“Lassoing a Tornado”: Spazzfest XV music festival may be the last
Jeff Blinder portrait by Donna Davis, March 2024.
For better than two decades Jeff Blinder has colored outside the lines to paint a Pablo Picasso of music-without-boundaries that has simultaneously existed on the fringe and in the heart of Greenville. He has been champion of the underdog, excavator of talent, and leader of fiercely loyal friends and dreamcatchers, operating with inverse proportions of vision and resources. He’s considerate enough to hand out hearing protection like dinner mints in advance of a show, and bear hugs to practically everyone he meets. He’s had consummate faith in musicians even as they struggled to believe in themselves. But at times he has been an Atlas bearing the world’s weight of traveling troubadours and hometown players on his back. And it has taken its toll. The 15th annual music festival in Greenville on March 28-31 may be the last.
Blinder, who considers himself a “music curator” has been booking acts since 2003, operating under the umbrella of “Spazz Presents.” Spazzfest, the annual festival, came about when he started getting a lot of requests from bands coming through the same weekend and the rest is history.
Cooking up a Spazzfest is almost like a “stone soup” folk tale: what goes in the pot may depend on which musicians are traveling north to south, west to east, and can make Greenville a stop-over. It’s hard for Blinder to advertise headliners much in advance because the final product is an eclectic blend of spice that evolves and simmers until showtime. The flavorful, weighty soup starter is the foundation of local bands refining their musical identities.
Blinder has carved a unique place for himself in Greenville, with his enthusiastic, sometimes cryptic and always colorful advertisements of not-to-be-missed performances, often in non-disclosed venues. While he appreciates a wide range of music, the best categorization of Spazz Presents is “alternative.”
One example that illustrates the unique nature of the talent that passes through Greenville thanks to the fruits of Blinder’s labor is Vermin Supreme. Blinder describes him as a “pretty famous political guy who wears a boot on his head and makes fun of politics, running on a platform that ‘every American gets a free pony.’” Blinder worked with fellow music enthusiast Ryan O’Doud to bring Supreme to Alley Cat Records in January. Hours before the celebrity is slated to arrive, young men stop by the store and express giddy excitement upon hearing about it.
Jeff Blinder & Vermin Supreme, January 2024, Greenville
And for the last 14 years, as March is going out like a lion, Blinder has been king of an unwieldy Spazzfest jungle. That means lining up venues and musicians like an elaborate matchmaking game, securing sound equipment, and generally running interference. He is seemingly everywhere at once.
Several factors have influenced Blinder’s decision to take a breather and a step back. One is almost certainly the emotional toll of losing several close friends and musicians through the years who were avid supporters of Spazzfest. Another is his full time role as manager of Alley Cat Records.
Jeff Blinder in Alley Cat Records, Greenville
“The record shop takes a lot of my energy and it’s where I want to focus most because it’s a day to day giving back to Greenville and being a community place,” he said. “But you see me here until 8 or 9 pm and when do I have time to work on the booking and the Spazz stuff? My boss sees the vision and as long as the store does what it does, my contribution to promoting and everything helps get these kids in the room and they buy their stuff, and then we have the shows. For the shows, we don’t keep any money. We just want to get to the artists. And he sees that vision–not a lot of bosses would see that–they would want to make money. And that’s my contribution: I give my time when I’m running the show.”
What kind of future does Blinder see for himself and Spazzfest?
“I’d like to be more of a mentor than a mastermind role,” Blinder said. “If it’s done like it should be, I know there would be some reward financially. Because you can do grants and sponsorships, and those do add up. I would love to tag into the university for maybe some people who would get credit for grant writing, or anything like that.”
He also wants to refocus his energy to what he calls an “inclusive arts initiative,” a resource that business owners or interested parties would tap to find out what live music is here.
“When they’re opening a venue or business, having a party, they’re wanting to open their home to anything, then I would be the person they can talk to and we can go over who is here and available,” Blinder said. “That’s basically what I’ve been doing: floating shows around. Spazz was more of an underground thing–his would be more of an above-ground thing. Connecting the music to the people is what I want to do. Say if a new restaurant opens and they want to have a big grand opening. A lot of times they’ll want to have live music. But how do they know about who’s here unless they have a bartender who says, ‘Oh yeah, my roommate plays.’”
“Maybe in 2026 if it comes back there could be a remix version, and maybe somebody else could be at the helm, who’s younger, who has 15 years to give it,” Blinder said. “I think taking me from the spot I’m in to more of a mentor role might help the city more. And also I know my limitations. I’ve reached them. I’m not going anywhere, but I want other people to step in. I want to keep a thread in the breeze. I’m trying to lasso a tornado and I’m getting ripped apart. If I look at it after a year goes by and things look a little less crazy and chaotic, I will happily grab on again.”
Concerning Spazzfest XV later in March, Blinder posts on social media that it will mark the end of this chapter, but added: “Trust me when I say things are lining up to be awesome for zee finale. The Legendary Tim Cappello— the oiled-up sexy shirtless sax man himself–notorious for his extended cameo s and performance in the iconic ’80’s vampire flick The Lost Boys–and former member of Peter Gabriel’s and Tina Turner’s band sin the late ’80s to early ’90s–will play an exclusive show just for my Golden Ticket holders this year! This will likely be the final year of the festival so let’s go out with a sexy bang!”
Blinder confided in a social media post: “Y’all–It took two decades but I am living my BEST life. I have learned I cannot change the world but I can do my best to cause a ripple. I hope that ripple touched upon you. With what I have had to work with, I think I did my best!”
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Originally published in the Daily Reflector March 2, 2024.
