Celebrate with us at Blogapalooza!

Blogapalooza!, the Annandale Blog’s five-year anniversary party and community-building event, is less than two weeks away. We’ve got four local bands lined up—Space Junk Jammers, Swell, RootzBoyz, and Big Hot Mess—plus a Zumba dance-off hosted by Pro Maxx Fitness. 

Blogapalooza is happening June 28, 7 p.m., at the pavilion at the Broyhill Crest Recreation Club, 7212 Early St., Annandale. We’re hoping for beautiful weather, but if there’s a lot of rain, the party will take place Sunday, June 29, 4-9 p.m. A little drizzle won’t stop us, but check the Blogapalooza page to see if there’s a schedule change.

The deadline is midnight tonight for selecting your favorite “Best of” Annandale area restaurants and shops. The Annies Awards will be presented at Blogapalooza. Pick your favorite dining spots here and your other favorites here.

The first band in the lineup, Space Junk Jammers, describes itself as “a keyboard/drummer dynamic duo that will take you on a ride through the space-time continuum with an eclectic blend of electronic jazz fusion, snippets of progressive rock, and interpretations of a wild dream.” These guys “explore the musical equivalent of near earth orbit to the ultimate destiny of the singularity.”  

Swell is an acoustic quartet that plays a swinging mix of standards and 80s pop. From Peggy Lee to the Police, this group brings its own retro style to familiar 80s tunes and standards everyone loves. Throwback with Swell, featuring Mollie Loeffler (vocals), John Bernero (guitar), Steve Barrett (bass), and Ben Bacon (percussion).

Left to right: Mollie Loeffler, John Bernero, Ben Bacon, and Steve Barrett.

The RootzBoyz band “blends sizzling American roots rock, energetic blues, and swing to produce a unique taste of high energy tight-to-the-core rock and roll.”

The band’s repertoire offers an eclectic selection of popular roots covers including such legends as John Hiatt, Duke Robillard, the Paladins, Jimmy Thackery, Reverend Horton Heat, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, along with covers of classic roots rock mainstream favorites from Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash, and more.

The core members of the RootzBoyz are Barry Behan (guitar/vocals), Pete Sleight (bass/vocals), and Glenn Corcoran (drums). They have played in a variety of D.C.-area bands, including the Bourgeois Boogie band, NightShift, Eastern Standard Time, TDC, Off the Wagon, the Henderson Road Band, Junior Swine, Lunchmeat, the Road Runners, the T Birds, EZ Smith and the Tomcats, Easy Street, HeyWoodJa, and the Boilers.

The Big Hot Mess acoustic trio serves up a wide variety of classic rock covers with an emphasis on crisp vocal harmonies. The core group consists of seasoned musicians—Ken Ryder (guitar/vocals), Berkley Royster (bass/vocals), (guitar/vocals), and  Glenn Corcoran (percussion/vocals)—who’ve been playing local venues for years and have a loyal following.

Some of our sponsors, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Bon Chon Chicken, the Rice Pot, and
Magill’s—are providing snacks. Party Co is providing decorations and
tableware. We appreciate our wonderful team of volunteers and other
sponsors—Eden Center, Windows Plus, Realtor Vivianne Couts of Coldwell Banker, Realtors Melissa Klein and Mike Castorina of Long and Foster,
and Collector’s World—for making Blogapalooza a successful event.

If you’re coming to Blogapalooza and find the parking lot full, you can park at one of two satellite locations, Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church, 3901 Gallows Road, or Mason Crest Elementary School, 3705 Crest Drive. Both are a short walk to Blogapalooza. We’ll have signs pointing the way.

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