NEW RULES - Vehicle Campers, Please Read!

Hi, vehicle campers! Thank you for behaving yourselves and reading this post, like I just told you to.

So, you may have received a postcard from us in the mail (if you haven't, you'll either receive it within a day or two, or you threw it out with the junk mail already). That postcard delineates a very important new rule regarding vehicle camping:

YOU CANNOT PARK ON RABBIT RUN ROAD BEFORE TUESDAY (July 15) AT 3:00 PM.

That means that the happy-party-fun-time that used to happen on Rabbit Run Road starting on Sunday night before the festival (or Saturday afternoon, as was the case last year) CANNOT HAPPEN this year. So let's rock the rest of this FAQ-style:

WHEN CAN I LINE UP?

You can start lining up on Tuesday at 3:00 PM.

WHERE CAN I GO BEFORE THEN?

You will need to find legal parking or camping accommodations elsewhere. We recommend checking out some of our beautiful local state parks (check them out at our camping page under "Additional Camping Options"), or spend a couple of days exploring the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Region. Fun!

CAN I CAMP AT THE OFFSITE PARKING LOT UNTIL TUESDAY?

Sorry, but no. Our permit regulations and insurance don't allow us to let anyone camp or park at our Agard Road lot until the morning of Thursday, July 17.

WHY IS THIS THE NEW RULE?

It's not our rule, so we're honestly not 100% clear on the reasons. The Town of Ulysses (which is the official name of the township in which the Village of Trumansburg resides) has decided that it's in the best interest of everyone to disallow camping and parking on that road during the week leading up to the festival. I guess it has to do with neighbor complaints, as well as concerns about safety - both perfectly reasonable.

BUT... WHY!!?!?! IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!

Stop asking me stuff! I don't know! I just write the blog, I don't even work here! Okay, I do work here, but I try very hard not to make any important decisions, because I hate responsibility!

WILL I BE ABLE TO PARK THERE DURING THE FESTIVAL?

We kind of think so, but we're still waiting on the results of a final Town Board meeting that will take place this week. If not, parking at Agard Road will still be available, and still be free.

I FEEL THE NEED TO REBEL, AND I'M CONSIDERING LINING UP ON RABBIT RUN ROAD EARLY NO MATTER WHAT. WHAT BAD THINGS MIGHT HAPPEN TO ME?

Well, first of all, your car will get towed, and that's super-annoying and really expensive and not a very fun way to start your festival. Then, you'll probably be struck by lightning. Then, some internet hacker will find their way into your checking account and rob you blind. Then, a group of hippopotamuses will stampede through your house. Then, I'll slap you around for awhile while screaming, "I told you so!" So... don't do it. Please.

WILL THE BACK GATE STILL OPEN AT THE SAME TIME?

Yeah, around noonish on Thursday morning. We'll have our band of merry men and women walking down the line to greet your car starting around 8:00 am, and get you stickered and ready to roll in all orderly-like when the gates actually open. We have been known to open the gates a bit early, if we're feeling like things are in good order and ready to go, so it's worth being prepared for that scenario as well. Meaning, be somewhere in the vicinity of your car and don't start drinking Bloody Marys until you're inside.

WHICH DO YOU LIKE BETTER, HORSEYS OR PUPPIES?

Definitely horseys.

Feel free to leave a comment and ask any other questions - I'll try my darnedest to answer them as completely as I can.

Schedule Posted!

Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for... the 2008 GrassRoots Schedule has been posted. Now you can stop calling me on my cell phone on the weekends to ask when Lucinda's playing. Hee hee.

Seriously, though, get your highlighters out and ready, because this year is gonna be RAGING. We've actually shortened the band list a little bit this year, so some of your favorites are actually playing twice - make sure you look carefully!

We'll have an alphabetized list of who's when coming soon.

Schedule on the way SOON!

Hey everyone!

Because of a couple of last-minute changes and some performer scheduling conflicts, it's taken us a little longer than usual to get the schedule up on the web - the last time we posted it before it was finalized, some major changes happened and people were none too pleased, so we want to make sure you get the information right the first time.

However, to tide you over for just a couple more days, we do have some solid information about some of the out-of-town acts and which days they're playing. I've listed just a few of them here, in order to give you a "feel" for each day, especially if you're thinking about buying a day pass. This is NOT intended to be a complete list in any way - just a little guideline. The full schedule will be in your hands VERY SOON!

THURSDAY:

Lucinda Williams
Eilen Jewell
Hackensaw Boys
Donna the Buffalo
(lots of others)

FRIDAY:

Luminescent Orchestrii
Hackensaw Boys
Allen Boys
Etran Finatawa
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Nation Beat
John Brown's Body
MC Lars
(lots of others)

SATURDAY:

Nation Beat
Allen Boys
Toby Foyeh and Orchestra Africa
The Meditations
Cyro Baptista and Beat the Donkey
Plena Libre
Donna the Buffalo
(lots of others)

SUNDAY:

Big Leg Emma
Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad
Beat the Donkey Workshop
Donna the Buffalo
(lots of others)

MC Lars Added to the Lineup

MC Lars, everyone's favorite post-punk laptop rapper, has officially been added to the lineup. Here's the thing about MC Lars - generally speaking, I feel as though I'm fairly "with it", as far as music goes. You might even call me a music nerd. I can talk for hours about obscure 1930's delta blues and its influence on all popular music of today. I can ramble on and on about the evolution of old-time music into bluegrass and the further evolution and devolution into country. I can name all of Bob Marley's children and all of the Balfa Brothers. I write one of the most popular websites about world music on the internet. I'm pretty much a hard-core music nerd, and I make it my business to know what's going on in the world and folk music scenes.

However, in a 10-minute phone conversation with MC Lars, he stumped me about 8 times. I asked him how someone was doing, and he said, "Oh, he's doing great, he's working with *Insert Band Name I Can't Remember* - you've heard of them, right?" No. No, MC Lars, I have not heard of them. Top 10 Hit, you say? Huh. As it turns out, I don't know everything. In fact, I know next to nothing about what most people my age are evidently listening to.

Now don't go thinking this makes me feel bad. I LOVE that there are people out there who geek out at the same level I do, but for totally different music. And I super-love that we have those sorts of encyclopedia-brains bringing their viewpoint to our festival. And I super-ultra-love that MC Lars is actually totally into learning about all the different stuff that we've got going on at our festival - last year, though he was only there for an evening, he made a point of seeing Nawal, Vieux Farka Touré, and Los Pochos. Cool, right?

There is a moral to this absurd, rambling story. Cultural crossover doesn't always look like what you expect it to look like. And that's the beauty of something like GrassRoots, where the crowd is as diverse as the musicians, where there are as many viewpoints as there are faces, and where we've all got something to learn from each other.

Get Well Soon, Jim Lauderdale!

We received some bad news yesterday: our good friend and faithful festival performer Jim Lauderdale has been having some problems with his vocal cords, and is under doctor's orders for strict vocal rest for the whole summer - including GrassRoots. It's a really scary thing for a musician to have to go through, so keep him in your thoughts. We are confident that he will be back, spangly cowboy suit and all, for GrassRoots '09, and until then, we wish him a speedy recovery and lots of love!