Joshua Diaz Says Upcoming Festival "For the Love" Honors Art and Fort Lauderdale

Calling an event For the Love Music Festival might leave you wondering, "For the love of what?" For the love of music? The love of festivals? The love of pursuing love?

"It's all those things, but it's for the love of the art, of our town, Fort Lauderdale." said event producer Joshua Diaz of the February 7th fest we've been hyping over here all week. "We're trying to grow a culture here. We wanted to find bands who are proud of being from Fort Lauderdale or playing here."

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Originally from San Diego, Diaz loves his adopted town so much he jumped on producing the event when organizers, C&I Studios' Joshua Miller and Exposed PR's Sara Shake, brought the concept to him curating the line-up and managing the sound and lighting.

"Fort Lauderdale is a big city that feels like a small town. There's a lot of room here to get your hands dirty and be part of the city's development. We're out of the way, which has its pros and cons for music culture. You have to be dependent on the internet sometimes to discover new music. And then when you start a band, there's the question of, should I move to a new town or stick around?"

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Diaz is hoping For the Love Music Festival will help bands select the latter option. "The entire festival is billed with artists you may not have heard of. It's scheduled so you can watch every artist for at least a portion of their set. The idea is, if you love music, you'll get cultured."

Headlining the noon to 11 p.m. event at Jump the Shark are indie rockers Copeland. "They're good friends. After we got them, we went for our hometown hitters and bands that fit the style and get the concept." Among the 30 bands that will play the three stages amidst art, food, and beer are local singer/songwriter Jacob Jeffries, and a couple acts from Nashville, like Forlorn Strangers.

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Diaz will also be taking the stage singing and playing bass for his four piece indie rock band, Kids, which is getting national media attention with its new album Rich Coast streaming on the front page of The Huffington Post. "We just had our record release party at the Culture Room, so it will be cool playing the songs now that everyone has had a chance to hear them."

Organizing a festival that you're going to perform at seems like a lot to juggle, but then Diaz added there's a third project he's putting the finishing touches on. "We've also just finished building a recording studio at C&I Studios that the festival will mark the opening of. All three things, the festival, the band, the studio, all kind of circle around each other."

For the Love Music Festival with Copeland, Civilian, Kids, Jacob Jeffries, and more. Noon Saturday, February 7, at C&I Studios, 541 NW First Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-957-3934, or visit c-istudios.com.

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