SCENE SCRIBE
By Michael Swanger scenescribe@mchsi.com
CAMP Fest showcases a variety of local bands, music styles
Eighteen bands, five stages, one building. If you’re a fan of local live music — jam bands, hard rock, pop, reggae, jazz, blues and country — you might want to pitch your tent at the first annual Court Avenue Music Production (CAMP) Fest to be held Saturday, May 22 at the Court Center building where People’s Court, Heroes, Sinners & Saints and the Liars Club will host bands from 4 to 10:30 p.m.
“A lot of festivals have come and gone on Court Avenue, and it seems like they’ve always been formed around a regional or national act,” said one of the event’s co-founders, Chris Ranallo, who plays with the Des Moines rock band Decoy. “So we came up with the idea of making it a true local music festival.”
Ranallo, Micah Wagner (Decoy’s guitarist), Rodney Bell and Ted Hawley, whose company CMP Productions is organizing the event, first started discussing ways to showcase a variety of local talent about six months ago.
“We didn’t want it to be just one genre of music. Our goal was to make it a combination platter of music because there are so many great bands playing so many styles of music in town,” said Ranallo, 32. “Yes, people have different tastes, but good music is good music. We’re hoping that people will come out to see a band or two that they like and discover other acts that they didn’t know about.”
Ranallo said the response was so strong from bands wanting to participate in this weekend’s event that unfortunately he had to turn some away. He is hoping that this weekend’s inaugural CAMP Fest is a success so he and his business partners can expand it next year.
“It’s a little risky, but we felt we had to do it,” he said. “We know that local bands have followings, but the general population might not know about them.”
Though this weekend’s festival includes a few bands from outside the metro (Uniphonics, Kris Lager Band), the majority of the acts on the bill are based in Des Moines and not only perform locally, but regionally and nationally.
“We need to support local musicians and the venues that host them, otherwise it will be diminished,” said Ranallo, who works as a real estate agent by day and musician by night. “I like a lot of popular, big name acts, too, but if we don’t support the local bands we won’t have the kind of live music scene we want to have.”
In addition to the 18 bands that will perform, a pre-show bags tournament ($20) will be held on the street in front of Court Center from 1:30 to about 5 p.m.
“We’re hoping to draw a diverse demographic of people to the festival,” Ranallo said. “We’re very excited.” CV
Sidebar:
2010 CAMP Fest lineup
People’s Court Backbar:
Damon Dotson (4-5:15 p.m.),
Tony Bohnenkamp (5:45-7 p.m.),
Renegades of Sound (7:30-8:45 p.m.),
Bonne Finken and the Collective (9:15-10:30 p.m.)
Heroes: DDEP (4-5:15 p.m.),
The Snacks (5:45-7 p.m.),
Roxi Copland (7:30-8:45 p.m.),
Kris Lager Band (9:15-10:30 p.m.)
Sinners & Saints:
Joel Pinkerton (4-5:15 p.m.),
Matt Woods and The Thunderbolts (5:45-7 p.m.),
Decoy (7:30-8:45 p.m.), Max Wellman (9:15-10:30 p.m.)
People’s Court Mainstage:
Hollywood Burnout (5-6:15 p.m.),
Douglas Acres (6:45-8 p.m.),
Uniphonics (8:30-9:45 p.m.)
Liars Club: Soapbox Prophets (5-6:15 p.m.),
Sweatpant Rockets (6:45-8 p.m.), Mindrite (8:30-9:45 p.m.)
Caption: Eighteen bands playing rock, pop, blues, jazz and country, will perform at the first annual Court Avenue Music Production (CAMP) Fest will be held Saturday, May 22 in the Court Center building (People’s Court, Heroes, Liars Club, Sinners & Saints, Legends), in downtown Des Moines, starting at 4 p.m. Tickets are $15. Visit www.campfest2010.com.
