By Nick Parker

Ever hear of Woodstock? Before Woodstock, music lovers flocked to Monterey to witness the Monterey Pop Music Festival—the first great rock festival in California. Carrying on in that tradition, the Monterey Music Summit, which will take place on Oct. 20 and 21, promises to be a music festival of similarly ambitious proportions.

Noah Kopiko, a second-year UC Santa Cruz student and KZSC radio DJ, is excited at the prospect of being exposed to both household names and lesser-known acts at the festival. “I’m really looking forward to seeing a bunch of great bands I really like, and a bunch I’ve never seen before,” he said.

This year the summit has no shortage of classic large festival draws, and will host the likes of musicians such as Michael Franti and Spearhead, The Roots, Cake, Ozomatli, G. Love and Special Sauce, Tea Leaf Green, Brandi Carlisle, and many others that may be difficult to pass up.

Head producer Joe Fletcher of the Joe Fletcher Presents national promotion company has labeled the festival as one that gathers “Music, Minds, and Merriment,” and is aimed at music lovers of all ages. In addition to the extensive list of participating music stars, there are going to be “a lot of young people you should be really psyched to see,” Fletcher said.

Comprising a lesser-known, but maybe more intriguing act, is the Yard Dogs Roadshow, a band made up entirely of former hobos. They will be playing on the same stage as Michelle Indachello, “a lesbian, activist, singer-songwriter who is taking America by storm,” as Fletcher described her.

If the big names aren’t enough of a reason to attend, the summit also has a commendable “green” side to attract environmentally conscious revelers.

The show’s carbon emissions will be monitored 24/7 by organizer Kristin Cushman, who is also responsible for the Summit’s partnership with the Watershed Institute and Trees For PG.

Trees For PG (which stands for Pacific Grove), will plant over 1,000 trees to offset carbon emissions from the festival.

Deborah Lindsay, another activist who is in charge of eliminating waste, expects that over half of the Summit’s food vendors will be using entirely biodegradable products. “This year the vendors will be given a 20 percent discount for using biodegradable products,” Lindsay said. “Next year it will be mandatory.”

According to Lindsay, the show’s “Green Team” has also made partnerships with Monterey/Salinas Transit and Flexcar of San Francisco to provide alternative transportation for those attending the event. A rideshare program has also been set up on Craigslist. Each of these transit options has its own separate link on the Music Summit’s web page.