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This weekend in Ruston, a place known for Town Council fighting and down-home talk at Don’s Ruston Market, the Point Defiance Music Festival will take over the area of 51st and Pearl St.

This should excite you.

Along with gobs of art and loads of activities, four stages will put some of Tacoma’s best music on display from 11 a.m. â€" 8 p.m. A full lineup of music can be found here, but suffice to say it’s pretty impressive. Notable bands playing the Weekly Volcano’s “rock” stage include www.myspace.com/sonsofivan ">Sons of Ivan, the Drug Purse, www.myspace.com/theelephants3 ">the Elephants and www.myspace.com/jonauermusic ">Jon Auer.

These days, Angela Jossy (a women close to the Weekly Volcano’s heart â€" as she used to work full time with us and still lends a hand on Wednesdays) is Executive Director of the Ruston/Point Defiance Business District. One of her duties in that capacity was to put together the Point Defiance Music Festival, which she’s done with obvious skill.

We caught up with Jossy this week to get her thoughts on how this Saturday’s festival came to be.

WV: How did you become involved with the PD Music Fest, and what is its purpose?
Jossy: I was recommended by a mutual friend. Now I'm lucky enough to get paid doing something I love - showcasing local music. They call me the Executive Director of the Ruston/Point Defiance Business District and my first assignment was to plan this festival - in roughly two months time no less. It's a good thing I like a challenge!

The purpose is to bring attention to the wonderful businesses in Ruston. We hope that after the festival, people will remember to stop by places like Don's Ruston Market, Antique Sandwich Company, Point Defiance Books, Jungle Fever Plants, Ruston Galleries, Now & Then Shop and the other great little shops there when they drive by on the way to the zoo or the ferry.

WV: How did you pick the musical lineup?
Jossy: I listed all my favorite performers and checked around to see who was available. There simply wasn't time to do an official application process and since I've been following local music very closely for the last 8 years I had a pretty good idea who I wanted. We didn't get every band that I wanted because of the short notice but I'm extremely proud of the line up we were able to get. Unfortunately, any band that played Bumbershoot this year was not allowed to perform for us because of our close proximity (in time and geography) would violate their performance contact. Fortunately we have 40 or 50 other equally compelling bands here in Tacoma that Seattle hasn't stolen from us yet.

WV: What can music fans expect on Saturday?
Jossy: I think there is something for every music lover. As far as bands go, we've got the new young hotties, the legendary veterans and everything in between. Lee Gregory of the famed Blue Baboons is performing with his new band Kincaid Avenue on our blues stage. Two former Blue Baboons, John Fox and Pay Boyle, are performing with their band Voodoo Ranch on the country stage. Mike Mitchell, renowned promoter and musician, is performing with his band The Blondes on the acoustic stage.

I'm particularly proud of the country stage since as far as I know there has never been a whole days worth of country music featured at a festival in Tacoma. It's a very underexposed genre with a large fan base and very few venues. Our country line up is incredible! Our country stage headliner, Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers, has performed all over the world. From 11 am to 1 pm they will be teaching a class to our local musicians about how they did it. This same workshop was funded by the Mayors Office of Film and  Music in Seattle a few months ago in Fremont. I attended the class there and was so impressed that I asked them to come down and teach it here. Later this month they'll be teaching the same class in Nashville at the American Music Association conference with Levon Helm, Joan Baez, John Hiatt and Jason and the Scorchers. We are very honored to have them here and I hope our local bands will take advantage of this rare opportunity.


WV: Aside from the music, what else does the festival offer? What are some events/things people should be sure not to miss?
Jossy:  Desiree Flerchinger, Mary Kay Johnson and Linda Lapping-DeSantis will be painting live during the festival. Point Defiance Zoo is setting up a booth where they will be bringing out some animals to show festival goers. Carnival Time will bring out several carnival games (like at the fair) and bounce houses for the kiddies. Festival goers will be able to paint clay objects and then the F.I.N.E. Mudhens and Clay Art Center will do live raku firing. Darrren Selector will DJ in the beer garden at Point Defiance Casino.

WV: What do you think the most important aspect is when planning a festival?
Jossy: I think the most important aspect is community participation. It’s very complicated to put on a festival and there are many moving parts.  It’s definitely not a one person job. It takes a few villages. In our case we had the brave and open-minded business owners in Ruston, the local music community, our wonderful sponsors and the local art community. None of this would have been possible if any of these were missing.

WV: Have there been any obstacles during the planning and orchestration of the PD Music Fest? How have you overcome them?
Jossy: Obstacles? I laugh in the face of obstacles! I eat obstacles for breakfast! I wear obstacles for shoes and I walk all over them â€" with the laces undone! Obstacles are just song lyrics waiting to happen. *smile*