Re : Coney Island Rockabilly / Surf / Burlesque / Sideshow Festival 2007

Greeting and Salutations,

My name is Benjamin Wilson and I front a rockabilly / surf band called The Holy Roller Sideshow based here in NYC. We play vintage rock and roll, a lot of Sun records stuff and classic surf tunes, mixed in with spy, horror, sci-fi and spaghetti western.

I am interested in putting together a Coney Island surf / rockabilly / burlesque / sideshow festival for the end of summer. We have a good number of bands, sideshow performers and burlesque performers interested in the project.

We are looking for more performers, sponsors, collaborators and anyone interested in being a part of this. This is a tumultuous year in the life of Coney Island. Slated for major rezoning, this might be the last summer of the old Coney Island.

We are hoping to bring a large draw from the rockabilly, psychobilly and surf crowds. We are also hoping to tap the Burlesque crowd, the sideshow crowd and the Burning Man crowd. Frankly, all these scenes converge at a similar crossroad, and I think it would be great to bring them all together this summer.

The dates and locale are not fixed yet, but ought to be in place by the end of the month. We are shooting for early to mid-August Saturday or Sunday all day and night. If you would like to be involved on any level, write me at taraxacum1313@hotmail.com or at myspace /cockabilly records.

I am really enthusiastic about this project, and I’d like to get as many people in on it as possible. We have a small but strong scene here in NYC and it would great to try and draw people from surrounding areas to a NYC Coney Island Festival.

Any ideas and input are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Ben (HRS)

p.s. - Come check us out at Otto's Shrunken Head 05/03 10:30 til close . . . with real live sideshow !!