May 19, 2007 by PT Rothschild.

IN TODAY’S BEYOND SOCIETYS CONTROL .COM

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May 19, 2007 by PT Rothschild.

HOW TO WRITE THE PERFECT ROCK SONG FEST 

Temecula, CA - As many older Temeculans stepped out to bars for karaoke, carousing, and cover bands, white-haired grandmothers were snapping pictures of their grandsons playing live fresh new music onstage at T-town’s premier theatre venue located in Old Town. It was Day 1 of Bill and Jeney’s Full Value Entertainment extravaganza, the Temecula Music Fest 2007. Inside the state-of-the-art venue nestled just off Main Street behind all the tourist ‘what-not’ shops, you find all the amenities of a ‘big city’ theatre with dressing rooms (that have the lights above the mirrors just like in the movies), stark, winding corridors, and great ‘wing’ views. The facility, which looks like what you would find on a small Liberal Arts college campus, has so far featured music and talent that doesn’t show up on my ‘youth scene’ radar. It was a delight to see local performers like Phil Locash walk out on the big stage and plug in, in contrast to seeing him play at Java Joz/Cuppy’s. The 300 seat theatre does not seem to have a ‘bad’ seat and even on the walk-thru aisle that bisects the close seats from the not-so-close seats, you could still see clearly the long and streaked individual hair locks fly as the frontman of PANIMA lit up the crowd and the stage as the whole band rocked hard. Tour mates FLETCH (from Los Vegas) had sound difficulties until the engineer finally dialed them in, but they picked up local fans in their first T-town appearance. Not being able to find an easy access to the band’s set list times, I missed seeing Vince of NICE DAY but I did hear some commercial band comparisons so he must have put on a great performance. 

While I would have loved to see all three days of TMF performances done at the OTT just for the setting, the fact is the OTT is a different ‘animal’. It seems more a TV studio theatre than a music venue and a lot of that feeling comes from its miniature cuteness. This is a great venue to see someone, a speaker say, or a play, but at only a 300 seat capacity, seeing a music group like COLD PLAY would be unfeasible with reasonable ticket prices. Another oddity is the usher staff, which though friendly and courteous, differs from the ushers you find at the (Edwards, Temeku) movie theatres by about 50 years in age. Not bad, just different. When you cover the scene, you notice the scene. 

Today’s line-up looks to be the most power packed with ANIMO (formally DORK from Denver), THE RAINMAN SUITE (LA), YOU IN SERIES (formally BROWN EYED DECEPTION from Los Vegas), SPUTTERDOLL (San Fran, Ca), BLAKE WILLIAMS (SD), and local favs INVERSE, A SIMPLE ENDING, THIS EVENING, and COVETTE among others. There is also ‘talk on the street’ of a visiting ‘surprise guest’ but you didn’t hear it here. Spotted in last night’s opening night crowd was RockStarGallery’s Ashlei, snapping pics like Spider-Man, of FLETCH and other performers, and Ivan with his ‘the party’s right here’ Rock Bus. Yes, who can miss ‘the Bus’? 

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