HoCo Fest will have Latin tang

Both will dominate the stages this weekend at the 2010 HoCo Fest,the annual music and arts festival hosted by Hotel Congress.

Latin groups from our backyard and from Mexico and Spain will perform on stages powered by solar energy and illuminated by LED lights.

This year's event, the sixth since the festival was launched in 2005, will resurrect the once-popular Family Arts Festival, which fell to the city's budget ax in 2009.

The reimagined, greatly scaled-down HoCo Family Arts Festival will focus on innovative artists and groups, said David Slutes, the organizer and Club Congress' entertainment director. Among the groups participating are Industria Studio, Arts for All, Wild Wild West and Zuzi Dance Company.

HoCo Fest runs three days: Friday and Saturday will be devoted to live music; Sunday will be the free Family Arts Festival.

All events take place in and around Hotel Congress.

• On Friday, the Meat Puppets, a rock band that started as a Phoenix punk group, are back, along with the Mexican Institute of Sound - a Mexico City-based DJ and electronic music project - and Texas punk rockers the Riverboat Gamblers. Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta and Mostly Bears are the big names among the local acts.

• Saturday's headliners are Devotchka - a group that mixes almost any ethnic music with punk - English singer-songwriter-guitarist Robyn Hitchcock, Spanish singer Amparo Sanchez, singer-songwriter and local favorite Victoria Williams, and Steve Wynn of 1980s band Dream Syndicate. Giant Sand guru Howe Gelb is the big local name on Saturday's bill.

When they first started planning HoCo Fest earlier this year, Slutes and Calexico's Joey Burns envisioned it with bold Latin accents. Acts penciled in included Calexico and Los Lobos.

But then came passage of the state's controversial immigration law, SB 1070, which spawned a boycott by artists led by Los Lobos. Then Calexico pulled out after the band landed on the North American tour for indie rockers Arcade Fire.

That's when Slutes decided to bring in Latin acts from Mexico, Spain and Arizona, slash ticket prices and give all the proceeds to Border Action Network. There will be a voter-registration table at the event.

If you go

• What: HoCo Fest 2010, a fundraiser for the Border Action Network, and the Family Arts Festival.

• When: Friday through Sunday.

• Where: Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St.

• Cost: $10 each day, $20 for a two-day pass (includes a commemorative poster) through www. hocofest.com Admission to the Family Arts Festival on Sunday is free.

HoCo Fest 2010 schedule

Friday

Club stage

7:45 p.m.: Silverbell.

9: The Father Figures.

10:15: Riverboat Gamblers.

11:30: Meat Puppets.

Outside stage

7:15 p.m.: Love LTD.

8:15: Mostly Bears

9:30: Mexican Institute of Sound.

11: Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta.

Saturday

Club stage

7-11 p.m.: Robyn Hitchcock's Cocktail Hour, featuring Hitchcock, Steve Wynn, Howe Gelb and Victoria Williams.

11: Bang, Bang!, the club's regular Saturday night dance party.

Outside stage

7 p.m.: Tim Lee.

7:30: Amparo Sanchez.

8:15: The Jons.

9:15: Taraf de Tucson.

10:30: Devotchka.

Sunday

10 a.m.-5 p.m.: HoCo Family Arts Festival, outdoors between Hotel Congress and Maynards.

Lil' Club Congress Stage

10 a.m.-noon and 3 to 5 p.m.: Flam Chen/Tucson Circus Arts - Mixing dance, theater, martial arts and circus acts.

11 a.m.-4 p.m.: Access Tucson - Meet the Tucson public access personalities and organizers at their mobile film studio.

TPAC Stage

10:30 a.m.: New ARTiculations Dance - Community troupe mixes modern dance in a project called "Flow," which explores the area's water issues.

11 a.m.: Mama Baby Dada - Interactive workshop allows children to build giant nests on and around their parents.

Noon: Dambe Project presents the music and art of west and east Africa.

1 p.m.: Stories That Soar - Adults perform children's original stories.

2: Butacaxé - Drum and dance ensemble.

3: Bookmans Story Tunes - Hands-on children's program.

4: Odaiko Sonora - Japanese drumming ensemble.