Summer Serenade

Babes in Toyland, 1995

For a brief period in the nineties August brought those of us living in the Minneapolis area a street party known as CedarFest. Held in what was long considered a 'bohemian' area of town—The West Bank—this free event had dozens of bands which were picked for their potential, not their achievements. Mike Doughty and Soul Coughing, G. Love, Jonny Lang when he was still a kid, Frank Black and many more musical hipsters. The sun was hot, the crowds were cool. If you weren’t of age, this was a great chance to see bands that usually only played in clubs. If you were, you could even get a beer or two...

Which was the end of it. Someone OD'ed on alcohol, and the event’s organizers were sued for allowing him to be “over-served.” A lawsuit that, even if you were successful in defending yourself, would bankrupt all but the richest pockets. There are still a few free festivals, but they are smaller in scale and usually pretty tame.

Soul Coughing, August 20, 1995

Summer re-run, first published in FITK August 29, 2008