Upland holds its first major music and arts festival

Nov. 7, 2009 | By Steven Cuevas | KPCC

More than a hundred performers will be taking the stage in Upland this weekend for the city’s very first Music and Arts Festival.

More than a hundred performers will be taking the stage in Upland this weekend for the city’s very first Music and Arts Festival.

One of the aims of the three-day festival is to whip up support for arts education programs in schools, so a lot of young, aspiring pop stars will perform. So will a few teachers.

The Outlaws of Physics is a band of science professors from Cal Poly Pomona. Their repertoire includes a lot of rock 'n' roll and surf music standards, along with tongue-in-cheek originals like “Physics Department Mama.” Any money the Outlaws make from live shows and merchandise helps pay for scholarships.

Filling out the festival’s seven-stage lineup are better-known acts, like bluesmen Coco Montoya and Charlie Musselwhite, and indie rock veterans Soul Asylum.

Soul Asylum was an MTV darling in the early ‘90s. The band won a Grammy and even played at Bill Clinton’s inauguration ball in 1993. Soul Asylum packed it in a few years later, then reunited several years ago.

Soul Asylum headlines the Upland Music and Arts Festival on Saturday. The festival winds up on Sunday night with performances by blues players Tommy Castro and Chris Cain.

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