Metropolitan Entertainment Centre |  August 3 + 4
Big names: Lee Rocker, Kim Lenz
Local talent: Greg Arcade, Farrell Bros.
$45 day pass/$65 weekend pass
Regular downtown parking rules apply
rivercityrumble.ca

Winnipeg rockabilly enthusiasts will finally have a festival to call their own when the inaugural River City Rumble takes over the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre during the weekend of August 3-4.

“There’s been a number of us in Winnipeg who have gone to the annual Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender, which has taken place every spring in Vegas for the last 16 years,”  board co-chair Cheryl Scott says. “Over the years other festivals have been popping up around the world so we all came together to try and pull it off here.”

A big part of this festival will be the music and the rockabilly genre which dates back to the 1950s when musicians in the southern United States started blending together rock and country music.

“Very early Johnny Cash would be considered a pioneer of the genre, so would Jerry Lee Lewis and very early Buddy Holly,” band liaison Jeff Smook says. “Its obviously morphed into a lot of different sub-genres today, we have a band coming in from Toronto called the Matadors and I believe their sub-genre would be called Horrorbilly.”

Upright bassist/Stray Cat Lee Rocker and California’s Kim Lenz and the Jaguars will be headlining the festival, but it’s not just artists from out of town, since River City Rumble also features performances from such local musicians as the Farrell Bros. and Greg Arcade & His Rockin’ Band.

If you’re interested in more than just the music, this festival has a number of other attractions, including burlesque performances, a swing dance competition, a fashion show and the screening of Jonathan Joffe’s future cult classic The Burlesque Assassins, which also includes a dinner that attendees can pre-order beforehand.

Participation is another big aspect since there will be a number of workshops offered throughout the weekend dealing with vintage hairstyles, burlesque performances and even a one hour swing dance lesson courtesy of HepCat Studio.

Vendors including Rockabetty, the cool cat clothing store Scott runs in Osborne Village, will also be operational.

“I’m most excited for the collaboration of all the various elements of rockabilly, pin-up and the 50s flavour in general,” Scott says. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and we hope it’ll be a sustainable opportunity for people to enjoy this genre in the city.”

Part of the series: Summer Festival Guide 2013

Published in Volume 67, Number 27 of The Uniter (July 17, 2013)