Texas Avenue music fest set for April 30 By Christopher James christopher.james@baytownsun.com | Posted: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 12:00 am For small business owner Katrina Starling, the new Town Square Park on Texas Avenue couldn’t have come soon enough. Now, with this new venue, Starling can better promote local music and arts, and will do so by hosting the inaugural Texas Music Festival on April 30. The festival will kickoff at 4 p.m., with live music starting around 4:30 p.m., at the town square, 213 W. Texas Avenue. Local Baytown comedian Dexter Gutierrez will MC the event, which is free for all ages. “The town square is right across the street from Cork Grinders and Dirty Bay, and the show is a collaboration, the two of us working really closely together,” said Starling, general manager and partner of Cork Grinders. “And of course we both do a lot of live music, and Cork Grinders has really become a launching pad for great local music coming out of Baytown.” In addition, the festival will host concession stands, food trucks and merchandise vendors. And with the inaugural music festival coming, the City of Baytown’s vision for the Town Square Park on Texas is materializing. “Events like this one is what we had in mind for the Town Square other than our planned events such as the Easter egg hunt, ice skating etc.,” said Baytown Parks and Recreation Director Scott Johnson. “Good family activities to get people outside together to show off our city.” Thus far, Cork Grinders, Dirty Bay Beer Company Company and the City of Baytown are sponsoring the music festival themed “Straight Outta Baytown,” which will feature local musicians from a diverse lineup of rock, reggae, calypso, hiphop and more. “All of the bands are from Baytown. They’re all grassroots, they all live here and they all got their start here,” said Starling. “I thought for the first show in the park, it would be awesome to have it be reflective of original Baytown music,” Headliners will be alternative hiphop band Positive Disturbance and hard rock alternative band Saturate, with wbands The Philosophers, Four Letter Language and Kloana. “Saturate is touring on the national level. They have opened for bands like Korn, Chevelle, Five Finger Death Punch and Drowning Pool, (to name a few). They have four CD’s out now with the release of their newest album, entitled ‘The Separation Effect’ earlier this year.” said Starling. “And Positive Disturbance is touring nationally as well, sharing the stage with major artists like Cypress
Hill, Bone Thugs N Harmony and DMX. Their album, ‘Chasing Distance’ is doing extremely well too. They’re both doing great things.” For Positive Disturbance vocalist Chris Martinez, playing at the inaugural music festival in his hometown is exciting, even for a band that has played at Austin’s South By Southwest for the past three years. “This is something, aside from being at Bicentennial Park for Fourth of July, that is very dear to me because I’m from Baytown and being able to perform in front of family and friends in this area is exciting,” said Martinez. “ Both Cork Grinders and Dirty Bay will be open with outdoor seating for the show and will also host parties immediately following the event, giving fans the opportunity to meet and greet the bands. “So this (music festival) will be the very first one, and then we actually have several more planned throughout the year that will be bigger than this,” said Starling. “It will be a music festival where we can ticket it or do a wristband event and have it go all weekend.” Anyone interested in sponsoring or volunteering for the festival are welcomed and are asked to contact Cork Grinders at 2814273260. Online: Here is the link to the Texas Avenue Music Fest on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/events/1701646173417370/ events/1701646173417370/