Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Expand your horizons at Furthermind

By Andrew Gaug

With so many music festivals this summer in Youngstown, it’s easy for some to get lost in the mix.

Furthermind Music Festival creator and organizer Trevor Quillan doesn’t want that to happen with his all-day musical event this Saturday and did everything he could to make it stand out.

“The band selection at Jones and VexFest and even ruKus are all basically sticking with local acts, where I’m bringing more regional music,” he said.

Quillan noted that the lineup will feature bands from not only Youngstown but also Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kent and Pittsburgh.

Diversity is also the word when it comes to the acts that he’s booked.

“It’s different from something like VexFest,” he said, “We’re not just sticking with jam bands. We’ll have a variety of bands from Fourth River to the Sun Kings to Tweaktronic.”

The plan, Quillan said, isn’t just to pack people in the event’s two stages at the B & O Station, but to hopefully broaden their musical horizons.

“We’re trying, as I like to say, to further everyone’s mind,” he said, “I want to bridge the gap and have Cleveland bands and Pittsburgh bands — make the Youngstown area a little bit bigger.”

This will be the first Furthermind Festival since 1999 and the first one for the Youngstown area. Though its focus will be mainly on the music, it will also serve as loving tribute to Quillan’s father, David Michael Murphy.

Quillan said his father became ill shortly after Vexfest IV in August and worsened in the coming months.

“One side of his body was shutting down, he couldn’t move his leg,” Quillan said, “In October, he needed a cane to walk and then he fell and broke his hip. He was in the hospital from October to December, when he passed away.”

While his father was in the hospital, Quillan said he wanted to have a giant celebration for when got better.

Having his father’s favorite local bands in mind, such as headliner Pennsylvania rock band Fourth River, Quillan began preparing for the event in November.

With his father’s death from the rare and highly fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative brain disorder, Quillan said this would be the event his father would want to go to.

“It’s a festival in honor of him and his love of independent music,” he said, “I’m Irish, so I think of this as a wake for him.”

In addition to planning, organizing and funding the event, Quillan is also performing.

“I don’t think I’ve actually practiced my set in six months,” Quillan said, with a laugh. “I haven’t played a show in the last month. I kind of put music aside in order to organize this.”

Organizing the event wasn’t easy. Quillan said he’s used to working with a team. This time, he was all on his own.

“It’s been crazy doing everything, but I think, in the end, it will definitely be worth it,” he said.

The Furthermind Festival In Honor of David Michael Murphy will begin with the acoustic stage opening at noon and the main stage gearing up at 12:30 p.m. Quillan said he organized the music to play continuously until its 2 a.m. close.

In addition to music, Quillan said there will also be cornhole, a silent Chinese “Rock Star” auction as well as different merchants, such as sponsors Scarlet Begonias, Defend Youngstown and The Music Center of Youngstown.

Donations will be accepted to help fund the event as well as a portion going to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Inc., a research facility in Akron .