Photo from No Idea Website

No Idea Festival
Thursday, February 14 - Sunday, February 17
Blue Theatre (916 Springdale Ave)
$10-25, 8:00pm
[info] | [tickets]

This Thursday through Sunday, improvised music is going to grab a foothold in both Austin and San Antonio. Featuring thirteen artists from all over the world – from the close confines of Houston and Austin to the far-off reaches of Tokyo and Boston – the No Idea Festival is poised to showcase a diverse array of acts you likely won’t see anywhere else, anytime soon.

Austin isn’t New York or Chicago (noticed yet?), but No Idea has held its own as an experimental music fest for five years running, and plans to make its sixth year extraordinary. Featuring percussionist and No Idea founder Chris Cogburn, other artists include our own Weird Weeds, guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama from Tokyo, Houston trombonist Dave Dove, vocalist Liz Tonne from Boston, and about a dozen more performers from all over.

Music begins at eight each night of the festival, and four sets of performances take place throughout the evening. That means, for example, that Kurt Newman, Juan Garcia and Chris Cogburn will become a trio on Thursday night as the third set of music, followed by Weird Weeds paired with Liz Tonne and Bhob Rainey as the fourth. That these artists are being grouped together into different and unfamiliar combos should result in even more interplay and variety than what we might expect from them individually.

A festival pass costs just 25 dollars, are available for purchase at End of an Ear and Waterloo Records, and covers all four nights of No Idea. Otherwise, admission to events is based on a sliding scale of 10 to 20 dollars. Please note that Thursday's show will be at the Austin Figurative Gallery, Friday and Saturday's at The Blue Theater, and Sundays' show at Salon Mijangos in San Antonio.