Musical acts lined up for Three Rivers Arts Festival

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's been four years since the start of the Three Rivers Arts Festival's ambitious musical experiment, four years since the showcase of visual art began consciously programming music with equal artistic relevance. Four years since organizers hired Gary Hinston to book the music.

Nanci Griffith, left, opens the Three Rivers Arts Festival June 3. Aimee Mann is the final performer June 19. More information All concerts are free and on the Volkswagen-sponsored Festival Stage at Point State Park. For more information, call 412-281-8723 or visit the festival's Web site at www.artsfestival.net.

"My thought was that we needed a media partner to work with," says Hinston. "Because Clear Channel and Infinity are already working with the big promoters in town, I wanted to work with a [radio] station that I knew would get behind the acts."

Hinston orchestrated a limited partnership linking the festival with WYEP (91.3 FM), a diminutive but influential listener-supported station that programs from the Triple A (adult album alternative) radio format. Triple A performers include burgeoning alternative rock, alt-country and contemporary acoustic artists such as Sonic Youth, Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, whom Hinston has booked at recent Arts Festivals, and singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith, who kicks off this year's Three Rivers Arts Festival on June 3.

Hinston says the new programming strategy is working.

"In a non-ticketed situation, of course, you can't count tickets to see how many sold," he says. "But this has been good for the artists, who get to play for an active and enthused crowd four times the size they'd get without free admission. It's been good for [WYEP] because we're booking a major event from their playlist. And it's good for the festival to have people genuinely interested in the music, not just going because it's there and it's free. It's a win-win-win for everybody."

This year's concert schedule

June 3: Nanci Griffith & the Blue Moon Orchestra (7:30 p.m.)

June 4: Citizen Cope (7:30 p.m.)

June 5: Madeleine Peyroux (7:30 p.m.), The Mosquitoes (6 p.m.)

June 6: Flidop Fest with Patchwork Blu, Flowdown, Poogie Bell Band & the Boogie Hustlers (5-9:30 p.m.)

June 7: A Night of Dance with Labco, Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble & Dance Alloy (6:30-9:30 p.m.)

June 8: Boxstep (8 p.m.), Ollabelle (7 p.m.), Hypnosurgery (6 p.m.)

June 9: Bill Deasy (7:30 p.m.)

June 10: Cowboy Junkies (8 p.m.), Inara George (7 p.m.)

June 11: Drive-By Truckers (7:30 p.m.), Soda Jerk (6:30 p.m.)

June 12: Chick Corea Y Touchstone (7:30 p.m.)

June 13: Zany Umbrella Circus (7-8:30 p.m.), part of Family Festival