Headliner entertainment for Riverfest 2005 May 27-29 is already taking shape and will include Al Green, eight-time Grammy winner Eddie Izzard, Bread, The Go-Betweens, Sonic Youth, Brian Wilson, Lou Reed, The Residents, Sparks, The 13th Floor Elevators, and G.G. Allin.

FRIDAY, MAY 27	Gates open at 5:00 p.m.
BUDWEISER STAGE IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK	MIX 94.9 FM
5:15 p.m.	Suicide Girls
6:00 p.m.	Dog Faced Hermans
7:30 p.m.	Sonic Youth
9:30 p.m.	The Go-Betweens
MILLER LITE AMPHITHEATRE STAGE IN LITTLE ROCK	KOKY 102.1 FM / POWER 92
5:15 p.m.	Blur
5:45 p.m.	The Jesus Lizard presented by CARTI
6:15 p.m.	Great White
7:30 p.m.	The Village People
9:15 p.m.	Al Green presented by OneBanc
TRIPLE-S ALARM STAGE IN LITTLE ROCK	KABF 88.3 FM
5:15 p.m.	Le Tigre
7:00 p.m.	The Blue Humans
9:00 p.m.	Trout Mask Replica a tribute to Don Van Vliet
ACXIOM KIDSTUFF STAGE IN LITTLE ROCK	RADIO DISNEY
6:00 p.m.	Brian Jonestown Massacre
7:00 p.m.	Orchestra Baobao
YARNELL ICE CREAM FAMILY STAGE IN LITTLE ROCK	B98.5 FM / ALICE 107.7 FM
5:20 p.m.	Ms. Kitty's Peep Show
6:00 p.m.	The Handsome Family presented by LR Family
6:40 p.m.	Sharon Osbourne's School of Dance
7:20 p.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
STAMP OUT SMOKING / ALLTEL 'TOTAL RIVERFEST LIVE' AREA	Located at the corner of President Clinton Ave. & Commerce Street
5:30 p.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
6:30 p.m.	Pulaski Heights Middle Finger Band
7:00 p.m.
9:00 p.m.	Death Metal Karaoke
SATURDAY, MAY 28	Gates open at 10:00 a.m.
BUDWEISER STAGE IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK	Q100 THE EDGE
6:00 p.m.	D.O.A.
7:30 p.m.	Blue Oyster Cult
BUDWEISER STAGE IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK	ALICE 107.7 / B98.5 FM
9:30 p.m.	C.C.C.C.
MILLER LITE AMPHITHEATRE STAGE	KSSN 96 FM / CLASSIC COUNTRY 106.7 FM
11:00 p
12:30 p.m.	Riverfest Gong Show presented by ALICE 107.7 FM & Coca-Cola
1:15 p.m.	Sun Ra
2:45 p.m.	The Byrds
4:15 p.m.	Kevin Sheilds
5:30 p.m.	Wendy O. Williams & the Plasmatics presented by Triple-S Alarm Company
7:15 p.m.	Can
9:15 p.m.	Brian Wilson presented by Ranger Boats
TRIPLE-S ALARM STAGE	COOL 104 FM
10:30 a.m.	Nickelodeon Game Lab
11:30 a.m.	Dubble Bubble Bubble Huffing Contest
12:00 p.m.	Nickelodeon Brainwashing Lab
12:45 p.m.	Dubble Bubble Bubble Bursting Contest
1:30 p.m.	Run On
3:00 p.m.	Big Star
4:30 p.m.	Polvo
6:00 p.m.	Procol Harem
7:30 p.m.	The White Stripes
9:15 p.m.	Sparks
YARNELL ICE CREAM STICKY STAGE	B98.5 FM / ALICE 107.7 FM
10:00 a.m.	Bascom Lamar Lunsford
10:40 a.m.	Tiffany
11:20 a.m.	The Danielson Family presented by LR Family
12:00 p.m.	Angst
12:40 p.m.	Jay Z presented by CARTI
1:20 p.m.	Pete Shelley
2:00 p.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
2:40 p.m.	Guided By Voices
3:20 p.m.	Stiff Little Fingers
4:00 p.m.	Thin White Rope
4:40 p.m.	Primal Scream
5:20 p.m.	Marilyn Manson presented by LR Family
6:00 p.m.	White Lion presented by CARTI
6:40 p.m.	Donnie & Marie
7:00 p.m.	Lindsey Buckingham
7:40 p.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
ACXIOM KIDSTUFF STAGE	RADIO DISNEY
10:00 a.m.	Don Caballero
11:00 a.m.	Mark Lannegan & Yo Yo Ma
12:00 p.m.	Bananarama
1:00 p.m.	Birds of Mesazoic
2:00 p.m.	Talking Heads
3:00 p.m.	The Jam presented by LR Family
3:30 p.m.	Dubble Bubble Bubble Blowing Contest
4:00 p.m.	Yo la Tengo
4:45 p.m.	Dubble Bubble Bubble Blowing Contest
5:00 p.m.	Acid Warrior
6:00 p.m.	Add N To X
7:00 p.m.	Lou Reed
STAMP OUT SMOKING / ALLTEL 'TOTAL RIVERFEST LIVE' AREA	Located at the corner of President Clinton Ave. & Commerce Street
11:00 a.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
12:00 p.m.	Sufjan Stevens
3:00 p.m.	The Kills
6:00 p.m.	Spoon
7:00 p.m.	Masonna
SUNDAY, MAY 29	Gates open at 12:00 noon
BUDWEISER STAGE IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK	COUNTRY 102.9 FM
5:15 p.m.	The Alarm presented by Triple-S Alarm Company
6:00 p.m.	G G Allin
BUDWEISER STAGE IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK	MAGIC 105 FM
8:00 p.m.	The Residents presented by Chip & Cindy Murphy on behalf of the Wild Bunch
9:30 p.m.	The Osbourne Family Fireworks Display
MILLER LITE / TERMINIX AMPHITHEATRE STAGE	THE POINT 94.1 FM
1:00 p.m.	Lightning Bolt
2:30 p.m.	Scarnella
4:00 p.m.	The Shins
5:45 p.m.	The Point 94.1 FM NASCAR Giveaway
6:00 p.m.	Eddie Izzard
8:15 p.m.	Arkansas Symphony Orchestra fearuing Tony Conrad and John Cale Presented by Regions Bank
9:30 p.m.	The Osbourne Family Fireworks Display
YARNELL ICE CREAM FAMILY STAGE	B98.5 FM / ALICE 107.7 FM
12:20 p.m.	Come On Thunderchild
1:00 p.m.	Mason Profitt presented by CARTI
1:40 p.m.	Lita Ford
2:20 p.m.	Faust presented by LR Family
3:00 p.m.	Iggy and the Stooges
3:40 p.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
4:20 p.m.	Laurie Anderson
5:00 p.m.	Jellyfish presented by CARTI
5:40 p.m.	Britny Fox
6:20 p.m.	Kix presented by LR Family
7:00 p.m.	Loretta Lynn
7:40 p.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
9:30 p.m.	The Osbourne Family Fireworks Display
STAMP OUT SMOKING / ALLTEL 'TOTAL RIVERFEST LIVE' AREA	Located at the corner of President Clinton Ave. & Commerce Street
1:00 p.m.	Kinky Acrobats presented by LR Monthly
2:00 p.m.	Merzbow
4:00 p.m.	Mark Arm & Yo Yo Ma
5:00 p.m.	The Fall
6:00 p.m
8:00 p.m.	Death Metal Karaoke
9:30 p.m.	The Osbourne Family Fireworks Display
ACXIOM KIDSTUFF STAGE	RADIO DISNEY
12:00 p.m.	Patches the Clown
1:00 p.m.	Andy Summers
2:00 p.m.	The Holy Modal Rounders
3:00 p.m.	Danzig
4:00 p.m.	Camper Van Beethoven
5:00 p.m.	The 13th Floor Elevators
5:30 p.m.	Bill Hicks
6:30 p.m.	The Easys
7:30 p.m.	Bread

Al Green

Green, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, will be the act Friday on the Sells/Clark amphitheatre stage. The pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis since 1976, Green has entertained fans with his blend of gospel and R&B for three decades.

Born in Forrest City, he began his musical career touring with his father as part of a family gospel group. In the mid-60s, he formed his own group, Al Green and the Creations before becoming lead singer with another group known as The Soul Mates. He began singing solo in 1970 and picked up top-selling status with singles that included "Tired Of Being Alone," "Let's Stay Together," "Look What You Done For Me," "I'm Still In Love With You," "You Ought To Be With Me," "Call Me (Come Back Home)," "Here I Am (Come And Take Me)" and "Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)." Fourteen of his albums appeared on the nation's Top 200 charts, five of which were certified gold.

He appeared in the Broadway musical, "Your Arm's Too Short To Box With God" with Patti LaBelle, and in 1983 recorded his first all-gospel album , "The Lord Will Make A Way." Through the rest of the 1980s, he recorded nine best selling gospel albums before returning to secular music in 1987 with "Everything Is Gonna Be Alright." In 1988 a duet with Annie Lennox covering the 70s classic, "Put A Little Love In Your Heart," featured on the soundtrack for the movie "Scrooged,” gave him a Top 20 pop hit. In 1989, "As Long As We're Together," featuring singer Al B. Sure!, took him back to the R&B Top 30 for the first time in 10 years.

While continuing with his ministry in Memphis, Green has continued to tour worldwide over the past few years performing a mixture of gospel and R&B favorites. More recent recordings have included his duet with Lyle Lovett on "Funny How Time Slips Away.”

The Go Betweens

Originally a raw, idiosyncratic, Dylanesque duo, the Go-Betweens grew to a romantic sextet capable of endearing pop music both ornate and personable, somber and sunny. Their rough-edged songs were shot through with the grace of their friendly front-porch manner. Melodies, at once massive and simple, offered safe refuge for fragile emotions. With these musical marriages as their creative force, the Go-Betweens were responsible for some of the most lovely music rock has ever known.

The Go-Betweens began in Brisbane, Australia, in 1978 with guitarist Robert Forster and bassist Grant McLennan. They added drummer Lindy Morrison in 1980 and went to London to record 1982's Send Me A Lullaby, a debut one critic called "some of the most hostile pop music ever." On 1983's Before Hollywood, with the yearning "Cattle And Cane," haunting passages mingled with sharp, unorthodox chord progressions, a theme continued with the addition of bassist Robert Vickers on 1984's Spring Hill Fair. Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express (1986) was marked by a new maturity and lusher arrangements exploiting the balance of McLennan's jangly waltzes and Forster's pensive angstifying. The band's smart, anti-rockist songwriting developed through two more shimmering gems: 1987's Tallulah (the debut of Amanda Brown's soaring violin and oboe lines) and 1988's swan song 16 Lovers Lane.

The founding duo split into separate careers, with peaks including McLennan's glowing Watershed (1991) and the jagged charm of Forster's Calling From A Country Phone (1994). As with the demise of all great musical teams, their solo work has suffered from the loss of the tension between them. Some of that synergy was resurrected when the duo put together 1978-1990, a strong set of greatest melodies and b-sides.


G G Allin

Allin's parole board called him "A performer for all the wrong reasons." And with song titles such as Expose Yourself To Kids, it is easy to see why. G.G.'s performances involved frequent onstage defecations, self inflicted sodomies, and the constant possibility that this would be his final performance, his promised suicide finale. Unfortunately, a drug overdose would take him before artistic statement could.

The 13th Floor Elevators

The first band to describe themselves as 'psychedelic' the 13th Floor Elevators formed in the Winter of 1965, playing their first gig at the Jade Room in Austin on 13th (?) December, which garnered a mention in Jim Langdon's column in the Austin Chronicle.

Sutherland, Walton and Thurman had all previously played in a Kerrville band - The Lingsmen, who became the 13th Floor Elevators when Max Rainey, their original vocalist, left and Roky Erickson, the lead guitarist of The Spades (another Austin act), was drafted in as a replacement. Their original line-up was completed by Tommy Hall, a local student, who played jug and along with his wife Clementine wrote much of the band's early material. It seems Clementine was responsible for their name too. Most American buildings have no thirteenth floor and the band were saying, if you want to reach the thirteenth floor and achieve a new level of consciousness, ride with them.

Their first 45, released in the Winter of 1965, was You're Gonna Miss Me, which Roky had written when he was still with The Spades. The Elevators' version was originally issued on the Contact label and a Jan 1966 article in the Austin Chronicle states that a local radio station refused to play the record (they claimed that the band and supporters were calling incessantly for it to be played).

The band also quickly established a strong 'live' reputation playing at venues like the New Orleans Club and the Jade Room in Austin and La Maison in Houston. Significantly they were the first band to advertise themselves as 'psychedelic', predating The Grateful Dead by about two weeks, and first hand reports of these early gigs, indicate that they were an awesome live act. Indeed, there are even rumours of en masse "flash-outs" brought on by the fervant, pulsating rhythms and feverish foot-stomping by the crowd.

Texas was a highly conservative state in the late 1960s and, not surprisingly, a band like The 13th Floor Elevators with their long hair and penchant for drugs (particularly acid) had a number of brushes with the law. They were eventually busted in early 1966 and all placed on probation. Tensions were increasing within the band, too, and these led to Benny Thurman's departure and his replacement by Ronnie Leatherman.

The band's career received new impetus when Lelan Rogers signed them to his new International Artists label. Rogers had just returned to Texas from L.A., where he'd been working for A & M Records. He reissued their debut 45 on his label (with a different recording of the flip side Tried To Hide) and it made No. 55 in the National Charts. Their first album, recorded in Dallas, followed shortly after. Taking a sort of Kinks or Stones styled R&B they added their own highly individual style on what was a classic vinyl offering. Prominent throughout was Tommy Hall's jug playing, which helped to give the group a unique and distinctive sound. The songs were also laced in psychedelic mysticism which was central to their music and the album is often regarded by "heads" as some of the finest psychedelic music to be committed to disc, being particularly notable for how it expands and stretches out under the influence of psychedelic drugs.

In particular, Roller Coaster oozed the feelings of a psychedelic trip, and revelled in the new purpose to man's life that could result from the psychedelic experience. It's also claimed that the track is about (or inspired by) Alfred Korzybski, the father of semantics - who was one of Hall's main influences. Korzybski wrote "Science and Sanity An Introduction to General Semantics and Non-Aristotelian Systems" and one of his concepts was "unsanity" which is referred to in the songs lyrics, and in the liner notes to the Psychedelic Sounds... album. Other tracks such as Reverberation dealt with how a person who organised their knowledge in the right way could overcome problems of doubt (and avoid bum trips); Don't Fall Down dealt with the care that had to be taken to maintain this chemically-altered state; Splash 1, which was written by Clementine Hall and Roky and later covered by The Clique, describes the meeting of two minds which have undergone the psychedelic experience and You Don't Know explained the differences between persons of old and new states of mind. Perhaps the best track of all was Fire Engine, written by Tommy, Stacey and Roky, which began with an unusual siren introduction, and superficially portrayed what it would be like to ride on a fire engine for fun rather than to fight an horrific fire - at a deeper level, the song is said to have a D.M.T. influence, with Roky twisting the words "empty place" into "Let me take you to D.M.T. place on my fire engine"... DMT being the short-term psychedelic Di Methyl Tryptamine.

Like so many bands in this era The 13th Floor Elevators headed for California in August of 1966 and stayed there in San Francisco for the remainder of the year. They played at the Avalon ballroom four times and once at the Fillmore West. Their first album was released during their stay in California and this, plus the fact they gigged a lot at the Avalon Ballroom, led many people to believe them to be a San Francisco band. In fact, they actually put on an all-Texan show at the Avalon during their California stay with Big Brother and The Holding Company (Janis Joplin was from Austin, Texas and at one time nearly joined The 13th Floor Elevators) and the Sir Douglas Quintet. The band's time in California helped to forge important links between America's West Coast and the hitherto relatively isolated Texas psychedelic scene. The Elevators would return to California two more times in late 1967 and in 1968.

They returned to Texas late in 1966 and immediately ran into disagreements with their record company about what their next single should be. International Artists wanted to target I'm Gonna Love You Too at the Top 40 market, but Tommy, keen to uphold the band's quest as psychedelic leaders, held out for Reverberation and got his way with this and subsequent 45 releases. None of them ever made the national charts again.

Early in 1967 another split developed in the band. This was partly about the use of drugs as police pressure on the band grew. All were heavily into acid except John Ike Walton - indeed, Roky was reputed to have taken it over 300 times. So when Walton and Ronnie Leatherman left the band because of management disagreements, Walton was already viewed by the band as an establishment figure. After the split Tommy, Roky and Stacey retreated to Kerrville, a small hill town in the countryside, where they spent the Summer of 1967. They recruited two new members, Danny Thomas, a drummer, and Danny Galindo, a bass player and started work on their second album, Easter Everywhere, which entered the shops in the Autumn of 1967. It contained their own interpretation of Bob Dylan's Its All Over Now, Baby Blue. She Lives, a Tommy/Roky composition was also issued as a 45. Musically the album was more controlled and less frenzied than their first album but there are a lot of collectors who consider this to be their best LP. It suffered from under-promotion and Lelan Roger's policy of underpublicising the band to create a mystique around them had by this stage become counter-productive. Sadly, too, the group was beginning to crumble with Roky becoming increasingly unreliable and frequently missing gigs. The record company tried unsuccessfully to put him into a 'rest' hospital, but late in 1968 he was busted again. To avoid being dumped in Huntsville (the Texas State Prison), he claimed to be a Martian and the authorities committed him to Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane early in 1969. Stacey got busted again and was not so lucky - he ended up in Huntsville.

Taking advantage of the band's problems the record company issued their third album, which failed to capture the band at anything like its best. It was not a 'live' album at all - the tracks were studio outtakes, with faked applause added. It did, however, contain five songs not featured on their studio albums - Bo Diddley's Before You Accuse Me (the flip to their third single); Buddy Holly's I'm Gonna Love You Too; Soloman Burke's Everybody Needs Somebody To Love and two original compositions, You Gotta Take That Girl and You Can't Hurt Me Anymore.

When Tommy Hall headed for California the band, already minus Roky and Stacey, literally fell apart leaving behind them an incomplete album tentatively titled The Beauty And The Beast. It was released after their demise by the record company late in 1968. They changed its name to Bull Of The Woods. Its finest moments included Never Another, one of the best and most demented tracks ever recorded (the only one on the album written by their usual songwriting duo of Roky and Tommy) and May The Circle Remain Unbroken, a haunting Roky composition recorded immediately after Easter Everywhere which had also appeared on one of their later 45s. Nearly all the remaining material was written by Stacey Sutherland often in conjunction with Tommy Hall. Stacey's songs are for the most part rather stark but Street Song and Rose And The Thorn both feature some fine guitar work.

Roky spent three years in Rusk State Hospital and it took a court case to get him out! In 1972 he attempted to reform the band with John Ike Walton using other musicians but it fell apart after two gigs, Thurman later played for Plum Nelly, Galindo was in Rubayyat and Duke Davis, who was also associated with the band was in Gritz, but Erickson's subsequent solo career and the mystique surrounding the band has led to continuing interest in their recordings which prior to the reissue of their first two albums, in 1978, meant copies were changing hands for quite a few dollars.

Sparks

The artists who would come to be known for posterity as Sparks commenced inventing their often-copied, seldom-equaled brand of music back around 1970, when pop was young and brash and the Southern California airwaves awash with a contingent of post-British invasion inspirations like The Kinks, Barrett's Floyd, and The Seeds. The purchase of countless shiny-sleeved import LPs, and dogged pilgrimages to gigs by now-deified (or defiled) artistes, convinced young Ron and Russell Mael that this enticingly provocative presentation would be the ideal means by which to impress upon the public their idiosyncratic take on life, art, and everything. And so the brothers commenced banging around, first in separate groups, then together in Moonbaker Abbey and Urban Renewal Project (one of their first recordings being the presciently named 'Computer Girl.

Their efforts crystallized in 1971, with the addition of another pair of brothers, Earle and Jim Mankey, and drummer Harley Feinstein, incorporated under the uncommon name of Halfnelson. Produced by wonderboy and kindred spirit Todd Rundgren, the group's startlingly original, eponymously titled debut yielded a local hit ('local' being Montgomery, Alabama); then vanished from view, notwithstanding an American Bandstand appearance and a write-up in regional Texas newspapers