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CNN Saturday Morning News
Music Midtown Rocks Atlanta
Aired May 04, 2002 - 07:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: They say it's the -- what, largest three-day music fest inside the 30037 area code. Is that it? Kyra, what's the distinction?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the United States...
O'BRIEN: In the whole U.S. of A. It's also the wettest music festival on record so far this year, right? So far.
PHILLIPS: Yes, here we are. You're supposed to have perfect sunshine, all these big artists in town, and it's pouring rain. We had thunder and lightning. It was -- I was a little nervous, I didn't know if this was a good idea. But everything looks OK now?
O'BRIEN: What do you -- you think I'm a weather guy? I don't know if it looks OK.
PHILLIPS: Yeah! No...
O'BRIEN: It was raining cats and dogs when I drove in. That's all I can attest to. Jacqui are you in the loop, can you hear me?
JAQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello.
O'BRIEN: Is Jacqui up there?
JERAS: I'm here.
O'BRIEN: Jacqui, what do you think?
JERAS: I'm sorry, I missed your question.
O'BRIEN: Is Kyra OK?
JERAS: Is Kyra OK?
PHILLIPS: Yeah, are we safe to have the truck up? The last thing I want to do is feel this vibration.
JERAS: To be honest with you, there are some pretty good thunderstorms across the area. There you can see the radar. Most of them are north of you right now. Where is midtown over here? I think, what, just on the east side of Atlanta? Is that right, northeast of the city itself? PHILLIPS: That's right. Kind of in...
JERAS: So the worst of it's to the north of you right now, but pushing off to the east-southeast.
PHILLIPS: OK, that's good news, and Charlie in the truck just said, "Kyra, we're fine, don't worry." So, this is all good news. Thank you, Jacqui.
O'BRIEN: But Charlie is wearing rubber boots right now. So. And not touching any gears. Just so you know, Kyra.
JERAS: Remember our (UNINTELLIGIBLE) safety rules from last week? That 30-30 rule, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: That's right. I know. All right.
Well look, we're going to talk with Karen West (ph), she's the festival spokesperson. She joins me here and she's in charge of all the publicity and, of course, all the fun.
Tell us how this festival got started. I mean, now it's the biggest three-day festival in the U.S.; you've pulled in names from Bonnie Raitt to Earth, Wind, & Fire to even some good oldies -- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts -- boy, I used to love her. Still do. But, tell me how it all got started, nine years ago.
KAREN WEST, MUSIC MIDTOWN SPOKESPERSON: It was actually a vision of Alex Cooley -- he's one of the festival promoters, in addition to Peter Conlon and he is actually a legend in the music industry and really in Atlanta. He's a pioneer behind bringing rock to Atlanta, and he had a vision of creating a festival with a diverse lineup where people could go and see a number of artists for a really low-ticket price.
And so nine years ago they came up with Music Midtown and now it's grown into a festival where we have 300,000 people attend, we have over 120 artists, we have 11 stages, an artist's market, kid's town, it's 35 acres, and it's a lot of fun.
PHILLIPS: Now let's talk about this "emerging artist" stage. We're looking at some video from last night, by the way. Ticket sales, with some of the bands performing -- the "emerging artist" stage -- there are scouts that come here, there's record producers -- how do you pick the local bands or even the outside bands to come in and play? It must be tough.
WEST: It is tough, and I think that that effort was really headed up by 99X which is a local radio station here, and Music Midtown -- so, every year we reach out to the artists in about January, and you have them visit the web site, or send in packages -- and now artist's know, and you know, they start calling and saying -- you know, how can we get involved with this festival?
We have a team of people over at Music Midtown and at 99X, and they listen to the CDs and they talk to the community and find out who the buzz bands are, and they give these artists a chance to play in front of 100,000 people -- you know, record -- you know, A&R people -- or, just -- and, even just getting exposure to people who may have never heard their music.
It's actually one of my favorite parts of the festival because you see an artist -- you know -- one year, on the 99X (UNINTELLIGIBLE) stage, and then two years later they're...
PHILLIPS: On the billboard; they're a big name.
WEST: Right.
PHILLIPS: Can you give me a big name?
WEST: Actually, Injected (ph) is one -- Butch Walker is another -- oh, I'm trying to think -- this year some of the favorites are David Dunning, Royal 7, Supermatic. The Yard is another great one.
PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to check them out, Karen.
WEST: Yeah, it's fun, it's fun...
PHILLIPS: Karen West, thank you so much -- for getting up early, on the big festival weekend...
WEST: Oh, it's my pleasure.
PHILLIPS: We appreciate it so much. And Miles, right now the stage that we're on, this is the Cajun stage for the day. Coming up in about an hour and a half, we're going to have live Cajun music, so you get ready to do some Zydeco, right up there on the set, OK?
O'BRIEN: All right, Kyra, if your hair starts standing on end, run for cover -- but, we're hoping that the show will go on. We appreciate seeing you, actually, live and in color.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll check in with you later.
O'BRIEN: All right. Kyra Phillips, at Midtown Music Festival. Checking in with her all morning. Who knows who will stop by the truck, there. And give us a little interview and let us know what's going on there at the Midtown Music Festival.
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