DeLand Original Music Festival comes to town Saturday

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
The city is alive — Charlie Gear performs at the 2008 DeLand Original Music Festival. Gear said the festival is amazing; it is as if the whole town just comes alive with music.

PHOTO COURTESY ONE SUN PROJECT
One Sun — Carl Immeke and Stacy Heffner make up the duo One Sun Project. They will perform for their second year at the 2009 DeLand Original Music Festival.

130 acts on 21 stages

By Jennifer Horton
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Nov 13, 2009 - 9:06:19am

Come Friday night, Downtown DeLand merchants will close their shops, patrons will head home, and Downtown DeLand will look like, well, Downtown DeLand.

But, the next day, an army of musicians and volunteers will transform the central business district into a wonderland of sound and song.

More than 100 songwriters will perform on 21 stages in Downtown DeLand during the ninth annual DeLand Original Music Festival 2009. The 12-hour event is heralded as the largest one-day music festival in the Southeast. It is hosted by the Songwriters Showcases of America (SSA).

Phil Weidner is the event founder.

“It’s a little bigger this year. We’ve added three venues,” he said. “We have 130 acts this year, which is about 30 more than last year.”

The amount of music is phenomenal, Weidner said. The SSA accomplishes in 12 hours what many music festivals do over two or three days.

A lot of that reason is: location, location, location.

“DeLand is an amazing town,” Weidner said. “In a three-block area, we’re going to have 21 stages.”

The SSA’s first festival was to celebrate the organization’s first anniversary, in 1999. It was held in Ormond Beach, which quickly proved too small.

“We needed a bigger venue,” Weidner said.

He was familiar with DeLand through performances at Caffé da Vinci.

The first DeLand Music Festival was in September 2000.

It rained, but the shows still went on.

“That year really broke us in,” Weidner said. “We learned how to be flexible with things like weather, and how to think fast on our feet.”

For six years, it rained each year during the event. Weidner said they moved the festival to November, and it’s been clear skies since.

“November has just been our lucky-weather month,” he said.

Last year, an estimated 4,000 people flooded the streets for the opportunity to hear great music.

Steve Chmielewski, owner of Steve’s Downtown Music, 108 S. Woodland Blvd., will have a venue in front of his store.

“It’s really unique,” he said of the festival. “In DeLand, you have the small-town atmosphere, you have all of this great music, and it just becomes this great social experience.”

Also, he added, there is something for everyone.

“If you’re listening to someone and you’re not really enjoying it, you just move on to the next venue,” he said. “There is such a wide variety of artists, there’s just so much going on.”

Those attending the festival pay for bracelets that earn them admission to all the stages.

The artists who perform will not be cover bands. They are songwriters, and there seems to be a limitless number of genres these creative folks cover: Christian, rock, jazz, folk, new age, punk, hip-hop, country and blends of everything in-between.

Josh Curry, owner of the newly reopened da Vinci at 112 W. Georgia Ave., will host two stages, inside and out.

“It’s a great experience,” Curry said. “It really showcases a lot of local and Florida artists.”

All levels of performers will take the stage, from seasoned pros, to brand-new musicians.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Curry said.

The event is more of a music marathon than a show. Starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, bands will play throughout the Downtown. The music will go on until 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Tickets cost $10 in advance, or $15 at the gate.

Carl Immeke, half of the duo One Sun Project, said this would be One Sun’s second year at the Original Music Festival.

“It’s really great, just music, music, music,” he said. “And it’s all original music.”

Immeke plays the violin, and his partner musician Stacy Heffner plays the guitar.

“I’m a composer of new age with a fusion of jazz,” he said. “She’s into folk and rock.”

They come together for a unique sound. “We’re not just folk artists,” Immeke said.

One Sun Project will play at Coffee Bistro 101, 101 N. Woodland Blvd. Along with the Athens Theatre and Chess Park, Bistro 101 is one of this year’s three new venues.

Charlie Gear will return as a perennial favorite, playing on the outside stage at Dublin Station, 105 W. Indiana Ave.

“I play a Celtic-blues violin,” Gear said. “I’m like a one-man band.”

He has played in the festival since the beginning.

“It’s so intense,” he said. “It’s like the whole town is just alive with music.”

And it’s a great time for the artists, he said.

“The crowds are really listening to the music,” Gear said. “It’s not just background music in the bar. They’re really there to enjoy the performances.”

The music festival will be held rain or shine.

Tickets are available online, at Steve’s Downtown Music, and at Atlantic Sounds, 138 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach. Tickets can also be purchased at the gate.

For more information, including schedules, maps and artist profiles, visit www.ssa.cc.

— jen@beacononlinenews.com

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