Friday August 14th was a night of firsts. I'd never been to Mishawaka, I'd never seen these bands all at the same show, and I'd never really talked to any of them.

The last two years for percussionist Jason Hann have been a roller coaster of musical endeavors.  His main project, the wildly popular String Cheese Incident, decided it was time to take an extended hiatus from performing due to some artistic conflicts within the group.  From the break, Hann and fellow Cheese drummer Michael Travis formed a dynamic jam-tronica duo called

Although I am no stranger to Grand Rapids, I had never attended a show at the Intersection until the Rothbury Pre-Party.  There is no more appropriately named venue to host such a dynamic collaboration of talent.  EOTO, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus and Herm Productions is quite the trio to kick off the Rothbury Music Festival.

The funky, jammy, L.A. based Underground Orchestra proved to be a good start to the music of the weekend before the chaos started. Anthony Rogers-Wright proved to be an entertaining bassist and just one component of this group. Sam Feldman plays the mandolin, which I love, so this group had an instant in.

Relentlessly winding upwards along Berthoud Pass, my brain lights up like a pinball machine in action and BAM my thoughts of needing to extol some elder wisdom on my co-hort becomes apparent. The event we are quickly approaching entry into, is unlike most of the "festivals" she has attended in the past.