What you want? CityFest has got it
Annual Detroit event gets a name change, but still features music, food and more

Brian McCollum / Free Press Pop Music Writer

There aren't too many music lineups where you'll find Yo La Tengo partnered with Weird Al Yankovic.

Leave it to Comerica CityFest to again shake up the status quo. The revered indie-rock trio and the goofy pop parodist are among more than 100 musical acts slated to roll into the New Center this week as the newly renamed festival stakes its claim to Detroiters' Fourth of July holiday schedules.

In the 15 years since debuting in relative obscurity to promote restaurants, the festival formerly known as TasteFest has left an increasingly impressive imprint on the Detroit entertainment circuit. Drawing an estimated 100,000 patrons daily when the weather is good, the free fest showcases a formidable batch of local talent while spotlighting a handful of national headliners.

The name was changed for '07 to reflect CityFest's growth into an all-purpose entertainment and cultural event celebrating Detroit urban life.

"The festival isn't changing," says first-year CityFest director Julie Kouloumberis. "It's more that the name has finally caught up with the festival. It's made it easier to book bands, from when they saw 'TasteFest' and thought it was just about food. Food is still a huge component, but it's so much more than that now."

At the CityFest Web site, where a clock counts down the minutes to today's kickoff, the daily music schedule tells the story: four stages filled with a stylistically diverse array of acts, tapping both hip credibility and popular appeal, with headliners ranging from Detroit rock band the Go to chart-topping rapper Lupe Fiasco.

Perhaps best symbolizing CityFest's comprehensive approach is the Pure Detroit Stage, which will play host to some of the city's edgiest rock bands along with extended multi-artist sets representing electronic music and hip-hop.

"It's all over the place, in a good way," says festival publicist Becki Carr, who represents many of the bands on the bill. "We really looked for variety this year."

Carr says the festival's reputation has made it an in-demand event for local musicians, with hundreds of bands seeking spots on the 2007 roster.

"It was overwhelming," says Carr. "It seems like it's become a top bill that people really wanted to get in on."

For musician John Szymanski, a chance to play another CityFest was enough to draw his band the Hentchmen out of semi-hiatus: The garage group's Thursday set, to include brand-new material, will be just its third local performance of the past year.

"This is the one we get excited about, for sure," said Szymanski, who has also played the event with two other bands, the Paybacks and SSM. "It's definitely the best collection of bands I'm interested in checking out."

Contact BRIAN McCOLLUM at 313-223-4450 or mccollum@freepress.com.