Later this month, Norwalk turns into the live music capital of Fairfield County when “Norwalk City Limits” comes to town. Featuring live music from nearly 20 local artists performing at various locations throughout the city, this ambitious five-day event takes place Jan. 24-28 at many of Norwalk’s popular restaurants and pubs and at some of its other noted locales, like the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk and Wall Street Theater. A recording studio and a local clothes boutique also get into the act during this mostly-free event that will present a diverse musical lineup that ranges from rock veteran Doug Wahlberg to finger-style guitar expert Glenn Roth to the very young crowd favorite, Music Together of Fairfield County, an organization that features music programs for the toddlers-through-8 age group.
Other performers include Joni Wallace, Matt Fernandez, Nick Depuy, Maribyrd, Charlie Scopoletti, Baby Dynamite, House Dressing, Ritzy Chickens, Griffin Anthony, The Red Hots, The Ale Hounds, Bob Stewart and the New Orleans Beatniks, Corrado Nebel, the Jason Gisser Band, Tom “The Suit” Forst, Vinny Ferrone, Tangled Vine and The Alpaca Gnomes.
Norwalk City Limits borrows its title from its Austin, Texas, namesake and refers to the long-running music festival and longer-running “Austin City Limits” live music television series, both originating from a city considered the live music capital of the world. “The cachet of this event and the energy behind the name and the concept was irresistible,” said Linda Kavanagh, director of Norwalk Now, the organization producing this first-ever event.
“Norwalk Now is a collaborative marketing group created to support the downtown business community by promoting dining, retail and attractions in an effort to increase consumer engagement and overall exposure for Norwalk,” explained Kavanagh.
The Norwalk Parking Authority is the main sponsor of this initiative, which was launched last year in an effort to encourage local businesses to work together as a cohesive unit and join resources, and to have Norwalk Now establish itself as a marketing and public relations support arm for these businesses. “The idea was to create a centralized ‘hub’ to disseminate information from — website and social media platforms — and to promote the participating businesses through media exposure, events, and advertising,” said Kavanagh, whose company, MaxEx Public Relations, was tasked with the responsibility of creating events.
“I took a lot of cues from various cities throughout the country who produce high profile events in support of their city,” she said. “Music is a popular draw in this area, and we are blessed with an abundance of local talent. Plus, January 24 through 28 is typically considered to be a ‘down time’ in business.”
Hence, through the auspices of Norwalk Now, Norwalk City Limits was born. “The Norwalk Now restaurants run the gamut from high-end eateries with just enough room for an acoustic singer-songwriter playing in the corner, to larger restaurants and bars jammin’ with high energy rock and dance bands such as O’Neill’s Pub and Killer B,” said Kavanagh. “The Maritime Aquarium is getting into the spirit of things with their afternoon family entertainment from Music Together Fairfield County, and even Washington Street’s Simple SoNo clothing boutique will feature music by Nick Depuy.”
She added: “There are a few leaders in the pack known for their music scene who are also participating, such as Peaches and their awesome second floor Juke Joint and the recently refurbished Wall Street Theater.”
Other Norwalk City Limits live music locations include The Spread, Washington Prime, El Segundo, the Beach House, and Factory Underground.
With a career that combines music with restaurants, Kavanagh is in her element with Norwalk City Limits. “I was originally a music major out of high school,” she said, “and while working at a restaurant while going to school I got hooked on the hospitality industry and entered into that world for ten years. After leaving my job as a chef, I was fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of publicist extraordinaire Gary Stromberg of the Blackbird Group. I found myself representing the likes of Chuck Negron from Three Dog Night, John Kay of Steppenwolf, and Orleans. The company was hired to promote the opening of the Motown Café, and that’s when we carved out the restaurant PR segment. I opened my own firm in Stamford in 1997, combining my hospitality world with PR.” And the rest is history.
“In the case of Norwalk City Limits, the allure is not that of an open field with a singular stage and multiple acts that perform for one night,” added Kavanagh. “The idea is that of a massive 5-day schedule of a variety of acts performing in a variety of venues.”
And officials are optimistic about turning this inaugural event into an annual one. “The hope is to increase the amount of Norwalk Now participants, which will provide this event with more venues to house City Limits performances,” said Kavanagh. “We’d also like to attract more musicians and for the venues to be able to book music for all five nights.”
For the full music schedule, visit NorwalkNow.org, and look under events.
Mike Horyczun’s Sound Surfing column appears every Saturday in The Norwalk Hour. Mike can be reached at news2mh@gmail.com.