71 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA 413-648-SHEA

Shea Presents: Watermelon Slim

Friday, July 28, 2023, 8:00 pm until 10:30 pm
#GETTOTHESHEA on Friday, July 28th 2023 for a night of twang and folk thanks to Watermelon Slim with special guests Pete Muller and the Kindred Souls at the Shea Theater Arts Center in Turners Falls

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The Shea Presents WATERMELON SLIM w/s/g

Pete Muller and the Kindred Souls

WHEN: Friday, July 28th 2023 at 8pm

WHERE: Shea Theater Arts Center, 71 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA

TICKETS: $22 in advance/ $28 at the door

Accessibility Notice: Our theater and first-floor gender-neutral restroom are wheelchair accessible. There will be alcohol on-site for this event.

ABOUT WATERMELON SLIM

One of Watermelon Slim's most impressive industry accolade may be the liner notes of “The Wheel Man”, written by the late Jerry Wexler ( Co-Owner Atlantic Records / Produced Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin) said of Watermelon Slim "a one-of-a-kind, pickin' n singing, Okie dynamo. “The most exciting and authentic blues performer I've heard in years." A.W., Paste Magazine

Born in Boston, raised in Asheville, NC, a Vietnam veteran, fisherman, baseball fan, activist

Multiple Blues Music Award Winner, and much more, Bill "Watermelon Slim" Homans has built a remarkable reputation with his raw, impassioned intensity

The big turning point was 2002 when Slim suffered a near fatal heart attack. His brush with death gave him a new perspective on mortality, direction and thus his emergence as a performing musician. Eleven albums later he says, "Everything I do now has a sharper pleasure to it. I've lived a fuller life than most people could in two. If I go now, I've got a good education,I've lived on three continents, and I've played music with a bunch of immortal blues players. I've fought in a war and against a war. I've seen an awful lot and I've done an awful lot. If my plane went down tomorrow, I'd go out on top." And when you watch him perform, you know every word is true.

Watermelon Slim New Blues Record release “Church of The Blues” Jan. 25, 2019, Nominated

for “Blues Album of the Year”, Blues Music Awards. NorthernBlues Music – Toronto, Canada

2x Winner: Blues Music Award Band of the Year and Album of the Year

2x Winner: MOJO Magazine's #1 Blues Album of the Year

Winner: Annual Independent Music Awards Blues Album of the Year

Winner, Maple Awards (Canada), BB King International Artist

ABOUT THE SHEA THEATER

The Shea provides performance space for a variety of attractions designed to appeal to the widest range of tastes. Musical offerings include folk, pop, rock, swing, jazz, country and traditional. Theatrical productions encompass musical comedy, drama, comedy, and political satire. In addition, audiences can take advantage of magic shows, children's shows and silent film revivals.

The Shea, with the help of a wonderful corps of volunteers, has been attracting a growing audience and as a result is bringing people into Turners Falls from an ever larger geographical area. This growth has put the Shea on a firmer financial footing, providing the basis for expectations of an even more exciting future for this vital community asset.

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors and Underwriters

Australis Aquaculture • Artisan Beverage Cooperative • Benjamin Company • Berkshire Brewing Company • Cohn and Company Real Estate Agency • Community Credit • Common Capital • Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts • Connecticut River Internists • Dean's Beans • Easthampton Savings Bank • FirstLight GDF Suezna • Gill Tavern • Goff Media • Great Falls Harvest • Green River Festival • Greenfield Community College • Greenfield Cooperative Bank • Greenfield Savings Bank • Loot • Massachusetts Cultural Council • Montague Bookmill Montague WebWorks • Northeast Solar • People's Pint • Rainmaker Consulting • The Rendezvous • Solar Store of Greenfield • Stobierski and Connor • Told Video • True North Transit • Turn It Up

Exciting News for A Happening IV: Leviathan

Cloudgaze and Eggtooth Productions are thrilled to announce that we have received a generous grant from the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice to support our 2024 Immersive Arts Festival, “A Happening IV: Leviathan.”

This festival will transform the Shea Theater into an exploration of theme, hosting installations, music, theatrical performances, and movement pieces, featuring the collective contributions of over 30 local artists. Audiences will experience otherworldly environments and narratives inspired by folklore, fairy tales, horror motifs, American literature, and the mythos of the Old Testament, all of which delve into the central question guiding the festival: "What does it mean to encounter something greater than yourself and to be consumed by it?" Through this theme, we explore how a community reemerges and imagines itself after destruction and transformation.

With the support of the Markham-Nathan Fund, we are excited to create an event that complicates perspectives and fosters meaningful dialogue. We are grateful for this partnership and for the work of the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice.

Thanks to the Mass Cultural Council for their vital support this year.We'd also like to thank the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for their support in the form of a Flexible Funding grant. We couldn't do this work without you!