2011 Lineup Announced

We've announced our 2011 Lineup and we are so, so, so excited. We've got our dancing shoes ready, now it's just a patient wait until July 21. Got your tickets? Get 'em now!

2010 Band List Posted!

Yes, Virginia, there is a band list, and it's a whopper.

See it here: 2010 Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival Performers

We've invited some big names and many old friends to take part in our 20th anniversary festival (yes, 20!), and we hope you'll be as excited as we are to welcome them to Trumansburg this summer.

We've got Merle Haggard:



... and Burning Spear:



... and Arrested Development:



... and Rusted Root:



... and Oliver Mtukudzi:



... and Railroad Earth:



...and about 4 dozen others. A-list all the way this year, folks! Are we gonna see you there?

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.

Nation Beat Announces Animation Contest

We're excited to have the Afro-Brazilian-Americana-Tronica band Nation Beat coming to GrassRoots for the first time this year. We think they're very hip, very edgy, and they'll fit in like nobody's business here at our humble little event. They're also releasing an album, Legends of the Preacher, on July 15th, just a couple of days before the festival starts, so they will be on fire, undoubtedly. Also, they share our sense of charitable musical fundraising - 10% of their album proceeds will go to benefit Corpos Percussivos, "an organization dedicated to uplifting the underprivileged children of Recife, Brazil through music, art, education and culture." We LOVE it!!

And it gets cooler. As part of their album release, they've announced an animation contest. All the details are available at Modiba Productions, their record label. Basically, they've got fancy little cartoon characters already drawn up, and downloadable chunks of songs. All you have to do is get creative! So if you're the type who knows what's what when it comes to video animation, why not make up a little something, post it to YouTube, and see if you can't win yourself a tidy $500 (not to mention eternal flame and glory)?

If you're not the animating type, why don't you enjoy this video of the group at Galapagos (a really amazing self-sustaining art space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that you should be sure to check out as well, if you're in them there parts):



Currently Listening: The Nation Beat - Maracatuniversal

Band Bios Are Posted!

Okay, you've seen the band list, but since everyone on there isn't necessarily a household name, you might (ahem) actually want to know who some of these folks are. Fear not - the band bios are here. Get a sense for who's who, what's what and start drooling over who you can't wait to see. My personal ohmigodicantwaittosee band (if I must pick just one) is Etran Finatawa - who's yours?

Currently Listening: Etran Finatawa - "Desert Crossroads"

Plena Libre Added to Band List

We've added one more headlining artist - the unbelievably talented Plena Libre. Plena Libre is a 13-piece Afro-Latin orchestra from San Juan, Puerto Rico. They rock out on the Afro-Rican genres of bomba and plena, and have been nominated for a heap o' Grammy Awards. Have a look at this great video of them from the amazing Roskilde Festival:



... and read this interview with bandleader Gary Nuñez.

MC Lars is Funny and Anti-Corporate

In case you weren't already aware, the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival is the largest self-sustaining arts festival in the country. That means no corporate sponsorship. While we certainly respect every other festival out there for doing what they need to do to keep on keepin' on, we like that we are able to get by without having corporations around who might just want to insist on having some artistic say-so.

So this year one of our new and exciting performers is a guy named MC Lars. He's a pioneer of "nerdcore", and he's become something of a cult hero. His songs put the ringer on all sorts of different stupid societal trends while still rocking out. Anyhow, Lars regularly makes video podcasts which are pretty hilarious, and his latest one is a bit of a cautionary tale about a band called Cartel, who are sponsored by Dr. Pepper. Watch it here:


We think, despite the fact that he performs a genre of music we've never presented before, that he'll fit right in. We wish his Mom was coming, too, because we are also fans of The Strand Bookstore (18 miles of books!) and we go every time we're in NY. By we, I mean me. 18 miles of books. I digress.
Lars also has a new DVD coming out, which you can order here.

Currently Listening - The Graduate - MC Lars

Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys

We've been talking to Walter Mouton on the phone a few times in the last week, squaring away arrangements, and he's always one of our favorite guys to talk with. Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys are a GrassRoots mainstay. They're an authentic Cajun band from Southwestern Louisiana who will be joining us for the (I believe) 16th time this year. Last year was a sad year for the band, as their longtime fiddle player, Mr. U.J. Meaux, passed away just a couple of weeks before the festival. They played anyway, with Kevin Wimmer of the Red Stick Ramblers sitting in on fiddle, and it was particularly special.

Mr. Walter (as he's called) is considered one of the finest accordion players in Southwest Louisiana. He's a real musician's musician, and if you go to La Poussiere, a club in Breaux Bridge where Walter has been playing Saturday night dances nearly every week for 30 years, you'll often see well-known accordion players sitting near the front, watching every move that Mr. Walter makes.

For a number of reasons, all of which I'm sure he'd be glad to explain to you if you ask, Mr. Walter has never really recorded any CDs. A couple of live tracks appear on the soundtrack to the amazing documentary on Louisiana music, J'Ai Ete au Bal.

He's a really fascinating guy, and his band are the sweetest bunch... catch them if you get a chance - they're the real deal!

Haha... Found a Video.

A video of the Avett Brothers on Conan has been found! Excellent! I can stop obsessing now and get back to work.

The Avett Brothers on Conan - Sorry, No Video

All right, so there was a YouTube Video of the Avett Brothers' Conan O'Brien appearance for about 12 seconds, but apparently NBC likes to own things, so it's been removed. Copyright violations are bad, I know, but it was still cool, and I still wanted to share it with those who missed it.

If you didn't happen to stay up that night, here's a quick recap: The Avett Brothers played "Paranoia in B Flat Major", which comes from their new (and unbelievably good) record, "Emotionalism", which you need to get if you haven't yet. It's not a screamer, it's an edgy but pretty ballad that gives lots of good singing time to both Scott and Seth. The real surprise was their look: they were not vaguely frightening suit-clad mountain men, but rather clean-cut, coiffed hipsters. Really, really cute ones.

We're psyched to say "we know them when...", and even more psyched that even though they're becoming big ol' stars, they're still happy to play at little ol' GrassRoots.

The Avett Brothers on Conan O'Brien TONIGHT!

Yeah, so it's been a good week for GrassRoots Festival bands on late-night television. The Cat Empire on Jay Leno on Monday, and now the Avett Brothers on Conan O'Brien tonight.

I'm sick as a dog and don't feel like blogging anymore (it's finally summer, and I come down with the flu. Perfect.) but I promise that I will post a YouTube clip of the Avett Brothers' performance if I find one.

The Cat Empire on Jay Leno TONIGHT!

Awesome, right? The Cat Empire, who we're reeeeally looking forward to having at GrassRoots this summer, are going to be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Mike Myers is also on the show, so... well... Party on! Excellent!

We're not sure what song they'll be performing, but I'm really hoping it's "Sly", because I'm pretty sure that song is about me. The first part of the lyrics go:

"With frizzy hair
Was a metaphor
Festival time
Then this woman
Is a goddess on that festival shrine"

Okay, yeah, I know that I've never met the Cat Empire or seen them in person, but frizzy hair and festival goddess? It's gotta be about me. Okay, maybe I'm not the only curly-haired festival attendee that ever existed, but a girl can dream, right?

In any case, their CD is called "Two Shoes" and we highly recommend it.

If you miss the Tonight Show, check back here; I bet there'll be a YouTube video of it which I'll try to post if I find it.

Band List Announced, Early Bird Ticket Sales Closed

Hey all!

Well, we've announced our band list (read it here) and we're (ahem) pretty darn proud of it, if we do say so ourselves. It's eclectic as all get-out, representing pretty close to every genre of music that exists. There's already good-natured in-fighting among the office staff, deciding who has to work during which band's festival set.

We've also closed our early bird ticket sales, which actually means that a nice "calm before the storm" period has set in (most people buy their tickets either before the EB deadline or well into the regular advance ticket pricing period); we're doing stuff like getting the program together, sending out press releases, coming up with radio ads, etc. These nice, low-stress tasks conveniently coincide with the first really solid streaks of warm weather and sunshine, so it works out well.

So, leave us a comment and tell us which bands you're most stoked to see!

State of the Union

Well, I didn't make it down to Shakori, and apparently the lack of the "Megan Bad Weather Karma" worked like a charm... it was sunny and mid-70s all weekend! Ain't no joke, folks... this is the best weather Shakori has ever had, and sunshine surely makes a difference. Apparently, nearly a Brazillion people showed up. This is lovely and wonderful and everything, but it of course means that unless I am able to change my weather karma, I'm never allowed to go to Shakori again. Any ideas on how I can do this? Burn sage and twirl? Please, folks, I need help... I really want to go back.

Planning for the Trumansburg festival is going well. We're a week and a couple of days away from the end of the Early Bird Deadline. We're also a week and a couple of days away from announcing the band list, which means that I am going to be very busy very soon, sending out press releases and making sure that you GrassRoots Blog readers are not the only ones who've heard of the festival.

While we can't tell you the names of any bands yet, if you dig around MySpace a little bit, you'll discover us on several different tour schedules. It's like a treasure hunt. What I can tell you, though, is that I like making lists of things, and this morning, I made a list of where our musicians are coming from this year. I'm not telling you names, but there will be 15 countries (5 continents!) represented among our performing artists. Also, thus far, people have purchased tickets from 28 states and 2 Canadian provinces. We love the idea that so many people from so many places converge upon TinyTown T-burg every summer, all coming together simply to have fun and make music. It's big. It's cool. It's really, really fun.

FYI, this blog is comment-able... feel free to leave one at any time.

Currently listening to: John Brown's Body - Pressure Points