As a resident of the Seattle Metro area, I am always overwhelmed by the sheer amount of live music choices I have on any day of the week here. Everyone plays here on tour, and our local music scene is enthusiastically, even gushingly, nurtured by both fans and media. Seattle bands are able to command a lot of attention just by being from a city that is known worldwide for its music. But having lived in other parts of the country, I always remember that there are great bands slogging it out night after night that are not in Seattle, NYC, L.A., Austin, or Nashville, hoping that some of that elusive spotlight will shine on them as well. So that's why today I am shining my flashlight (this is a modest blog, after all; I don't have spotlight wattage) on Noise Ordinance 2, a music festival in Sarasota, Florida featuring 39 (!!) local original bands ready to play their little rock n' roll hearts out at the Cock n' Bull Pub on April 23, 2011.
See, I'm a Sarasota fan. For many years, my family and I vacationed there and Sarasota got to feel like a second home. Not only is it a gorgeous Gulf Coast town with the one of the Top Ten Beaches In The World, it's also a place where the arts are celebrated, with a quirky, charming undercurrent and a music scene that is unpretentious and vibrant. My friend Greg Bowdish tipped me off to Noise Ordinance and his enthusiasm for this project got me excited for it, too. I like to see ideas like this succeed as the music business morphs into a wholly-new beast where artists have both more responsibility and more control over how their music is heard. A showcase festival paired with a sampler-CD is a hot idea: fans can inexpensively check out a lot of new music that might be difficult to do otherwise, keep the local scene growing, help fund community radio, and have a great time in the process.
Here are just a few of the bands that will be playing Noise Ordinance 2:
Sparkly girl garage group the Equines...
'70s-funk-styled hip hop from Big Blu House...
Sultry island-beat soul from Elysian Sex Drive...
Post-apocalyptic indie conglomorate Fancy Rat...
Passerine's classic hill country acoustic...
...and many more. It's a diverse line-up with a lot of talent, and as they say, something for everyone. Noise Ordinance 2 is a good blueprint for other musicians in smaller markets hoping to gain wider exposure and more fans while building a strong and supportive local arts community. So, if you are in the Sarasota area on the 23rd, get on down to the Cock n' Bull and get your grassroots groove on! (If you can't be there, you can still purchase the CD on the Noise Ordinance site and help these artists out, just sayin'.)
Best of luck to all the bands, with love, from Seattle.
© Copyright 2008- Marianne Spellman