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Founders Day To Feature McCartney 'Experience'

Photo from Eddie Toye

Live and Let Die will pay tribute to Paul McCartney and other musicians of McCartney's era at New Port Richey Founders Day, this Saturday, Sept. 27. Live and Let Die members are, from left, Eddie Toye, Carl Viola, Teddy Toye and Ron Gravley.

By Cheryl Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: September 24, 2008

Don't call Live and Let Die a tribute band.

"We pay tribute, but we're not a tribute band," says guitarist and lead vocalist Eddie Toye. "We're a Paul McCartney concert experience."

The six-member band will appear at True Oldies Music Night, this Saturday, Sept. 27, at the 12th annual Founders Day in New Port Richey.

He and his band are not imitators, Toye emphasized. "Nothing is exactly as they did it. But it is the heart and soul of the music."

Live and Let Die, which takes its name from the theme song McCartney wrote for the 1973 James Bond film of the same name, regularly pays homage to Sir Paul and other rock musicians, including Eric Clapton, Joe Crocker and Buddy Holly, in Florida festivals. It attracts a crowd ranging from aging baby boomers to elementary school children.

The Beatles span age groups because they speak to the spirit, Toye said. "Every song they made is about love and trying to find love. It's still a great concept."

The three-day Founders Day runs: 5 - 11 p.m., Friday, Sept. 26; from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 27; and from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 28. Activities are in the Orange Lake and Sims Park areas of downtown New Port Richey.

Other entertainment includes a Saturday and Sunday lineup of folk artists from Friends of Florida Folk, a nonprofit organization that promotes the folk arts.

On Saturday and Sunday, folk artists will perform 1 - 5 p.m. at Peace Hall. On Sunday morning from 10 a.m. until noon, the group will present a folk and gospel sing-along for the public at the amphitheater in Sims Park.

This year's Founders Day sports two new events, Chaotic CoteeMan Triathalon and Founders Day Richey Elementary Alumni and Friends Golf Tournament. Both are on Saturday.

"We wanted to emphasize the healthy lifestyle of Florida, living in New Port Richey," said Judy DeBella Thomas, executive director of the event's organizer, Greater New Port Richey Main Street.

Attendees can also enjoy arts and crafts, antique work engines and fire engines, and a NASCAR race car simulator, all in Sims Park. A carnival and boat, kayak and canoe rides will be available all weekend. Vendors will offer a variety of food.

For children, activities include pumpkin painting and scarecrow-making at Orange Lake and a treasure hunt maze, tornado slide and bounce house at Sims Park.

Saturday events include a Florida native plants sale on the grounds of the West Pasco Historical Society on Circle Boulevard near Sims Park. At Orange Lake, pets and their people can enjoy gourmet lunches courtesy of Suburban Feed & Supply and Sweetbay Supermarkets at "Leashes and Lunch by the Lake" from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

On Sunday, the Classic Car Show will be presented around Orange Lake from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The West Pasco Historical Society, which has its headquarters and museum on Circle Boulevard, across from Orange Lake, will be open Friday 4 - 8 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

This year's theme is Pasco County's Railroads with details about the Tampa and Gulf Coast Railroad that ran from Port Richey to Tarpon Springs from 1914 until 1943.

On Sunday at noon, Gregg Turner, former director and curator of the Railway &Locomotive Historical Society at the Harvard Business School, will speak. Turner is the author of "A Short History of Florida Railroads."

Post your photos from New Port Richey Founders Day at www.suncoastnews.com, Keyword: Founders Day.

ENTERTAINMENT

Sims Park Amphitheatre Main Stage

Friday

7 - 10:30 p.m.Dixie Highway Band with John Wayne Wilkinson - country, southern rock

Saturday

11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Gotta Dance -- dance and singing troupe

12 - 2 p.m. Lulu - oldies, country, pop

2:30 - 4:30 p.m.Boneyard Dogs - classic rock

6 - 6:45 p.m. Jonathan Cortez - doo-wop, Motown, soul

7 - 8:30 p.m.60's Groove - 60s and 70s rock

8:45 - 10:45 p.m.Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney