Star-Studded WimBash Beach Festival Benefit Set for Saturday in West Haven

Written by Michael P. Walsh

WEST HAVEN, CT —Are you ready to rock ’n’ roll?

Yeah, baby!

The star-studded WimBash Beach Festival, sponsored by Yale University, is returning to the West Haven shore Aug. 13, showcasing members of Grammy-winning band Living Colour, the Billy Joel Band and other monsters of rock as part of the music festival’s sophomore lineup.

The festival, which will benefit West Haven youth music programs, is set for 1:30-10 p.m. in Old Grove Park, off Oak Street near Captain Thomas Boulevard. Admission is free.

Held rain or shine, the event will include two stages and a D.J., as well as a tented beer garden and a convoy of locally owned food and dessert trucks along Palace Street. WimBash T-shirts will be sold, and there will be raffles and giveaways, organizers said.

The festival, presented by Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish and Nova Sound Studios, will spotlight the musical chops of Mark Rivera’s ’67 Chevy, “a tribute to the kings of rock ’n’ soul music.” Rivera is Billy Joel’s longtime saxophonist.

Rivera’s all-star band features Wimbish and Living Colour frontman Corey Glover with Average White Band drummer Rocky Bryant, guitarist-producer Marc Ribler and guitarist Kyle Ward, a junior at the Berklee College of Music.

The all-ages, family-friendly event is also sponsored by Mayor Edward M. O’Brien and the city in concert with The Rock House School of Music and Z’s Corner Cafe.

In addition to Rivera’s ’67 Chevy, a stellar roster of internationally acclaimed musicians and bands old and young, including Brooklyn, New York, teen metal titans Unlocking the Truth, will play a fist-pumping selection of rollicking rockers and a treasure-trove of funky nuggets that chronicle the annals of rock ’n’ roll.

Also performing are Abby and the Roadsters, Chemical Z, Tears Fall Down with E.S. Choral Group, Pop Rocks, Fools Faith, Peter Lucibelli and D.J. Markie Gee.

The WimBash Music Festival Series, a charity founded by Wimbish that includes the festival and related fundraising events, has collected $10,000 to date for the West Haven school district’s music program.

The Hartford native organized West Haven’s first WimBash Beach Festival last August and donated the $7,000 proceeds to the music program, which paid for new instruments at Carrigan Intermediate School.

This year’s festival will once again support the school music program, along with a music program at the West Haven Community House.