Friday night series features eclectic range of acts

LANCASTER – The 2015 Friday Night Bandstand concert series features a wide range of musical acts.

From the opening night Dixieland jazz of Blair Crimmons and the Hookers on June 5 to the gospel sounds of Cross Pointe that will close out the series on Aug. 14, music fans of all genres should be happy.

“It’s always a great time to get together with people,” city recreation supervisor Steve Conrad said. “If you don’t see any friends on Friday nights, you probably don’t have any.”

Fairfield Federal Savings and Loan sponsors the series, which will celebrate its 35th year this summer. Conrad serves as the master of ceremonies each week. He also employs Class Act and Entertainment to help book the acts.

“I try to appeal to all members of the audience with the acts,” Conrad said. “I get bombarded with musicians who want to play, and I hate saying no to them.”

But he does try to book a few local acts, including the Cross Pointe, Bad Influence and the Lancaster Community Band, all of whom are on the 2015 schedule.

Conrad said the annual series costs about $13,000 per year, with a large portion of the money coming from Fairfield Federal. He also suggested people come downtown to eat at one of the restaurants and then head to the bandstand for some music and dessert from Gypsy Joe’s ice cream.

Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church Pastor Bill Pitts said the audience can expect a wide range of music at the Cross Pointe performance.

“We do all types of musical styles,” he said. “We’re eclectic. We’ll do some blues, southern gospel, lots of things. Some of our songs are as old as the Civil War, and some are as recent as last year.”

Cross Pointe is still recovering from a recent botulism outbreak that killed a church member and sickened many others. Pitts said the August performance will be a good time to thank the community for the support it has given the church.

jbarron@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

2015 Friday Night Bandstand schedule

• June 5: Blair Crimmins and the Hookers

• June 12: Bad Influence

• June 19: Reaganomics

• June 26: Crossroad Station

• July 3: The Lancaster Community Band

• July 10: The British Invasion

• July 17: Sou Kitch’n

• Aug. 7: Long Tall Deb

• Aug. 14: Cross Pointe Trio