The Utah Arts Festival, day one
We look most forward to the Utah Arts Festival for the modern & contemporary dance performed by Ririe Woodbury dance Company and Repertory Dance Theater. The arts festival has since fallen from it's glory days of years ago. It's hard for it to re-capture the spirit of experiemntalism we saw two summers back before Utah got a new governor and the Arts Council changed hands into albeit more conservative ones. Three years ago, we saw the likes of the Trachtenburg Family Players (http://www.slideshowplayers.com/) a mom, pop and daughter performace art group, as well as amazing installation art, and a much more cosmopolitan, world class vibe. Now the festival has more or less fallen to crafts, kitsch, and silly hats. The one interesting thing, besides the great local modern dance companies (which are world-renowned, btw) were a group of street performers known as the AMO tribe (http://www.uaf.org/bridgeinstallation.htm). As for the music, here are the descriptions for major act performing at the festival (for the record, I have nothing against the below-mentioned types of music, but there's just a little too much):
foot stompin' folk and bluegrass
blends of bluegrass
folk-rock
big folk
Blues rock
foot-stoppin' blue-rock
original bluegrass
Primitive blues
bayou blues
Seminal acoustic roots/blues
Blues-smoked voice
Country-jazz
Jazz Master
contemporary jazz
Jazz Standards
Classic jazz
Jazzy pop-rock
Latin, blues & jazz
Smokin' piano-poundin' blues
blues & jazz styles
Electrifying rhythm and blues
Original jazz rock
Well, that's the lineup through saturday. Just add about 10 more, and you've got sunday, too.
Anyone notice a theme here? I don't know why the festival organizers don't just be honest with us and call it the Utah Crafts and Blues, Jazz, and Bluegrass Festival. Sheesh!!
posted by mnlop at
1:50 PM
2 Comments:
I do have something against all of those types of music. Give me a congressman to write to or something.
I suppose it beats out an all-squaredancing lineup, but yeah after something like that you'd kind of crave a little Kraftwerk, or maybe even some straight-up classical music. I'd have to say from a sampling of the sub-pro examples of those genres on the Internet that I wouldn't expect much in the coolness department from the lineup. Oh, it'd be great if the Jazz and Blues players were Wynton Marsalis or B.B. King, but I sorta doubt it. Not to mention "Jazzy pop-rock" sounds very suspiciously like smooth jazz. But what better way to enjoy original pioneer craftmanship than with some Kenny G? I think you should infiltrate the council, use your political connections...
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