Friday, May 1st, 2009
Events
Festival Fever
Catch your favorite musical acts at outdoor music festivals around the U.S.
WHETHER IT’S a heavy riff, an allegro crescendo or a swingin’ beat that moves you, the arrival of summer means that festival season has begun.
Check out Bon Jovi, No Doubt, Judas Priest and some of the biggest names in contemporary music as they headline Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival, which features more than 700 bands on 11 stages over 11 days on Milwaukee’s lakefront.
If you think those Marshall stacks and double bass kicks pack a sonic wallop, maybe you should try some timpani drums and tubas. For classical music fans, little compares to symphonies in the open air at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, which celebrates its 22nd season with a powerhouse lineup featuring the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and 50 internationally renowned soloists and chamber musicians.
Summer also means it’s time to fire up the grill. At the Rhythm & Ribs Festival on Father’s Day weekend in Kansas City, sizzlin’ tunes and ’cue take center stage with a local barbecue competition and top-notch jazz acts in the 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District. It’s a combination that will give the expressions “hot licks” and “smokin’ solo” new meanings.
1 Milwaukee
June 25 July 5
Summerfest
www.summerfest.com
2 Vail, Colo. (2 hours outside Denver)
July 1 – Aug. 4
Vail Valley Music Festival
www.vailmusicfestival.org
3 Kansas City
June 19-20
Rhythm & Ribs Festival
www.kcrhythmandribs.com
Ladies & Gentlemen…
…children of all ages! The circus is back in town!
COME ONE, COME ALL!
Beginning June 28 on the grounds of Circus World in Baraboo, Wis. (1 hour from Madison, Wis.), with Wagon RollOut Days, you can catch 50 vintage circus wagons, 350 horses, 30 musical bands, 150 clowns, and more than 450 riding and walking performers dressed in lavish costumes. It’ll be a spectacular throwback to the magnificent street pageants put together by American circuses in the 19th century.
The festival itself will take place for four days on Milwaukee’s lakefront, featuring live, tented performances of the Kelly Miller Circus, as well as food, beverage and souvenir vendors; animal rides; authentic circus wagon displays; and horses preparing for the Great Circus Parade on July
12. This will be the 30th time the parade has taken place, but it hasn’t been staged since 2003, when hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the streets.
Wisconsin June 28 July 12
Wagon Roll-Out Days and The Great
Circus Parade and Festival
www.circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org
EVENTS CALENDAR
MAY 6 – AUG. 9
“The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion”
NEW YORK This exhibition by the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will focus on iconic fashion models in the latter half of the 20th century and the ways in which they inspired design.
MAY 17
ING Bay to Breakers
SAN FRANCISCO Whether or not you wear a costume at this 12K foot race, which begins at the Embarcadero and finishes at Golden Gate Park, expect hills. Lots and lots of hills.
MAY 22-25
Johnsonville World’s Largest Brat Fest
MADISON, WIS. More wursts were sold (191,712, to be exact) at last year’s fest than in the history of this 25-year-old event. In addition to a whole lotta brat, there will be a carnival, kayak rentals and last but certainly not least, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
MAY 24
Indianapolis 500
INDIANAPOLIS The roar of the engines competes with the roar of around 400,000 revvedup attendees at the largest single-day sporting event in the world, billed as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, known by many as “The Brickyard.”
JUNE 15-22
SILVERDOCS AFI/ Discovery Channel Documentary Festival
WASHINGTON, D.C. Over the course of eight days, this year’s best nonfiction films will show and compete for $80,000 at the AFI Silver Theatre and the Discovery Communications World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. (minutes from D.C.). Many of the films sell out (tickets, not integrity), so get your tickets early.
