By Brooks Tompkins
The fourth-annual A-Town Get Down music and art festival was held Feb. 22 at the Charles H. Morris Center. The event, which hosted live music and art, was open to the public.
“A-town invites something different,” said Walter Parks, a singer and guitarist in Swamp Cabbage. “We invite an open mind, we invite open music, open cultures, open genres, open everything.”
Guests could learn about different types of art through workshops and demonstrations or get their portrait painted by the SCAD painting department. YMCA members even weaved fibers through a fence to create a “yarn bomb.”
“We have a good mix of every media,” said Briana Mateo, a third-year industrial design student.
There were tables to learn about printmaking, digital illustration and ceramics, as well ones to eat at.
“We have people cooking,” said Mateo. “That’s definitely an art too. This barbecue sandwich is the bomb.”
Guests could sit down and eat some barbecue and watch live performances. The Savannah Children’s Choir, Annalise Curtin, The Lovely Locks, Randall Bramblette Band, Walter Parks, and The Lee Boys were just a few of the acts that played throughout the day and into the night. These musicians were not just there to perform for the audience, but to inspire each other too.
“I listen to the Savannah Children’s Choir performing, and I get inspired,” said Parks. “I’ll probably go back to Washington Square and write a song that is very much inspired by them. That’s what this is all about.”
That’s the whole reason the A-Town Get Down festival was started.
“A-Town” was the nickname for a former student, Alex Townsend. After he passed away in 2010 his parents, Jeanne and Tom, started this festival in remembrance of his spirit and the influence and inspiration he had on others.
Parks knew Alex Townsend’s father and they were in their first band together. Alex grew up watching Parks play. He has been with the festival since day one and really believes in the virtue it brings.
“In America, an open showing of emotion is frowned upon,” said Parks. “But that is not what happens here at A-town. We give a place of comfort, a place for the art-typical ‘weirdo’ or ‘creative student.’”
Parks performed with his band, Swamp Cabbage, and collaborated with young musicians in an open jam session at the festival. He is a singer, songwriter who played lead guitar for Richie Havens in all kinds of venues from the Madison Square Garden to Carnegie Hall.
“And all of this coming together of genres happened from an unfortunate incident, from Alex’s passing. But in a certain way, this is the gift that he has given us,” said Parks. “The spirit of the creative different was what Alex was all about.”
For more information about the festival and Alex Townsend, go to the A-Town Memorial Foundation website.