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Prehistoric Party Time

The free Tarfest returns to its namesake location for tunes and hobnobbing.

By Alysia Gray Painter

| Thursday, Sep 20, 2012 | Updated 11:26 AM PDT

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TARFEST

TARFEST parties with music and libations at, you guessed it, the La Brea Tar Pits, on Saturday, Sept. 22. It's free.

What were the sounds of the tar pits when dire wolves and giant mammoths roamed the Wilshire-adjacent area?

Well, first off, Wilshire Boulevard wasn't there yet, right? Because that would have been odd. But the tar pits soundtrack back in the prehistoric area likely consisted of wind, bird chirps, growls, and the occasional tar bubble, burbling.

What we hear when we're at the La Brea Tar Pits has changed, of course; cars honking, guitars strumming, kids laughing, dogs barking, and buses braking are now par for the course. Except on Saturday, Sept. 22 when TARFEST once again takes over the area for an afternoon and evening of indie-style rocking and nice-libation enjoying.

A free afternoon and evening, we should mention; we generally like things at the tar pits to be free, seeing as how seeing the pits is free. Sure, the gourmet food trucks and biergarten will cost, but hanging out and listening to the likes of Blondfire, So Many Wizards, and other just-off-the-mainstream acts is so very gratis.

KCRW and Launch LA are behind the 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. shindig.

Oh, and there will be art and art-making, too, should you want to do a bit of wandering and admiring. TARFEST isn't solely about the tunes.

And, one day, when a blogger thousands of years in the future is writing about the early sounds of the La Brea Tar Pits, will they write about TARFEST, too, in addition to the mastodon rrowrs and dire wolf growls? We think they should. Hi, future blogger who finds this while Googling. (Will Google exist thousands of years in the future? Probably, right?)