Unlike CM Dan Coffey, I was reading the newspaper this past Tuesday, and in it were schedules of musical activities taking place at the Warder Park Gazebo and the RiverStage, both in Jeffersonville.
In fact, quite a lot of music and theatrical productions seem to be aggressively scheduled for these two venues during summer’s prime time viewing season.
By comparison, New Albany’s Riverfront Amphitheater (a.k.a., the Trinkle Dome) seems to have very little scheduled for the summer, although I must admit that web resources for such information are almost non-existent.
The Trinkle Dome was scheduled this year for use during Thunder Over Louisville in April, the Fourth of July celebration, and again in October for Harvest Homecoming. I believe the Providence Retirement Home fundraising festival will be held there again later this year.
Is a bluegrass festival still held there in the fall?
Information about applying for permission to use the venue can be found on the city of New Albany’s web site.
Perhaps New Albany’s chronically underused Riverfront Amphitheater might benefit from new and younger blood at the helm, someone who would refrain from applying a litmus test of church supper respectability to potential entertainment functions, but instead take a chance every now and then and book the venue with music and events that appeal to the city’s younger demographic.
The Trinkle Dome is a community resource. We should try using it occasionally .
Late note: In a letter to the editor published in Thursday's Tribune, Bob Trinkle thoroughly congratulated himself for the July 4 event and duly warned us that more G-rated entertainment is to follow over Labor Day weekend. Do the math; that's more that sixty (60) days between Trinkle-sanctioned events. Can't we do better than this?
Please spare us from the Monarchs and Marlins reunuion tour.
ReplyDeleteBrandon's right. Of course we could.
ReplyDeleteIf you guys are serious about doing some concerts, even if we start very small, let me know. I have some limited contacts in the local music business and I'd be happy to ask some questions, put out some feelers, whatever.
It's a shame to see such a promising venue sit empty so often.
A friend and I had another great dining experience at Federal Hill last night.
ReplyDeleteWe were lucky enough to bend Dave's ear for a bit and found out that the music portion of the DaVinci Festival brought more customers into his cafe than the Harvest Homecoming. Worth thinking about...
Since posting the article yesterday, I've been told that Bob Trinkle had heart surgery in June, and that the slate on inactivities at the dome might have to do with his incapacitation.
ReplyDeleteNone of us want to hit a person while he's down and ill, but I think this isn't the reason for the programming at the dome. As Tim and all others have noted, it has to do with Trinkle's personal standards of musical propriety, and perhaps secondarily, with what he perceives his mandate from his bosses (i.e., city hall) stipulates.
There's simply too much music of all types around NA and the metroplex for more not to be done in getting them to play at the dome.