I must say, I’m really not impressed by this year’s lineup at the Pleasantville Music Festival, which takes place July 11. It’s a great little fest–you can show up in the middle of the day, toss a blanket down a hundred feet from the stage, enjoy a brew from local Captain Lawrence (although you’re confined to the bier garten/holding pen whilst quaffing your brew), and take in some fun musical acts–some that you’ve even heard of.

Kids are everywhere, with bouncy houses, crafts and other pleasant diversions for the thigh-high set. And the whole shebang, located at Parkway Field, is about a five minute walk from the Pleasantville train station.

Last year we saw Joan Osborne, among many others. The year before, Shawn Mullins and some talented Brooklyn hipsters called the Damnwells. Both years we caught a fun band called De Sol (not to be confused with De La Soul, of course), a Santana-esque outfit that really, truly seemed psyched to be rocking out in Pleasantville that day.

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[beware the big head]

Music…arts…locally brewed beer…it’s all part of what makes Pleasantville a hip little town–and the best commuter town in the tri-state area, voted thusly by Trainjotting readers.

The festival has grown each year, so naturally expectations were that there’d be a couple blue-chip acts on the bill for 2009. Alas, the headliner is Big Head Todd and the Monsters–that Colorado college campus second-fave from, oh, 1993 or so. Second billing is Hill Country Revue, who I never heard of, and after that it’s Davy Knowles with Back Door Slam. We caught Back Door Slam last year: young English blues guys–good, but very, very loud, and just wrong for an outdoor fest crawling with kids. I distinctly remember lots of people walking away from the stage, fingers jammed in their ears like the squeaky 6 was pulling into Union Square Station.

I wish the organizers would put more emphasis on up and coming acts, such as those Damnwells guys, and less on the bands who are so obviously on the back nine of their career.

Oh well. With Little G and Little Miss C in attendance, we’ll surely be heading home before Big Head Freakin’ Todd even takes the stage.