Mountain Town Stages will have Main Street hopping next weekend.
Saturday evening starting at 8 p.m., the organization will launch the inaugural Main Street Music Crawl, featuring a combination of bars and local bands up and down the street.
Ed Fraze, president of Mountain Town Stages’ board of directors, said the event would be a little like a gallery stroll of a few Park City bars.
“It’s a fundraiser for our little organization,” he said, “and when we do our fundraisers, we like to make them fun raisers too.”
The event will also serve as the debut for the organization’s new CD, “Local Wonders Take Two,” which offers selections from 12 area musicians all veterans of Mountain Town Stages’ shows. The Music Crawl will feature six artists with tracks on the CD.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this,” said Sofia Mileti, the second chair with Mountain Town Stages.
The evening will begin at Rum Bunnies at 8 p.m. with performances from three singer-songwriters, Stacey Board, Jeff Hinton and Tony Oros. From there, the crawl will continue with a performance from Damien Roomets at Ringo. Mary Beth Maziarz will play at Bacchus Wine Bar, and Chris Bender and Fastback will close out the night at The Star Bar.
Fraze said Mountain Town Stages did its best to include musicians for different kinds of fans.
“We tried to get a variety of artists in an attempt to make it interesting for everyone,” he said.
The music will increase in pitch and tempo as the night goes, moving from the quieter, singer-songwriter trio at Rum Bunnies to Roomets, jazzy blues and Maziarz’s piano folk-rock, finishing with Fastback’s blues-y rock ‘n’ roll.
“The idea was to make it have a very broad appeal,” Fraze concluded.
“They contacted me and asked me if we wanted to play as part of the event,” Bender said. “They want us to kick it up there at the end of the night.”
Tickets cost $30 and include admission to all the venues, a copy of the CD, two shots at one of the bars, a Music Crawl shot glass, and prize drawings throughout the evening.
“We’re hoping to get a bunch of people together,” Mileti said.
She said Mountain Town Stages’ first chair, Randy Barton, will lead the group with a bullhorn, and a group of the organization’s board member and volunteers will help coordinate the revelers.
“We want everybody to dress in red,” Mileti said, “so everyone will notice.”
The event, she said, was designed to promote awareness of Mountain Town Stages, launch the new CD and raise money for the organization.
“We just kind of want to get the energy and enthusiasm for Mountain Town Stages up a notch,” she concluded.
According to Mileti, the organization’s board of directors came up with the idea for the event at its annual retreat last year.
The Music Crawl which the organization hopes to present annually presented itself as an idea at the retreat, she noted. Afterward, the organization decided to tie the event to the CD release.
“We always want to try new things and up on things that we’ve never done before,” she said. “We were just brainstorming about what we can do that’s never been done before.”
A follow up to Mountain Town Stages’ original “Local Wonders” CD, which was released in the summer of 2004, “Local Wonders Take Two” will bring some new artists to Mountain Town’s signature recordings.
According to Fraze, the organization decided to make the album after the first release sold out.
“Rather than just reprint that CD, we wanted to put a fresh take out there.”
The organization chose the songs on the album after putting out a call for artists. More than 30 artists submitted two songs each. A group from Mountain Town Stages listened to the submissions and narrowed down the choices to 21 songs. From there, the organization’s board chose the final 12 at a listening party.
The new release includes three artists who appeared on the original “Local Wonders” CD, Maziarz, John Flanders and Kathryn Warner.
Otherwise, the album has nine new artists, with Hinton, Oros, Board, Roomets, and Bender and Fastback appearing and Rich Wyman, Kelly V, Cheri Magill and Neil Bradley Owen also contributing songs.
One highlight, according to Mileti, is the Fastback song, “I Wonder Why,” featuring on piano the late Brian Hess, who died in the fall of 2004.
“He’s sort of immortalized in the song and on the CD,” Mileti said. “I think it’s kind of cool, and I think everyone that knew Brian and everyone who had Brian as a musical influence will appreciate it.”
Proceeds from the album’s sales benefit Mountain Town Stages and the concerts it promotes.
“It’s a symbiotic tool,” Mileti said. “It’s for us and it’s for them.”
So the Music Crawl will go too.
Bender commended the organization.
“Mountain Town Stages, the effort that they put forth to promote the local music scene is just awesome,” he said.
Fraze said the organization is happy to provide the chance for the musicians to play.
“The idea,” he said, “was to make it for Parkites to enjoy.”
The first annual Main Street Music Crawl will run on March 11 at 8 p.m., starting at Rum Bunnies. To buy tickets for the event, visit www.mountaintownstages.com or call 901-SONG.