PHOTO BY MI CH EAL WONG

STN Entertainment

O

God Street Wine
members Jon Bevo
(formerly Jon
Liebowitz), Dan
Pifer, Aaron
Maxwell (formerly
Aaron Maxwell
Lieberman), Lo
Faber and Tomo.

s soon as the nights are warm enough, it's not

unusual to hear Metallica-type, ear-piercing
guitar noises from high atop the Phoenix Plaza
mphitheatre wafting down onto busy new

Pontiac.
This Sunday, however, diners and clubhoppers alike
may be collectively stunned to hear humane volume lev-
els and, maybe, even an acoustic guitar or two.
That's when The River (93.9 FM) will hold its first an-
nual Riverfest. The hip lineup of more mellow but still
cutting-edge acts features ten top local and national acts
including Jann Arden, God Street Wine, Todd Snider,
Howling Diablos, Billy Mann, Nil Lara, Scud Mountain
Boys, Alejandro Escovedo, Robert Bradley and the Mutes.
God Street Wine, a four-man group from New York
with a spacey vibe but a muscular, direct sound — as ev-
idenced on its recent release, Red (Mercury) — heads
the bill. The band first played Michigan a few months

ago and will likely find the spacious, modern Phoenix
Plaza a world away from the distinctly urban charms of
it last area venue.
"We played the Majestic," said singer/guitarist Aaron
Maxwell (he's dropped the surname Lieberman from his
stage moniker). "There was a really good crowd and, as
I remember, a lot of really good-looking women in the
audience. But it's funny ... We kind of befriended the
Black Crowes when we did the H.O.R.D.E. tour last sum-
mer and Eddie (Harsch, Crowes keyboardist), who's from
Detroit, came down to the show. It's kind of a weird area
there, and Eddie was down there with his BMW in kind
of a sketchy area of town."
After Riverfest, God Street Wine will join this year's
H.O.R.D.E. package tour when it plays Pine Knob in
July. Maxwell is alternatively accepting of and frustrated
by the constant comparisons to "jam bands" like the Dead
and the Allman Brothers.

Kids' Day
At The Top

Samantha's Ice
Cream Social

Music, storytelling and inter-
workshops high atop
the Power Center parking
structure roof. Ann Arbor.
(313) 747-2278.

Girls, g et out your dolls.
The turn-of-the-century Amer -
icon Girls' character hosts this
educational gala. The Commu-
pity House, S. Bates, Birming-
ham. (810) 644-5832.

Sun., 12-2 p.m.

Sun.-Mon.,
3 & 7p .m.

Michael Krieger

From L.A. and back, the
talented keyboardist and
vocalist performs at the Envoy
Cafe, A est Bloomfield -
(810) 855-6220.

Mon.-Tues., 7 p.m.

"I think that a lot of times we're falsely compared,"
he said. "Sometimes people will say 'Oh, the Grateful
Dead,' and I just don't see it ... But people seem to have
to pigeonhole (music) to understand it. We used to feel
that it was negative, but now we're just kind of like,
`Well, if that's what they need to do, that's fine.' If peo-
ple like our music, it doesn't really matter what they
classify it as." O

—Todd Wicks

Riverfest 1996 starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 23.
The all-day festival and broadcast (The River, 93.9 FM)

takes place at the Pontiac Plaza Amphitheatre at 10
Water Street in Pontiac. Tickets are $9.39, and kids
under 10 are free. Call Ticketmaster at (810) 645-6666.

Jewish Authors Book Detroit Filmmakers'
• •
t
Group
Coalition Showcase

Robert del Valle leads a
discussion of Hitler's Willing-
Executioners at Borders Books
and Music, Farmington Hills.
(810) 737-0110.

Tues., 7:30 p.m.

Discovering Detroit's Ferry
Avenue andA Complicated
Cartoon are presented at this
monthly event. 1515
Broadway, Detroit.
313) 255-0098.

Tues., 7:30 p.m.