You saw the seven finalists that the judges picked in the Stars Of Bethlehem Vocalist Competition (if you didn't, check out photos and video from the semifinals). And now, there is one more finalists added to the list: Kelly Gooley won the most online votes at musikfest.org to take the eighth spot in the lineup. She'll get to perform in the final competition with the rest at Musikfest on August 13.

So, before you save your seat at Banana Island, get a sneak preview of what the competition looks like - and sounds like. We've got video clips from each of the semifinalists' performances and photo galleries from this year and last year that you won't want to miss. See you at the finals!

- Judianne

Every year, the Musikfest mug is what we all wait for, and most of us buy. It's the sign that the fest is close and it's the symbol of what's to come... lots of drinking in the street. I got a sneak peek at a limited edition version of this year's mug (along with everyone else at the Stars Of Bethlehem Vocalist Semifinals). It's a light-up version and it's super cool. Check out the photos I snapped...

A new event at Musikfest this year is "a magical night of dancing." It's a rip-off of "Dancing With The Stars" (that crappy TV show) and it's called "Dancing with the Local Stars."

It's not a bad idea, really. Ten contest winners get to dance in competition (at Musikfest, August 7) with one of five "local celebs." They even get free dance lessons and free food about a month before that - so they can practice.

My question: Are we really that hard up for local celebrities? The choices for dance partner are Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan (he's pretty cute, so we'll give him that), Kathy Craine or Brittany Westbrook from WFMZ (Brittany is also pretty cute - from the male perspective), Mitch from 99.9 The Hawk and Aja Jefferson, a professional dancer and member of the Hispanic American League of Artists. For my money, the only one I would probably want to try and dance with would be Aja, since I'm guessing that the other four aren't dance pros.

Nothing against the "celebrities" but I feel like we could have done a little bit better than that. Oh well. I still think this is worth checking out. Enter if you've got the moves. No matter what, it should be fun to watch.

- Judianne

In case you missed it - and I know you did because I didn't see you there - the Musikfest Regional Band Showcase Semifinals was this weekend. There were 16 bands that performed for 15 minutes each to a sparse crowd at Northampton Community College (eight on Saturday and eight on Sunday).

Although the time between sets when they were just taking down and setting up equipment was extremely boring, the performances were top notch. It is really impressive and refreshing to see so many talented people from the Lehigh Valley (and some from surrounding areas). It made me feel sort of proud to live here. If you aren't into local music, give it a try because there is some seriously good stuff going on around here - no kidding. It was tough for me to narrow my choices down to three each day so I imagine the judges had a hard time.

The judges picked three winners per day and ended up with the following lineup for the final performances at this year's Musikfest... Sandlot Heroes, Eighteenth Hour, Even Further, Stasis, Mountain Funk, The Sloppy Joes. Meet them all and see our photos and videos from their performances.

Two more bands will also join the ranks this week, and they will be selected based on Web votes from you at musikfest.org. Check out our coverage of the semifinals and make your picks, then go to musikfest.org and vote for the bands you want to see.

Well, we're put in an interesting position here with the this year's Fest/Fair.  Typically, Musikfest is the big dog in town and the A-town Fair is just kind of there...  Maybe there's a decent act, maybe a demolition derby, but nothing you'd go out of your way to see.  Well, the Fair has been scoring some pretty decent acts, and this year is the first time I can say, specifically, that I think the Fair might have an edge in the excitement department.

I guess it comes down to which acts you want to see, but it seems to me that the A-town Fair is in better touch with its lineup.  Of course, the tradeoff is that the Fair just can't compete with the Fest in terms of atmosphere.  The most obvious difference is the lack of beer at the Fair, but leave that aside for a moment - who really wants to spend more than a few minutes walking around the Fair?  Plus, the Fest has all those great local acts and the sheer size advantage.

So at the end of the day, it comes down to who you're going to give money for main stage shows.  There's no scheduling conflict, luckily, so you'll be able to get the best of both worlds if you've got the dough.  But if you had to pick solely on headlining acts, who do you think wins: Fest or Fair?

    -Tucker