By Stephen K. Peeples

By special arrangement with organizers of the 13^th annual Summer Meltdown Autism Awareness Art & Music Festival, and in celebration of National Autism Awareness Month in April, SCV Rock Beat will give away 10 pairs of Summer Meltdown tickets to lucky local fans in a random drawing.

If you and a guest want to attend the Saturday, April 30 festival at Santa Clarita’s Central Park on us, just email your name, age and a daytime phone number to [email protected] by midnight Wednesday, April 20.

Please make sure your email’s subject says “SUMMER MELTDOWN TIX.”

We’ll hold the random drawing Thursday, April 21 and notify winners by email. We’ll also list our 10 lucky winners in next week’s SCV Rock Beat post.

Meanwhile, the festival has locked in the artist lineup (see the latest flyer, adjacent), and the Yes I Can students with and without disabilities at Santa Clarita Valley high schools who stage Summer Meltdown each year are nailing down the last details.

“This is the most diverse musical talent the students have ever booked in the 13 years of the Summer Meltdown,” said Bret Lieberman, special education teacher at Canyon High School in Canyon Country and advisor to the non-profit Yes I Can program.

“We have 30 live bands/DJs, 25 live painters from 10 different states, gourmet food trucks, art zones, booth for non-profit groups, vendors and more,” said Lieberman, who also serves as Summer Meltdown’s executive producer.

“We have two very cool first-ever performances,” Lieberman said. “Wakrat, the new band headed by Tim Commorford of Rage Against the Machine, and Unified Highway, the new project featuring Eric Rachmany of Rebelution/Amp Live, are both playing for the first time in public at this year’s Summer Meltdown.

“After the festival, Wakrat travels to Europe for a tour, and Unified Highway’s off to play Lollapalooza,” he said.

The Yes I Can students have lined up a roster of sponsors as impressive as the artist lineup. Local media sponsors are SCVTV, KHTS-AM 1220, The Magazine of Santa Clarita and The Signal.

Joining them are KROQ-FM, the Guitar Center, L.A. Weekly, O.C. Weekly, Andy Gump, Jersey Mike’s, Bulldog Media, Slogan Design, PRG, Universe, ThePier.org, Moore Media Entertainment, BNV Productions, Hill Kid, A&G Visuals, Artifornia, Dion Carlos, Edwards Outdoor Advertising, Haven Art Studio, Life Rolls On/They Will Surf Again, Silver Back, SoCal Street Team, Stage Media, Surf Roots Radio, Top Shelf Reggae, Tribal Seeds Outlet, Wilcox Sound & Communications, Stoopid Records, the Vans Warped Tour, Unite the United and Music for Meals.

“I’d like to give a shout-out to DJ Z Trip, Through the Roots and Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 for their direct support,” Lieberman said.

Tickets and more info: http://summermeltdownscv.com. And check out the new 2016 Summer Meltdown preview video.

SCV Dodger Day Sunday, May 1

You have until Wednesday, April 27 to order your tickets for the 39^th annual Santa Clarita Dodger Day festivities at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, May 1.

Locals get discounts on tickets, the Dodgers pay a rebate for each ticket purchased to SCV schools and nonprofit groups, and our community gets a big shout-out on the Dodgervision screens before the game.

The McReynolds family from Santa Clarita is on deck to toss out the ceremonial first pitch. And the first 15,000 fans 14 and younger (from anywhere) will score a free kid-sized Corey Seager replica jersey.

Who’s on first? Oh, yeah – the San Diego Padres will visit to play the Dodgers. Game time’s1:10 p.m., with the Dodger Day festivities starting about 15 minutes beforehand.

You can get more details and order tickets online at SCVDodgerDay.com.

‘House Blend’ Gets Strung Up

SCVTV will present an encore broadcast featuring Santa Clarita family bluegrass band All Strings Attached on “House Blend” hosted by yours truly this Saturday night at 10. It’s one of the coolest shows from Season 4, and very much worthy of an encore.

“House Blend” airs Saturday nights on SCVTV in Los Angeles and Orange counties and streams at scvtv.com. All 69 original “House Blend” episodes are also viewable on-demand at scvhouseblend.com.

You’ll find lots more local entertainment news 24/7 at HometownStation.com, SCVNews.com and my blog, stephenkpeeples.com. That’s what’s thumpin’ on the SCV Rock Beat.