What a magical weekend it was indeed at the Dark Star Jubilee. Each year is just as good as the last if not better. I had the honor of attending this festival for the fourth year in a row out at Legend Valley, Ohio over Memorial Day weekend. There are so many positive things to be said about this festival. It is a world of its own filled with beautiful music, positive people, smiles in every direction, and of course Grateful Dead Tunes.

Galactic is not just a band. They are a community. They are a party. They are a movement and a force that comes to town to bring an awakening or awareness that is deeply entrenched in a carnival type New Orleans experience. With Mardi Gras at our heels, Denver was still feeling the holiday spirit, and the circus was in town. I call Galactic a community because I have never really seen a band with more of an open family type jam spirit that welcomes so many different types of musicians depending on their latest albums or motives.

The 25th annual Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Festival will rock once again at Memorial Day weekend, May 24-25, at Rancho Santa Susanna Community Park, 5005 Los Angeles Ave., in Simi Valley. The event features two full stages for each of its musical genres. Music will proceed non-stop each day from 12 noon until 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $22 adults 13+ ($20 online until May 1) and $15 children 7-12, are available online at http://www.simicajun.org or at the gate. Parking is ample and free. Fast-moving California Hwy.

The rock/fusion quartet TAUK announces they will return to the stage with the legendary group, Robert Randolph & The Family Band for three select dates this summer. The shows are set for Aug. 2 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., Aug. 9 at The Wilbur Theatre in Boston, and Aug 10 at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.

You’ve already marked your calendars- now get your tickets!!!! Wanee Festival will be April 18^th-20^th at The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in lovely Live Oak, Florida. Wanee 2013 promises to be an amazing journey into the depths of jam band virtuoso peppered with some serious flavor.

Cheer Up! Robert Randolph and the Family Band are in town! The established pedal-steel player and his band came through Colorado in October, and made sure to add a tour stop at the beautiful Boulder Theater on October 21, 2011. The band is has built quite the reputation for high-energy, danceable, uplifting concerts during their relatively short career.

There are a number of outdoor festival sites in the US that have that extra special 'something' that makes people come back year after year.  Florida has Spirit of the Suwanee Park, for example.  What usually sets a festival location apart, for me at least -- is a mix of breathtaking natural beauty, and of course -- the music.. But for me to come back year after year, it's gotta have a little something on top of that.. Something that's a little different.. Perhaps a bit comically-odd, at times. Something one can't quite verbalize.

Florida is a place unto itself, by my estimation. Like the other ‘big states’ of Texas and California, it takes on its own unique identity and presence. These states are so large, they are their own ‘region;’ and again by my estimation, include elements of all that is around them. Florida is neither just southern, nor merely coastal. Florida has elements of east coast culture, due in no small measure to the strong concentration of New York retirees, the so-called ‘snow birds.’ Florida also has significant aspects of Cuban and Mexican culture elements, as well.

Anybody hoping for last year’s incredible lineup that featured Tom Petty and Steve Winwood playing on the same day and also sharing the stage for a few tunes was bound to be disappointed with this year’s lineup. Day 1 of the Outside Lands seemed a little small for a festival, but that may have been because there were so many stages with up to five bands performing at once, sometimes in different areas of Golden Gate Park. Then again when Pearl Jam began its final set of the night.