Stepping Out

Singin' the blues

Long Beach welcomes Blues and Arts Festival

Posted

Summer Sounds

Barrier Beach Blues and Arts Festival
It may not be officially summertime just yet, but the sea breeze is a welcome accompaniment to one of the season’s first music festivals this weekend. The blues are in full swing this weekend, at the seventh edition of the Barrier Beach Blues and Arts Festival. Producer Johanna Mathieson, supported by Artists in Partnership, has gathered an acclaimed line-up of musicians and vocalists who are performing at the Long Beach Public Library and varied venues in the City by the Sea. Roots music finger-style guitar virtuoso Toby Walker kicks things off on Friday, June 12, at 8 p.m. The weekend schedule also features guitarist-singer Solomon Hicks and the Blues are Back, Slam Allen and singer-songwriter Debbie Davies, along with Better Late Than Never Band, Hoodoo Honeydrippers, Michael Hill’s Blues Mob, and Benoir, among others. The festival closes with a Blues and Bar-B-Q Wrap Party at Lola’s on Sunday, at 5 p.m., with the Michael Barnett Blues Band.
Friday through Sunday, June 12-14. All events are free. The schedule is subject to change. For more information, visit www.aip-arts.org.

Family Fun

Songs in the Key of Earth
Singer-songwriter Patricia Shih and her rollicking sidekick Stephen Fricker visit the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum’s Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium for a concert adventure. The duo will use the wonder of the planetarium to take everyone on a rocketship ride through space and back to Earth. Along the way, the audience will examine the planet’s beauty and fragility, get to make wishes upon the first star, snuggle up with a lullaby, help to make a thunderstorm, and dance under a huge rainbow. Music, along with projected images and video, is the inspiration for an enchanting journey under the planetarium’s starry dome.
Sunday, June 14, 4:30 p.m. $8. Seating is limited and advance purchase is recommended. Vanderbilt Museum, 180 Little Neck Rd., Centerport. (631) 854-5579.