When I watched Ozzy Osbourne’s reality show in the early part of this decade, I couldn’t look at the former Black Sabbath frontman without feeling sad. As happy-go-lucky as MTV
We’d like to welcome U-Melt keyboard ace Zac Lasher, who penned the latest installment of our Tour Diary series. Zac kept a journal for most of the band’s Spring Tour and we’ve divided his entries up into three parts.
[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]
4/16 – Chicago, IL
First night of the Midwestern run. After a highly successful string of shows in our beloved Northeastern United States, we leave the comforts of home for the Central time zone and beyond. Tonight, I got to see a friend who I haven’t seen since high school, and who I probably would have never seen again if it weren’t for that website called Facebook.
I think about the technology that we have at our disposal in this day and age, that was only the stuff of fiction when I was growing up. Personal communication devices that we carry with us that not only allow for person-to-person voice conversation between two or more people anywhere in the world, but also give you virtually instant access to pretty much any bit of information that isn’t a closely guarded secret at the touch of a button – or the touch of a screen. Its pretty amazing what sort of stuff we humans can make. READ ON for Zac’s journal entries from Dekalb and Madison…
Wilco, the current most buzzed about band on the planet, has recently updated their website to add a number of cool features including a Gigapan photo of their famed loft
The unofficial hiatus of The Strokes has proved to be quite productive for the members of the one-time saviors of downtown rock. While lead singer Julian Casablancas has been relatively
Here’s a clip of guitar gods Trey Anastasio and Joe Bonamassa taking turns ripping up Blues Deluxe at Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont… Trey Anastasio & Joe Bonamassa –
If you are a fan of the rock/jazz meld, Jeff Beck: Live at Ronnie Scott’s is a must watch. Palladia will air the special, which features footage from Beck’s series
The extremely hot Disco Biscuits have added eight shows to their Summer Tour Schedule leading up the band’s Camp Bisco three-day festival at Indian Lookout Country Club near Albany. Check
In our never-ending quest to dig up some great bands that cost less than a corned beef sandwich at Katz’s Deli, we bring you another round of Blips. Blips highlights some great bands that are largely still in their larvae stage, but will soon morph into their beautiful butterfly. In this edition, we have some really cool new music, so take a sec, poke around their various websites, and see what you think of these four under the radar musical groups…
BuzzUniverse
If you caught BuzzUniverse’s eye opening set at Mountain Jam last year you probably aren’t surprised that the eclectic group from New Jersey has been invited back to perform at this year’s festival. BuzzU gets people dancing with their high energy originals and diverse cover selections, a quality that acts as an aural shot of espresso for festival attendees.
READ ON for more about BuzzU and Nashville’s The Sways…
While Jon Hochstat enjoys The City of Lights this week, I thought I’d chime in about one of my favorite food-related events of year – The Ninth Avenue Food Festival.
As some of you may recall, last summer we ran a post detailing the work that goes into the upstart of a music festival. While the increasing incidence of music festivals – and the seemingly infinite corresponding announcements therein – across the nation makes it seem like an easy task; an awful lot goes into each and every one of these festivals. The idea behind this article was to befriend some entrepreneurial music fans in the infancy of creating their own festival. Thus, we met Jimmy Hunt and Wes Hight, the braintrust behind North Carolina’s Music on the Mountaintop music festival.
Continuing on with the series, we caught up with Wes and Jimmy yet again this year, now with a year’s experience under their belts, to look back at the trials and tribulations of last year’s event as well as to check in on how they plan to approach year two of their festie. Hopefully, for those interested in the business side of things, this annual series will provide a transparent ongoing look at the festival scene.
Hidden Track: In terms of scope of the project, are you looking to grow it significantly or keep about the same size? Any plans to go the camping route?
Jimmy: Well, the most exciting thing is this years festival. Our lineup is – in our opinion and all our fans that we’ve spoken – much better! This years lineup is: Keller Williams, Sam Bush, Acoustic Syndicate, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, Jon Scales Fourchestra, Do it to Julia, The Naked Gods, Mike Alvarado, Uncle Mountain, The Lost Ridge Band, Hope Massive, The Moderate, Major Magick, Ample Example, Ascella Vega, Native Sway, Bafoodus, and more; w/ a very, very special guest appearance by someone which we can’t announce until closer to the date.
READ ON for more on what exactly goes into running a festival…
