TCB

Festival Fever

Besides baseball, allergies, and income taxes, the surest sign of a Central Texas spring is the glut of post-SXSW music festivals, which blanket the area like roadside bluebonnets this time of year. First up are the Old Settler's Fest (see "Pick-Me-Up Hoedown," p.66) and the 11th annual Austin Marley Fest, which takes over Auditorium Shores noon-10pm Saturday and Sunday. Getting right with Jah will be San Marcos' Carlton Pride and Joe "King" Carrasco, Dallas' Spoonfed Tribe, Houston's D.R.U.M., Minneapolis' Dred I Dread, and locals Azul, Fire & Isis, Echo Squad, Stop the Truck, and Tribal Nation. Admission is $7 plus two nonperishable items for the Capital Area Food Bank; two-day passes are available for $10. A free shuttle pickup is at the Austin Music Hall.

Next Saturday brings the return of UT's 40 Acres Fest, now in its 12th year of hooking top talent to entertain thousands of happy Horns at no charge. This year's roster is easily on par with past bookings like Ludacris and Medeski Martin & Wood: red-hot Philly duo Young Gunz; reformed Goodie Mob soulman Cee-Lo; round 'n' profound hick-hopper Bubba Sparxxx; and Canadian New Wavers Metric. And who should turn out to be co-chair of the music committee? None other than former Ark Entertainment promoter Noah Balch, now pursuing both an M.B.A. and law degree. "It's a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it," says Balch, also president of the UT Sports, Entertainment & Media Organization. Balch charged each member of the eight-person committee to find a local band they'd like to book, and they came back with Wideawake, KJV, DJ Mel, Canoe, Two Guy Trio, iSOLA, the Good Looks, and Buddy Revelle. Balch is impressed with the entirely student-produced event, saying, "This whole day is really well-organized." The locals begin at noon on the East Mall stage, with Metric cranking up the South Mall main stage at 6pm.

Brand-new this year is the Austin Music Foundation's Spotlight Series, which happens Saturday, May 8, up and down Red River. "The idea was to start a little smaller, but other clubs wanted to participate," says AMF co-founder Nikki Rowling. The final tally comes to 34 local acts on seven stages at five clubs: Emo's, Stubb's, Headhunters, the Caucus, and Red Eyed Fly. Scheduled to appear are A-listers like I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness, Young Heart Attack, Broken Teeth, Dynamite Boy, DJ Cassanova, Mirage, and Tia Carrera, who unfortunately had $200 of cash and merchandise stolen while playing an Ecology Action benefit at Headhunters last Saturday. Anyone who saw/heard anything should e-mail [email protected]. Rowling is confident both newbies and die-hard Red River rats will find something to their liking, and she's quick to point out it's not a fundraiser. "I doubt we'll make a dime off this," she says. "We haven't asked any of these bands to play for free." Wristbands good for entry at all five clubs are on sale now for $20 through Front Gate Tickets, and all five venues will be wristband-only that night. (See www.austinmusicfoundation.org for more.) Basically, it's shaping up as a de facto dry run for the Louis Meyers-produced Red River Festival, currently slotted for the weekend of June 18. More on that one soon.