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Music Festival set for Wednesday

Local performing musician Roy Blumenfeld of the newly formed Talk That Talk band, Kurt Krauthamer of the Rett Hamer Blues Band and Nancy King, executive director of Pets Lifeline are organizing the first event in a series called the Sonoma Music Festival.

  The Sonoma Music Festival series “Vol. 1” will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at the Sonoma Community Center. Doors open at

5:30 p.m.

  Besides Talk That Talk, the event will include performances by the Rett Hamer Blues Band featuring Misty Adana, and local favorites Sean Carscadden and Marty O’Reilly.

  Lagunitas Brewing Company is the sponsor for the evening. There will be food truck vendors at the venue along with beer and wine at the Andrew’s Hall concession.

  The festivals are designed to feature local musicians in varied and fun venues with proceeds of the events going to support Pets Lifeline.

  Blumenfeld, a native of New York City, was the original drummer in the Blues Project in the mid-1960s. The band was recognized for their free-form jazz-like approach to the rock music of the era. He went on to be a co-founder of the band Seatrain and played with notable musicians throughout his career. Most recently, he was part of the Coast to Coast Blues band, which was the backing band for blues legend John Lee Hooker. The band continued on after Hooker’s death in 2001.

  Along with Blumenfeld, the Talk That Talk band includes popular local musician David Aguilar who played guitar and vocals with Norton Buffalo; Austin Delone who has played keyboards with Elvis Costello and Howard Tate; Stefanie Keys who, in recent years, was lead vocalist for Big Brother and the Holding Company doing all of the Janis Joplin vocals; Rich Kirch, guitarist with Coast to Coast Blues; and Ron Perry, also with Coast to Coast Blues.

  Of the Sonoma Music Festival series, Blumenfeld said, “For some years, the local professional musicians in and around Sonoma have been talking about events that feature local talent. We’ve got a wealth of it here.  We’d like to fill the empty shoes of the jazz festival with a sustainable annual event made up of Sonoma and northern California talent.”

  Krauthamer added, “We are starting small with a three band act on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at the Sonoma Community Center. If we gather momentum with this gig, we’ll move on to the Veterans Hall this fall with a Saturday event that will include more acts and activities. If we keep going, we’re looking at an all day event on the Field of Dreams next summer. We may not be as big and fancy as the Jazz fest, but we will be local and a lot of fun.”

  Pets Lifeline is the nonprofit beneficiary of these concerts. King stated, “We’ve done some big events here in town, bringing in wonderful talent. Now, we want to support our local musicians with a music festival that embraces and celebrates the essence of our community. We’re happy to be involved with the nascent Sonoma Music Festival.”

  Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased through the Sonoma Community Center box office and online at www.somonomacommunitycenter.org. Seating in the theatre is limited.

For more information go to www.somonomacommunitycenter.org.