DAM!Fest initial announcement... (abbreviated version)
District??s Awake! Music Festival 2007
DC Indie Rock Festival to Re-launch Second Year
WASHINGTON, DC ?? The District??s Awake! Music Festival has announced its highly anticipated 2007 dates, set to take place Oct. 11-15. This year??s festival has confirmed performances by Cat Power, Craig Wedren, The Silent Years, Cloud Cult, Breaking Laces, Slaraffenland, Hallelujah the Hills, Casper and the Cookies, The Beanstalk Library, These United States & many more to come.
The festival made a lasting impression in its inaugural year (2006), presenting three days of nonstop music from bands across the country and around the world. While the unprecedented event featured nationally acclaimed indie rock buzz bands, a key element of the event was to spotlight promising bands from the DC area. Performers included Cold War Kids, DJ Spooky, Cloud Cult, Dirty on Purpose, Pela and others.
SPONSORSHIP
This year??s event is on course to be ??bigger and better? in the words of festival founder Eric Boucher, who also publishes the music website BigYawn.net. With sponsorship help from Live Nation, the Digital Freedom Campaign and other groups, the festival will be able to bring in bigger names while continuing to provide critical attention to lesser known and homegrown bands. Like last year, venues like the Rock and Roll Hotel, DC9 and the Red and the Black will host bands throughout most of the weekend. However, the diversity of venues also has expanded, including DC icon the 9:30 Club and less traditional spaces like the 700-capacity Historical Synagogue at 6th and I.
ROCK??N??ROLL LOTTERY
In keeping with the innovative and community spirit of DAM! Fest, the event will feature a Rock'n'Roll Lottery, in which local DC musicians will be mixed and matched through a random drawing. Each ??superband? will have a limited amount of time to craft a few original songs to be performed at the final show of the festival.
