Raleigh Wide Open opens up

The debut Hopscotch Music Festival won't happen until September, but it's such a large undertaking - 120 local and national acts over a weekend in multiple downtown Raleigh venues - that it's already causing ripples. One such ripple involves this weekend's Raleigh Wide Open festivities, especially the Cherry Bounce stage.

In years past, Raleigh Wide Open was pretty concentrated on live music, and it still has plenty of that (including a national headliner, Barenaked Ladies Saturday night at the Raleigh Amphitheater, plus lots of notable club-level acts including I Was Totally Destroying It and Lake Inferior). But this year's model has a broader spectrum of events and entertainment, including wrestling, skateboard exhibitions, circus stunts, visual arts, film and more.

"We did seven nights of music last year, and it was fun and successful," says Billy Warden, who co-produces Cherry Bounce with Greg Behr. "Then Hopscotch came along for this year, and that's up to the next level for music. We always wanted to continue to build Cherry Bounce beyond music, so that kind of kicked us in the pants to do some other things.

"Going forward, we'll always have a movie night like what A/V Geeks are doing this year with 'Lord of the Flies,'" Warden adds. "We'll always have a literary component, too, like the 'Love vs. Lust Cabaret.' We want to get the whole creative community more into it, this bigger smorgasbord of creativity. We call it recess for restless minds."

For further details on Raleigh Wide Open, see www.raleighconvention.com/rwo5. And for information about Cherry Bounce, check cherrybouncefest.com.