Without question, the biggest festival of the year is Artscape. This three day arts festival brings together local, regional, national and international talent resulting in a long weekend of top notch music. Since Artscape is held annually in July, the operative word here is "hot". This applies to the weather and the sounds eminating from the three stages presenting non-stop music.

The act that opened the festivities Friday evening was local alternative rock veterans Laughing Colors. Playing the U of B stage situated at the back of the food court, they played a strong set of their original material, with a creative cover of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" that was well received by the sparse crowd that had gathered at this relatively early hour.

The next act that we caught was unintentional. We were there to see Los Lobos, but the mayor's band, O'Malleys March, was still playing at the scheduled start time for Los Lobos. Originally we blamed O"Malley for the delay, but later we learned that the boy mayor had nothing to do with it. We apologize to Hizzoner for the slight...we were misinformed. However we are still not particularly fond of this arrogant prick.

Although they started late and played a truncated set, Los Lobos was definitely worth the wait. After a slow start caused by some equipment problems, they mixed in tunes from their newest album with plenty of their classics. They stayed pretty much with the upbeat stuff, perhaps sensing that the large throng that had gathered was primed to let off some steam. The boys from East LA proved once again why they have endured for so many years.

The first act that we caught on Saturday was Rude Dog's Rhythm Revue. On the surface a blues band, they venture into Rock, R&B, and swing, mixing their original tunes with classics from the aforementioned genres. All in all a pretty good start to what promised to be a formidable day of performances.

Another of Baltimore's alternative mainstays, Love Riot, put on an excellent performance on Saturday afternoon. You may have heard their music on the TV show "Homicide". Several of their tunes were used, and they even made an appearance in one of the episodes. They played their favorites to a decent sized enthusiastic audience.

"What the world needs now is another folksinger. Like I need a hole in my head." Contemporary folkie Dar Williams played a solo set on the Sun stage Saturday afternoon, drawing a fairly large crowd, including a considerable number of enthusiastic college girls who seemed to be familiar with all of her material. The girls in front of us began flicking their lighters by the third song. She sounded okay, but is sort of a modern day Joan Baez, pontificating about peace, injustice, and the state of the planet between numbers. Fearing that our brain might turn to mush, we bolted after the third song.

Still reeling from the experience described above, we took refuge in the food court. There we found the perfect antidote in the form of that quintessential Baltimore babe, Mary Prankster. Performing without her band she entertained a somewhat boisterous gathering with acoustic versions of her raucous, bawdy rock songs. One verse of "Tits and Whiskey" was all we needed to get back into the swing of things

A little slice of Mardi Gras came to Artscape with the appearance of the Wild Magnolias. As much fun to watch as they are to listen to, this New Orleans R&B combo partied their way through a slew of New Orleans classics. They got the crowd going with their versions of the tradtional "Iko Iko" and Allen Toussaint's "Life Is A Carnival" among others. The two backup vocalists (referred to as the "Indians" by lead singer Bo Dollis) tossed beads to the crowd to help simulate the Mardi Gras experience.

The last act that we caught on Saturday was also one that might be described as "visual". Southern Culture On The Skids brought their wacked out psychobillly to the Sun stage and rocked nonstop in an set which included an audience participation segment where a dozen or more young ladies from the audience climbed onto the stage to dance and throw chicken and biscuits to the crowd. In addition to the four band members, a guy in a Mr. Boh teeshirt played trumpet with the band as they performed their hit "Liquored Up Lacquered Down". We were so exhausted after this performance that we had to skip Buckwheat Zydeco and miss Sundays shows altogether.