Long Island Sound: Locals get their voices heard

Congratulations, Long Island music lovers. Your vocal support has made a difference.

In the past few weeks, local governments have made some odd and aggressive moves against Long Island music venues and area festivals that have been overturned, in part, thanks to the public outcry.

After putting on concerts for 17 years with no issues, last month, live music at Mr. Beery's in Bethpage was halted - right before the 10th anniversary party of local music zine Aural Fix, which has been rescheduled to May 16 - by Oyster Bay Town officials, which said the bar now needs a special-use permit. Town officials said they were enforcing the law, but owner Steve Beery felt he was unfairly singled out and turned to customers and musicians for help.

All the complaints to the town paid off, as officials agreed to help Mr. Beery's get the necessary permits to bring music back to the bar.

A similar situation is unfolding in Riverhead, where town officials seemed willing to put this year's Riverhead Blues Festival in jeopardy. Town officials were trying to get the festival's organizers from the Vail Leavitt Music Hall to hand over some control of the festival to Riverhead's Chamber of Commerce.

As fans and musicians started to mobilize, all of the parties apparently reached a compromise. It's another example of how important getting the word out about the scene is, through both social media and more conventional outlets like Richard L'Hommedieu's "Making a Scene" show on WUSB/90.1 FM, which featured the players in both disputes. Concerned fans have banded together on Facebook, where the "We Support L.I.ve Music" group has 2,300 members and hopes to keep the area's music scene alive and rocking.

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