Jennifer Kirk

I thought it would be a wise decision to try out the product I’m actually reporting on. So yesterday during my lunch break, I went and purchased two new-to-Tennessee-but-not-new-to-me Magic

I’ve tried my best throughout my time here at HT to stay away from endorsing a particular candidate and even though I’ve alluded to who I like by making jabs or snide comments about other candidates (especially toward Hillary because growing up in a conservative Republican household in Oklahoma just made it that much easier) I have tried to stay away from partisan lines, but that’s why I’m registered as an Independent, because I don’t ever want to necessarily be associated with a ‘party’, I want to be associated with a country, or nowadays, a world.

Nevertheless, I think it’s a bold statement, but not too far from the truth when I say that this is the most important election to happen in my lifetime. We’ve seen history already — a woman almost got the Democratic nod, and a black guy who actually will next month in Denver. More people will vote in this election than any other in our country and it’s a damn good thing to see. READ ON for more…

I’m finding it a tad bit ironic that when I reported on Rothbury I used lyrics or titles of Talking Heads’ songs for each day to describe what I felt and saw from the festival. Little did I know I’d be able to use one more, much less be able to incorporate it into my Land of Confusion series.

Possible Photo Captions: It’s STILL the Economy, you idiot (or Where did you get your M.B.A. again?)

[ Photo courtesy of thepeoplesvoice.org ]

It all started when I read this article on the seizure of funds from the Rothbury Music Festival for the Double JJ Ranch. A court order came down to seize the funds because a bank was seeking foreclosure on the property for a $17.5 million loan for construction to pay for the indoor waterpark (the place where the hippies went to take a shower for $20). According to the local comments on the article, I’m thinking they just defaulted on payments on purpose — but who knows?

READ ON for more of this week’s Land of Confusion…

Last week, we reported on the funky limited edition Pollock and LEBO prints that HeadCount commissioned. Well, they upped the ante once again by launching their brand-spanking-new “Pledge to Vote”

I’m feelin’ okay this mornin’
And you know,
We’re on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go…

Here we are for my last post on Rothbury. I’ve not slept in over 24 hours, but I’m ‘feelin’ okay this mornin’ so to speak. I spent 4 hours of the 11 hour ride sleeping and the other 7 driving. During my driving shift I reflected a lot on this past weekend. With that in mind I’d like to focus this post on two things: the festivals greening efforts and Phish. I’ll also be giving a few pros and cons of the festival logistics and other things, so perhaps they can improve on for next year. Rumor has it that the Double JJ Ranch has already invited the promoters back.

[Trey & Mike, with Fishman in the background watching]

I don’t think I emphasized the greening efforts on behalf of the promoters. I don’t have the exact number, and I’m sure they will do a press release on it after the site is cleaned. But the festival was able to divert about 80% of waste produced each day into either recyclables or compostables. I also failed to mention that all the cups on site were made from corn. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, after enjoying your nice tasty Magic Hat Number 9 you can dispose of your cups by composting them. Who woulda thunk? I’ve already mentioned the trash cans, but the site also gave away free portable ashtrays for all the smokers in attendance. They also took several initiatives to offset carbon emissions. I must say I have NEVER seen a cleaner site, and most people were very good about cleaning up after themselves. Bravo Rothbury, job well done! READ ON for more…

Another day, another blog. As you can see from my titles I’m having a sort of Talking Heads themed weekend at Rothbury. It all started on the car ride here when This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) played as the sun was rising. That and I was doing my best David Byrne dances in order to successfully keep my driver awake.

Crosseyed and Painless describes how I feel at this point. Crosseyed because Sound Tribe played so late and Painless because even though I’m sleep deprived it was all very much worth it. Yesterday I wasn’t able to get out and about on the site until the evening. HeadCount had David Murphy and Zach Velmer from STS9 at their booth for some political discussion in the afternoon, so I decided to stick around and see what they had to say. After they were done and I finished my blog from yesterday, I headed over to Medeski, Martin and Wood for a rousing performance of acid-latin-funk-jazz.

Later I headed over to see Michael Franti so I could count how many times he said “How you FEEEEEEELIN?!?” (it was 5, but I was only there for 3 songs). Next, I went back to the Sherwood Court stage to catch Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival, where Col. Bruce made a surprise appearance. After that, I headed over to the headliner for the evening — Dave Matthews Band. I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a fan, I enjoy some of their songs but they aren’t one of those bands that speaks to me. Jeff Coffin sat in for LeRoi (who was in an ATV accident recently) and he did a phenomenal job pushing the band as much as his little saxophone could. Finally, I headed over to Sound Tribe and they closed the evening out for me.

Overall, the experience has been great. Still no potable water (I’m convinced they don’t exist) and the security has tightened up worse than going through airport security (I don’t think there are terrorists here). I’m going to cut this blog a little short because I need to head over to Trey so I can take some photos and see how well he’s doing.

READ ON after the jump for some pics from Saturday for your enjoyment…

So here I am again, a little later than I had planned but that happens when you spend the entire day running from stage to stage and back and forth to the camp site to grab some grub. Yesterday was fantastic, to the point that I’m almost speechless. I hadn’t realized until the fireworks that I had never seen a show on the 4th of July and a day long set of shows at that.

I still haven’t found the potable water and I doubt at this point I’ll buy any ice (thanks for lasting dry ice!), but I did find a few of the drink stations around the festival grounds. I saw TONS of music yesterday and did a little more exploring. I have a feeling that I’ve still not seen everything on the site yet — but that’s what is so nice about 3-4 day festivals (and much like the childhood trips to Disney World, where you explore a new park everyday). With the grounds and amenities I believe this festival to be the closest thing that we, as music fans, have to being a resort. Everyone has a choice of what to do, where to go, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be music. If I wasn’t typing this, I would be checking out the water park.

Being Independence Day, artists took the liberty to make their views known on certain issues and freedoms, and also pointed out things we should celebrate. The Wailers celebrated the music of Bob Marley, Snoop Dogg celebrated the freedom of gin & juice, Drive-By Truckers encouraged their fans to register to vote and exercise their independence, Yonder celebrated the return of Jon Fishman and objects turning brown, and Widespread got political, albeit poetically. I think it is no coincidence that they ended their 4th of July performance with a rousing rendition of Life During Wartime quite appropriate (but I’m not going to lie — also really fun to dance to).

Well, I’m going to wrap this one up as I need to get my laptop back to the campsite so I can go out and shoot some bands and enjoy the weather. Until then, READ ON after the jump for some more pics to tide you over:

Well, the Rothbury experience has been an adventure thus far. In order to help take part in the ‘green’ aspect of Rothbury (and not to mention the cost of gas), I carpooled from Tennessee with a HeadCount volunteer. We left on Tuesday night from Nashville and my friend and I drove straight through the night. It’s been a few years since I’ve pulled an all-night driving session (Big Cypress) in order to arrive on site on time. After experiencing a little bit of ticketing problems and witnessing a down pour of rain we were finally allowed on site. At first, I was a little scared because the mud I saw gave me a flashback to Coventry but then I realized it was supposed to rain on Wednesday only. By Friday, the site has mostly dried up.

[Percussion Monkeys!]

Thursday I spent time exploring the vast site that is Rothbury. This is by far the most interesting festival site I’ve ever seen. The Double JJ Ranch has everything from horseback riding, to a water park, and you can even catch 18 holes if you’re so inclined. The lake is beautiful, and while you’re there you can catch a game of volleyball or challenge someone to horseshoes. This is all the stuff that is part of the ranch, I haven’t even started on the actual festival amenities.

READ ON for more on the first day of the first-ever Rothbury Festival…

A few weeks ago, we held Political Celebrity Death Match Round 1 in which we partnered one musician with one ‘hero’ for each of the candidates. After all the votes were cast and polls closed we finally have a winner to announce! By a landslide Luke Skywalker and Stevie Wonder took the first round — congratulations Barack supporters! Though I must say I was disappointed that no one supported Arnold. I mean how many actors and actresses has he killed throughout his career? Come on, he could have taken Luke and Stevie by himself!

But I digress as we must prepare for battle in Round 2. Since Hillary dropped out of the race, she has been eliminated from the competition (until the VP’s are announced at least). This week we’re going to do another tag team match up featuring musicians and business persons. If you don’t remember, Political Celebrity Death Match is where we look at celebrities and who they endorse and then we let them battle it out in our head (imagination style). So, welcome HT readers, to round two of Political Celebrity Death Match 2008. READ ON for more…