My weekend in Houston was very enjoyable - even though the South Texas heat sapped every ounce of energy outta me. The festival is put on by a self-professed nobody named Bob Hamilton. He was the guy spotted roaring across the property in a Harley before most of the attendees arrived. He basically puts on a show for teens, hip hop and R&B enthusiasts, and little kids. There were moon walks, puppet shows, and back to back concerts on three stages. Sure, I was expecting a bunch of local talent that was large on "good hearts" and small on musical talent, but I was surprised and impressed with the guts and unapologetic staging of deathcore bands playing the mainstage at noontime. That's just cool.
Hundreds of volunteers had great attitudes - even over in the kiddie park with the rides and such. Yes, you could walk around and spend way too much money on trinkets, t-shirts, bad fast food and even magazine subscriptions; but you could also register your name and address and get fed all day long with some grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, or link sausages for no charge at all. I must say that this fest lived up to its name. It was truly a unpretentious blessing for the community.
Whether or not the whole affair was underwritten or if it will remain a financial burden on those that put it on, I believe they can trust that they were successful in doing what they so simply set out to do. Blessing.
By the way, since we launched this great new site a couple months ago, we've been meaning to load it up with content. I apologize for the time it's taken and that we haven't delivered the motherlode yet, but come the end of the July/August issue deadline and we might just get it up here yet.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 5, 2003 09:53 PM