Aug. 11, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
Big City Folk, an umbrella group that brings musicians from all over the city together, is putting on a free two-day folk festival at LIC Bar this weekend.
The festival, which takes place every two years, will feature 24 acts over Saturday and Sunday, with doors opening at 12 p.m. and music running from 1 to 8 p.m.
“It’s a celebration of the independent music scene, and you may not have heard of a lot of the people, but it’s really top quality music,” said event organizer Niall Connolly.
Over the two days of music, acts such as Youth in a Roman Field (featuring Claire Wellin and Tiffany Topol of Broadway’s Once), August Wells (featuring Kenneth Griffin of Rollerskate Skinny), St. Lenox, The Morning Sea, Sterling Rhyne, Lanusa, and Connolly himself will perform.
Though there is no cover, there is a suggested donation of $10 per day to help cover the musician’s costs.
Connolly started Big City Folk about ten years ago, soon after moving to New York from Cork, Ireland.
“I missed the tradition of sharing songs that you would often have at a house party or in the music scene in Cork,” Connolly explained, so he started gathering musicians in the area to local bars each week to perform. “We would keep each other on our toes and be competitive and collaborative in positive way,” he said.
Those weekly music nights grew to the point where now Big City has gatherings four times per week for musicians to come and share their work. Over the years, Connolly has seen bands form from musicians who met through his network, and knows of three different married couples who met through Big City Folk gatherings.
He has also seen many talented performers pass through his group, including Lucius, Christopher Paul Stelling, and Lizzie Grant (better known now as Lana del Rey).
“Big City Folk as a collective puts an emphasis on being a safe space for new songs and being creative,” Connolly said.
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7 Comments
Gleb, you will have to get the answer from THE FAKE MRLIC,because I did not make that comment. This Joker won’t give up hijacking my MRLIC handle and speaking as me.
Mrlic
Please explain your comment
Turn LIC Bar into LIC Bowling ?
The FAKE MRLIC and his bowling or hipster comments are at it again on the August 12, 2016 10:18 am post. Why does he keep doing this? He is a BIG JOKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey SeñorLIC, who are you to put down artist/musicians, who if you believe are the 1%, are so delusional, that I actually pity you.
How dare you attack my cousin SeñorLIC for exposing the TRUTH about these HIPSTERS invading our neighborhood. We need to keep LIC like it was, full of empty warehouses instead of bustling with cultural activities like these. These are probably the same 1%ers that booed me at the community board meeting for suggesting that we turn LIC Bar into LIC Bowling.
These “folk” artists are actually just HIPSTER 1%ers gentrifying our neighborhoods! Wake me up when the Festival Gran Ciudad Mariachi starts.
Oh look another Armchair General who sits around COMPLAINING about EVERYTHING but has never bothered to make or produce or create anything themselves. Typical a-hole attitude who knows nothing about the near-hundred performers and back-ups and producers who make BCF happen.