East Hampton's Glorious Celebration

July 10 - 12, 2008

East Hampton, Connecticut

Updated and Final 2008 Old Home Days Entertainment Lineup

Between Thursday, July 10 and Saturday, July 12, the center of East Hampton will be filled with music provided by some of the area’s finest entertainers as the town celebrates the 30th Anniversary of its Old Home Day Glorious Celebration. As is sometimes the case, however, changes to schedules for events like this sometimes occur. Readers may consider the information below the final word on what they’ll be hearing in East Hampton next weekend.

Opening this year’s festivities on Thursday, July 10 at 6 PM will be Ben Rudnick & Friends, whose album, Grace’s Bell, recently won the Best Children's Music Album category of the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards Vox Populi. This outstanding band has been playing American roots style family and children's music since its first CD release in 2000. Their award winning recordings contain a unique acoustic sound ranging from folk to bluegrass, calypso and rock. From 7:30 to 10, East Hampton’s own Dramatix will skillfully combine masterful instrumentation with powerful vocal performances and staged theatrics to capture the essence of popular music from the ‘40s through today and show why they have become one of the most popular live entertainment acts in the state.

At 6 PM on Friday, July 11, The Village Jammers will share their distinct blend of bluegrass, rock and roll, country, jazz, blues, folk, swing, rockabilly, and American roots music with the crowd, demonstrating how over twenty years of playing together can generate a tight, smooth sound that audience members of all ages will be drawn into and enjoy. Another of Connecticut’s tightest bands, not to mention one of its most well-known and best-loved, The Savage Brothers, will close out the Friday celebration. This veteran, yet remarkably fresh sounding, party band will take the stage at about 8:15 and keep the audience moving and grooving to horn-infused hits from the 1960s through today until 11 PM.

As many readers know, East Hampton’s Old Home Day boasts the largest parade in Middlesex County. This year’s parade will begin at 11  AM on Saturday July 12, and the world-famous, 45-piece South Philadelphia String Band is returning for a second year with its colorful costumes and exacting renditions of marching-band favorites. Immediately after the official Old Home Day opening ceremony, this Mummers champion band will follow up its parade performance with a brief set in front of the stage. At about 2:15, local acoustic duo, The World’s Smallest Quartet, will take the stage and play selections from the over 250 musical favorites and obscurities they have mastered. At about 3:30, former East Hampton resident Bickley Rivera, aka Island Girl, brings her Smooth Steel Pan Jazz project up from her current residence in Florida to her - more - hometown. Referred to as "Relaxing....cozy...," and creating "...intimate feelings of bliss!” Rivera’s music will transport listeners to the Caribbean islands that inspire her music. Shifting from jazz to the blues, and taking the volume and tempo up a notch or two (or three or four), The Rubber City Blues Band begins its Old Home Day set at about 5:30, replacing Tip the Van, who had to cancel their appearance due to personnel issues. The audience is sure to love this 11 piece band that includes six brass players. Closing out Old Home Day’s 30th Anniversary will be hometown heroes Johnny Five. Since their appearance last year, Johnny Five has been regularly playing throughout the state, impressing audiences with their tight, faithful takes on the rock and roll classics that inspired the phrase, “Party all day and all night long!”

Throughout the weekend, Old Home Days’ attendees will enjoy a wealth of family fun, including free admission to all of the weekend’s entertainment, a variety of appetizing foods sold by local civic organizations and regional fair favorites, the Glorious Gallop 5K road race, martial arts demonstrations, complimentary face-painting and balloon animals for the kids, a number of exciting raffle drawings, and fun carnival rides (discount coupons available throughout the town now) and games.