thePULSEDanimal instincts
Local music festival turns ‘Lucky XIII’ and releases first DVD
The rain didn’t spoil the fun last year at Locobazooka.July 2004 – People envy Worcester-born Locobazooka founder Dan “Danimal” Hartwell. And it is not just because the legendary 43-year-old local music promoter can call up any rock star in the world. People envy Dan Hartwell because he is so damn successful.
From his Worcester office, Hartwell runs 3-D Entertainment, a multi-purpose event programming and promotions company. The office is strewn with bins full of demo CDs from Locobazooka hopefuls and adorned with rock star photos. Locobazooka 2004 is a mere three months away — September 25 & 26 —but 3-D’s order of the day today is the upcoming July 9 release party for the first-ever Locobazooka DVD.
Locobazooka, the annual hard rock festival now held at Fitchburg Airport, turns “Lucky 13” this year. “Locobazooka is a festival that gives a lot of unsigned talent a chance to perform in front of the crowds that are usually reserved for the big national acts,” Hartwell says. The bands hail from the world over and represent about 75% of the roughly 50 acts that appear each year including such bands as Staind, Powerman 5000, Ra, Revis and Shinedown.
For a ticket price that is still under $40, 50+ bands in two days is still a great bargain, not to mention the value-added amenities that Hartwell and company offered to ticket-holders in 2003: 25 bands at the Wallace Civic Center, another 40 bands at three Fitchburg-area clubs and the New England premiere of Richard Linklater’s School Of Rock starring Jack Black.
Hartwell’s detractors cite the “insidious” way in which he books smaller acts at Locobazooka. These bands purchase a block of tickets at a discount and are allowed to resell them at face value. They not only realize a profit, but also gain unprecedented access to Hartwell’s invaluable publicity and promotions machine, not to mention the 120+ talent agents, A&R reps and club owners on hand each year. Insidious? Hardly. Ingenious? Maybe.
Before Locobazooka realized its potential as a recognizable brand, it focused on its fans, something that 3-D strategist John Carnegie has not lost sight of. “The most important person at any Locobazooka show will always be the 14-20 year old music lover,” Carnegie states, “more important than any of the so-called VIPs. There are thousands of them every year ready to become some band’s newest fan.”
Keeping the fans in mind and with all the gloss and shine of a major label release, 3-D will unleash their fiercely independent 110-minute DVD, Locobazooka 2003 this July. The film, produced by Jack Marchetti of Leominster’s IEG, contains not only behind-the-scenes footage cut in between the performances but clever festival factoids hidden in a mock news ticker at various points throughout.
“It is our first foray into documenting Locobazooka and bringing the result to market,” Hartwell explains, “and it is more than just performances. It is also a look into the lifestyles of the ‘Locobazookites’ who have helped make us so successful.” He adds that thousands of kids from last year’s show have already e-mailed him to find out when they can buy the DVD and pick themselves out of the generous number of crowd shots contained in the program, which were “shot as if you had a backstage pass”, says Hartwell.
The disc, which received considerable attention from European distributors, producers and directors after its showcase at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will be available on July 9 at all Strawberries and FYE stores, as well as online at www.Locobazooka.com. Of course, if you buy it at the July 9 DVD Release Party at Worcester’s Bijou Cinema Pub, you get to see the only area showing of The Decline of Western Civilization III, Penelope Spheeris’ documentary about the small army of L.A.’s homeless “gutterpunks” who are the forgotten ancestors of today’s superstars like Staind and Fear Factory. The tentatively-titled Locobazooka: The Movie, due out next year, will shoot at and in the days leading up to this year’s event.
Hartwell and 3-D have not forgotten the bands or the fans or all the hundreds of people who help make Locobazooka a reality every year. They have also not forgotten the country in which someone is free to make a dream like Locobazooka a reality. “A portion of ticket sales this year go to Homes For Our Troops,” he says. The charity builds specially adapted homes for severely disabled soldiers and their families. “Also, ever since 9/11, we have offered active-duty military personnel free admission as our way of saying ‘thanks’ to these true hometown heroes,” Hartwell continues.
The positive “United We Rock” theme continues this year with Mistress Carrie from Loco partner WAAF jumping from a plane onto the airfield. She and a team of a dozen skydivers will trail plumes of red, white and blue smoke, as will the 5 F-14’s that the Pentagon is sending for a flyover. All four branches of the armed services will be again represented at this year’s show, which Hartwell describes as a “patriotic rock ‘n’ roll festival”.
“If you have ever had any doubt as to future of this country,” Hartwell adds, shifting from his usual glibness to a tone of genuine pride, “your fears would have disappeared after seeing 15,000 kids with American flags at the 2001 show. It was so inspiring.”
