Uncharacteristically (for Fiesta Week) comfortable weather, plenty of elbow room to browse the rows of art and the lively music of Brave Combo added up to make Saturday an extremely pleasant day for taking in the Fiesta Arts Fair at the Southwest School of Art.
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If you are reading this on San Jacinto Day, Sunday, April 21, STOP! Get off the computer, and meander on over to the fair before it’s too late.
Last year during the Texas State Book Fair in Austin, my daughter and I left the Paramount Theatre inspired by the words of Margaret Atwood. As much as I love hearing great authors muse on their writings and on the art of writing itself, this year I felt conflicted. Why would someone have scheduled the Book Fair on the same weekend as the International Accordion Festival?
I’m weak. The squeezebox won.
Funding woes put a little bit of a squeeze on the Accordion Festival’s schedule this year – one stage instead of two, not as many groups from distant lands, not as many good food booths – but, hey, it’s admission-free and almost in my backyard. Missed some of the performances, but enjoyed Copper Box, Orgullo Vallenato and Debra Peters and the Love Saints. And then there was the hometown band that blew everyone away with a sound like Brave Combo on speed – Piñata Protest.
The Columbian rhythms of Houston-based Orgullo Vellenato kept Terry Ybanez and Jeannette MacDougall on their feet.
Pinata Protest makes Brave Combo sound “asleep at the wheel.”
Copper Box – “Like a Texas Tornado that went through New Orleans and landed in Wisconsin”
The 10th Annual International Accordion Festival took over the stage of the Arneson River Theatre October 15-17.
Only hope the festival can grow back to two stages next year and does not conflict with the Texas State Book Fair.
Note Added on October 25: The “Arty Semite” blogs about Socalled’s set, which I unfortunately missed.
Postcards from Barton Springs 