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Downtown weekend festival focuses on communal aspect of music and involvement

Nick Baker
September 5, 2008

Starting tonight, 30 local and national bands will celebrate coming together through music.

This weekend, the second Do-It-Together Fest will be held at the Vineyard at 154 N. Depeyster St. downtown. It kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight and will end at 11 p.m. Saturday.

The bands, which range from punk to folk, will play 20-minute sets from 7:30 p.m. to midnight tonight, and 12:30 to 11 p.m. Saturday.

Matt Scheuermann, front man of the local band No Target Audience and founder of D.I.T. Fest, started the event with the goal of trying to build a sense of community in the Kent area, taking the “do-it-yourself” approach to music and culture. The main idea of the event is recognizing the communal aspect of “do-it-yourself” culture.

“My friend came up with the name,” Scheuermann said. “I thought, ‘Man, Do It Together that is such a better idea than Do It Yourself.'”

“I wanted to get a bunch of people that are into D.I.Y. culture to celebrate a couple days of music without the corporate influence of a lot of national festivals,” said Scheuermann. “Kent has a history of being open to music and that kind of culture.”

Richard Wehrenberg, saxophonist for No Target Audience, said that a festival based on the “do-it-yourself” approach is about more than recognition, money or even music. It’s about community.

“Community is more intrinsic to human nature than making money,” said Wehrenberg. “There’s more creativity. We’re just helping each other out, trying to be very positive.”

The free two-day event features music from around the country, and has gained interest from both local and national bands.

When Scheuermann first came up with the idea a year ago, he began sending e-mails to local bands that he was a fan of, and the idea immediately caught on.

“The first night I thought of it, I started e-mailing bands around midnight. Literally, just bands I thought were down with the cause,” he said. “The next morning around 11, every band had responded. That’s when I thought, ‘I could actually do something about this.'”

Andy Metzger, an organizer for the festival, commented on how much the event has grown in just one year.

“Bands love the idea,” Metzger said. “Bands actually e-mailed us this time to see if they could play because they want to be a part of it.”

Brett Olsen, another organizer, added bands and fans both take an interest because an event like this has some substance.

“It’s not like just doing keg stands on the weekend,” Olsen said. “We can actually do something important. This kind of stuff can easily build a community.”

D.I.T. Fest is a free event, but donations are appreciated. All money from donations will be distributed amongst the out-of-town bands to cover their transportation costs. There will also be a place to donate non-perishable foods and toiletry items for local charities including Hudson-based Anonymous Relief Mission, which works to move the homeless into furnished apartments.

“Green Light,” an environmentally-minded, self-published magazine based out of Cleveland, is also helping with the event. The publication, started by Oberlin College graduate Lora DiFranco, will have a table at the festival with copies of their zine, stickers and other information regarding the reduction of energy consumption.

“The biggest thing is to get people involved and have fun doing it,” Metzger added. “Basically, it’s just a cool place to hang out.”

Contact off-campus entertainment reporter Nick Baker at [email protected].