna and Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman.
And that is just a portion of all that was showcased at VersoFest 2023. The concerts with Sunflower Bean (Thursday), with DJ HYSTERICA opening, and the Smithereens featuring Marshall Crenshaw (Friday), with Amilia K Spicer opening and Linna serving as DJ, drew more than 750 people to the Library’s packed Trefz Forum. Hundreds more assembled over the weekend for panels ranging from rock fashion and rock photography to vinyl record collecting, podcasting and radio, and the business of music, culminating Sunday afternoon with a celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop in Connecticut that regularly brought the capacity crowd to its feet.
VersoFest also carved out space for a record fair featuring vendors from across the tri-state area as well as intimate workshop sessions on songwriting, screenwriting, photography, and TV and media production. There was also a hands-on TeachRock session utilizing a 1:4 replica of the Grateful Dead’s “Wall of Sound” PA system that entertained throughout the weekend with a steady diet of the Dead’s best.
In addition to the Wall of Sound, VersoFest’s other installation was a museum of Alice Cooper Group artifacts courtesy Alice Cooper bassist Dennis Dunaway, who closed out the festival with a showing of Live from the AstroTurf, the Alice Cooper Group reunion documentary.
In the Q&A following the documentary, Dunaway echoed Cumming’s words from three days’ prior, pointing to the Library’s forum, lit up for the evening show with a kaleidoscope of colored lights and decorated with Alice Cooper fans young and old, and said, “You call this a library, but this is WAY more than a library.”
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Photos: Chad Anderson of Chad Anderson Photography & Brendan Toller
VersoFest 2023 will feature two headlining concerts and an array of experts in the fields of music, media, and more, providing a multitude of opportunities to explore and create over a four-day immersive experience.
And if they play their cards right, attendees could leave with an autographed album to boot.
Some of VersoFest’s headliners and guests, including legendary producer Steve Lillywhite, Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler, and Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth, will be autographing copies of their vinyl records that will be up for giveaway and auction during the festival.
Two of those albums will be part of the VersoFest record giveaway. Festivalgoers can submit their entries for the giveaway starting with the March 30 kickoff concert featuring rising American rock band Sunflower Bean, with submissions open through the festival’s completion on Sunday April 2 — a day that will include a record fair, presented by Record Riots, from 11 am to 4 pm, and a vinyl record panel brunch featuring WPKN DJ Alec Cumming, producer Dooley-O, Kraftjerkz Records’ Kid Ginseng, WFUV DJ and House of Wax host Eric Holland, New Haven Independent arts reporter Karen Ponzio, and moderated by the Zambonis’ Dave Schneider.
Additionally, there will be a silent auction held Saturday and Sunday of the festival (April 1-2). Those in attendance will be given an opportunity to bid on a wide variety of signed albums associated with several of the festival’s speakers and guests. The highest bidder will receive the signed copy, with all proceeds going to support future VersoFest endeavors.
“This is a really cool opportunity to bring home some of the best vinyl albums produced in the last 50 years,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer. “Beyond that, these signed copies are collector’s items — a keepsake to enjoy for its own sake, to commemorate what we think will an unforgettable four days celebrating music, media, and creativity, and a unique way to raise money so we can bring this festival back to Westport and the tri-state area next year and again in the years to come.”
To learn more about this year’s festival, including to buy concert tickets and register for workshops, visit the VersoFest 203 landing page.
VersoFest is The Westport Library’s annual celebration of music, media, and creativity, four days of innovation, inspiration, and exploration. This year, it will have a special artistic component to match.
The Artists Collective of Westport will be celebrating music through visual arts with a two-part exhibition that will encompass all three of the Library’s galleries — Music to Our Eyes residing in the Sheffer Gallery and the Jesup Gallery, and Piece by Piece in the South Gallery.
The exhibits will run March 4 through May 9, with the reveal of Piece by Piece to be held during a special reception held March 8 from 6 to 8 pm.
“Music to Our Eyes, and its companion exhibit, Piece by Piece, was conceived as a way to add a visual arts component to the VersoFest musical experience,” said Westport Library Exhibit Curator Carole Erger-Fass. “I am thrilled to have the Artists Collective of Westport partner with the Library in this all-member exhibit, which showcases the myriad of ways that artists are inspired by music.”
Piece by Piece is a 6-foot by 10-foot art installation composed of the work of 60 Artists Collective members. Each artist received a 12-inch by 12-inch blank panel along with a 6-inch square section randomly selected from a single iconic music-themed painting. The artists created their individual piece, replicating a part of the larger painting in their own style, without knowing what the final painting will look like until it is revealed at the opening reception.
“The end result,” said Artists Collective founding member and longtime Library supporter Miggs Burroughs, “is an entertaining exercise in community, creativity, and collaboration.”
In addition to Burroughs, those contributing to Piece by Piece include Katherine Ross, Michael Brennecke, Nina Bentley, Susan Fehlinger, Eric Chiang, and Elizabeth DeVoll.
For Music to Our Eyes, each of the Artists Collective members were invited to display a work in the medium of their choice, interpreting music through painting, drawing, photography, and collage.
“The history of visual art has been fundamentally tethered to the history of music,” said Fehlinger. “Many famous artists have credited music as a muse for their work, while some musicians have revealed that art or an artist has been their inspiration. Since antiquity, artists have found inspiration in the songs, instruments, and musicians of their eras for inspiration to push the visual arts forward.
“In this show, over 50 local artists will be exhibiting their musically themed paintings in the Library’s Sheffer Gallery. Some artworks were inspired by a style of music, and some were inspired by a specific piece, but all are related to the artists’ musical experience.”
Each 12-inch by 12-inch “piece” of Piece by Piece will be available for purchase starting the night of the reception. Each square will be $100, with 50% of the proceeds supporting the Library’s art programs and 50% going to the artist. The additional artworks on display in the Sheffer and Jesup Galleries will also be available for purchase, with a percentage of the proceeds going to benefit the Library.
The Artists Collective of Westport is a group of creative individuals who have joined forces to discuss, create, and develop dynamic experiences for the Fairfield County community. The collective is open to all active artists in pursuit of expanding their careers and in developing a strong, diverse arts community.
Exhibit support is provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center.
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Related: Video from the 2021 Piece by Piece exhibition:
From Sunflower Bean to the Smithereens, Alice Cooper costumes to evolving androgynous rock fashion, hip hop’s 50th anniversary to primitive garage rock, VersoFest 2023 returns for its second year, March 30 through April 2, celebrating music, media, and creativity in Connecticut, the tri-state area, and beyond.
An extension of Verso Studios at The Westport Library, VersoFest is a media festival and conference where experts share their perspective and vision; where intimate workshops provide creators the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft; and that features performances that entertain and inspire.
“Our state-of-the-art media facility Verso Studios grew out of The Westport Library Makerspace, with a vision to engage a broader audience in media production and educational events,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer. “VersoFest is our call to the community to be immersed in some of the greatest local and global multimedia talent. We are developing a special space and significant driver for our creative and business communities in the region.”
Last year’s inaugural festival welcomed more than 2,300 visitors over three days of concerts, panels, and workshops. 2023 raises the bar with New York City’s Sunflower Bean kicking off the festival in concert on Thursday, March 30, hot off the band’s headlining presence at South by Southwest.
The Smithereens featuring Marshall Crenshaw follow on Friday night with Americana opener Amilia K Spicer and the legendary Miriam Linna serving as vinyl DJ.
Saturday and Sunday provide the panel and workshop programming — and then some. Highlights include the Steve Lillywhite Keynote Conversation with Chris Frantz, Saturday at 1 pm. Lillywhite is a lauded record producer whose credits include the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, U2, the Psychedelic Furs, XTC, Morrissey, the Pogues, Dave Matthews Band, Guster, Phish, the Killers, and many more.
Earlier in the day, Deadheads and gearheads of all ages can enjoy a course presented by Steven Van Zandt’s educational foundation, TeachRock, on the Grateful Dead’s 1974, three-story, 28,800-watt hot-rodded PA system, “The Wall of Sound.” In addition, Anthony Coscia’s stunning 1:4 scale model recreation of the PA will be on display as a VersoFest installation in the Trefz Forum space, playing music intermittently throughout the course of the festival.
Come Saturday afternoon, author and journalist Rachel Felder will host a panel entitled, Evolving Rock Fashion: From Marianne Faithfull, to Debbie Harry, to Lizzo, with three fashion experts. Katie Settel, the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater’s in-house photographer, will share a master class taking workshop participants through her journey, influences, and technique. Continuing in the photography realm, artist Dylan Hundley (Lulu Lewis) moderates a photography panel with Fairfield County natives Settel and Michael Friedman, and New York City's Julia Gorton and Lynn Goldsmith (who currently has a landmark art/IP case at the Supreme Court).
Saturday night will feature the rescheduled Malloy Lecture in the Arts, featuring renowned artist and Psychedlic Furs frontman Richard Butler in conversation with Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club).
Sunday features an all-day inaugural VersoFest Record Fair presented by Record Riots, with a handful of vinyl dealers wheeling and dealing in the library hub space.
Norton Records co-founder Miriam Linna is the subject of VersoFest’s Music Oral History with Beehive Queen and SNL singer, Christine Ohlman. Linna is a pioneering and guiding force in rock ‘n’ roll as a founding member of the Cramps, co-founder with her late husband Billy Miller of leading primitive/garage/punk/R&B label Norton Records, and hip pocket paperback publisher Kicks Books, as well as mastermind of Kicksville Radio, dedicated to 24/7 broadcasting of the lost heroes of rock n' roll. Ohlman’s stunning Joshie Jo Armstead music oral history was attended by tri-state area rock ‘n’ roll glitterati, and highly regarded as one of VersoFest 2022’s best offerings.
Linna will also host a very special table of goods at the record fair, including rare and never-before-seen Norton and Kicks memorabilia.
Early Sunday evening (5 pm), Connecticut celebrates the 50th anniversary of the advent of hip hop with a Legends Beats and Grooves block featuring scratch DJ demonstrations and discussion from the originator of the scratch, DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore, DJ Grandmaster Supreme (Lauryn Hill), DJ Ragoza, Tony Tone (Cold Crush Brothers), HOT 93.7’s DJ Billy Busch, hosted by Terrible Tee, with special performances.
Alice Cooper fans get a two-fer with the mini-museum exhibition of Alice Cooper Group costumes, stage props, instruments, unpublished photos, and more in Dr. Dreary’s Snakes! Museum of Alice Cooper Artifacts on Saturday and Sunday, plus a special screening of the documentary Live from the Astroturf featuring a Q&A and book signing (Snakes! Guillontines! Electric Chairs!) with original Alice Cooper bassist Dennis Dunaway that will conclude Sunday's programming. The film chronicles the surprise 2015 reunion of the original Alice Cooper Group at independent record store, Good Records, in Dallas. Record store owner and reunion conduit Chris Penn will also be in attendance.
Prior to the official festival, Dunaway's super group, Blue Coupe (featuring Joe & Albert Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult), play a VersoFest fundraiser, Friday, March 10, with support from DJ B The T Sr.
The full schedule for VersoFest 2023 is available here.
Food trucks will be on site Saturday (The Steak Truck) and Sunday (Walrus Alley) in the library parking lot to supplement the many offerings of the Library Café.
All concerts and workshops are ticketed events; Dr. Dreary’s Snakes! Museum will also require a ticket for entry. (See all registration and ticket links here.) Panels and keynotes are free and open to all ages. A cash bar with wine, beer, and non-alcoholic drinks will be available all four nights of the festival. All VersoFest 2023 concerts are co-produced with the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce. A selection of events will be recorded by Verso Studios Crew Call and available on-demand at a later date.
Ed. Note: Story updated March 1 adding the Malloy Lecture in the Arts to Saturday night.
The Westport Library is gearing up for VersoFest 2023 with a trio of legendary musicians.
Blue Coupe, the supergroup formed of Alice Cooper group bassist Dennis Dunaway and Blue Öyster Cult founders Joe and Albert Bouchard will take over the Library’s Trefz Forum on Friday, March 10, at 7 pm.
Proceeds from the show will go to benefit this year’s VersoFest, which runs March 30 to April 2 and features live performances by Sunflower Bean, Amilia K Spicer, and the Smithereens, as well as a full set of programs and workshops featuring music luminaries and those behind the scenes who will come to the Library to inform, inspire, and entertain. Renowned producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Rolling Stones, Talking Heads) will provide the keynote address on Saturday, April 1.
Sisters Tish and Snooky Bellomo of Manic Panic will be joining Blue Coupe for the show. DJ B The T Sr. starts the night on Verso Studios vinyl DJ decks, spinning the formative rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, and blues music that influenced and informed bands like Alice Cooper and Blue Öyster Cult.
“There aren’t many bands like Blue Coupe making music today,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer, “and we’re thrilled to have them perform in the Trefz Forum. This is a good old fashioned rock band that delivers hits you know and hits you’ll come to love. It’s a really cool experience for our visitors and the perfect show to get us ready for VersoFest.”
Said Dunaway, “We're thrilled to be performing at The Westport Library because they excel in enriching the community in knowledge and all varieties of the arts.”
Blue Coupe’s live concerts are a mix of the best-known songs from their respective groups as well as new music from their studio albums. The band’s website describes the amalgam as “a powerful legacy of music that makes for a dynamic and exciting show.”
Dunaway is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who co-wrote Alice Cooper band hits including “I’m 18,” “School's Out,” and “Under My Wheels.” Multi-instrumentalist Joe Bouchard — a VersoFest 2022 alum — and drummer Albert Bouchard founded Blue Öyster Cult and served as co-writers and arrangers of many of the band’s biggest songs, including “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll,” “Hot Rails to Hell,” and “Astronomy.”
All told, Dunaway and the Bouchard brothers have sold 15 million-plus albums and have been awarded more than 30 gold and platinum records worldwide.
Blue Coupe has made three albums since its inception, including its most recent offering, ELEVEN EVEN, released in 2019 and recorded to have the feeling of a live show. “The stage is our second home,” said Dunaway, “so we all write songs with an arena feel.”
Also in 2019, Blue Coupe performed at the Sweden Rock Festival to rave reviews. The band followed that with the Great South Bay Music Festival in Long Island, New York, and a tour of the Midwest that culminated with a live-streamed interview from the main stage in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
DJ B The T Sr. was station manager and program director of WNHU from 1977 to 1981, where he helped break new bands like X, Blondie, U2, and the Motels, and fostered a burgeoning community of independent and original New Haven bands. After many years hunkered over his basement mixtape laboratory, he has reemerged with lively DJ appearances at Berlinetta Brewing in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Tickets to see Blue Coupe live in the Trez Forum are available on Eventbrite. All VersoFest 2023 concerts are co-produced with the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce.
Blue Coupe, the supergroup formed of Alice Cooper group bassist Dennis Dunaway and Blue Öyster Cult founders Joe and Albert Bouchard will take over the Library’s Trefz Forum on Friday, March 10.
Doors open at 6:30 pm; opener at 7 pm.
Tickets to see Blue Coupe live in the Trez Forum are available HERE.
Sisters Tish and Snooky Bellomo of Manic Panic will be joining Blue Coupe for the show. DJ B The T Sr. starts the night on Verso Studios vinyl DJ decks, spinning the formative rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, and blues music that influenced and informed bands like Alice Cooper and Blue Öyster Cult.
Proceeds from the show will go to benefit this year’s VersoFest, which runs March 30 to April 2.
Blue Coupe’s live concerts are a mix of the best-known songs from their respective groups as well as new music from their studio albums. The band’s website describes the amalgam as “a powerful legacy of music that makes for a dynamic and exciting show.”
Dunaway is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who co-wrote Alice Cooper band hits including “I’m 18,” “School's Out,” and “Under My Wheels.” Multi-instrumentalist Joe Bouchard — a VersoFest 2022 alum — and drummer Albert Bouchard founded Blue Öyster Cult and served as co-writers and arrangers of many of the band’s biggest songs, including “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll,” “Hot Rails to Hell,” and “Astronomy.”
All told, Dunaway and the Bouchard brothers have sold 15 million-plus albums and have been awarded more than 30 gold and platinum records worldwide.
All VersoFest 2023 concerts are co-produced with the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce.
From the stages of Glastonbury, Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Reading, and Leeds, as well as a recent sell-out at New York City’s Terminal 5, Sunflower Bean will open VersoFest 2023 at The Westport Library.
The Brooklyn-based band will take the stage for an intimate kickoff concert at the state-of-the-art Verso Studios Trefz Forum venue. DJ HYSTERICA will serve as the in-house DJ for the evening.
Tickets for the show are $25 in advance and available via Eventbrite.
VersoFest is a multi-day music and media festival/conference born out of Verso Studios at The Westport Library. Verso Studios is a library branch of the 21st century focusing on multimedia programming and commercial services as well as educational and content creation opportunities.
The festival will continue on Friday evening, March 31, featuring headlining act The Smithereens, with Amilia K Spicer kicking off the evening and the legendary Miriam Linna serving as DJ. A full slate of programs and workshops round out VersoFest 2023 on Saturday and Sunday, with famed producer Steve Lillywhite delivering the keynote Saturday afternoon.
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Sunflower Bean frontperson, singer-songwriter Julia Cumming, returns to her home base of Fairfield County hot off the band’s headlining presence at South by Southwest 2023. Recently, Sunflower Bean’s Headful of Sugar was named #41 of Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of 2022, and Consequence of Sound proudly referred to the band as “one of the most consistent and beloved staples of the scene.”
Cumming (bass, lead vocals), Nick Kivlen (guitars, backing vocals), and Olive Faber (drums) formed Sunflower Bean in early 2013, “made up of young people staring down a terrifying future and finding camaraderie in the eclectic rock ‘n’ roll aesthetics.”
Their 2014 College Music Journal Music Marathon performance received press from (among others) Jon Pareles of The New York Times, who described their sound as “… what might have happened if psychedelia had emerged after punk and the Police rather than before."
The band has toured extensively with artists as disparate as Beck, Cage the Elephant, Interpol, Courtney Barnett, The Pixies, The Kills, DIIV, Courtney Barnett, and Wolf Alice.
Joining Sunflower Bean for the evening is DJ HYSTERICA, who has been igniting DJ decks throughout the tri-state area with her selections of 60s psych, garage, glam, power pop, ye-ye, greasy R&B, new wave, dark wave, and punk. This extends to HYSTERICA's weekly Monday 3 pm Some Weird Sin show on WFMU's Sheena's Jungle Room and monthly Rock 'n' Roll Radio show on WHUS.
All VersoFest 2023 concerts are co-produced with the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce.
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Click here to see the full story announcing the Friday evening lineup.
The Smithereens, the famed American rock band with a string of hits running from the 1980s into the 2000s, will headline Friday night’s VersoFest concert slot at The Westport Library on March 31 at 7 pm. Singer/songwriter and new wave pioneer Marshall Crenshaw takes the role of Smithereen lead vocals for the night.
Americana musician Amilia K Spicer opens the evening fresh off rave reviews from NPR, Popdose, and No Depression, and the legendary Miriam Linna DJs the night with 45s from one of the most-revered record collections in the world. Marc Miller of Kicksville Radio's "Crashing The Party" will also be in DJ tow.
VersoFest is a multi-day music and media festival/conference born out of Verso Studios at The Westport Library. Verso Studios is a library branch of the 21st century focusing on multimedia programming and commercial services as well as educational and content creation opportunities. The festival opens Thursday, March 30, and will continue with a full slate of programs and workshops Saturday and Sunday, April 1-2, with famed producer Steve Lillywhite delivering the keynote Saturday afternoon.
“This is a remarkable collection of talented artists to be joining us in one evening,” said Bill Harmer, executive director of The Westport Library. “The Smithereens are an institution, Amilia is a rising star, and Miriam is one of music’s leading lights. That they’re all coming to the Library to perform is a testament to the enduring power of music in our community and the continued growth of VersoFest in its second year.”
Founded in New Jersey in 1980, The Smithereens have been creating electrifying, original rock ‘n’ roll for 42 years. Jim Babjak (guitar), Dennis Diken (drums), and Mike Mesaros (bass) grew up together in Carteret, and lead singer, the late Pat DiNizio, hailed from Scotch Plains. The Smithereens formed their take-no-prisoners, East Coast roots-rock sound inspired by a well of rock ‘n’ roll predecessors including Buddy Holly, The Who, Nick Lowe, and The Move.
The Smithereens’ fame escalated in the late 1980s and 1990s with hits like “Behind the Wall of Sleep,” “A Girl Like You,” and “Only a Memory,” and the band was in heavy rotation on MTV and appeared on The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Saturday Night Live. Over the course of 17 albums and 2,500+ live shows, The Smithereens have performed on stages coast to coast from the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles to Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, and internationally from Europe to Australia. Tourmates have included Tom Petty, Squeeze, The Pretenders, Lou Reed, and Ramones, among others.
After the 2017 passing of DiNizio, the surviving members decided to persevere and carry on their shared musical legacy, showcasing guest vocalists Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms and singer/songwriter Crenshaw.
Spicer is a singer/songwriter who was raised in rural Pennsylvania and lives in Los Angeles, with a haunting, husky voice and an Americana folk/rock style "that evokes majestic vistas — and shadowy mysteries." Her 2017 album Wow and Flutter featured contributions from bassist Daryl Johnson (Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan), keyboardists Rami Jaffee (Wallflowers/Foo Fighters) and Mike Finnigan (Bonnie Raitt/Taj Mahal), pedal steel player Eric Heywood (Son Volt), and guitarists Tony Gilkyson (X, Lone Justice) and Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams). PopDose said of Spicer’s offering, “Wow and Flutter certainly makes it worth the wait for longtime admirers; it’s also a compelling entry point for new fans and one of the best albums, any genre, of the past decade.”
Joining Spicer in a duo format is Chris Masterson, longtime member of Steve Earle's band the Dukes. Masterson performs and records with his wife Eleanor Whitmore; together, this twosome make inspired albums of their own emotionally vivid, deeply humanistic songs. The duo's fourth set of original compositions is the appropriately titled No Time for Love Songs.
Linna is a founding member of the Cramps, co-founder with her late husband Billy Miller of leading primitive/garage/punk/R&B label Norton Records and hip pocket paperback publisher Kicks Books, as well as the mastermind of Kicksville Radio. On Sunday, April 2, Linna will be the subject of VersoFest’s Music Oral History program, moderated by Beehive Queen and SNL singer Christine Ohlman.
Tickets for Friday night’s show are $40 in advance and available via Eventbrite. All VersoFest 2023 concerts are co-produced with the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce.
A visionary music and media festival calls for visionary talent.
Enter Steve Lillywhite.
The lauded record producer, whose credits include the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, U2, the Psychedelic Furs, XTC, Morrissey, the Pogues, Dave Matthews Band, Guster, Phish, the Killers, and many more, has been confirmed as a headliner for VersoFest 2023.
VersoFest is The Westport Library’s annual music and media conference and festival where knowledge is shared and inspiration is discovered — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge.
Lillywhite will be appearing on Saturday, April 1, in conversation with renowned Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club drummer Chris Frantz.
“Hello Versoites, come and watch my good friend Chris Frantz and me share some stories from the past on April Fool’s Day,” Lillywhite said. “What could possibly be better?!”
Lillywhite’s career began as a staff producer with Island Records, flowering with the emergence of new wave music. Island Records is widely regarded as one of the all-time forward-thinking popular record labels and rosters. With grand success in pioneering recording ethos and technique, as well as popular sales, Lillywhite was made a Commander of the Order of The British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to music in 2012.
Lillywhite’s VersoFest 2023 booking capitalizes on Verso Studios’ Island Records alumni connections, including Frantz and Grammy-winning producer and engineer Rob Fraboni, both key Verso Studios contributors and VersoFest 2022 alums.
“VersoFest celebrates the creative community, with a focus on innovation and inspiration,” said Bill Harmer, executive director of The Westport Library. “Steve Lillywhite perfectly embodies this spirit. He has left an indelible imprint on music and popular culture. His production credits are legendary and helped to define the soundtrack of a generation. It’s an honor to have him headline VersoFest 2023.”
VersoFest 2023 will run from Thursday, March 30, through Sunday, April 2, and include panels and keynotes where experts share their perspective and vision; intimate workshops provide creators the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft; and performances that entertain and inspire.
Contributors and artists will continue to be added to the festival. Sign up for Verso Studios e-news for all the latest VersoFest and Verso updates.
