Worlds have collided over the past three weeks at Camp Eastman in Irondequoit. By day, the town hosted a summer camp for kids. Meanwhile, the 14 acre site has transformed, from town park into an adult playground for the upcoming Hoochenanny Whiskey & Music Festival from August 8-10 in the Rochester suburb.
Cultivate the Uncommon. Reason for the season. Build it and they will come. These are the mottos that Hoochenanny co-owners Tommy Brunett and Sean McCarthy live by. This is not your average music festival.
Cultivate the Uncommon
When NYS Music arrived on the scene, co-owner Sean McCarthy was found working with his crew, unloading totes with tent sections before the interview started. He was asked to look good for photos, so he brushed his hair. As he resumed manual labor, he jumped around when House of Pain came across the speakers.
Tommy Brunett, on the other hand, arrived as dapper as ever in a fedora with a long-sleeve rockabilly shirt and matching blue accented creepers on his feet.
Brunett and McCarthy are synergistic partners. Both co-owners bring their own set of special skills, experience, and connections to make Hoochenanny a shared vision. Both are musicians and music lovers at heart.
Often working behind the scenes, Tommy Brunett has successfully navigated the music business landscape for several decades. He owned Universal Buzz Intelligence, a New York City-based creative marketing company with a client list that included The White Stripes, Virgin, Olympus, Sony, Altoids, Universal Studios, DreamWorks, MTV, TBS, PBS, and Disney.
Tommy also created Universal Buzz Radio, a nationally syndicated radio program featuring live performances from popular recording artists from Kid Rock and Henry Rollins to Willie Nelson and The White Stripes. At its peak, Universal Buzz Radio boasted a listenership of 3.2 million people worldwide…