Over the weekend, while taking a walk in the Santa Monica neighborhood I passed by @McCabesGuitar shop, and as I normally do, stopped to check out their “Upcoming Shows Wall.” One of the posters that caught my eye was the simply titled MEGAFAUN. It rang a bell. At some point I had heard or seen their name somewhere else, yet couldn’t place it. Once I got home I searched the cobwebs in my brain and had a quick chat with @jasonspang. We traced it back to the connection with Bon Iver and Justin Vernon. Did they open up for Bon Iver this year? More googling brought me to the handy site Aquarium Drunkard and their archive of Megafaun articles and samples. Discovering a new band after having only seen a poster in a window was about the closest thing to an organic new find as you’ll get these days. Thumbs up! READ MORE
At long last, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has announced it’s lineup and like usual, the fest offers a wide array of artists from today (Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons & Avett Brothers), yesterday (Kid Rock,Lauryn Hill, & Wilco), the day before that (Cyndi Lauper & Kenny G) and long ago from a beautiful time when great music rang out on pop radio (Gregg Allman, Jeff Beck & Robert Plant). Furthermore, the great tradition of showcasing just about every functioning New Orleans musician continues (Galactic, Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas, Dr. John & Allen Toussaint to name a few).
Read more at LMB NOLA or read on for the full lineup announced so far. We’ll be watching for the late-night grids as the shows start getting announced. Can’t wait. READ MORE
The High Sierra Music Festival has announced its initial 2010 lineup, including the likes of the Avett Brothers, Ozomatli, Femi Kuti, Bela Fleck, and Dr. Dog among many others. The Northern Cali fest is now in its 20th year and will once again take place over the 4th of July Holiday weekend. The High Sierra folks decided to roll out this year’s lineup in an interesting way, releasing this video below, a spoof of Apple’s famous product presentations for the iPod and all their other gadgets:
It’s a bit hokey, but I guess they felt like they had to do something bigger to compete among the hype and din of the busy festival lineup announcement season. Personally, I think they should just to stick to what they do best: consistently putting on a great mid-size music festival in the hills of Northern Cali. No matter what you think of the video, their 2010 lineup is definitely an interesting mix with a lot variety and is just about right for High Sierra’s traditional niche.
Warren Haynes’s annual staple, the Mountain Jam music festival, is back in 2010 for its sixth iteration, and they’ve just announced their initial 2010 lineup. Mountain Jam VI will take place June 4-6 and will once again be held at Hunter Mountain in upstate New York.
Merlefest has announced its 2010 line-up, featuring classic Bluegrass and “Traditional-plus” music from the likes of Doc Watson, Jerry Douglas, the recently ‘Bluegrassified’ Elvis Costello, and a number of other heavy-hitters in the broader Bluegrass realm. The Wilkesboro, North Carolina festival will take place April 29 – May 2, 2010, and will celebrate its 23rd year in existence.
