By: Ateanna Uriri Denton Live Fall-Winter 2015
Everybody dancin’ C’mon children, c’mon children Come on, clap your hands Sun went down in honey and the moon came up in wine You know stars were spinnin’ dizzy, Lord The band kept us too busy, we forgot about the time
A couple dances and cheers under the night sky. He spins her out and brings her back, swaying and smiling. The music never stopped, they say, but this tune isn’t coming from The Grateful Dead. It’s coming from Forgotten Space, a tribute band, 30 years after the song’s introduction.
The ’60s and ’70s counterculture pioneered music that is still revered while much of today’s popular music comes and goes like the wind. The songs of these “cultural decades” have been immortalized in documentaries, album compilations and tributes.
But what about the people?
They are a little older – more experienced, they say – but the old free spirit hasn’t died, just matured, and the music lives on with them. Randy Robinson, President of Point Bank and notable character about Denton, is living proof. Randy thought that the music of his youth should be celebrated, preserved and enjoyed by young and old alike. He may not have been able to call up Chicago or Jimi Hendrix, but he had something else in mind for Denton: Industrial Street Pop Festival.
“The way it started was me and a couple of buddies were sitting around at Dan’s Silverleaf. We had talked about music in Denton and all the festivals,” Randy says. “So, I said ‘you know what’d be neat is to have some kind of music event that features music during the time we were in high school.’”
Industrial Street Pop Festival is a free one-day event made up of tribute bands and vendors. It benefits the Salvation Army and Serve Denton. Despite the name, this isn’t your grandparents meeting for bingo or shuffleboard, but a musical celebration enjoyed by classic folk and rock music-lovers of all ages. In a city known for its unique music culture, this is one festival that rocks to the Wolfman and the Bandstand – the oldies but goodies.
“We just kind of invented our own music festival because… we felt like there was an empty niche waiting to be filled with that era of music,” Randy says.
Randy pulled together some friends and organized a committee to plan the first Industrial Street Pop Festival in 2013.
“The first year you do an event, it’s difficult,” says Julie Glover, committee member and Economic Development Program Administrator for the City of Denton. “You don’t know how many people are going to show up… you don’t know if anybody’s gonna show up.”
But the people did show up, about 300 people the first year and 100 more the next. The soundtrack of a generation is creating new memories and reawakening others.
“You can be listening to the radio and some song comes on, and you remember a particular date, where you were, the guy that you were with, even if that’s somebody who’s long gone,” Julie says. “It’s just an amazing thing that music can transport you like that”
Industrial Street Pop Festival will be held on Industrial Street in Denton on Sunday, October 18 at 1 p.m. For more details, check out the Industrial Street Pop Festival Facebook page.
