By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

I’ve always taken a shine to Uncle Anthony.

A musician for around a half-century now, he has endured life as an underappreciated and diligent jazz pianist. Love of music was a common ground we both tread and a bridge that tied us together across generations.

I distinctly remember years ago when he revealed a burgeoning distaste for the idea of recorded music and the shock it registered with me. Most of the work we both loved would have remained forever hidden had it not been for the recording process as so much of it is impossible to notate on sheet music. His explanation for this stance made sense, though.

Anthony believed a reliance on recorded music deprived many people of the joy of learning to play for themselves. In the years before the CD, the tape, the phonograph, it was common to find folks who were at least passable on a minimum of one instrument. It was a necessity if you wanted partake in the art form.

The communion it facilitated was vital to bonds within families and between friends. Producing the art yourself also irrevocably changed your experience of the world in immeasurable ways.

It reminded me of a similar train of thought that once emerged from another direction in my life, one characterized more by leather jackets than dim-lit lounges.

What Anthony expressed was the DIY ethic yet again.

For the unfamiliar, the DIY, or do-it-yourself, ethos arose from punk ideology and anticonsumerism as a rejection of the notion you must purchase what you want or need. It questioned the uniqueness of “the expert” in favor of self-discovery and self-reliance and covered any area you could imagine.

And according to Arts Alive organizer David Calametti, it is also the crux of what drives one of Mobile’s biggest cultural events.

“We are trying to demystify the arts,” Calametti said. “We want to create more of a personal experience with it.”

The interactive festival has enjoyed success as a biannual event for the first five years of its life, but a large transition is looming. With a Saturday afternoon event in the spring and a Friday night version in the fall, they previously divided it up to attempt complementing atmospheres. It will now be merged into one spring weekend, April 12-14 this year.

“It became a struggle to make both events happen,” Calametti admitted. “This will focus our energy, resources and sponsor dollars on one annual event.”

When the news of the consolidation first reached my ears, it gave me pause. The spring festival was geared more for children, the autumnal version for adults.

My awareness of flagging attendance since the first couple of fall events also played a part. As I told Calametti, the ghost of First Night haunted my mind.

First Night was a New Year’s Eve event that experienced initial success in the 1990s and then waned into non-existence as the public let their participation slip. I was assured it wouldn’t be the case this time.

“This gives us an opportunity to build on the Friday night event,” Calametti said. “Look, the Friday night Artwalks are already doing well and we can implement that. We’re also going to use it to premiere a new event from the city, a series called ‘Fridays at Five’ where they will utilize various live music combos around downtown streets.”

“Our hope is to build a full performing arts weekend,” Calametti elaborated. “We want to make it a signature event for Mobile.” He admitted inspiration from Huntsville’s Panoply festival, a three-day event started in 1982 by the Rocket City’s Junior League that has grown into one of the Tennessee Valley’s more successful hallmarks.

This first version of the expanded Arts Alive will once again feature films along the lines of the last “Lights! Camera! Interaction” themes. Tying into that will be the sneak peek of a long-awaited downtown project, the renovated Crescent Theater and Calametti also hints at a surprise in the arthouse cinema’s refreshment menu. Let’s just hope the offerings don’t prompt Mobile’s notorious mid-event chattiness. Surely Southern hospitality can make room for that kind of consideration for other theatergoers.

It’s also a welcome note as this author is wary of Arts Alive devolving into one of the face painting-and-puppet show carnivals the “family-oriented” label often notates. They need to find some way to retain the “hip” cachet that marked the initial Arts Alive-spurred by the premiere of contemporary art gallery Space 301-and an event last fall.

“That thing at the Temple, with the Western Lands and ‘Metropolis,’ was phenomenal,” Calametti said. “Everyone that was there from every demographic loved it.” Hopefully the preview of the newly renovated Space 301 at this Arts Alive can draw that same cosmopolitan crowd.

Calametti promises a juried show that will involve artists from around the region and a Sunday filled with first-class musical ensembles. Much more information will be forthcoming in a future Lagniappe.

“We’re going to have areas set up for the hands-on stuff, performance and extemporaneous things,” Calametti promised. “We’re trying to maximize involvement.”

Now if I can just get Uncle Anthony to bring his keyboard…

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Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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