Let the Music Play Freely

Steffan Salas compiled a list of things that he dreamed of doing some day and one of them was getting into the college of his choice.

The home-schooled junior, who attended Menlo-Atherton High as a freshman, dreamt large. As a result, the Hurricane Music Festival was born.

The Festival, with five bands scheduled to appear, is set for Saturday, Sept. 29 at the bowl area in Mitchell Park in Palo Alto beginning at 4 p.m.

Admission is free and Salas hopes to attract upwards of 1,000 fans to what he sees becoming an annual event. The great thing about this particular festival? The oldest band member is a freshman in college.

"I wanted to showcase the best of teenaged bands and give them a place to play," Salas said. "I thought people could come and form a new community. There are some awesome teenage bands but it is tough to get gigs."

The five bands include Third Nature and Gravel from San Jose, Build the Empire from Hollister, and Menlo Park bands The Neighbors and Reckless Flesh.

Salas and his brother, Julian, who attends Summit Charter, run Reckless Flesh, with Pinewood student Surya Thekkath. Not originally on the program, the band hastily added San Carlos resident and Summit Charter student Carson Spector as a drummer to allow it to replace another band.

The Neighbors consists of M-A students Willy Hanley, Josh Weiner, Jackson Sheppard and Palo Alto's Tucker Gibbons.

The festival was originally scheduled for last September, then rescheduled for May. Salas said it will definitely happen this time.

Salas wants to get into Musicians Institute College of Contemporary Music, in Hollywood, and thought promoting a festival (he originally came up with the idea in November of 2010) would help his chances.

Once he started planning it, there was no turning back.

"When I thought about it, it was without any restrictions," Salas said. "I had to figure it out, step by step. I thought it would be cool but I had no idea where to start."

He also thought he could do it alone.

"There were things I didn't think about," Salas said. "I never looked at the way others put stuff on."

He needed an artist to produce a poster, and that led to the Palo Alto Teen Arts Council.

"When I started I didn't know anything about the teen council," Salas said. "I went to City Hall, made phone calls and everybody kept telling me about the teen council. Half of me wanted to keep it to myself. After all, it was my event. Half of me also wanted to seek other people's input. I learned to go with it."

The council made getting permits easy and its support empowered him to continue working on the event.

He has three main sponsors, including J Ace J Music in Redwood City, which is supplying sound equipment. Salas has been attending summer rock camps with studio since the fourth grade and met some of the other performing musicians there.

Angelica's Bistro, also in Redwood City, was a place for newcomers to perform, earning gigs there through the camps.

The Copy Factory is another of the big sponsors, providing printing services, and The Media Center will be producing a DVD of the event.

The bands will be performing a mix of cover and original music.

Who knows? This could be the start of something special.

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