Feel the Time Warp at Forest Festival

The Time Warp Band headlines the Atlanta Forest Festival on Saturday night. The festival runs today and Saturday. (Submitted photo)
The Time Warp Band headlines the Atlanta Forest Festival on Saturday night. The festival runs today and Saturday. (Submitted photo)

ATLANTA, Texas-Atlanta's Forest Festival continues today and Saturday with local vendors, live music and a carnival with rides and games.

With live music as part of the festivities, some top acts will perform for the festivalgoers. That includes local band Dixie Bent tonight with a 7 p.m. start, and then tomorrow direct from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, it's party band extraordinaire The Time Warp Band, who see themselves as a bit different than your average party crew.

You might hear them do a rendition of "Play That Funky Music," or it might be "Honky Tonk Women" and "Love Shack" or "Start Me Up," a pretty varied list of party-down tunes.

"We formed in 2012, and we decided we were going to be a little bit different than most party bands," said Rodney Bollinger, who plays guitar and sings for the band.

They won't just play strictly dance music, he explained, but will travel through time to play music from the 1960s, '70s and '80s, in addition to more contemporary tunes. "You name it, we play it," Bollinger said. "It's an eclectic list of songs. We plan to play a little bit of everything for this show."

They can create a big, fun sound. "We have two female singers, five-piece rhythm section, three horn players," Bollinger explained. "It's a 10-piece group."

With so many musicians on stage, he compares it to herding cats. But it's clear they know how to have fun along the way.

"We have a good time and plan to knock them dead out there and hope everybody's pleased with what we do," said Bollinger, noting you might hear country and western, you might hear rock, the blues, soul, dance and disco.

"There's something to offer for everybody," Bollinger said. With a certain age diversity in the band, too, they're able to bridge the gap between his generation and the younger ones. Some of his horn players are young.

"I'm blessed to have good musicians around me and good people," Bollinger says. With them, The Time Warp Band is able to play everything from weddings to corporate gigs, clubs and arts festivals. The band also has its own lighting and sound engineers, plus a rehearsal and recording studio, which they invite prospective clients to check out.

The Time Warp Band hasn't traveled to shows a whole lot, Bollinger said, so Atlanta's Forest Festival is a chance to head out on a longer road trip and get out of town to enjoy the surroundings. He says everyone should expect a jam-packed two-hour set.

"Everybody be prepared to rock for two hours," Bollinger said.

The festival, which is hosted by the Atlanta Area Chamber of Commerce, runs from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. tonight, 4 p.m. to midnight on Saturday.

(Gate fee: $5 for adults, $2 for children 12 and under with 3 and under admitted free. Location: 606 S. Louise St. in Atlanta, Texas. More info: Atlanta Forest Festival page on Facebook or call (903) 796-3296.)

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