For the third time in its four-year history, Denton's four-day, pre-South by Southwest music festival will have a new name in 2012.
A press release sent out this morning confirms that, after changing its name from "North by 35" to "35 Conferette" in advance of its 2011 edition, the festival will once again change its name in 2012, and this time to "35 Denton."
"Well, basically, no one could pronounce 'conferette,'" says festival organizer Chris Flemmons, who himself coined the term in 2009. "We originally chose the name because it resembled that of a rather large festival elsewhere. We lived with it for a few years, and it was painful."
More painful, he says, than having to change the name again.
"We're still a small fish in the pond," Flemmons says. "So I'm not really concerned."
Eyebrow-raising as this news may or may not be, though, it comes with some decidedly good news, too: The festival also announced today that it is already selling four-day passes for the 2012 go-'round, and for the low price of $35. Trick is, although the festival has a date (March 8 - 11), none of its performers have yet to be announced. So, yes, there's some give-and-take there.
But, Flemmons assures, he and his staff are already working on that front -- and far earlier this time around than ever before.
"We came out of the last one swinging," Flemmons says. "A lot of the festivals and people that we watch that are doing this stuff too, they do it early. We've just never before been able to have our crap together to do it this early."
In addition to his core group of volunteers and booking agents, Flemmons says a few other factors have led to the festival's ability to get started on its next festival earlier this time around.
"We know we're going to be in the same part of town, which is nice," he says. "We've never been able to say that before."
As for other changes, Flemmons is staying mum for the most part.
"Hopefully our ticket sales will continue to increase," he says. "The only thing is that we might change our footprint slightly as far as layout."
