Elks to celebrate 25 years of Music Fest Sunday

Time flies when you’re having fun. Just ask the Liverpool Elks.

One of the area’s most active fraternal orders will celebrate a quarter-century of Music Fests when the band plugs in at noon on Sunday, Aug. 11, at the club on Cold Springs Road. Four of Central New York’s best rock bands — The Fulton Chain Gang, Soul Mine, Kat Tale and Mood Swing — will perform one after another through 6 p.m.

Admission costs $5, and proceeds benefit ENABLE and Cerebral Palsy of CNY. Kids age 11 and younger will be admitted free.

Besides the good vibes, the Music Fest features raffles including 50-50, a bounce house, food and beverages; 622-2348.

‘Long Way from Nashville’

The Fulton Chain Gang will be selling copies of its brand new nine-track album “Life in the Years.” Tunes include “Another Kind of Green,” “Living for Today” and, an anthem for country bands stuck in the Northeast, “A Long Way from Nashville.”

The Chain Gang features guitarist David Brown, singer-guitarist Blaine Holcomb, pedal steel guitarist Dennis Buzcek, bassist Dave Montany and drummer Mike Oliver; thefultonchaingang.com.

She’s got soul!

Soul Mine, a hot and heavy R&B unit, includes a Liverpool musician, trumpeter-singer TamaraLee Shutt. She performed at Johnson Park last Wednesday, July 31, with her other band, I Am Fool.

Appreciating concerts

The Liverpool Is The Place Committee received a certificate of appreciation from CNY Arts on July 30 at Syracuse Stage. LITP presents 24 free concerts each summer at Johnson Park, and CNY Arts’ decentralization grant program helped fund this year’s series.

Upcoming concerts in the park will showcase The Details performing youngblood rock’n’roll, on Monday, Aug. 12 and the Enzian Bavarian Band playing old world dance tunes on Wednesday, Aug. 14; liverpoolistheplace.com.

    The Liverpool Public Library’s 2013 Folk Music Series, “Dance Rhythms,” also received a CNY Arts certificate of appreciation.

‘Café Saturdays’

Syracuse area Music Hall of Famer Maria DeSantis continues her series of Café Saturdays at Café at 407 at Ophelia’s Place, 407 Tulip St., here in Liverpool.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, members of Maria’s own DeSantis Band play a wide variety of pop, rock and show tunes. The combo often spotlights native Liverpudlian Keith Condon, a truly gifted vocalist who does justice equally to swing standards and classic rock’n’roll tunes.

Admission is free at Café at 407, but don’t forget to drop a little something in the musicians’ tip jar; 451-5544.

Neural Groove reunion

The best alternative rock band to hail from Liverpool was Neural Groove which reigned over the Syracuse scene from 1997 to 2002.

The band hosts an 11th-year reunion starting at about 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at Lost Horizon, near the corner of Erie Boulevard East and Thompson Road South on Syracuse’s East Side. Three other acts are on the bill, including Ryan Fitzsimmons (who now lives in Boston), and the bands Candid and Anodyne. Admission costs $8, and all ages may attend; 446-1934.

At the tail end of the 20th century, the Neural Groove toured heavily across Central New York area and beyond. The band won multiple Syracuse Area Music Awards and proved that a local, original band could create as much buzz and draw as many people as the most popular cover bands do.

The band features Craig Costello, Dave Springall, Steve Carbone, Mike Carbone, Tim “Sully” Sullivan and Joe Albicelli.

Clock is telling time

Contractors have erected the new Victorian-style clock at Washington Park Point at the intersection of Oswego and First streets.

The clock, which was funded by business and individual contributions and the village of Liverpool, is the brainchild of Wetzel Road contractor Jack Fisher.

An official dedication ceremony will be announced in a few weeks.