{"id":2009,"date":"2010-02-26T11:36:25","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T18:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/?p=2009"},"modified":"2010-02-26T11:38:01","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T18:38:01","slug":"san-diego-indiefest-helps-local-musicians-turn-trials-into-positives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/2010\/02\/26\/san-diego-indiefest-helps-local-musicians-turn-trials-into-positives\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego IndieFest helps local musicians turn trials into positives"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mikel Toombs<\/a>, SDNN<\/cite><\/p>\n

Putting on the annual San Diego IndieFest has meant six years of headaches. And worse.<\/p>\n

Four years ago, festival co-founder Alicia Champion \u201chas a grand mal seizure on stage,\u201d fellow performer and organizer Danielle LoPresti recalled, \u201cand has no condition whatsoever that contributed to it. The doctors concluded it was an overdose of good old-fashioned indie-induced stress. I got pneumonia and coughed till my back went out, so that I could not move for five days.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the bright side, LoPresti added, \u201cFishbone was awesome and then proceeded to have sex in the green room. I could go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Fortunately, Champion and LoPresti have gone on, and San Diego IndieFest VI will take place in North Park on March 26 and 27. The Saturday festivities will feature 75 acts on seven stages (one is 21-and-up) and will be headlined by Metric, Far and Nappy Roots. (This Friday, Feb. 26, a fundraiser at Anthology previews the event, with a bill that includes Danielle LoPresti & the Masses.)<\/p>\n

The Friday portion of IndieFest is devoted to independent films, a format that suggests an inspiration from the granddaddy of all such happenings, Austin\u2019s South by Southwest (SXSW).<\/p>\n

\u201cYes and no,\u201d Champion said. \u201cSXSW is definitely the largest indie-oriented event in the country to date. However, SXSW is a largely a big-scale, major-label industry showcase for indies, which pretty much perpetuates the thinking that in order to be truly extraordinary or successful, one must be in bed with a major entertainment entity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Diego IndieFest is an outright celebration of every artist, band or filmmaker who is making incredible art on their own terms, without any major label backing nor influence. At IndieFest we educate the public on what being \u2018indie\u2019 really means on levels that expand far beyond the arts. It\u2019s our endeavor to celebrate and advocate for independent music, film, art, business and thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprising, the sometimes quirky IndieFest (a couple years back, fangirl Champion brought in \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u201d actor-singers James Marsters and Amber Benson) reflects the perspective of the two women who pull it together each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs full-time indie musicians ourselves,\u201d LoPresti said, \u201cwe experienced first hand the complex and frustrating set of emotions every time someone would say, \u2018Wow, you\u2019re so great, why aren\u2019t you guys famous yet?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many truly remarkable independent musicians and filmmakers out there who deserve to be recognized, who have so much to give, who are so phenomenal at what they do, but simply because they are indie \u2014 not represented by a major corporation with serious financial backing and contacts \u2014 they are relegated to various levels of obscurity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt we had two options: become more frustrated and eventually resentful, or pour all our passion into making a larger statement that encompassed the entire issue. So we\u2019ve chosen to do all we can to make something positive out of our experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

What<\/strong>: San Diego IndieFest VI Preview with Nomis, Collective Purpose, Danielle LoPresti & the Masses, Veronica May
\nWhen<\/strong>: 9:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26
\nWhere<\/strong>: Anthology, 1337 India, downtown\/Little Italy
\nTickets<\/strong>: $10.<\/p>\n

—
\nVia SDNN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mikel Toombs, SDNN Putting on the annual San Diego IndieFest has meant six years of headaches. And worse. Four years ago, festival co-founder Alicia Champion \u201chas a grand mal seizure on stage,\u201d fellow performer and organizer Danielle LoPresti recalled, \u201cand has no condition whatsoever that contributed to it. The doctors concluded it was an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,17],"tags":[174,641,640,642],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-past-shows","tag-indie","tag-indie-fest","tag-indie-music","tag-sdnn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2013,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/2013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}