The Yard to host festival of live music, art and weed
This past November, singer Julia Zivic, who works at The Yard in Beacon; Brianne McDowell, its general manager, and Jason Hughes, its owner, hosted First Frost, which featured music, ink (tattoos) and art-making in a communal hangout full of good cheer amid bonfire warmth.
At the event, Noah Mandia mentioned to Zivic that his Beacon heavy metal band, Low Fiction, wanted to perform at The Yard. She passed the request to Hughes, and “it turns out Jason loves metal, which I hadn’t known.”
That led to a brainstorming session, which led to Heavy Metal Blaze: A Night of Cannabis, Music and Art, scheduled for Jan. 27.
“We’re always trying to find ways to connect with the community,” says Zivic. “Beacon lacks a great music venue, and there are many bands that have no space” to perform.
Heavy Metal Blaze began as a concert but “we thought a lot of metalheads in Beacon classify themselves as ‘stoner metal’ and realized it would be fun to fuse the two — metal and cannabis,” Zivic says. “This night is about bringing together the cannabis community, the heavy-metal community and the music community in general. We want to attract people who are curious; there’s an art show, snacks, weed, a bonfire. We want to showcase how we can all come together.”
The alcohol-free festivities will begin at 4 p.m., rain or shine, when VIP ticket holders are welcome to collect a package that includes a joint, a THC-infused canned cocktail and a chillum glass pipe, “pre-packed to provide a couple of hits,” Zivic says. The packages will be assembled by Flower Hour, a group of “weed curators interested in normalizing mindful consumption,” she says.
General admission begins at 5:30 p.m. Food and beverages will be offered for sale at indoor tents, and vintage Nintendo and Sega Genesis games will be available for free play. Throughout, Sean Donovan will demonstrate and create art and signs.
At 6 p.m., Purple Lung, a “stonerdoom” metal band from Pennsylvania, will take the stage. It will be followed at 7 p.m. by Low Fiction — Mandia on guitar, Jack Kolodziejksi on vocals and guitar, Bryan Caprari on bass and John Scelzo on drums — and at 8 p.m. by Shadow Witch from Kingston.
The Yard is located at 4 Hanna Lane in Beacon. General admission tickets are $35 and VIP tickets are $60 at bit.ly/hmb-2024. No one under age 21 will be admitted, and no smoking will be allowed indoors.
