Musikfest Today: Five Things to Know

Today is Tuesday, August 9, 2011 – Day 5 of Musikfest.

1. If you use Route 191, Linden Street, to get into the downtown, you may want to give yourself extra time or pick an alternate route. The city has scheduled work to its water mains in that area and there will be lane restrictions between Macada Road and East Boulevardfrom 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2. Kids take over the stage at Plaza Tropicalthis afternoon, beginning with the William Allen High School Chorale, starting at noon; the prized students of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association, starting at 1:30 p.m.; and the kids from Easton’s School of Rock, starting at 4 p.m.
3. You say you’re a vegan who loves Musikfest, but can’t find anything edible while you’re there? Nonsense, says Bethlehem’s Jaime Karpovich, who posted an unofficial guide to eating vegan and vegetarian at the festival on her “Save the Kales” blog.
4. Another great day of free music at the platzes. The best of the best includes folk duo Barnaby Bright (5 p.m., Liederplatz), New York Songwriters Circle award winners who during a January show at ; and Burning Bridget Cleary (5:30 p.m., Plaza Tropical), led by the dynamic Celtic fiddlers and harmonizing singers Genevieve Gillespie andRose Baldino. We’ve also heard good things about Red Baraat (Volksplatz, 7 p.m.), which is described in the Musikfest guide as “India meets New Orleans with a horn section that will knock your socks off.” Click here for the full schedule.
5. Maybe this is a stretch, but this may be the day Musikfest comes as close as ever to that dream rock double bill of the Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin. The Dead’s drummer Bill Kreutzmann, appears tonight at the Musikfest Café with his new band, 7 Walkers, which also features New Orleans swamp blues guitarist Papa Mali. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets at $40 and $30 are still available. The Sands Steel Stage tonight is Alison Krauss and Union Station. Already a big star in the world of bluegrass music, Krauss found new legions of fans with her 2007 pairing with former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant on Raising Sand, a platinum-selling album that won 5 Grammies. The main stage show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at $44 and $34 are still available.