FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Livermore Valley Arts
Contact:
Ruth Egherman (925) 583-2306
Anne Giancola (978) 852-6333
Arthur Barinque
A Global Celebration This October on the Bankhead Plaza
Livermore, CA – (September 20, 2024) – Having just kicked off its 2024-2025 Bankhead Presents Season, Livermore Valley Arts is delighted to be taking our beautiful diverse community on a comprehensive global journey this October with a number of free events for families and friends to come together on the Bankhead Plaza. A busy month will kick off with our Weekend of Culture community celebrations, featuring the Taste of Africa Festival and Filipino Barrio Fiesta on the Bankhead Plaza, taking place on Saturday, October 5, and Sunday, October 6, respectively. The month of festivities will continue with the Tri-Valley’s premiere arts festival, ArtWalk Livermore, on Saturday, October 12, followed by a special new ticketed event, ArtWalk After Dark, on the evening of the 12th. The month-long celebration wraps up at Livermore Pride Fest for the whole family on Saturday, October 19. The public is invited to celebrate our global community at these events in Downtown Livermore, sponsored by LVA’s 2024-2025 community cultural series sponsor, Las Positas College, and LVA’s 2024-2025 community cultural media sponsor, The Independent. Thanks largely to Las Positas College’s generous support, these events are FREE and open to the public (except for the new ArtWalk After Dark). Additionally, ArtWalk is sponsored in part by Porsche Livermore, and ArtWalk After Dark is sponsored in part by UNCLE Credit Union.
The public is invited to take an adventure into culture on October 5, joining the Cheza Nami Foundation for the 12th Annual Taste of Africa Festival in the heart of Livermore. Cheza Nami Foundation, founded in 2011, is a Pleasanton-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to promote cultural education and diversity awareness to learning institutions, corporations, and communities that focus on fostering a more congenial relationship among its members. This free,
family-friendly event is an outdoor festival showcasing musical and dance performances by local African and African diaspora artists, art exhibits, food, an African marketplace, a community art project, a kidzone with a reading corner, crafts, interactive instrument exploration, and so much more, with something for everyone and every age. Attendees can even enjoy shopping for one-of-a-kind products and enjoy delicious food from local African chefs at this beautiful celebration.
Livermore Valley Arts’ next free community cultural event will be the always-a-Tri-Valley-favorite Filipino Barrio Fiesta on the Bankhead Plaza, celebrating Filipinx American History Month through art, food, music, dance, history, and culture. October officially marks Filipino American History Month in the United States; October’s significance as Filipino American History Month is due to the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the continental United States when, on October 18, 1587, “Luzones Indios” came ashore from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Esperanza and landed at what is now Morro Bay, California. In November of 2009, the United States House of Representatives and Senate passed laws – House Resolution 780 and Senate Resolution 298, respectively – officially recognizing October as Filipino American History Month in the United States. This celebration on October 6 will honor this month with the 9th annual Filipino Barrio Fiesta in Livermore.
The following weekend, the Tri-Valley’s premiere community celebration of art, ArtWalk, returns to Downtown Livermore. On October 12, the 23rd ArtWalk Livermore will encompass our lovely downtown and connect our art park site destinations, with street booths placed strategically to allow attendees to experience both local businesses and restaurants as well as the arts. ArtWalk expands beyond the Bankhead Plaza, moving down First Street and through Livermorium Park. Handmade and original works by over 200 artists can be enjoyed, as well as live music, cultural arts demonstrations, and crafts for children. ArtWalk is a priceless opportunity for artists to interact with visitors as they explore a broad range of works, ranging from contemporary to classical, abstract to realism, pottery to jewelry, and mixed media. The subject matter is equally broad, from floral to figurative and more. Art is the main focus of the day at ArtWalk: meet the artists and buy one-of-a-kind, original handmade treasures right in stunning Downtown Livermore.
New this year after ArtWalk, visitors are invited to join us for ArtWalk After Dark at the Bankhead Plaza, where creativity comes alive under the night sky! A ticketed one-of-a-kind experience, this will
be an unforgettable evening of live music with the genre-blending sounds of Dustbowl Revival as they bring their unique mix of roots music, jazz, and blues to the stage. As the music fills the air, the mesmerizing Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Projections will transform the plaza into a vibrant, glowing wonderland of color and light, inviting audience members to immerse themselves in an electrifying fusion of sound and visual artistry. On the evening of October 12, when the night will come alive with creativity and celebration, the artists bringing this wonderland to life are:
Dustbowl Revival has always been about pushing the boundaries of what American roots music can be. Starting humbly nearly thirteen years ago Z. Lupetin, a Chicago native, came to LA to be a screenwriter, grew disillusioned with his job in advertising, and placed a hopeful ad on Craigslist. He sought to find fellow musicians who shared his roving love of Louis Armstrong, Bob Wills, Old Crow Medicine Show, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, and the brass bands of New Orleans but also wanted to write songs like Americana pioneers Wilco, Lucinda Williams, and even Bruce Springsteen. Now, after celebrating over a decade of sonic adventuring and playing thousands of shows together in ten countries and counting, the group has collected a devoted fanbase coast-to-coast. The always-evolving group of string and brass players led by founding members Z. Lupetin, Josh Heffernan, and Ulf Bjorlin are excited to welcome a new wave of talent to the band. After spending years on the road, selling out hometown shows at LA’s famed Troubadour, headlining festivals and wowing crowds from Denmark to China, Dustbowl Revival has never stopped making their joyful, booty-shaking soul songs and cut-to-heart folk-rock ballads that lift up their transcendent live shows. Even so, with the band’s emotional new single “Beside You” and 2020’s ambitious full length Is It You, Is It Me, they wanted to strike into new terrain. As they mined new energetic material from the place where folk and funk music meet, they teamed up with producer Sam Kassirer (Lake Street Dive, Josh Ritter) and engineer Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens). The latest album strikes a more personal note than ever before, representing the latest stage in a band that never stops exploring new sounds, with many of the songs feeling like small theater pieces coming to life verse by verse. It’s the yin-yang conversational harmony that is the true specialty of lead songwriter and singer Z. Lupetin, who also doubles as a playwright and recently wrote the music for a Greek tragedy set in Gold Rush era California. An amazing young talent in Lashon Halley has stepped in to bring new life to the songs, matching Lupetin’s intense vocal range with her own, and with a big brass-and-strings band building around the voices, a yearning search for common ground pervades the record as a whole. There’s a new widescreen expansiveness to these
songs that wouldn’t be out of place in a packed arena or orchestra hall with a full neon light show. If one thing is clear, Is It You, Is It Me represents another large leap forward for Dustbowl Revival, coming after their acclaimed self-titled 2017 album. Produced by Grammy-winner Ted Hutt (Old Crow Medicine Show, Drop Kick Murphy’s), it transitioned the group from a “roots dance party band” that continues to thrive on the festival circuit, to a nuanced ensemble embracing more soulful territory without losing their original fire. That self-titled record was a direct bridge to the newest work, rising number to one on the Amazon Americana chart and featuring a funky favorite “Honey I Love You” with the band joyfully teaming up with blues master Keb Mo’. Their heartache folk number “Got Over” surprised the band by racking up over seven million streams and counting online. As Z. Lupetin said, “That’s my take on the importance of what we try to do. Music elevates us, lifts us up, makes us change our minds, takes us out of our comfort zones. If just one person can be moved by just one song, that’s enough.”
Mad Alchemy is an Analog Liquid Light Show in the great San Francisco tradition of Bill Ham, Brotherhood of Light, and Glen McKay. Headlights from the heyday of the Bay Area’s ‘60s Psychedelic Ballrooms, Principal Lance Gordon has been involved in and performing this art form since 1971. In June of 2017 Mad Alchemy evolved into a “21st Century” Liquid Light Show forged by their first Red Rocks opportunity. Now the projections can live in a modern stage environment at venues like Red Rocks, Fox Theater Oakland, Block Stage: Desert Daze, Wiltern Theater, Orpheum Theatre, Fillmore San Francisco and Denver, Irving Plaza, London Forum, and many more. They utilize custom video presenters, video cameras, and mixers projected through an array of Epson Lazer 6K and 8K equipment but while still maintaining the analog art aspect. Based in the Bay Area, Mad Alchemy has traveled wide and far performing over 1,200 shows in every imaginable Venue, Festival, and Museum across the US, Canada, Europe, and Mexico for the likes of King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard, Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead, Temples, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Roky Erickson, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Meadow, High on Fire, Om, Earthless, to mention a few. When Gordon first began in the East Bay in 1971 at 17 he shared the stage with Boz Scaggs, Tower of Power, Big Brother and the Holding Company, It’s a Beautiful Day, John Cipollina, and Elvin Bishop.
Towards the end of October, LVA is elated to be a part of the Livermore Pride Fest celebration. Since 2019, Livermore Pride has produced and sponsored this event; they are an amazing homegrown
hometown group of local residents dedicated to building LGBTQ+ Community, Equity, and Inclusion in Livermore and the Tri-Valley. With a welcoming, family-focused celebration of the LGBTQ+ community in Livermore, we will honor the diversity of our community, highlighting the intersectionality of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, race, religion, political ideology, and economic status. We strive to have all LGBTQ+ people feel seen and heard as valued members of our community. Love is love in Livermore, and the public is invited to be part of this inclusive celebration on October 19.
All aforementioned events (save for the ticketed ArtWalk After Dark) are free and open to the general public; no reservations are required. The Bankhead Theater and Plaza are located at 2400 First Street in Downtown Livermore. These free community and cultural events are part of LVA’s core value and belief that everyone in the Tri-Valley should have the opportunity to experience the arts at whatever age and whatever level they are. The public is invited to share in these free events and activities—all are welcome—to not only celebrate these beautiful and varied cultures from around the globe and from our own community, but also to learn and grow from our shared history as Americans and, more greatly, as human beings.
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Livermore Valley Arts is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit offering wide-ranging programs that provide access to the arts for the Tri-Valley community and beyond. The Bankhead Theater and Bothwell Arts Center are home to eight resident performing arts companies and over 40 studio artists and cultural arts instructors. LivermoreArts.org
Event: Taste of Africa on the Bankhead Plaza
Date/Time: Saturday, October 5, 2024, 10am—6pm
Tickets: Free
Event: Filipino Barrio Fiesta on the Bankhead Plaza
Date/Time: Sunday, October 6, 2024, 10am—8pm
Tickets: Free
Event: ArtWalk Livermore
Date/Time: Saturday, October 12, 2024, 11am—5pm
Tickets: Free
Event: ArtWalk After Dark: Dustbowl Revival & Mad Alchemy on the Bankhead Plaza Date/Time: Saturday, October 12, 2024, 8pm
Tickets: General Seating $30, Table Seating for 2 $70 – $75, Table Seating for 4 $140
Event: Livermore Pride Fest on the Bankhead Plaza
Date/Time: Saturday, October 19, 2024, 12pm—6pm
Tickets: Free
Dates, times, and ticket prices for other events available at www.LivermoreArts.org
