BUY TICKETS FOR WOODSTOCK-FOR-WINGNUTS, STARRING ... UM, WE DON'T KNOW YET

New York State has a new summer music festival:

Hoping to find support and money among country music fans, a group of gun rights supporters and other grass-roots organizations in New York have announced a new addition to the summer festival circuit: Freedompalooza.

The concert, planned for Aug. 24 ... , was announced on Wednesday by Assemblyman Bill Nojay, a Pittsford Republican, and Tom King, the president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association....

The organizers are unhappy about a measure the Legislature passed in January, with support from Democrats and Republicans, that imposed new restrictions on the ownership of assault weapons and the size of gun magazines.

... A banner promoting the event featured an American flag, an image of the Constitution and the tag line "Our First Shot at Liberty." ...

Tickets, at $35 each, went on sale on Wednesday....

So you can buy tickets already -- but there's one catch:

The event will feature "some of country music's top performers," although none of them had been finalized before the Wednesday-morning press conference at the Capitol.

So pay $35 to see ... whoever! And back the cause of gun freedom! And a few other causes:

Allowing hydrofracking in the Southern Tier, cutting property taxes and other issues were also mentioned.

Oh, and about the name of the concert?

Freedompalooza is not to be mistaken for Freedompalooza, a three-day music and conservative speakers celebration in Upper Bucks County, Pa., that's an annual platform for the noted anti-Semitic rockers of Poker Face.

Yup -- the headlining band at that Freedompalooza is a favorite of Michigan's Hutaree militia. This year, that Freedompalooza (which took place ovver the Fourth of July weekend) also featured such speakers as former congressman James Traficant, his former colleague Cynthia McKinney, and Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, a group that's to the right of the NRA.

OK, so this Freedompalooza has a name that could be a tad confusing. And where's it taking place, by the way?

The concert [is] planned for Aug. 24 in Altamont, outside Albany....

Altamont? Altamont? Yeah, that name really bodes well for a big music festival.

Oh, and did I mention that David Sieling, the promoter, once was a volunteer for the gubernatorial campaign of Carl Paladino?

I'll give the last word to Tom King of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, one of the organizers:

"For the past 12 years, we've been on the defense, and we have finally said, 'That's it,'" King said at a news conference near the state Capitol Wednesday. "We're finally going to do something offensive...."

Well put, sir.