THE New York State Thruway won’t be closed, man. But with so many family-friendly bands hitting New York stages this weekend – thanks, in part, to the Manhattan-wide Green Apple Music & Arts Festival – it’s like Woodstock for tots and tweens.
Two groups will be playing strictly Beatles tunes, with a twist (and shout) for young ears. Another will play tunes from an album called “Meet the Deedles.”
And in Park Slope tomorrow, a new teen music series called “Young & Restless” takes the stage at Southpaw. On the bill: a retro garage-rock trio of fifth-graders (in a nabe of few garages, they practice in the bassist’s basement) named Care Bears on Fire.
If you want to get in on the dawning of this new Age of Aquarius, you’d better get going: The shows kick off this morning with performances by the Dirty Sock Funtime Band at 11 a.m. (the Society for Ethical Culture, 64th Street at Central Park West; [212] 874-5210) and the Deedle Deedle Dees at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th Street; [212] 864-5400).
Not surprisingly for a quartet that includes three teachers, the Brooklyn-based DDDs tend toward fun, fact-filled story songs like “Teddy Days” (about Teddy Roosevelt). And if the traffic around town this Kidstock weekend doesn’t quite reach the standstill it did back in ’69 at Woodstock, the DDDs will salute another New York highway (and the man it’s named for) with “Major Deegan.”
Then again, many of the musicians playing this weekend are used to rocking crowds clutching beers, not juiceboxes. Lisa Matthews of Milkshake (2 p.m. tomorrow at the Jewish Museum, Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street; [212] 423-3200) says playing for kids is more strenuous than playing for older people, the ones who heard her in Love Riot.
“In Love Riot, I’d just play my low-slung electric guitar and lose myself,” she says.
With Milkshake, a band she helped found after becoming a mom (her daughter’s now 5), Matthews realized she couldn’t play guitar, clap hands and count on her fingers all at the same time. So she ditched the electric guitar, got a wireless mike and jumps around onstage like crazy.
The only rock relic she retains is a pair of black combat boots, which she wears, with a tutu, for performances. “I’m rooted in my rock sensibilities when I wear my combat boots,” she says.
The other difference, Matthews says, is how her audience handles boredom. “With grown-ups, if they’re bored, they’ll go get a beer. If the kids don’t like it, they’re gonna cry to their mommies, ‘Let’s go!'”
Also performing tomorrow is Gustafer Yellowgold (1 p.m. at Makor at the 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave.; [212] 601-1000), the imaginary part-cat/part-alien creation of artist Morgan Taylor, who narrates and sings tunes such as “Pterodactyl Tuxedo” to vivid, slowly animated backdrops; and the Fab Faux, a Beatles tribute band aiming their guitars at listeners just ready to Meet The Beatles. (3 p.m. at the Nokia Theatre, Broadway at 44th Street; [212] 930-1940).
Rich Pagano, one of the five Fab Faux, says that one of the kid faves is “Yellow Submarine.”
“We’ve got a megaphone, horns upfront, samples – it’s a visual and audio feast,” he says – one that features Jack Petruzzelli jumping from keyboards to guitar to percussion.
Families can brunch with The Beatles tomorrow in Williamsburg, as Bubble does an acoustic set of great songs from the Liverpudlian lads. (11 a.m. at Willy Bees, 302 Metropolitan Ave.; [718] 599-3499).
Back in Park Slope, the “Young & Restless” starts at noon at Southpaw (125 Fifth Ave.; [718] 230-0236).
Along with Care Bears on Fire – performing guitarist/songwriter Sophie Kasakove’s original “Jack Brown,” as well as covers of The Who, the Stones, Dylan, the Ramones and Green Day – will be Tetsuwan Fireball, Defibrillator and Modrocket. Added incentive: free pizza for the first 40 showgoers. They didn’t have that at Woodstock! bheller@nypost.com
