Veteran
Joliet-area performers John Condron & the Old Gang Orchestra will play a
set on Hopstring Fest’s mainstage from 5:10 to 5:55 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, in
Joliet’s Silver Cross Field.
Tickets for
the 12 and a half-hour celebration of live music, food and craft beer are
$20/presale, $30 at the door and are available through hopstringfest.com and at Chicago Street Pub, 75 N. Chicago
St., Joliet.
Condron, 41,
will be joined by Old Gang Orchestra members Tom Maslowski on bass, Doneco Nudi
on drums and multi-instrumentalist Pat Otto on mandolin and mandola.
Condron has
released five albums since moving to Joliet from Philadelphia in 1997: “If Any
Or At All,” (2012), “Eleventh Hour
Grace” (2010), “Loud As Silence” (2006), “Down To
Dorsey” (2004) and “My Own Device” (2001). The most recent was a solo album,
with others released by the band he formerly fronted, John Condron & the
benefit.
“If Any Or
At All” marked Condron’s debut on the Flipside
Works label. Flipside Works is managing Hopstring Fest’s mainstage lineup
this year, which is headlined by Cracker. Condron also manages the label’s
Midwestern artists, which include Hopstring Fest performer Allison Flood.
Connections
abound among Condron and Joliet’s independent, original music community. He’s a
former co-owner of Chicago Street Pub
with Mike Trizna, who organizes and presents Hopstring Fest.
“Mike and
Kathy Trizna are huge fans of music and have done incredible things for the
local music scene,” Condron says. “Hopstring Fest is like hearing in one place
on one day the 20 best sets of all the bands that come through Chicago Street
Pub in a year.”
When he
moved to Joliet 17 years ago, Condron was playing rhythm guitar in the New
York-based band Poets and Slaves. The band was looking to relocate to the
Midwest and took up residency on the floor above the restaurant, then known as
Chicago Street Bar & Grill.
“I’m in awe
of what Triz and Kathy have accomplished,” Condron says. “We planted seeds
together years ago to create a music community but they’re responsible for what
it has become.”
Condron
started working at the restaurant as a bartender then as manager, and brought
Trizna on board. The pair took over operation of the business and eventually
ownership on Jan. 1, 2005. Condron sold his share to Kathy Trizna when his son
Liam was born in 2009.
Condron also credits disc jockey Mike Tomano for helping
establish his name by playing songs from “My Own Device” on WYKT-FM.
These
days, Condron continues to perform regularly and is writing new material. He
also produces works for other artists, including a debut by Flood being
recording at Third City Sound, a
studio located above Chicago Street Pub.
Condron
also has produced, arranged and performed on a full-length studio recording for
multi -latinum Irish singer songwriter Mickey Harte and collaborated with legendary
songwriter Paul Brady, for whom he opened a show at Old Town School of Folk
Music last year.
He’s
toured across the United States, in Ireland and throughout Europe in support of
his original material. Visit
www.johncondron.com to learn
more.
If You Go
What:
Hopstring Fest
When:
Saturday, Aug. 23, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Where:
Silver Cross Field, 1 Mayor Art Schultz Drive, Joliet
Who: Local
talent and headline bands like Cracker
How much:
Tickets are $20 presale/$30 at the door
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