USA, USA: The USA Film Festival sends word this morning that it will honor Peter Lord with its Great Director tribute during its April 25-29 run. Lord is the co-founder of Aardman Animations, the studio behind the great Wallace and Gromit cartoons. Lord’s upcoming film is The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which will screen at the festival leading up to the festival on April 12. And while we’re talking about USA … if you’re interested in the inner workings of the festival and its up and down history, definitely take a look at D Magazine’s story on the organization.

BACK TO BACH: Last week, Jerome previewed the pair of Bach Passions being performed around town. The Dallas Bach Society’s St. John Passion has already come and gone, but you’ve still got time to check out the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s St. Matthew Passion this weekend. Joshua Habermann is the director of the DSO Chorus, which will take part in the performance. And he tells theaterjones.com, “This is not like a mass, where almost everyone in the audience knows the words and they are the same in every composer’s treatment. This is a drama. The audience needs to follow the action as closely as they would in an opera.”

LET THE FEST BEGIN: Prairie Fest kicks off its three-day run Saturday at Tandy Hills Natural Area in Fort Worth. Only this year, the event will take place on three Saturdays – April 28 and May 26 are the other two. So why the switch? Festival organizers tell dfw.com there are two good reasons – it helps lighten the load on volunteers and it protects against a rainout.