This weekend, I am practicing restraint and missing not one but two awesome Florida festivals in favor of plunging my backed-up toilet of duties. Three if you count RibFest — but despite the fact that I could walk to it from my house, the lineup is so unappealing I can't even manage to drum-up excitement over all that mouth-watering barbeque all in one place. But I digress.
Tonight marks the start of the Anti-Pop Music Festival in downtown Orlando, a four-day celebration of alternative indie music. This evening's schedule is ripe with the possibility of greatness. Singer/songwriter/former Soul Coughing force-of-nature Mike Doughty and Cali singer/songwriter Matt Costa headline a show at Plaza Theatre, goodtime tongue-in-cheek rockers Black Lips perform over at The Social, and sweet-voiced acousti-folkman Jay Brannan makes tender melodies at the Gibson Showroom. Other weekend highlights that haven't or aren't already making stops in Tampa include Los Angeles rap artist Murs, Brooklyn electro-pop all-girrl threesome Au Revoir Simone (pictured, photo by Imma Varandela), and Mississippi bluesman Ben Prestage. Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters frontman Mark Kozelek plays a solo set as well.
If you plan on attending a few or several shows, it’s definitely worth it to pony up the $45 for a four-day pass. Otherwise, individual ticket prices vary from $5 to $20. For a complete schedule, visit the Anti-Pop site.
otherwise known as the Everyone Orchestra, this incarnation featuring Phish drummer Jon Fishman and former String Cheese multi-instrumentalist Michael Kang; two hot funk soul outfits from New York — the newer horntastic seven-piece Lettuce, and veteran trio Soulive; newgrass roots quartet Yonder Mountain String Band; New Orleans jazzfunkjammers The Robert Walter Trio; UK funk jazz purveyors New Mastersounds (pictured at left); and New Orleans funk brass band Big Sam's Funky Nation.
Weekend passes are $165 and include camping, with an additional $35 for Thursday. Day tickets are $75 for Friday and Saturday, $50 Sunday, and are only available at the gate. For additional details and a complete schedule, visit the Bear Creek Music Fest site.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2008.