Festivals
Now in its fifth year, the Pygmalion Music Festival, happening September 16 – 19, 2009 in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., has emerged as a surprising player in what seems like an endless sea of new music festivals across the nation. Combining the ease and cred of festivals such as SXSW or CMJ, with a humble, gentle Midwestern backdrop, Pygmalion Music Festival seeks to engage a devoted group of music fans each fall by presenting both established and emerging artists in venues no bigger than a small theater.
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Quote of the day, heard while in the audience for the last few minutes of an enjoyable-but-forgettable set by Tea Leaf Green:
"They all died at 27 full of drugs and insane, so I made a conscious decision to make my role models change."
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One landmark gig at this year's 10KLF was Everyone Orchestra – a staple of this festival, playing their fifth consecutive year. EO is an ever-changing super-group of musicians collected by conductor Matt Butler to jam on extended guided improvisations. Using a dry erase board, B
From July 31st to August 2nd, Liberty State Park saw some amazing music from a stellar lineup of acts, annoying bad weather and mud. Lots and lots of mud. Yes, while the 2009 All Points West Music & Arts Festival was much better received than it's inaugural year... it was still not without it's problems.
Day One
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I started day two of 10K in utter relaxation, dozing late into the morning through a minute of light rain on the tent. It was a music festival, after all, and the idyll didn't last long; the air was soon full of air horns and people yelling "Butt Sca-ratcherrrr!" (ah, the sounds of morning). Overall, though, listening to the murmur of campers at Northwoods had a magical quality, a constant lone hand drummer in the distance, magical woodsy acoustics. The morning was sunnier but still mostly overcast as I headed out to The Barn to catch Akron/Family<
For years, my friends have been telling me of a magical place: a music festival at a permanent facility with shaded campgrounds, flushing toilets, manageably small but big enough to rope in major talent, populated with friendly people. This year, I finally made it out to this legendary event as a correspondent for GratefulWeb.com, and am happy to report that the rumors are true. 10,000 Lakes Music Festival r
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On Sunday, the revelers at the second annual Mile High Music Festival were granted a temporary reprieve from the heat. The sky was cloudy, and lo! The grounds were clean! The night before, as I waded through a sea of discarded plastic beer cups, it occurred to me that perhaps a better way to save the planet would have been to sell freely refillable beer cups, in the hopes that folks would use the same cup all day, rather than burning through five or six. Now I’m all in favor of just about any recycling program you could think of, but refillable beer
Twiin Productions--the event producers of the WEST BEACH MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL, one of America’s only beach festivals--has confirmed several additions to its music line-up. BEN HARPER AND RELENTLESS7, SLIGHTLY STOOPID, DONAVON FRANKENREITER, THE BRAVERY and BASSNECTAR are the new additions to the three-day event--Friday, September 18, Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20, 2009 in Santa Barbara, CA.
As I went off to bed Friday night, the weather turned very chilly and was beginning to settle in my head, foreshadowing a good head cold. And later in the night, our fellow campers had a fire pit going, whose some for some reason just that night seemed to sweep underneath our tent fly and fill my sinuses. I woke up achy and feeling like crap. As I stumbled toward my morning coffee, the sky was cloudy and threatened to rain. I talked with one of the recycling people and he said that though rain wasn't forecast, it wouldn't get warm, just up to the late 60s by dinner time.
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After last night's rain, it dawned sunny and warm with a few clouds. The humidity was greatly reduced, too, promising to be a great day for music.
