We are one week into our 35-day fund-raising drive with Kickstarter, in which we’re soliciting your (tax-deductible) help in helping to cover the costs of our new stage.

My how time flies.

And we figured now’s a good time to let you know that, rest assured, you will see an immediate return on your investment with lots of fun shows.  The stage will work for you – hard and relentlessly – right from the starting gate.  Think of it as a form of tough love (which, by the way, doesn’t work.)

It’s very first show will be April 14th.  That’s when Animal Collective comes to town, kicking off our summer season.*  Pretty prestigious for the stage’s first gig, eh?  It’s like how Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s first show ever was at Woodstock (you can tell; Crosby’s a little flat on “Judy Blue Eyes.”)

Then the shows come hot n’ heavy: Rhett Miller (May 6), J. Carey of Bon Iver (May 22), and Chris Robinson (right)of the Black Crows (May 28-29.)

There’s also the famous Vinyl in the Woods record fair on May 28th, and the really-famous Big Big Sur Fashion Show on May 19th (aside from Arcade Fire, last’s years fashion show was our biggest event of the season.  True story.)

Then all hell really breaks loose in June.  Can’t wait.  (Makes an ambivalent face.)

Check out our schedule of events for even more.

So… just in case you were holding back any donations because you were afraid that as flaky, passive-aggressive West Coast New Agers we’d go gentle on the stage, like some hippie mom who lets her kids run bare foot everywhere, then let us allay your fears.  No kid gloves here.  We’re putting the new stage to work from Day 1.

After all, stages are like hippie kids.  They need boundaries.

* Otherwise known as the “Summer Season Kick-Off”