It’s not often parents and their children can reminisce about
their favorite music from high school at the same concert.
But many will get the chance to do just that at this year’s 25th
anniversary Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras at Community Park on
Memorial Day weekend.
By JIM JOHNSON and CAROL HOLZGRAFE
Staff Writers
It’s not often parents and their children can reminisce about their favorite music from high school at the same concert.
But many will get the chance to do just that at this year’s 25th anniversary Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras at Community Park on Memorial Day weekend.
Ranging from the 1980s Top 40 pop melodies of veteran rocker Greg Kihn on Saturday and Sunday to the 1990s alternative pop sounds of the Gin Blossoms on Sunday, the Mardi Gras Main Stage entertainment line-up is sure to offer a blast from the past for rock ‘n’ roll fans of all ages.
On Saturday, after the cover band Sage opens at noon, festival-goers will get the chance to rock out to not one, but two Kihns – that is, Greg and his son Ry – whose band Big Fun will open for his pop beginning at 2 p.m.
Big Fun, with Ry Kihn as lead guitar and vocalist, is described as a Bay Area favorite rock party dance band. They play covers from today’s artists, including No Doubt, Avril Lavigne, Shania Twain and Aerosmith, as well as classics from Pat Benatar, Cyndi Lauper and Joan Jett, belted out by lead singer Cynthia Acevedo.
Ry Kihn also plays lead guitar for the Greg Kihn Band, which headlines beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The band will play top hits from yesteryear such as “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song” (They Don’t Write ’em Like That Anymore), “Love and Rock & Roll,” and many more from Kihn’s catalogue of popular tunes.
Leading into the Kihn-fest, the eight-member cover band Sage will warm up the crowd with familiar songs by Van Morrison, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire, Santana, the Blues Brothers, Tower of Power and others. The band plays R&B, rock, pop and music by contemporary artists, too.
Sage will officially release its newest CD in July, called “Some Assembly Required” and say they’ll share some of the pre-release excitement with fans at the Mardi Gras.
The band has been together since 1969.
On Sunday, after Pat Tinney’s PT & The Cruzers gets the show started at noon, the Greg Kihn Band will play again at 1:30 p.m. just ahead of the Gin Blossoms, who play at 4 p.m.
The Arizona band Gin Blossoms earned fame in the 1990s as a big MTV favorite with hits such as “Hey Jealousy,” “Found Out About You,” “Follow You Down” and “Till I Hear It From You.”
The band, which broke up in 1997, has officially reunited for a 60-date tour this year across the country, with a stop at Mushroom Mardi Gras.
The band’s own lead singer described it as “a big slice of American cheese,” and the band earned a reputation for power-pop driven songs.
The Gin Blossoms produced a total of four albums, and the first two, “Dusted” and “New Miserable Experience,” will be re-released this summer.
Sunday’s opener, PT & The Cruzers, has shared acts with Robin Trower, Starship, Gary Hoey, who played Mardi Gras in 2003, and Eddie Money, who played in 2002.
The band’s hour on stage should be packed with songs from two album releases, “Cruzadelic” (“Cruzadelic Boogaloo,” “Standin’ on the Corner”) and “Get Up” (“Life on a Shelf” and “Born to Suffer”).
If six bands over two days on the Main Stage are not enough, The Wine Tent will also have its share of music.
For details on Sage, visit www.sagemusic.com, and for information on PT & The Cruzers, visit and www.ptcruzers.com.
The Mushroom Mardi Gras is Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Community Park.
Take U.S. 101 to the Tennant Ave. exit. Travel west past Monterey Road to Edmundson Ave. Details: www.mhmushroommardigras.com or (408) 778-1786.
