Byline: Nancy Sheehan

If you like music, you've got to love Worcester lately.

Music festivals have been popping up all over the place, providing a great soundtrack to summer and giving people the chance to check out a month's worth of bands at a single sitting. As summer slips

into fall, the (relatively) new owners of Tammany Hall, one of the most venerable music venues in the city, are getting into the act with "Tamfest '08," a 20-band festival Saturday. The event, which will be held rain or shine, will feature 10 bands inside and 10 outside in the parking lot next door.

"These bands are our best performers," Tammany co-owner Tom Hammond said. "They bring out the most people. They have the most fun. We have hundreds of acts coming in and out of here all the time but these 20 are pretty much our top 20."

Headliners will be the Ray Hendricks Revival (which has been mulling the idea of disbanding recently), the up-and-coming Sam James Band, Uncle Billy's Smokehouse and Humblebee. Rounding out the varied bill are Black River Sound, Skullfunked, New Pond Fondle, The Curtain Society, New Pilot, Mass Elite, The Franks, Weight of Gravity, Matt Shwachman Band, Dave Rivers Group, Hey Now Morris Fader, Brendan Mahoney, Dusty Cobb, 508 Family Biz and a couple of bands TBA.

There is quite a range of styles represented on that list, which suits Hammond and co-owner Kev Zona just fine. It is a musical tack they've taken since buying the club nearly a year ago and embarking on extensive renovations.

"We don't like just one particular kind of music. There's the Lucky Dog, they cater to one type of music pretty much, and then there's Ralph's and the Palladium, they all cater to pretty much their own types of music. We wanted to bring in rap, hip-hop. We've had country bands, rock, everything. We want to see a different crowd in there every night because then more people see the club, more people like the club, more people talk about the club."

How has it gone switching around the genres like that?

"Wonderful," Hammond said. "A couple weeks ago we had (hip-hop R&B artist) Keith Murray. He's pretty much a D-list celebrity but in Worcester anyone who's D-list is A-list. And the place was packed and there was no trouble or anything. So we're opening it up to everything and we're trying to bring some bigger acts in the months to come."

Those future out-of-towners should like Tammany, if the local bands' experience is any measure.

"We've always loved the place," said Chris O'Brien, bassist for Ray Hendricks Revival. "They've made us feel at home there. Some places may have a bigger stage but that doesn't necessarily make it a better place because a lot of owners, they have egos, too. But at Tammany, we go in there and no one says a word. Nobody bothers us about anything. Tammany is probably our favorite place to play."

The good vibes work both ways. "This is pretty much thanking these bands for helping us out, for making our club what it is," Hammond said. There also is a measure of civic vision at work and a surge of new energy from recent similar events such as a Labor Day weekend music festival at the Emerald Isle on Millbury Street.

"The city needs stuff like this and a lot of people have been jumping on board," Hammond said. "They just did the Event in the Tent on Millbury Street and they did one at Creegan's Pub on Green Street. Events like that bring people out to enjoy Worcester. People are scared to go downtown and we want to bring it back. Other people are doing a lot, bringing the Hanover downtown and doing the skating rink now. We want to do our part to bring more people downtown and make it fun and exciting again."

So will Ray Hendricks Revival be around to see the revival of downtown Hammond that boldly envisions?

Maybe. Maybe not.

"We're kind of all just burnt out from playing basically the same set for the past three years and it's been pretty hectic at times," bass player Chris O'Brien said. "Also, it's just personal issues. I want to try to do some things, take care of some things without the stress of practicing and playing all the time."

Those things he wants to do are pretty basic - finding a steady job, buying a car. It's an age-old dilemma faced by many a 20-somethings living in the grueling musical fast lane. "I can't seem to save money for a car for the life of me," O'Brien said.

Meanwhile, frontman Hendricks has been talking about moving to Boston and both he and O'Brien want to concentrate more on writing music. But an opportunity to headline at the Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge makes the thought of parting even harder.

"We're playing October third, which is Ray's birthday," O'Brien said. "That's a big gig for us. It's, like, kind of a smack in the face: `Hey wait. Why stop now? You finally have a headlining spot at the Middle East on a Friday night.'"

You might have to reconsider, then?

"Maybe we will," O'Brien said. "My brother actually e-mailed me, my oldest brother. He's 31. He used to play all the time, and he e-mailed me and said `What the hell are you thinking?'"

The Athol-based band's many ardent fans will just have to stay tuned.

If you're in the mood for '60s and '70s rock and R&B Saturday night, The Silverbacks will fill that bill at Creegan's Pub, 65 Green St., Worcester. The band is one of the many musical incarnations featuring local guitar star Cliff Goodwin, but one in which he is less frequently seen. You are more apt to catch him just south of the state line with his sprawling casino-based act, the Mohegan Sun All-Stars, or in one of his three other bands. The Silverbacks also features Mike Lynch, with whom Goodwin founded Albatross, a Worcester rock legend, more than 30 years ago. "We don't get to play together very often, but when we do, we have a blast," Goodwin said. They go on at 9 p.m. with a $5 cover. The band has gigs on two back-to-back-weekends: Creegan's first, then Greendale's Pub, 404 West Boylston St., on Sept. 27.

Top right, Tammany Hall co-owners Tom Hammond and Kev Zona, shown at the bar while the band Gravehaven performs on stage, say they have organized the festival as a way of thanking the bands that have helped make the club a success.

Tamfest '08

When: noon to 2 a.m. Saturday

Where: Tammany Hall, 43 Pleasant St., Worcester

How much: $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

ART: PHOTOS

PHOTOG: (1) T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA

CUTLINE: (1) Top right, Tammany Hall co-owners Tom Hammond and Kev Zona, shown at the bar while the band Gravehaven performs on stage, say they have organized the festival as a way of thanking the bands that have helped make the club a success. (2) The Curtain Society and (3) The Matt Shwachman Band are among the bands set to perform tomorrrow. (4) Will the performance of the Ray Hendricks Revival tomorrow be one of the band's last gigs?