It’s not a palooza, it’s a palooblah. Or so says organizer/punk fan/dad of two Andy Odiker of the punk-fest he’s organized.
The fest — Punkapalooblah — will bring the punk fans en masse to downtown Bremerton’s Charleston at 333 N. Callow, with 22 bands that will play over the course of two days.
The rocking begins at 5 p.m. on Aug. 29. Local fan favorites and bigger-named bands from lands far and away alike will share the billing, with CLR from Seattle and The Assassinators from Belfair headlining day one. On Aug. 30, YIA will play to its own home crowd, while San Francisco’s Officer Down will take the stage.
On day one, the music will play until 2 a.m., while day two the festivities will be from
1 p.m. to midnight.
Tickets for the whole shindig run $12.
The fun won’t be confined to the stage, Odiker said. While the main attraction is the music, there’ll also be a food, a block party and raffles for tattoos from local shops.
Although the event is an all-ages affair, Odiker’s children likely won’t make an appearance.
The music is too loud for his crew, a 2-year-old and a nearly-5-year-old.
While Odiker is a self-professed fan of music, he’s content to let others take the spotlight.
“I’m blessed with no rhythm and no tone. My gift is booking and promotions,” he said.
So promote he does.
In addition to satisfying Bremerton’s craving for hard-core punk, Odiker puts together about three or four shows a month.
But this one had to be different than the norm, as it wasn’t a show — it’s an all-out music festival.
One of the first items of business was to settle on a decent name for the event. The last thing Odiker wanted was to host another “palooza,” so he got creative.
“We were just sitting around down at the Charleston one night, BS-ing and stuff, and we noticed all kinds of programs did plays off Lollapalooza. We didn’t want a ‘palooza.’ We wanted to do our own thing, but still let people know it was a festival.”
Hence, a Punkapalooblah was born.
About three months ago, he started rounding up the entertainment. For those bands that weren’t already booked over Labor Day weekend, once the idea was planted the rest was pretty easy, he said.
“I just told them we’re putting together a punk rock festival here in Bremerton,” Odiker said. “When everyone heard about it, they got really excited to get involved. It was pretty easy as far as getting the bands lined up.”
For most of the entertainers, Bremerton is a familiar stomping ground.
“A lot of the bands on the bill have either played for me in the past at other events or are tight with other bands up here in our scene,” Odiker said.
For more information about Punkapalooblah, e-mail Odiker at odikera@yahoo.com.
