Two HUGE Reasons to Go to Sunshine Get Down: BIG Something & Pigeons Playing Ping Pong

Two of the headliners for the third annual Sunshine Get Down at Florida Sand Music Ranch (April 10-12) have special connections to Florida, making it very special seeing them both on the lineup. BIG Something hail from Burlington, North Carolina, and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong are Baltimoreans (or Baltimorons, as we sometimes call ourselves).

Back before wide-open internet access to music, my best connection was through Leeway’s Home Grown Music Network (the amazing work of Lee Crumpton and staff). I had purchased a CD by BIG Something named Stories from the Middle of Nowhere and loved it. In the Virginia Beach area for a wedding in May of 2012, I saw the BIG Something were slated to play at Hoss’s Deli in Newport News. I dragged my wife and daughter there, and we had a fabulous night, also meeting Crumpton.

Later that year, their first (??) tour of Florida brought them to Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa, and they returned again in 2014, the year I also caught them at The 8×10 in Baltimore. The following year, they played Gov-Fest and The Great Outdoors Jam, both in Lakeland. It was also the first year I attended The BIG What? in Mebane NC, the one where BS and crew rescued the weekend after torrential rains tried to wipe us off the map.

2016 was BIG Something’s first time at the Wanee Music Festival in Live Oak (they would play it again in 2018). They were on Jam Cruise the first time we sailed, in 2017, and the 2017 edition of The BIG What? in Shakori Hills was thankfully rain-free.

Since then, they have visited the Sunshine State often (not often enough), including a recent pair of shows with St. Petersburg favorites The Hip Abduction in Jupiter and in Pinellas Park. They have seven studio albums and many live recordings available.

BIG Something are: Ben Vinograd, drums; Casey Cranford, alto saxophone, EWI; Matt Laird, bass; Jesse Hensley, lead guitar, vocals; Josh Kagel, keyboards, trumpet; and Nick MacDaniels, guitar, lead vocals.

In 2014, the weather outside was frightful indeed in February, so frightful, in fact, that a number of bands and performers, including headliners, could not get through the Northeast blizzard-like conditions to the AURA Music & Arts Festival in Live Oak. Somehow, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong (hereinafter PPPP) made it from Baltimore, and they had the opening set on the Amphitheatre Stage on Thursday, and they blew everybody away. They were invited back for 2015 and 2016 (the last two years); in fact, our preview article Five Bands You Need to See at AURA 2015 featured this photo from their 2014 set.

Shortly after the 2014 AURA, PPPP ventured to Florida, playing Dunedin Brewery and Skipper’s Smokehouse on their tour. In 2015, they joined BIG Something at The BIG What? for a BIG party, and they also returned to Florida, along with BS, for that Great Outdoors Jam. They came back for Great Outdoors Jam 2016, and in 2018 they sailed on Jam Cruise and the final Wanee Festival.

Since then, both bands have regularly included Florida in their tour plans, and they headline festivals all over the country. Both bands display enormous ranges of genres in their shows, always delighting fans new and old. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong had a titanic set at Suwannee Hulaween doing Pink Floyd in 2023, and they will sail on Jam Cruise in February. PPPP also host their own festival, Dome Fest, because, as everyone knows, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE DOME!

Pigeons Playing ping Pong. 📷: Dave DeCrescente Photography

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong are: Greg Ormont, vocals, guitar; Jeremy Schon, guitar, vocals; Ben, bass, vocals; and Alex Petropulos, drums, vocals, looks.

One more important aspect of Pigeons: their tour manager is one of the most respected and hard-working people in the industry: Bret Peretz, who is from the Tampa area. At one time, he managed Displace, Voodoo visionary, and other great bands. In fact, earlier this year, when the tour manager for Dark Star Orchestra (???) had to step away briefly, they said: WHO YOU GONNA CALL? BRET PERETZ. It will be a well-deserved homecoming having him at Sunshine Get Down.

One of the few times you’ll find Bret Peretz relaxing!

If you have already seen these two amazing bands perform, then you know. If you don’t yet, you will be thrilled to see them BOTH on stage at Sunshine Get Down in April!

Two HUGE Reasons to Go to Sunshine Get Down: BIG Something & Pigeons Playing Ping Pong