Sunday, April 20, 2008

Main St. Arts Fest drew packed house of sensory seekers Saturday

By Erin Rice

The Main Street Arts Festival closes tonight on a partially overcast Sunday. With the usual hustle and bustle, and parade of color and sound, 2008 was decidedly successful despite some early weather difficulties.

On Saturday night the route all along Main Street was completely packed... no, choked... no, surprised the whole place didn't sink into the earth with the number of people milling about. As booths were closing up shop, most patrons concentrated around the two main stages at either end of the strip to see Dr. John, newly inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and Son Volt. With various food stands marking the fringes of each crowd, people were sitting, standing, feasting, and dancing to their music of choice.

While both of the above were obviously fantastic performances, the set that caught and held my attention was Michael Bashaw's Theatre of Sound on the Target Performance stage, tucked away along the path between the two larger stages. Playing a number of instruments, including at one point jamming out on a duck call, their collective sound ranged from funk to world music. Not only was the odd arrangement on stage fetching to the ears, but the passion and theatrics that went into playing each instrument was visually palatable.

Moving beyond the music, the Sculpture Garden flanking the Chisolm Lot stage featured various stunning works of art. With many iron and steel abstractions strewn about on simulated grassy plots, my favorites, to the dismay of an accompanying earth-tones-enthusiast, were the brilliantly polychromatic kinetic wind sculptures. Also of note, there were several local jewelry-makers, but a late arrival meant a limited viewing of the artful pieces.

All in all, it seemed the crowd, most of whom had been there for several hours more than I, were pumped about the event, and even more so about the surplus of beer stands. They had Killians at one, so you know I was pleased.

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• Arts > Fine Arts > Art and Sculpture
• Arts > Popular Music
• Festivals

Comments

Mike Orren Staff

After some other evening obligations, we made it to FW just in time for Dr. John's set, which started late due to sound troubles.

Would have been an OK set on its own, but just as I was commenting that "Good Night Irene" would have benefitted from a horn section, Blue Lou Marini and a Fort Worth resident trumpet player whose name I missed (although he was clearly a big deal) ambled onto the stage.

Place was packed when we arrived, but I was shocked at how the crowd dissipated by the end of the set. Really great stuff, although Dr. John is lyrically better when he's not so political (see "Black Gold.")

But Blue Lou. Man, that was cool...

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Robert Kelly Verified

I only caught the end of the set, since I drove over for Sonvolt. But it did seem to be thinning out somewhat as I showed up for the encores.

Sonvolt was excellent, that was quite a nice freebee, and well worth the 30 mile hike.

2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )