Okay okay, I guess I’ve been putting this off for a little bit. And it’s certainly with a heavy hand that I put up this would-be final post on Live Music Blog for the summer.
Live Music Blog is now on hiatus.
Both Whit and I have effectively sounded off on what the near future holds for both of us, and we’ve received a tremendous amount of well-wishing, support, and overall encouragement to not stray too far from this fantastic, online community that we’ve spent some time working to build. We’re extremely grateful for that, and we appreciate every comment, every email, and every time you’ve visited the site over the past couple years.
I know I couldn’t have done this for nearly as long without meeting some awesome friends and colleagues through the site. Nor could I have done this without an extremely cool and supportive wife. And I definitely couldn’t have done this without all the fantastic readers out there that love live music as much as I do.
Stay tuned to this space for the inevitable end of hiatus post…and don’t necessarily expect it super soon. Have a killer summer, folks.
—–Justin
Before I finish up our summer posting schedule with the standard “whoah, man — we’re on hiatus” post I’ve whipped up, I thought I’d drop a link for a good cause that came my way that might actually help said good cause.
My bro Tim is good friends with a dude named Lee Bender, a pivotal player in the Arizona skateboarding scene. Lee was just recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and had to spend six days in the hospital without any form of medical insurance in his name. A few friends have thrown together a t-shirt sale that features some of Lee’s art, and all profits are going to go straight to Lee’s pocket to help him with the mountain of medical bills he’s surely facing.
For $15, you can buy a t-shirt and help a dude that has chosen to live his life following his passion, something that’s always worth supporting wherever possible. I already bought mine. Go to AZPX.com and buy one if you’re interested. Anything will help at this point.
Photo © Ty Bush
If you’re a fairly regular visitor to the site, you have undoubtedly noticed our recent dearth of posts and updates. Under normal circumstances here at Live Music Blog, I have typically been able to jump in and pick up the slack any time Justin has been unable to put his full energies into the site.
But exactly at the same moment Justin is grappling with the big changes (and ever-increasing workload) of his new parent company, I am also making some big changes in my life. In order of occurrence over the next 2 months, I will be doing the following:
• moving to a new city (Charlottesville, VA)
• starting a new job (Acct. Manager, MusicToday)
• getting married (to my lovely lady)
I am extremely excited about each of these big life changes, but you can likely see how these could mix together as ‘a perfect storm of important life events’ designed to distract me from blogging. Funny story actually…I recently mentioned all this to a friend who in turn quoted me a study of the “causes of alcoholism,” listing me some of the big life items that tend to push people over the edge. In no specific order, that list happened to include: 1) a change in marital status; 2) a change in occupation; and 3) a change in geographical location. As you can see, I am doing all three in a matter of months. These are definitely the kinds of big life items that are not good for one’s blogging career. But, hey, at least I have an excuse to keep drinkin’ right?
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photo by sypsyn
Every dedicated Phish fan has a favorite “Tweezer.” Some like the older versions that are strange and quirky, some like their Tweezers as funky as possible, and others like them super spacey. Of course, because this song has long been considered one of the band’s biggest “jam vehicles,” there are many versions of “Tweezer” that feature any and all styles of Phish improvisation…
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Bonnaroo 2007 has begun… a few more items to note:
• Bonnaroo has now officially sold out of all 80,000 tickets.
• Don’t miss our Bonnaroo 2007 Preview from Live Music Blog friend, John Parsons
• Is it really the “most tech-savvy festival in the land?”
• SuperFly Productions‘ ‘other big festival’ — Vegoose — will return for a third time.
• The winners of the OurStage online competition have been announced. The winner’s will play sets at the Sonic Stage for each day of the festival:
Fri, June 15: Ashleigh Flynn
Sat, June 16: American Babies – (side project of Tom Hamilton from Brothers Past)
Sun, June 17: Nico Stai
• The AT&T Blueroom will be webcasting several sets from the festival. The schedule is as follows:
Friday, June 15:
12:30 PM Uncle Earl
01:15 PM Cold War Kids
02:15 PM Brazilian Girls
03:45 PM Kings of Leon
05:00 PM Paolo Nutini
06:15 PM Gillian Welch
07:45 PM The Nightwatchman
09:00 PM Lilly Allen
10:00 PM The Roots
Saturday, June 16:
12:45 PM Old Crow Medicine Show
01:45 PM Spearhead
02:15 PM Regina Spektor
03:30 PM The Black Keys
04:15 PM Damien Rice
05:45 PM Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
07:45 PM The Hold Steady
08:15 PM Mago: Billy Martin & John Medeski
09:45 PM TBA
10:15 PM String Cheese Incident
Sunday, June 17:
12:30 PM Robert Glasper Trio
01:00 PM John Butler Trio
02:00 PM The Flaming Lips
03:00 PM Bob Weir & Ratdog
04:30 PM Wolfmother
05:30 PM Wilco
07:15 PM The White Stripes
08:45 PM Widespread Panic
(All Central Time)
photo by 6tee-zeven
Streaming right now: Ryan Adams live at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, via “Live Fridays From XPN.” If you miss the performance, it should be archived and available later streaming.
A few weeks back, I got introduced to a fellow live music fan and online media colleague, John Parsons. He blogs about music all the time on his personal site, big microscope, and we’re fortunate enough to welcome him to Live Music Blog to file some reports from the 2007 Bonnaroo Music Festival. He’s going to have a blast down there and he wanted to share his plan of attack with the rest of us.
For those of us not attending Bonnaroo this year, there’s always the AT&T Blueroom Webcast showing highlights from all three days. Have fun with that if you’re so inclined…and check back next week to see if John was kind enough to send us some more thoughts on the festival.
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This post was written by Paul Kanterman, a friend of the site and avid music fan who knows a thing or two about the Mountain Jam music festival. He filed this play-by-play the other day and I’m just now getting around to posting it. Enjoy.
In 2007, Mountain Jam extended to a full three-day weekend. The First Annual Mountain Jam in 2005 had only one day, but perfect weather — alas, the same hasn’t been true since. Last year, the weather was absolutely miserable but the music transcended the conditions.
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