"Matt Groening, creator of the animated Fox series "The Simpsons" and "Futurama," will curate the 2003 U.S. edition of the All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) festival, to be held in June on the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) campus. The selection of Groening marks a departure of sorts for the U.K.-bred underground music festival, now in its second year on these shores. The cartoonist/television writer is the first non-musician chosen as the creative force behind any edition of the multi-day, multi-venue festival.
Groening, a former rock critic who also pens the "Life in Hell" comic strip, has repeatedly said music is his main passion, and described his tastes as "eccentric." Artists he has championed in interviews lean toward the experimental, such as Pere Ubu, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Diamanda Galas, the Minutemen, and the Residents. Additionally, "The Simpsons" has been a music-friendly show, featuring a theme orchestrated by former Oingo Boingo member-turned-composer Danny Elfman, and such guests as the Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, the Ramones, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Sonic Youth."
[via Billboard, via the Drone-On mailing list]
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