Music Festival

In 2008, Ed DeRosa witnessed the infamy of the Preakness infield - the passed-out partiers, the chucking of full beer cans into crowds and of course, the "Running of the Urinals," where drunken infielders ran down a row of portable toilets. DeRosa, a horse-racing reporter from Lexington, Ky., who attended Preakness from 2005 to 2011, says nothing could have prepared a first-timer for the debauchery. "I was in Vegas for New Year's Eve a couple times, and until I had been to the Preakness infield, that was the craziest I'd ever seen people behave," DeRosa, now 33, said.

Fear not, Baltimore. Death will not be coming to your city this weekend. At least not if the Baltimore City Department of Transportation has anything to say about it. Earlier this week, in preparation for this weekend's Maryland Deathfest -- an annual metal music festival now in its 11th year -- the department sent out notices about road closures for parts of Saratoga and Holliday streets. Much of the festival is being held on stages set up outside the former Sonar space, at 407 E. Saratoga St. There will also be performances at Baltimore Soundstage . The notices referred not to Deathfest, a name that admittedly sounds a little alarming, but to the far-less-intimidating Charm City Animal Rescue Sonar International Music Festival.

He was shielded from the afternoon sun by the awning that covered his booth, but the bright mood emanating from Larry Stevens was hard to miss. An artist who grew up in Baltimore, Stevens was so busy selling prints of his colorful cityscapes he barely had time to talk Sunday — until it came time to discuss the bustling SoWeBo Arts and Music Festival that was unfolding all around him, the 26th in a row to be held in the Hollins Market neighborhood on...

In 2008, Ed DeRosa witnessed the infamy of the Preakness infield - the passed-out partiers, the chucking of full beer cans into crowds and of course, the "Running of the Urinals," where drunken infielders ran down a row of portable toilets. DeRosa, a horse-racing reporter from Lexington, Ky., who attended Preakness from 2005 to 2011, says nothing could have prepared a first-timer for the debauchery. "I was in Vegas for New Year's Eve a couple times, and until I had been to the Preakness infield, that was the craziest I'd ever seen people behave," DeRosa, now 33, said.

Finally, a no-brainer. Kicking of Merriweather Post Pavilion's season, the Sweetlife Food and Music Festival boasts an eclectic, solid lineup of established acts and rising talents. In chronological order, here are the five acts I suggest finding time for on Saturday: Action Bronson (12:25 p.m., Treehouse) Before heading over to the main stage for Fun., check out a few songs from this Albanian-American star-in-waiting. If you like raps about high-end food, left-field pop references and other atypical topics for hip-hop, Action Bronson will make your day. His latest mixtape, "Blue Chips,"  is an intoxicatingly fresh listen.

Crisfield Organizers of the Tangier Sound Country Music Festival in Crisfield, as well as the handful of die-hard music fans who had waited outside the gates since as early as 4:30 a.m. to stake out the best seats, heaved a collective sigh of relief Saturday morning when the sun peaked through the overcast and mildly threatening skies.As it turned out, they needn't have worried. The serendipitous weather conditions -- partly sunny skies and a delightful breeze blowing in off Tangier Sound -- combined with good planning, a solid lineup of musical talent and an exceedingly well-mannered crowd of 18,000 to make for a pleasant day of country music.

Thirty-eight years ago, during the Haight-Ashbury heyday of West Coast pop music, a gleefully visionary guitarist, Jerry Garcia, couldn't contain himself. Already the creative force behind the Grateful Dead, the multitalented Garcia kept trying new instruments and forms. He even built a new band - the New Riders of the Purple Sage, nowadays better known as NRPS - around his fascination with one of the most difficult stringed instruments, the pedal steel guitar. "Not to idolize the man, but he was the hippest guy, the most musically dedicated person I've ever been around," says Buddy Cage, who replaced Garcia as NRPS steel player in 1971 and has been in the band, more or less, ever since.

CRISFIELD -- Those looking for country music, sunshine and Eastern Shore seafood found it all yesterday at the Tangier Sound Country Music Festival.Tony Bruce, the festival's treasurer, reported last night that ticket sales topped 19,000, a record for the one-day event, which began on a smaller scale in 1990 with a financial pump priming from state government.Carolyn Brown, a Baltimore-based public relations spokeswoman for the festival, earlier reported a higher figure -- "just over 22,000."

In 2002, when the city first named the Station North Arts and Entertainment District, it was hard not to chuckle. Aside from a few galleries with sporadic hours and a two-block stretch of North Charles Street by the Charles Theatre, there wasn't much arts or entertainment in the area. Since then, the fledgling neighborhood has slowly started to grow into its own. Saturday, it will play host to the first (and, organizers are hoping, annual) Station North Spring Music Festival. In addition to being a free event with live music and other entertainment, the festival is, in a way, a coming-out party for the neighborhood.

The nation's oldest seaside resort, Cape May N.J., will celebrate its heritage with a traditional Victorian Fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, the free fair will be held on the grounds of the Emlen Physick Estate at 1048 Washington St. Numerous booths will be selling antiques, collectibles and handicraft items, and there will be live entertainment, old fashioned games for children and food for sale....

The Silopanna Music Festival will not return this year, according to a press release. Details are vague as to why the relatively new festival would not make "a run in 2013. " The release states "the stars didn't align this year to put together a lineup that we could stand behind. " There is no mention of future Silopanna festivals. Last August, the Silopanna Music Festival brought Cake, J. Roddy Walston & the Business and more to the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds. The inaugural event was scheduled for the summer of 2011, but was canceled because of Hurricane Irene.

Every community has positive attributes and problems. Heck, some states - New Jersey and West Virginia, to name two in the immediate vicinity - have their own brand of associated jokes. Yet plenty of people are proud to call New Jersey and West Virginia home, and both states can boast having strong tourism components to their respective economies. Jokes about what exit a certain attraction is off of or the number of dentists per 100,000 population are likely to persist, but that doesn't mean either state is lacking or in need of making a particular change because of what someone who lives in New York or Ohio or Maryland might think.

As a massive, glowing "W" flashed behind them, the alternative-rock veterans Weezer wasted little time reminding the Charm City Music Festival crowd just how long they've been together. The group kicked off its consistently uptempo, 90-minute headlining set at the first-ever event with "My Name is Jonas," the opening track from the band's 1994 debut album. After the winking nod to their longevity, bespectacled frontman Rivers Cuomo, possessing a stronger voice than I expected, and his band ran through hit-single after hit-single, with little banter in-between.

UPDATE: Scapescape preview: Wye Oak and Flock of Dimes play Scapescape Aug. 31 Coming at the conclusion of the month-long Station North Arts Festival, Scapescape will take place during Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30-Sept. 2). Baltimore acts Celebration, Dope Body, Labtekwon, J Roddy Walston and the Business, White Life, Wye Oak and more will play at three different locations around Station North, including the parking lot next to Metro Gallery as the main stage, Metro Gallery and Windup Space.

For his fifth album, Citizen Cope needed "a shot of optimism," so he wrote its opening song, "One Lovely Day. " The sparse, acoustic guitar-driven track finds its narrator trying to persuade a woman to come with him "to where there ain't no more pain. " The song, which became the title track for the July release, lacks a happy ending, but it's more about the desire to find a utopia away from a corrupt world. "Every time you do a record, you have the opportunity to spread some love," said Cope, who plays the Silopanna Music Festival in Annapolis on Saturday.

Let's try this again. The first Silopanna Music Festival will be headlined by Cake, Citizen Cope and G. Love & Special Sauce on Aug. 11 at Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds. Last year's inaugural Silopanna (that's Annapolis backwards) Music Festival was canceled the week of the show due to Hurricane Irene. Here's the full list of tentative set-times and performers: MAIN STAGE 11:45-12:45 p.m.: Joe Pug 1:15-2:15 p.m.: Yuna 2:45-3:45 p.m.: Robert Randolph & the Family Band 4:15-5:45 p.m.: G. Love & Special Sauce 6:45-8:15 p.m.: Citizen Cope9:15-10:45 p.m.: Cake LAWN STAGE 11:15-11:45 a.m.: Stiletto 12:15-12:45 p.m.: Pressing Strings 1:15-1:45 p.m.: Tobias Russell 2:15-3:00 p.m.: Audra Mae 3:30-4:15 p.m.: Pasadena 5:45-6:45 p.m.: Jimmie's Chicken Shack8:15-9:15 p.m.: J. Roddy Walston & The Business PAVILION STAGE 11:00-11:15 a.m.: School of Rock 11:45-12:15 p.m.: Sun Club 12:45-1:15 p.m.: Swampcandy 1:45-2:15 p.m.: jarflys 3:00-3:30 p.m.: Sweet Leda 4:45-5:45 p.m.: TBA7:15-8:15 p.m.: The Grilled Lincolns Tickets ( available here )

SYKESVILLE -- Music will be in the air Sunday as the Sykesville Parks and Recreation Committee presents a Music Festival at Millard Cooper Park.Twelve musical acts will perform a variety of music at the park's amphitheater and pavilion from noon until 9 p.m.All groups are performing without charge to the town, though they will be allowed to take free will donations, said Bill Hall, committee chairman."

Get out the picks and limber up the fingers.The seventh annual Kingsdale Bluegrass Music Festival comes to the Kingsdale (Pa.) Fire Company Grounds Thursday through July 18.Fourteen bluegrass groups will take the stage to offer a variety of down-home sounds with banjos, mandolins, guitars and bass."