Sun 7/18 @ 4PM
It has been a very sad year for the local music scene indeed. We’re just coming out of the pandemic and slowly getting back to normal, and we’re doing so without some of the scene’s beloved musicians. Michael Stanley, who died in March, and I-Tal’s Dave Smeltz, who passed away in June, were well-known. And while guitarist/bassist/songwriter/soundman Dave Molnar, who passed away April 28, was only known in a smaller circle, he was equally beloved.
He was first of all a member of the so-called Davenport Collective, an informal group of musician friends, based at a recording studio in Lakewood run by Mike Cormier of the Volta Sound and Ben Gmetro of the Dreadful Yawns. That group, formed in the late 90s, spawned a large constellation of indie rock bands and Molnar was in many of them, including the Dreadful Yawns, New Planet Trampoline (also with Gmetro), The It*Men (also with Gmetro), Expecting Rain and Volcano Fortress. He also played with Queen of Hell/Heavenly Queen, a band spawned by the 2013 Lottery League.
In addition, Molnar taught at the School of Rock and ran sound at the Happy Dog, creating two more large networks of musicians and music scenesters to whom he mattered deeply. He was only 42.
Many of those people will be part of a memorial event for Molnar taking place at the Beachlland Ballroom Sunday July 18. They include School of Rock musicians, Dave’s Corporate Rock and Left of the Dial performance groups, Dave Pelc, Hallie Hetrick, Marysa Brogan, Grumpy Plum, the Meatball Mob, and Gram Parsons tribute band New Soft Show, whose original home base was the Happy Dog.
Admission is free.
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