Although COVID has led to the cancellation of many events and annual gatherings, the Village of Suffern has still managed to offer a few concerts as part of the their annual summer concert series while promoting social distancing.
The latest musical performance sponsored by the Village takes place at the Gazebo on the corner of Washington and Lafayette Avenues in the Village of Suffern on Thursday September 17th at 6:30pm. This concert is free and open to the public.
The 710 Experiment, a group consisting of a number of local musicians, has quickly gained a cult-like following as they share their special brand of music based on songs by The Grateful Dead throughout the region.
Speaking of cults, the group uses the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol used by The Grateful Dead back in the 1970’s when they played in Egypt in some of their promotional flyers. Some residents mistakenly thought that it was a “cult” symbol and objected to the flyer being disseminated in the area.
Douglas Myer – lead guitar & vocals
Steve DiVenuta – rhythm guitar & vocals
Mike Malandra – rhythm guitar
Ryan Marks – bass & vocals
Mike D-Angelo – drums
Guy Prandstatter – drums
Curtis Becraft – keyboard & vocals
Francesca Furlani – percussion
From the band’s website:
The 710 Experiment is collective of likeminded musicians interested in improvisation and musical exploration. Using the songs of The Grateful Dead as a platform, the idea is to move musical energy in and out of those frameworks and find new and interesting places to take them. With a very special group chemistry and musical communication, and pure love of sonic exploration, we want to make each show a unique experience, very much the way a jazz band, or The Dead themselves approached playing live. The band tends to focus on material that lends itself to improvisation, and weaves from song to song in long, continuous streams that can last many hours!!!! Following in the spirit of the early San Francisco bands from the Late 1960’s, the band favors an unconventional approach to playing and presenting our music, preferring to do live streams from our rehearsal space, “The Lounge”, putting on our own shows, and only playing venues that are friendly to this type of approach!!! We are really excited to continue exploring and growing and sharing our musical adventure with everyone!
