Helping cover for a friend, local rock legends the Suburbs have agreed to a last-minute gig headlining Thursday night's inaugural AppleJam music fest at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska.
A fundraiser intended to promote "The Arb" to a hip audience and celebrate the start of apple season, the AppleJam will take place from 5-10 p.m. in a large beer garden, with tents and apple-themed food and drinks set up on the arboretum's scenic grounds. Tickets range in price from $30-$50 and are available via mnarbonline.com.
The event was supposed to feature another mainstay from the Twin Cities music scene, the Honeydogs. They had to cancel Wednesday after their singer, Adam Levy, checked himself into a mental-health facility. He posted an apology on Facebook for canceling his upcoming gigs and wrote a candid note about his struggles.
"I've been struggling with some grief and pain that's been compounding rapidly in a short period," wrote Levy, who has spoken openly about mental illness and advocated for better services since the death of his 21-year-old son, Daniel, in 2012.
"I'm sharing because it's important for us to be vulnerable and ask for help — mental health effects all of us at some level, and things can get bad fast when we're isolated."
The Suburbs quickly agreed to fill in after playing a steady stream of gigs in recent weeks, a run that culminated with a free performance at the Lake Harriet Band Shell last Thursday, which attracted one of the largest crowds of recent memory to the lakeside venue.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658 • @ChrisRstrib
