Eight years since it's inception, the Heliotrope Festival is going strong. Each year, Flaneur Productions assembles an adventurous program of experimental talent culled from the Twin Cities underground. This year's festival is being held at Loring Theater May 26th through 28th. You can get all the info here. In an ongoing feature about the many wonderful music series we enjoy in the Twin Cities, I asked Heliotrope co-founder Richard Barlow to profile his festival for The Somethin' Else. Here's what he told me.
What is your series called?
Heliotrope.
How often and where does your series take place?
It is an annual series. We started at Franklin Art Works, moved to The Ritz Theater, and this will be our first year at the Loring Theater.
How long have you been doing your series?
Eight years.
What compelled you to start your series?
A few things. At the time of the first event, my theatre company, Flaneur Productions, had reserved the space at Franklin for a performance, and ended up moving it somewhere else. I figured we ought to use the Franklin space for something anyway, and had always wanted to do a music festival of some sort. I had recently been to Terrastock, and both of the DeStijl/Freedom From festivals, and was inspired.
I felt like there was a lot of really interesting music going on in town, but whenever I talked to friends or other music fans they would just whine about how there was nothing going on, or idealise the "scene" in other cities. I thought perhaps if we could bring together a bunch of the interesting acts in town they would all discover each other's music, share fans, and give people more of a sense that there was something happening. I thought that a lot of the people doing noise music would probably like what some fo the free jazz people were doing, etc. It seemed, too, like locally the stuff that got press and coverage was either laptop type stuff, or fairly boring country rock. There didn't seem to be a home or voice for the range of things I found interesting. (I am happy to say that this has entirely changed since the founding of the festival, and that there are a lot of events and series bringing attention to interesting stuff - and also that local acts seem to be supportive of each other and enthusiastic about what's going on, another nice change).
What is unique about your series?
Hm. An excellent question. I think one thing has been that we have always tried to make the thing feel like an "event," with projections and theatrical lighting, as well as encouraging people to make posters, do something different, etc. Each year there has been a companion compilation of music from the acts. It's a theater series, too, rather than a bar or whatever, which I think is interesting. It concentrated things a bit on the music, and is a unique space to perform in. Most years there are acts who come up with something to perform specific to the event.
How does your series contribute to the good of the community?
If it's working the way I'd hope, it is a locus for creativity, a way of exposing fans to new artists, exposing artists to other acts they may not know, and allowing the collected mass of acts to help bring in bigger audiences and more press attention to everyone involved.
What have some of the highlights been for you so far?
It seems cliche to say it, but there really have been too many to list. An early highlight was White Map playing on the sidewalk outside Franklin Art Works at midnight and witnessing the perplexed looks from drivers going by. The first year that Skoal Kodiak invited a throng of dancers onto the stage at the Ritz was pretty exciting, too. But, every year there are multiple highlights.
What are your thoughts on music in the Twin Cities?
I think there are a lot of interesting people making interesting music. I think it is a shame that the press and radio tend to focus so heavily on the more anodyne stuff, since there are a lot of people deserving of bigger audiences and greater respect.
What would your utopia be like?
I really couldn't tell you. Isn't the idea of a Utopia always slightly dystopian? Perfection of any kind sounds horrible. .
