(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The inaugural Green Apple Music & Arts Festival, the biggest Earth Day festival in the United States, will be held April 20-23 at more than 30 of New York’s venues. The festival, produced by Peter Shapiro and Relix Magazine, kicks off with the Sixth Annual Jammys awards show and all-star concert, to be held on April 20 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Confirmed performers are moe., Little Feat, Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, Joe Satriani, Blues Traveler, Peter Frampton, Richie Havens, Baaba Maal, The Mutaytor, McCoy Tyner, Savion Glover, Mad Professor, Angelique Kidjo, Steve Kimock, Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, Bettye Lavette, Guster, Martin Sexton, and DJ Logic.
Among the artists scheduled to perform at the Green Apple Music & Arts Festival are Slick Rick, Baaba Maal, Ghostface, Umphrey’s McGee, the Steve Kimock Band, the New York Philharmonic, Richie Havens, Avail, Little Feat, Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, Mad Professor, Particle, Islands, Dresden Dolls, Björkestra, Cary Brothers, Slick Rick, Toots & the Maytals, Soulive, the Slip, Twobab Krewe, Guster, the Fab Faux, Mike Doughty, Dan Bern, Kaki King, Gabrielle and Dresden, Blues Traveler, Ben Taylor, Bill Frisell, Mutaytor, Jonah Smith, Perpetual Groove, Strangefolk, Grateful Dead archivist David Lemeiux, Martin Sexton, Assembly of Dust, Antibalas, Rose Hill Drive, Murray Hill, Josh Radin, DJ Equal, Nouvelle Vague, Perpetual Groove, Main Squeeze Orchestra, Amy Correia, Yosi Piamenta and the Heavenly Jams Band, Ryan Montbleau, Max Creek, Zen Tricksters and Deep Banana Blackout.
The list of venues hosting Green Apple Music & Arts Festival performances includes The Avalon, B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, Bed, The Bitter End, The Blue Note, The Bowery Ballroom, The Canal Room, CBGBs, Coda, The Cutting Room, The Hiro Ballroom, Irving Plaza, Joe’s Pub, The Knitting Factory, The Lion’s Den, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Makor, Mercury Lounge, Mexicali Blues, Mo Pitkins, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, The Nokia Theater Times Square, Piano’s, RocksOff Boat Cruise, Rothko, The Slipper Room, S.O.B.’s, Southpaw, Tonic, Town Hall, The Village Vanguard, Webster Hall and Carnegie Hall.
“Increasing the visibility and reach of Earth Day has never been more important,” says executive producer Shapiro, former owner of the environmentally-themed, celebrated NYC rock club the Wetlands Preserve. “Music and social activism have a long history of working hand in hand, and the environment is the preeminent issue for our time. The goal of Green Apple is to raise awareness for a variety of these issues via Earth Day.”
Green Apple is being held in conjunction with the nonprofit organization Earth Day New York, organizers of the annual New York City EarthFair, which will be held this year inside Grand Central Terminal in Vanderbilt Hall on April 14-15 and outside of Grand Central Terminal on Vanderbilt Avenue on April 21-22. The outdoor event will feature family entertainment and free musical performances by Dresden Dolls and the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, among others. Earth Day New York, which will be coordinating the tabling of information at every venue of the Green Apple Music Festival, has promoted environmental awareness and solutions since 1990 when it organized the largest event anywhere in the world for the 20th anniversary of Earth Day involving nearly two million people.
“We are thrilled to be working with the Green Apple and Music & Arts Festival this year,” said Pamela Lippe, executive director of Earth Day New York. “Earth Day is about bringing new people into the environmental movement. We are committed to expanding the base of those who understand we have a problem and are willing to do something about it.”
The Green Apple Film Festival will be held Sunday, April 23 at the American Museum of Natural History and will be presented in partnership with Res Media Group. An additional series of children’s events will also be held at various venues.
The Green Apple will be a “Carbon Neutral” event, where all of the electricity and carbon emissions burned during the Festival will be off-set by the purchase of an equal amount of wind and energy credits so that the festival has net zero emissions. — Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
