By C.E. Hanifin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

IF YOU GO

What: A.M. Holiday festival When: 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday Where: The Southgate House, 24 E. Third St., Newport Cost: $6; $10 for both shows(age 18 and up) Information: 859-431-2201, southgatehouse.com; amholiday.net and for a complete lineup, go to Cincinnati.Com, keyword: AM Holiday.

RELATED STORIES

• A.M. Holiday festival lineup

Take 26 bands, add six artists and divide by three floors and two nights, and it equals one big event celebrating the local arts community. Oh, and multiply the whole thing by a good cause, too, because this weekend's A.M. Holiday festival benefits the LINKS (Lonely Instruments for Needy Kids) program.

Each year, A.M. Holiday raises money for a different organization that encourages the development of future artists and musicians, says Mathew Arnold, who founded the festival in 2002. All proceeds from this year's event, set for Friday and Saturday at the Southgate House, will be used by LINKS to provide musical instruments to kids whose families can't afford them.

In the past 11 years, LINKS has distributed more than 1,000 instruments to children in the area, said Karen Tully, associate director of development and external relations at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. The school's Alumni Association runs the program, along with Buddy Roger's Music.

Arnold, the drummer for the ambient-rock band Mallory, says he launched A.M. Holiday not just to bolster local arts programs, but to spotlight musicians who don't fit into the mainstream.

"A lot of the bands are just bands that I like," says Arnold, 26. "Selfishly, it's kind of my ultimate local rock 'n' roll show."

The diverse lineup includes the dark, discordant music of Campfire Crush, the swing- and jazz-inflected rock of the Sundresses, the raunchy punk of Viva La Foxx and the rollicking rhythm-and-blues stomp of Pearlene.

Festival attendees can also catch video screenings, poetry readings and an art exhibition.

After drawing about five hundred people to each of the first two A.M. Holidays, Arnold expanded the event to two days this year.

Down the road, he'd like to get more groups from the area on the bill. "I could easily have made it three or four days, with all the local bands I like," he says.