Music festival begins Valley tradition By MICHAEL A. SALORIO, Staff Writer, Dateline: Calexico
Monday, March 29, 2004 2:38 PM PST
They came, they saw, they played music.
Despite a lackluster turnout at the inaugural Imperial Valley Arts & Music Festival at Nosotros Park here Saturday, the spirit of those in attendance seemed to be the event would certainly get better and bigger with age.
IV Fest 2004 experienced some logistical difficulties pulling off its 11-band, seven-DJ lineup performing in alternating 20-minute sets and culminating with an hour-long set from headlining early-'90s synth-pop act Anything Box.
The show was slated to begin at 3 p.m. but didn't get under way until about 3:45 p.m. Organizers estimated there would be 2,000 to 4,000 people in attendance. By evening's end, that number was estimated to have been between 800 to 1,000 spread throughout the day.
Oscar Garcia, a local DJ, promoter and the festival's chief organizer, said although the turnout was lower than expected, attendance was still higher than any other musical event he or any other local promoter has organized.
Garcia explained there were two primary reasons for the festival failing to draw more guests. The first reason, noted Garcia, was many people didn't know the venue's location. Second, the Valley didn't know what to make of the festival with it being the first of its kind in the county.
"I don't think the Valley was ready for it," said Garcia.
The crowd was a mix of mostly teenagers and 20-somethings, with many sporting T-shirts ranging from industrial rockers Skinny Puppy, alt-metal/hip-hop act Rage Against the Machine, punk godfathers The Ramones, alt-metal act Tool and many others. Piercings, tattoos and multi-colored hair also were prominently on display and baggie-clothed skateboarders shredded on the park's skate ramps.
"It's a rock show. Rock shows always start late," said Tony Trejo, manager of El Centro-based Pagers Dot Com, who operated a booth at the festival displaying a selection of his store's cell phones, pagers and accessories.
A consequence of the show's late start was the bands were asked to cut one song from their sets while DJs were asked to cut five or more minutes from their sets. The time crunch became so severe that Anything Box only performed a 10-minute set before the show's 11 p.m. ending. However, the time crunch did not deter Anything Box or any other acts from performing.
Steve Molina, lead guitarist of Los Discriminados, 12-year veterans of the local and regional punk scenes, said his band was glad to perform considering they're used to primarily playing backyard parties.
"It's great," said Molina. "We're all pretty happy about it."
Molina added he was pleased with the availability of a skate park at the venue because of his own and his band members' skater roots.
Jesse "Topo" Zuniga, a 16-year-old 10-grader at Calexico High School, was at the festival with skateboard in hand.
"It was all right," said Jesse of the festival. "It's the first time something this big has happened in the park."
Another regional punk band at the festival was the 11-year veterans of La Merma, a Spanish punk outfit from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
"We're from where the fence oppresses us!" said La Merma lead singer Claudio Almarez as he kicked off his band's fiery set.
Almarez said the festival was a good thing for the local music scenes on both sides of the border and that his band was glad to have been invited to play.
"Somos pocos pero locos (We're few but we're crazy)!" said Almarez commenting on the festival's turnout.
Gilberto Humar, 20, of Mexicali, who was at the festival to see La Merma, said the festival was great.
"It's awesome because it'll become bigger," said Humar. "Every year it'll get better."
Anything Box frontman Claude S, speaking before his band's performance, said although he wished more had attended the show, beginning music festivals tend to initially have low turnouts, especially in small towns.
"Festivals like this in a small town are cool and they need to happen. As they organize more of these, they will get better. I'm glad to be a part of it," said Claude S.
Garcia said keeping a positive outlook is necessary to keep the IV Fest on track to fulfill its potential of being the premiere local musical event. Garcia added he expects festival attendance to grow significantly over the next two to three years now that people know the show is for real.
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