FRAMINGHAM, MA– In a summer of Friday nights marked by rain or the threat of it, the weather was perfect for the final “Concert on the Green” for the 2011 season.

Local band “3 OF A KIND“, (from Natick), featuring Ron Taddeo (lead guitar), Richie Wood (bass) and Jim McGee (drums) eased their way through sets of mostly classic rock from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s with a healthy dose of 50’s oldies in the mix.

Throughout the night Wood and Taddeo switched off playing lead while McGee, part showman and 100% drummer provided percussive fills that are as much a part of the band’s sound as any guitar riff or lyric could be.

The night’s show was the last one organized by Jim Egan, Town of Framingham Director of Building Services who retired this month.

Egan conceived the idea for the free summer concert series in 1996 and after a 15 year run has handed over management of the concerts to the Town’s Park & Recreation Department.

The band made a special shout-out thanks to Jim, who wasn’t at the show — but since FPAC-TV was taping the entire concert, he’ll get his thank you on t.v.!

In addition to the musical performance, the Concert on the Green series allows community groups and concert sponsors to setup booths and tables on the Village Green, (a.k.a. Framingham Centre Common).

The Framingham Artist Guild tent is a regular attraction at the concerts, and the group featured two member artists during the 3 OF A KIND concert.

Deborah Bottomley, a former Framingham resident who now lives in Milford was painting and displaying her work throughout the night. Bottomley who works as an estimator in a fabrics related business has been a member of the guild for approximately 10 years. Deboarah works primarily in watercolor, but also does murals and trompe l’oeil and faux finishing treatments in oil and acrylics and sometimes works in charcoal.

Also on hand was Merrillee Torres, a Framingham Artist Guild member for 4-5 years, who was displaying her whimsical, colorful acrylic paintings. Torres lives in South Natick and works as a volunteer at the Natick Senior Center and the American Cancer Society.

Photos of both artists and their work are featured below.

(NOTE: Click on any image below to enlarge photos and view all as a slideshow!)

 

As the night progressed, 3 OF A KIND rolled out hit after hit!

Among the community groups setup on the common MetroWest Peace Action, (www.MetroWestPeaceAction.org), had a table full of information and was holding an informal “Pennie Poll”.

Activist Carol Coakly along with Lloyd Kaye, (Framingham Town Meeting Member for Preceint 10), and Susan Massad, (Food and Nutrition Professor at Framingham State Univeristy), were  promoting “The 25% Solution“.

The group’s mission is to get the U.S. Government to reduce military spending by 25% — which, at current spending levels  would amount to $175 Billion per year.

The group’s literature suggests the funds could be better spent to; build or renovate 20,000 schools, provide health insurance for 40 million people, create 9 million earth friendly “green” jobs, improve veterans services by 350% of what they are today, send 8.5 million kids to college and help secure affordable mortgages for 1.8 million families.

The group has been holding weekly vigils on the Natick Common each Saturday from noon ’til 1:00p.m. and has enlisted support from some State and Federal legislators. The grass roots organization encourages people to promote the cause and take action at the local level — to prompt the Federal Government to end the war in Afghanistan, reduce the nation’s production of nuclear warheads, cut weapons systems and close military bases which are located outside the U.S. — and set new priorities for Federal spending.

(Additional information can be found at the www.25PercentSolution.com and www.NewPrioritiesNetwork.org websites).

Back to the music!  Playing after dark to a crowd that wanted more, we had to switch our camera to “night vision”. So here they, 3 OF A KIND playing one more tune:

According to “the powers that be“, the concerts will continue to be held on the Framingham Centre Common again next year.

Thanks from framingham.com to everyone who participated in or attended the 2011 concerts!

And one more special thanks to Jim Egan! You created one our favorite things to cover — and one of the best things Framingham has to going!

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The 2011 Framingham “Concerts on the Green” were made possible by the generous donations of ADESA, Bernardi Auto Group, BOSE Employees, Computer Care Associates, Heritage at Framingham, Framingham Police Athletic League (“PAL”), Framingham Cooperative Bank, Metrowest Medical Center, Kathy Foran of Realty Executives Boston-West , VFW Post 929, FPAC-TV and other individual and corporate sponsors.

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