On the Beat: Sunday Night Mass Returns to Higher Ground

For almost 30 years, no electronic dance music event in the Burlington area has maintained the consistency and pull of Sunday Night Mass. Launched by Nexus Artist Management in the late 1990s at the much-missed Club Metronome, the weekly series showcased touring DJs and ace local selectors alike. Over the years, it scaled back to a monthly installment, then a quarterly-ish event at the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington.

While other players such as Roost.World and Burlington Electronic Department have emerged to keep the local scene bumping, Sunday Night Mass is still going strong. It returns for a blowout on Sunday, May 24, at Higher Ground. The show features headliner DJ Sneak, a pioneer of Chicago’s famed 1980s and early ’90s house scene. The Puerto Rican DJ’s 1996 track “You Can’t Hide From Your Bud” was a high-water mark for an artist credited with influencing the likes of Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx.

Joining him at the top of the bill is Texas DJ and producer Kelly Reverb, formerly of ’90s breakbeat outfit Southside Reverb. Rounding out the lineup are local DJs Vetica, Cheetatah, and Philthaay and Mitch Almond of Aquatic Underground. Check out highergroundmusic.com to snag your tickets.

Does anyone remember when Hunter S. Thompson ran for sheriff of Colorado’s Pitkin County in 1970? It was a wild turn for the gonzo journalist, who ran on a platform of decriminalizing drugs and renaming Aspen “Fat City” to turn off would-be land developers. His campaign poster featured a fist clutching a peyote button.

While his campaign may have seemed like a stunt, Thompson was dead serious. He gave the staid local establishment a scare, losing the election by a thin margin only after Democrats and Republicans banded together to stop his ascent.

I’m not much for drawing political parallels in 2026 — things have gotten so weird these days that I know socialists who retweet Tucker Carlson. But there are shades of Thompson’s political run in Burlington musician Kevin Bloom’s push to be elected sheriff of Chittenden County.

Bloom, the mind behind Burlington psych-rock act the Dead Shakers, is campaigning on issues such as curbing evictions rather than renaming Burlington, say, Crap Town or legalizing all narcotics, like Thompson wanted. But don’t quote me on local politics, all right? I’m here to tell you where to find open mics and talk shit about Noah Kahan, not to wade into debates about property taxes.

So why am I writing about Bloom’s campaign? Because he’s throwing a rally in precisely the way one would expect an indie rocker to throw a rally: with a massive concert at Radio Bean in Burlington. The event on Saturday, May 30, features a stacked lineup of Greg Freeman, Liz Cooper, DJ TAKA, Ivamae, Kate Kush, Blowtorch, english major, DJ Two Sev and others. Speakers include Winooski City Councilor Al Turkos, Burlington City Councilor Melo Grant (P-Central District), state Senate candidate Nikhil Goyal and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amanda Janoo.

I’m not going to lie: I have no clue about the vagaries of local elections, so who knows if we have a Thompson-like situation brewing. I’m just over here fantasizing about the Burlington music scene taking over Vermont politics. Who says no to Craig Mitchell, governor of Vermont? I mean, probably Mitchell, to be honest. But what about the Tsunamibots as senators, running on an antihuman platform? They’d probably get funding from Palantir to “consciously uncouple” from humanity.

We’ll have to wait and see come November, I guess. Until then, you can get tickets at radiobean.com. And in the interest of equal time, if any other BTV sheriff hopefuls are throwing concert rallies, hit me up.