From classical music to goofball punk and food to environmental speakers, this year's Fiestas event Saturday at UNM promises a little something for everyone.
The event, which organizers say marks the comeback of the annual Student Special Events hoedown, features headlining act pop singer Lisa Loeb, local punk trio The Eyeliners, Ween-meets-the Beastie Boys weirdoes The Gluey Brothers, Deadhead noodlers The Withdrawals and local blues stalwarts Dem Bones. Other performers include African-influenced jazz/world beat outfit Panjea and Latin jazz band Nosotros, as well as a brass quintet from the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.
Student Special Events marketing director Lauren Moran says planners were trying to come up with a wide array of acts for the free event, which will also feature about 50 tents from student organizations, local vendors and food slingers.
"We definitely wanted to get a variety of acts so you wouldn't just hear the same kind of stuff all day," she said. "Obviously, Lisa Loeb will draw a different kind of crowd than The Eyeliners."
Since snagging a Grammy nomination for her 1994 single "Stay," Loeb has released three albums of coffee-houseish pop, including 1995's Tails and 1997's Firecracker. Her most recent album, Cake and Pie, was released this year, with the single "Someone You Should Know" beginning to make the rounds of family-friendly pop stations like The Peak, 100.3-FM. The album finds Loeb relocated to California from New York, and hooked up with co-writers like Dweezil Zappa and the guy that helped bring us Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard.
Local sisters - really - The Eyeliners have been compared to the Go-Gos on methamphetamines and The Ramones. They officially formed in 1996, after a year as Psychodrama. They've since helped put the Albuquerque music scene on the map with a series of well-received albums and seven inch singles, as well as extensive touring and frenetic live shows.
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Santa Fe "brothers" MC Tahina and King Hummus watered their rap/funk/jazz/metal/R&B roots in Hollywood before relocating to the Southwest. With nonsense lyrics about auto mechanics and scary monsters, voice flangers and a technical brilliance, as well as a revolving cast of support musicians, The Gluey Brothers' live shows are a multi-media experience not to be missed.
Billing themselves as Albuquerque's premier roots-rock band, hard-working Dem Bones promises a bar-busting show of blues, surf and country.
Perennial Sonny's Bar faves The Withdrawals, reggae funk outfit Panjea and Nosotros, which boasts members from New Mexico State University, round out the bill.
Members of The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, which helped Student Special Events put together the Fiestas event, will hit the stage right before Loeb's performance.
"They've really been wanting to get some attention from UNM students to make people realize that symphony isn't just for old people," Moran said. "This is a good chance to get up in front of an audience that normally wouldn't listen to them."
The event will be held in conjunction with New Mexico Public Interest Research Group's Earth Day celebration, which will feature speakers on environmental and political topics on a second stage. Local dance companies also will perform on the second stage between speakers, Moran said.
Student groups will also have booths and tents. Moran said Students Educating Peers About Sex and the Agora Crisis Center will sponsor a dunking booth where attendees can help cool off Associated Students of UNM senators and other campus figures.
Moran said this year's Fiestas is a rebirth of sorts - the event wasn't held last year because of funding problems.
"SSE is growing really rapidly right now," she said. "We hope (Fiestas) will be a huge thing again."
Fiestas begins at noon Saturday at Johnson Field. Loeb will hit the stage at about 5:45 p.m.
