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What’s Up, NEPA?/Good Eats And More!

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Dean Ford & the Beautiful Ones bring Prince tribute to River Street Jazz Cafe

<p>In its fifth year of organizing and hosting festival-style music events, Mountain Sky in Jermyn is gearing up for what could be its biggest season to date.</p><p>The venue&#8217;s annual season opener, Grateful for Spring will take place May 12 through 14 at 63 Stillmeadow Lane. The three-day event will feature Furthur alumnus and renowned musical improviser John Kadlecik and neo-psychedelic jam band Flux Capacitor in headlining roles as well as a formidable lineup of talented musicians from Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve come a long way from the days of setting up a tarp to cover the bands,&#8221; festival organizer Chris &#8220;Kamala&#8221; Towns said. &#8220;Now we&#8217;re running two stages with a permanent main stage that rivals any small festival stage in the area.&#8221;</p><p>Towns said that while the venue will be bringing in &#8220;a lot of exciting bands&#8221; that &#8220;have yet to be announced&#8221; this season, the lineup for Grateful for Spring is a good one.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been after John K. for a few years now, and to finally book him for the mountain is surely something special,&#8221; Towns said.</p><p>Kadlecik will perform his Solo Acousti&#8217;Lectric show where his improvisation goes beyond his in-the-moment guitar work.</p><p>&#8220;What I&#8217;ve found in the solo performances is that the improvisation is in the song choice,&#8221; Kadlecik said. &#8220;I end up interacting in a conversational way with the audience.&#8221;</p><p>Kadlecik, who draws from &#8220;somewhere around 300 different songs&#8221; will play anything from his interpretations of Grateful Dead tunes to covers of Jethro Tull and James Taylor songs, even working in his originals like &#8220;Hard Highway.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I go out on stage maybe knowing what I&#8217;m going to start with and maybe a second or third song,&#8221; Kadlecik said. &#8220;Then, I generally solicit the audience.&#8221;</p><p>Kadlecik said he&#8217;s been experimenting lately with looping and layering different sounds on top of a &#8220;particularly tasty acoustic sound&#8221; he&#8217;s found using one of his effects processors.</p><p>&#8220;The process allows me to layer in three instruments at a time: an acoustic sound, a bass sound, and an organ sound,&#8221; Kadlecik said. &#8220;It sounds like a trio.&#8221;</p><p>Towns said Flux Capacitor has been making &#8220;big waves in the jam band scene,&#8221; and he expects them to bring new faces to Mountain Sky.</p><p>The trio of brothers from Reading has spent the last few months touring the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic regions and between tour legs has gone into the studio to work on their fourth album.</p><p>&#8220;Musically, it&#8217;s different,&#8221; drummer Jason Specht said of the forthcoming record. &#8220;We are always evolving ourselves. This album has songs we&#8217;ve written together. It also has songs that each one of us has written.&#8221;</p><p>Flux pulls elements of psychedelic rock and electronica into their unique improvisational sound that grows in complexity and lyrical profundity as the trio develops.</p><p>&#8220;The recording process is pushing forward in the same way, adding more sounds and instruments and experimenting more,&#8221; Specht said.</p><p>Specht said he and his brothers are &#8220;super excited&#8221; to perform at Grateful for Spring.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be our first time playing at Mountain Sky,&#8221; Specht said. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be a great lineup.&#8221;</p><p>That lineup is comprised mostly of NEPA-based artists. Featured acts include Stronger Than Dirt &#8212; who will be joined by Kadlecik during their set &#8212; Jami Novak&#8217;s Inner Space Project, Village Idiots, Charles Havira Band, Diane Brigido &amp; Friends, Mountain Sky Orchestra, Riffmatik and Friends Of The Family.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got one hell of a music scene going on here, and that&#8217;s why Mountain Sky was created, to provide a big stage to showcase our <a href="http://theweekender.com/insidestories/24339/cabinet-works-on-new-record-readies-for-susquehanna-breakdown-in-scranton" target="_blank">local talent</a>,&#8221; Towns said.</p><p>Towns said he and other organizers have learned a lot about the event planning business, and he feels the venue is no longer the &#8220;new kid on the block.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The hopes for season kickoff are always high,&#8221; Towns said. &#8220;I think this could easily be our biggest in attendance yet.&#8221;</p><p><ins>For other Life Section stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/features" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Flux Capacitor performs at Susquehanna Breakdown in Scranton in 2016. The band, which is currently working on its forthcoming studio album, said they are &#8216;super excited&#8217; to perform in Jermyn during Grateful for Spring. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_flux-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Flux Capacitor performs at Susquehanna Breakdown in Scranton in 2016. The band, which is currently working on its forthcoming studio album, said they are &#8216;super excited&#8217; to perform in Jermyn during Grateful for Spring. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_JohnK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Furthur alumnus and founder of Dark Star Orchestra, John Kadlecik will bring his Solo Acousti&#8217;Lectric show to Mountain Sky for the venue&#8217;s season-opening festival. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_JohnK.jpg</photo1><caption1>Furthur alumnus and founder of Dark Star Orchestra, John Kadlecik will bring his Solo Acousti&#8217;Lectric show to Mountain Sky for the venue&#8217;s season-opening festival. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_mountain-sky-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mountain Sky is a 117-acre festival ground that was developed to showcase NEPA talent and has grown to the point of booking bigger names alongside local artists. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_mountain-sky-.jpg</photo2><caption2>Mountain Sky is a 117-acre festival ground that was developed to showcase NEPA talent and has grown to the point of booking bigger names alongside local artists. </caption2><photoCredit2>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Grateful for Spring to feature John Kadlecik, Flux Capacitor</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What: </strong>Grateful for Spring 5</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Mountain Sky, 63 Stillmeadow Lane, Jermyn</p><p><strong>When: </strong>May 12 through 14. Doors open at 11 a.m. May 12. Music starts at 3 p.m.</p><p><strong>Ticket information: </strong>Saturday only tickets cost $45. Weekend pass tickets cost $55 in advance and $65 after May 11. Tickets are available at the Mountain Sky box office and online at ticketf.ly/2pyyoob. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.mountainsky.net/" target="_blank">mountainsky.net</a>.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or on Twitter @TimesLeaderMatt.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Grateful for Spring to welcome John Kadlecik to Mountain Sky in Jermyn