Remember all those early-1960s beach party movies when someone would shout, "Let's do the show right here, kids!"?
Well, that's essentially what's happening at the SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh today and Saturday.
The clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters, whose corporate office is in SouthSide Works, is sponsoring the New American Music Union festival, a two-day shindig designed to shine the spotlight on college bands (and, more than likely, increase the visibility of American Eagle as back-to-school shopping picks up steam). The sold-out festival will take place in an open space between 26th Street and McCormick & Schmick's restaurant at the retail complex.
The festival's big-draw, though, are artists who have graduated well beyond the realm of playing keggers and pushing their demos onto college-radio programmers. Today's line-up includes Tiny Masters of Today (see related story), NASA, the Black Keys and the Roots. On Saturday, the Duke Spirit, Black Mountain, Gnarls Barkley and Spoon will play before a finale featuring the Raconteurs, the side-project fronted by White Stripes frontman Jack White, and Bob Dylan, who needs no introduction.
Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be hosting the festival, and he's credited with being its curator. In a press release, he said "My experience tells me that concerts can be life changing. That is how I approached putting this lineup together."
So why has American Eagle decided to get into the music festival business? According to company spokeswoman Beth Barney, "Music is an influence in our customers' lives ...The goal of the festival is to celebrate college music by giving college bands a national platform and the opportunity to share the stage with artists that inspire them..."
All 10,000 tickets to the festival have been snapped up, and the prices are affordable in comparison to other concerts and festivals - tickets to both days cost $25 for college students, and $49.50 for non-students. Each ticket also contains a voucher for a free T-shirt.
On the surface, the most unusual act in the festival is Dylan. This is a guy who was playing colleges and universities in the early-to-mid 1960s, and, at 67, is old enough to be the grandfather of today's undergraduates. But Dylan has made aggressive efforts in recent years to reach out to campuses - some of his recent Pittsburgh-area appearances have been at the University of Pittsburgh's Petersen Events Center and Duquesne University's A.J. Palumbo Center.
This weekend, Dylan and the Black Keys also will be appearing at the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore. It, along with the New American Music Union and the Rothbury Music Festival in Michigan, is one of a handful of new music festivals to crop up on the American landscape this summer. They're all following in the wake of successful festivals like Bonnaroo in Tennessee and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California.
Fifteen college bands will be playing on the festival's second stage. The groups hail from institutions both high-profile (University of the Michigan, Northwestern University) and not-so-high-profile (Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.). Nothing Unexpected, a four-piece emo band consisting of students from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, also are participating.
The bands are vying for a promotions deal with American Eagle and a free session in a Los Angeles recording studio. Video and audio images from the festival will be available for free on the American Eagle Web site, www.ae.com, starting Tuesday.
According to Barney, it's not been determined whether the New American Music Union will be a one-off festival or become an annual tradition.
"We're going to do it this year and see how it goes," she said.