Spaghettifest draws crowds for a good cause
Fourth-annual music festival brings together eclectic bands from around the area for music, charity
By Leila Saadeh, contributing writer
Posted on October 2, 2006

People dancing, bands playing — sounds like a typical music festival, right? Wrong. Spaghettifest doesn’t just have a catchy name, it’s a one-of-a-kind experience. So, what sets Spaghettifest apart from the rest of the festivals?

“I love the site, it’s so personal you can connect with everyone,” said senior TJ Abbonizio.

The Natural Chimneys was the location picked this year and everyone agreed that it was the best place to have the festival. Mikael Glago, lead organizer of Spaghettifest and guitarist in his band, Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G Strings, picked the Natural Chimneys for the festival because of a personal experience he had when he was a freshman at JMU. He used to come to the peaceful setting of the Natural Chimneys and relax and get away from everyday chaos. Now a central site for the festival, Glago states he always wants a place in a natural setting in the Shenandoah community where people can camp out and enjoy the beautiful outdoors.

Everything about Spaghettifest is self-constructed, whether it’s building the stage themselves or running their own Web site for promotion. Even JMU’s very own Earth Club is involved. They put forth their effort by cleaning up and recycling all the trash left behind during the festival and setting up trash cans all around the location.

“Our goal is to get as much recycled as possible,” said sophomore Marley Green, a member of the Earth Club.

Not only does the sublime location set Spaghettifest apart from the rest, the cause makes a major difference as well. Every year, all the benefits from the festival go to a different charity, from Habitat to Humanity to more personal choices such as the Fanconiemia Research Fund.

 “The natural setting is unreal, the people are so great,” said Brent Harely, form the band Unfortunate Sons, about why he loves playing at Spaghettifest. “It’s not even about the money at all.”

This year, the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association was the charity Spaghettifest donated proceeds to.

It all started when Glago and his bandmate, Seth Casana, were in high school attending an assembly with Dan Navarro (cousin of Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro) and Eric Lowen, who gave good advice on pursuing their goals and to keep writing music. The two friends never let go of that advice and went on to create their band, Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings, along with Spaghettifest. Just recently, Lowen was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and it only made sense to support the cause.

 “It’s a positive influence and it’s always good to do something honest for humanity, the arts, and to have community involvement,” said Glago.

The music and the environment are the main components that keep people coming back to Spaghettifest year after year.

 “It’s a small festival, everyone knows each other; it’s a very chill environment,” said junior Emily Wooley. 

There is a great all-around energy from everyone. The bands come from all different genres of music, with bands like Moneypenny, who are pop/punk-oriented, Valkyrie, who create head-banging music, Murphy’s Kids, who put on a high-energy reggae/rock sound, and Blueberry Jam, who fuse funk, grass and jam to make a sound all their own.

“One of the reasons I come is because of the various music styles — it’s not just all jam bands like you would expect,” said senior Kate O’Grady.

Even though the bands that have worked with Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings have a good chance of being in the festival, they hold no bias as to who gets to play. All the hopeful bands hand in a press kit, which includes a demo and photos by June.

“We love to have bands that represent Harrisonburg, but we also accept bands from outside the community and definitely don’t hold any discrimination against the genres of music they play,” said Glago.

 While bands were playing on the large hand-built stage, other bands were playing at the same time in a tent across the field. The highlight of the festival was the band that started it all, Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings. Colorful, bright lights along with crazy costumes electrified the stage and accented their funky style of music.

“We want people to go from immobile to mobile, physically and emotionally,” said Glago.

Members from other bands joined in on stage and incorporated their musical sound to the show.

“We’ve always had a clear vision to relate our music to the way our audience feels and want to keep people dancing and having a great time each time they see us,”, said.Glago.

While all the members of Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G Strings are from all over the East Coast, they find a way to meet and put on a fresh experience every time and they just keep extending the Midnight Spaghetti family.

The other bands performing at Spaghettifest this year blew people away as well as Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G Strings with their talent and energy. Dirty and the Mudflaps covered Johnny Cash effortlessly while JimiBeckBlues covered Jimi Hendrix like it was second nature.

“It’s fun because the bands are free to do what they want and it gets you away from everyday life,” said jnior Carlye Swift. The key point of Spaghettifest for me is the diverse group of musicians.”

The age group of the festival was diverse as well, with older men and women along with little toddlers dancing around the stage. Some bands had much older and more experienced members while others still attended JMU but could rip at guitar just as impressive as the older bands. Majority of the groups played covers to help connect and relate to the audience such as playing the Beatles and Sublime while including performing unique originals. Such high energy was executed from all the bands and no one in the audience stopped moving while the bands were playing, especially Murphy’s Kids.

Despite the gorgeous chimneys and excellent campsite, the great cause of Spaghettifest and the diversity of music keep people coming back to the festival to enjoy themselves for two days of fun music and a friendly environment.

“We can’t do something like Spaghettifest just once, each year we make the production larger and better and we won’t stop until ten years after we’re dead,” says said Glago

Spaghettifest is unforgettable and a fresh experience every time. Next year’s Spaghettfest 5 will come sooner than you think, and Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G String’s album is released and available on their website midnightspaghetti.com.