by Laurel Tuohy

If you’re planning on hitting Danbury’s Not Brooklyn Festival this month, you’d better buy your tickets now. The music and culture festival, headlined by indie-rock favorite Cursive and held at Main Street’s Heirloom Arts Theatre, is generating major online buzz and is being widely discussed on influential music-and-lifestyle blogs like Brooklyn Vegan.

The two-day fest, April 18–19, promises to deliver to Connecticut music fans the kind of event they’d usually have to travel to New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore for.

The weekend revel includes a refreshingly diverse and non-screamy lineup of great bands, a flea market, and representatives from cool Connecticut organizations such as the CT Roller Girls and Vegan Pitbull Rescue.

Organizing an event of this size required the cooperation of three of the state’s promotional powerhouses: Western Connecticut State University’s radio station WXCI (91.7FM), Danbury’s Heirloom Theatre, and New Haven’s Manic Productions.

According to Mark Nussbaum, show organizer with Manic Productions, the project was conceived like this: “WXCI contacted Jay LaPierre, who runs the Heirloom Arts Theatre, and asked him to help put together an event for their spring concert. Jay contacted me and wanted Manic to help with booking and running the event. The rest is history,” he explains.

Manic has booked successful shows before at the Heirloom, including acts such as Melt-Banana, No Age, and Tara Jane O’Neil, but Nussbaum admits, “This will be the largest event we have ever had a hand in booking. We have never set up a fest before and are very excited about being a part of it.”

The group didn’t set out to produce a multi-day event, but there were such great bands willing to play that they took advantage of the musicians’ enthusiasm and booked as many groups as they could. “Jay and I were throwing around ideas for bands and ways to make the event the best it could be. There was just no way we could do it all in one day,” says Nussbaum.

Cursive is sure to draw a massive crowd since they appeal to a broad spectrum of fans, from people who love skate-punk to others that dig The Cure. (The Cure has had a surprisingly big influence on the Omaha indies; they got the chance to open for their big-haired heroes on a tour in ’04.)

The band is touring in support of their latest album, the bouncy, buoyant-sounding Happy Hollow, which adds accordion, horns, and piano to the band’s trademark sound. Regarding the choice of headlining act, Nussbaum says, “Cursive is one of the first groups that came to mind when we were thinking of bands to headline the festival.” He went on to enthuse that supporting them will be The Appleseed Cast, in what will be the only East Coast appearance from the post-emo perennial faves.

The second night promises to be an entirely different kind of event (and possibly more exciting), headlined by the stoner’s version of Black Sabbath: Dead Meadow. They are supported by way-underappreciated Danbury band Failures Art, which takes its name from an Elliot Smith lyric and cites Conor Oberst and Sunny Day Real Estate as influences. Members of this band have been active in the Hat City music scene since its early 90s heyday.

A great thing about Not Brooklyn is the diversity of the lineup. Nussbaum says, “Both Heirloom and Manic handpicked each act. We wanted talent from all over the state, as we think this is more of a Connecticut Event than a Danbury Event, but still keeping Danbury as the focal point. This is the first step to breathe new life into the city and revive a once-thriving music scene. The support acts were picked to draw people from all over the state and also showcase our favorite local talents (Arms & Legs, The Striders, Failures Art, Guilty Faces). We are trying to show the state that Danbury, and WXCI, are still great places for music,” he explains.

If big shows, big bands, or loud music aren’t your thing, the lineup scheduled to play during the flea market might move you. Neil Hamburger is doing stand-up comedy during the event, which will also feature acoustic acts such as singing and song-writing superpower Arms & Legs, Toby Goodshank (of Moldy Peaches fame), and indie-folk band Deer Tick.

If you don’t like buying awesome crafty stuff or listening to life-changing indie acoustic music, show up at the flea market just to see old friends from Trash American Style, who will be manning a booth at the Not Brooklyn market.

About the tongue-in-cheek name of the fest, Nussbaum says, “Bands, showgoers, and people in general need to realize that there are cool things happening here and not just in places like Brooklyn, Philly, and Boston. The fest could just as easily have been called the Not Philly Fest.”

The Heirloom Arts Theatre is located at 155 Main Street in Danbury. The events are for all ages, but it’s 21 and over to drink. Visit ManicProductions.org to find out more and buy tickets.

A weekend pass, of which there are a limited number, is $25. A ticket for the first night only is $14, while a ticket for the entire second day (flea market and show) is $12. A ticket for the second night’s show is $10. It costs $5 to attend the flea market and hear the lineup that will play during it.