This week on Kaleidoscope, Juliet Fromholt spoke with special guests from Dayton Porchfest in St. Anne’s Hill, which will be held on Saturday, August 19, 2023. Juliet was joined in the studio by Peter Benkendorf, organizer of the Porchfest, and the members of Nasty Bingo, one of the 50 plus music acts who will perform at the festival. The year’s Porchfest will be the largest yet, and will feature Dayton musicians performing live from porches in St. Anne’s Hill Historic District in Dayton.
The interview began with live music from Nasty Bingo, an eight-piece band from Dayton. The in-studio band featured Steve Phelps (drums), Ron White (bass), Casey Ott (guitar), Brian “Red” Baumgardner (guitar), Matt Byanski (vocals and harmonica), Joe Bradley Huchenson (saxophone), and Phil Bradley Huchenson on trumpet. The band played several original songs live from WYSO’s studio. Nasty Bingo will perform at Porchfest at 6:00pm, and at the Porchfest after party, which begins at 7:00pm. At the after party, several musical guests will join the band on stage: Jay-vez Hicks, Joe Waters, Sharon Lane, and Kyleen Downes.
After Nasty Bingo’s performance, Juliet spoke with Peter Benkendorf about organizing this year’s Dayton Porchfest. He is the founder of the Collaboratory, which is presenting the event. Benkendorf said that the festival organizers received over 100 applications from bands who wanted to play at the festival, approximately half of which were accepted. Of the fifty-four bands and solo artists who will perform at the event, 40 percent have never played at Porchfest in previous years, Benkendork said, which means that attendees can expect to hear something they’ve never heard before. “We only get one complaint from folks, that it’s too hard to choose what to go and hear, that there are too many choices,” he said. On average, 9 bands will perform simultaneously in each hour-long slot.
A full list of bands who will perform at Porchfest, as well as a map of the performance locations in St. Anne’s Hill, is available at Daytonporchfest.org.
