Hooray For Dickson Street, By Carla R Herrera

Dickson Street is literally springing to life this year with four major events, the 13th annual Northwest Arkansas Music Awards (NAMA), the 26th annual SpringFest, the Locally Unique art fair and the Dickson Street Music Festival taking place in a three-day period, April 24-26.
NAMA XIII
The big weekend kicks off at 8 p.m. on April 24 with the 13th annual Northwest Arkansas Music Awards, NAMA XIII, at the Dickson Theater. The event is a Grammy style ceremony that honors local musicians.

Nominated musicians will begin arriving by limousine at 6:30 p.m. for a private reception. Red carpet interviews will be taped outside the theater as the musicians arrive.

Doors open to the public for the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. Awards will be presented in 18 categories in addition to Hall of Fame awards, which are presented to performers who have won three NAMA awards.

There will be musical performances by Benjamin Del Shreve, Memphis Pencils, Luda, Luminfire and the Pope County Bootleggers.

Helping put the “roll” in rock ‘n’ roll this year, will be members of the Northwest Arkansas Roller Girls who will be assisting with the awards presentations.

Returning as Master of Ceremonies will be Robert Cochran, Arkansas music historian and director of the Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies and KUAF news director Kyle Kellams.

The event is a benefit for the Fayetteville based Northwest Arkansas Free Health and Dental Clinic, which provides health services for the underserved.

Tickets are $10 and available at the door. For information call 601-4549.

SPRINGFEST
In previous years, SpringFest was only a daylong affair, but this year, it has been extended to two days and is now eco-friendly too. Festival organizers have enlisted the aid of Matthew Petty, Executive Director for Sustainability.org, an organization that provides education and project management for eco-friendly events and Beatnik Environmental to help plan environmental initiatives for the weekend.
“Our goal is zero waste for the event, but we may not achieve that this year, because we have had a short time to plan,” Petty said. “Next year there will be no waste,” he said referring to the 2009 Fayetteville festivals.
Springfest will be open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on April 25 and 8 a.m. to midnight on April 26.
In line with the eco-friendly theme, SpringFest will include new activities such as community art projects, an art show and a commitment wall for people to write and draw upon in addition to traditional festival events of bed races, a kids area, a dog parade, belly dancers, the traditional pancake breakfast, a chili cook-off, music and arts, crafts and food vendors. The festival will begin with a parade and chili cook-off sponsored by the International Chili Society.
Organizers are placing recycling bins with large signs situated over them throughout the entire Dickson Street area along with composting bins for food scraps. “There won’t be that much trash,” Petty said. “Almost nothing will go into the landfill.”
Artists will be creating a “Recyclart” project, a day long juried sculpture on April 26 at George’s Majestic Lounge. Participants will create their art from recycled materials.
Volunteers are still needed for the Springfest for face painting, chalk drawing, barricades, security and drink servers. To volunteer, call 521-0337.
    LOCALLY UNIQUE
“Locally Unique” an art sale to benefit Northwest Arkansas Community Creative Center’s scholarship fund will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26 at the Nadine Baum Studio, 505 W. Spring St., at the south end of the Walton Arts Center parking lot.
Some of the artists who will be participating are: Lesha Shaver (book bindery and printmaking), Alice McKee, Nichelle Wilson-Parish (textile art), Tana Janeen, Kimberly Witter and Steve Stramel (jewelry), Trent Tally, Mike Waldie, Melody Devere, Marcella Thompson, Kelly Brenner, Daymara Baker, Nan Yarnell, Victoria McKinney (clay), Karolyn Farrell, , Liz Kartwell (painting), Joy Caffrey (mulit-media) and work by art students from the University of Arkansas and NWACCC>

“All of us at NWACCC are very excited about our Locally Unique sale to help raise money for our scholarship program. We currently offer 20 percent scholarships to our “After-School Art” students and hope to raise this figure to 40 percent next year,”  said Deirdre Aureden, NWACCC board member.

DICKSON STREET MUSIC FESTIVAL
The Dickson Street Music Festival will also be eco-friendly with recycling bins placed over the entire area.
In its first year, the Dickson Street Music Festival will be held in the city parking lot at the southwest corner of Dickson Street and West Avenue from 5-11 p.m. April 25 and from 4:30 p.m. to midnight on April 26.
The Charlie Daniel’s Band will headline the April 25 concert, which also features 38 Special and Shooter Jennings. The April 26 concert will feature Sonic Youth, Little Feat and Michael Franti and Spearhead.
“This is the largest musical event to hit Northwest Arkansas,” said promoter Dan Allen of Majestic Concerts, “There are six national touring artists coming together for one event and that’s never been done here before.”
Allen said that promoters expect from 5,000 to 6,000 people to attend the concerts each night.
In addition to the groups playing at the music festival, anyone who purcases a ticket for either night of the concert will be given access to shows at George’s Majestic Lounge and Jose’s on Dickson Street after the concerts.
On April 25, Speakeasy and Fred Tackett will be performing at George’s, with Patrice Pike and Tiffany Christopher at Jose’s. On April 26, Blind Melon will play at George’s and with Patrice Pike and Tiffany Christopher returning to Jose’s.
Concert tickets are $30 a day or $50 for both days. Ages six and under are free. Tickets are available at majesticconcerts.com.
Concerts will be moved to the Randall Tyson Center in case of inclement weather.

NAMA XIII Nominees

The NAMA XIII nominees have been selected and are listed below. To vote for your favorite musicians, go to www.freeweekly.com. You can vote only once and voting ends at noon on Thursday, April 11.

NAMA nominees are chosen by committee and based on talent, popularity and the number of performances or accomplishments in 2007.

Singer/songwriter male – Jovan Arellano, Paul Boatwright, Bryce Harrison, Jeff Kearney, Reese Neal, Wade Ogle; Singer/songwriter female- Tiffany Christopher, Jori Costello, Darlene, Sarah Hughes, Susan Shore, Shannon Wurst; Female Vocalist – Dawn Cate, Liz Lottman, Tanya Shylock, Leah Spears;
Male Vocalist- Benjamin Del Shreve, Matt Jones, Eddie Love, Ben Rector, Jonathan Taylor Rose, Ben Wardlaw; Indie/Underground/Ambient-The Counterlife, David’s Pegasus, Fire Don’t Care, Holy Ghost Children, MAR, The.Radio.Sky;
Pop Rock- Apartment 5, Benjamin Del Shreve, The Darksuits, The Good Fear, A Good Fight, Jonathan Taylor Rose; Power Rock/Southern Rock- Big Uns, Bob Kramer Incident, Maud Crawford, Joe Giles & the Homewreckers, Q-Land, Thanks for Nothing;
Metal/Hard Rock- Deadbird, Dirt Mother, Lethal Red, Pile of Dead Women, Storm the Castle, Wrought; Rock/R&B/Blues- Earl’s Garage, Eoff Brothers, Full House, Jeff Fox, Leah and the Mojo Doctors, Robert Hatfield Band; Jam/World Music – Joseph Israel, Mountain of Venus, Velcro Moonshoe;
Roots/Americana – Charliehorse, Chase Missy, Sarah Hughes Band, Ozone Players, Mountain Gypsies, Shout Lulu, Solomon’s Vine;
Jazz – Burson Starr Trio, Nathan McLeod Trio, Matt Smith Trio, Pentimento Players;
Electronic/Groove- DJ Soulfree, Fayetteville Funk Ensemble, The OneUps, SoundChild Crew, String Theory, Very Special Guests;
Best None Of The Above- Hustles the Hall, Listener Project, The Odds, Six Hung Sprung, Trio DeJaniero, A Wing and a Prayer;
Best New Band- Christmas Fuller Project, A Good Fight, Hustles the Hall, Memphis Pencils, Truth About Movie Stars; Band Of The Year- Apartment 5, Benjamin Del Shreve, Charliehorse, David’s Pegasus, Eoff Brothers;
Album Of The Year- Benjamin Del Shreve, David’s Pegasus, Sarah Hughes, MAR, Reese Neal, Shannon Wurst;
Best Producer/Studio Crisp, East Hall, The Listen Lab, Mustin Productions, Winterwood.