Early Bird Tickets and Onsite Camping go on Sale Feb. 14

Feb. 14 falls on a Saturday this year, but since we've ALWAYS put tickets on sale on Cupid Day, we didn't want to mess with anyone's calendar. Early bird tickets will be available online, over the phone, or at one of our ticket outlets (see the Tickets page on our website - we'll have outlets listed there soon, they'll mostly be the same as last year). Camping and youth tickets are only available online or over the phone.



If you're in or near Ithaca, remember that our last State Theatre show of the season is coming up: The Flatlanders are coming to town on April 3. The Flatlanders are Butch Hancock, Joe Ely, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Some of you GrassRoots veterans will remember Jimmie Dale Gilmore's incredible performance from several years back - we're still talking about it. Butch Hancock and Joe Ely are just as amazing, and all together... well, let's just say it ain't no joke. We'll see you there!

Currently Listening: The Flatlanders - 'More a Legend Than a Band'

Currently Watching: The Big Lebowski (Jimmie Dale Gilmore plays Smokey in this movie)

Post-Festival Housekeeping: Trumansburg Fair, State Theatre, and more!

The festival afterglow is starting to fade, and here in the GrassRoots office, we're starting to get very excited for some of our late-summer plans, as well as some of the fun stuff we've got going this winter.

TRUMANSBURG FAIR MUSIC NIGHT - August 21

Keeping up with our favorite new tradition, this year will mark the second annual incarnation of the Ithaca music extravaganza at the Trumansburg Fair. It'll involve a slew of your favorite local musicians - Jeb Puryear, Tara Nevins, Sim Redmond, Hank Roberts, Crow Greenspun, Richie Stearns, Johnny Dowd, Kevin Kinsella, Mary Lorson, J-San, Trevor MacDonald, Rising Sun and E-Rich, and too many more to be named. It's going to be AWESOME, and the best part? It's free! You have to pay admission to the fair itself (which is a very affordable $4 and includes parking), but otherwise, it's a gift to the community from GrassRoots and these exceptional musicians. We'll see you there!

STATE THEATRE SERIES - Beginning Sept. 11

Kicking off this year's GrassRoots at the State Theatre will be an evening with Steve Earle and Allison Moorer. Those names speak for themselves, I think, and we're beside ourselves with excitement.

Also in the series will be Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings on November 1, and The Flatlanders on April 1 of next year. This series was ludicrously fun for us last year, and we can't wait for them to start this year. Well, we actually can wait, because once it's State time, that means that summer is over. But at least these shows will be a great balm for the end of my favorite season.

And now, for some happy memories...

My personal favorite memory of the festival is as follows:

It's about 7:00 am on Sunday morning. I'm still awake, having zydeco danced until dawn. A group of musicians and festival staffers and friends find ourselves some pizza and perch ourselves on a pair of golf carts, gossiping and teasing each other about our various states of late-festival disarray. Suddenly, I hear what sounds like a gang war happening on the infield. It was very loud yelling, coming from two groups that were obviously opposing each other in some way. I kicked the masses off of my golf cart, and headed over to check out the scene and make sure things were okay. What did I discover? A large-scale kickball game! KICKBALL! If I hadn't been wearing flip-flops, I would've SO joined in. I love kickball. And what a wholesome, non-destructive way to burn off excessive alcohol before bedtime (actually, I had a feeling that about 50% of the players were still up, and the other 50% were the early-to-bed, early-to-rise types who had just woken up). Next year, I'm definitely campaigning for more kickball at GrassRoots. It's just awesome.

... and for those of you who need a slightly more visual experience to kick-start your memory, check out some of these videos:

GRASSROOTS COMPOSTING EFFORTS:



A NICE VIDEO FROM OLIVIER CONRARDY, A BELGIAN FILMMAKER:


Online Videos by Veoh.com

... and there are many more. And now it's your turn! What is your favorite memory of GrassRoots 2008? Leave a comment and let us know!

GrassRoots and State Theatre Announce Season Lineup!

Ithaca's Historic State Theatre is one of our oldest and bestest friends. Seriously. GrassRoots actually started in 1990 as a benefit concert at the State, featuring Donna the Buffalo, The Horse Flies, and Neon Baptist. It was a benefit for AIDSWork, a local charity who provided support and education about HIV/AIDS. They raised around $10,000 that night, and thought a festival might be the next logical step. We stayed friends, and in the late '90s, when the State was condemned and about to be torn down, we made them one of our charitable partners, and put lots of money toward restoring it. We still stayed friends, and did an occasional GrassRoots-presented show here and there.

However, last year, we had the pleasure of co-promoting our first actual concert series with the State. We had a blast, sold enough tickets to keep ourselves encouraged, made lots of new friends, had lots of chatter and backstage beers with old ones - all in all, a rousing success. It was a given that we had to do it again this year, so we're very excited to announce the first three shows of our co-promoted season. They're reeeeally good ones, too.

On September 11, GrassRoots and the State will present the first musical show of the season, Steve Earle. Steve is saucy, political, hard-driving and obscenely talented. We can't wait to hear what he has to say or what he has to play. Joining him on the bill will be his lovely and talented wife, Allison Moorer, who is no slouch either - she's a Grammy nominated singer-songwriter who has an awesome new album called Mockingbird which you should run out and buy this very second.

Next up is Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who'll be performing on November 1. The Dap-Kings are basically the best band in the world. Basically. Even if you haven't heard the name, you've probably heard their funk/blues stylings - they're the backing band on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, but they're even better when they're out there with Sharon Jones. Sharon has a crazy story. She was turned away by record labels when she was a teenager because she didn't have the right "look". So she went on with her life, working "regular" jobs (if you call being a prison guard at Riker's Island regular), until she received a career break in 1996 and began recording. Her breakthrough record was 2007's 100 Days, 100 Nights, which is receiving major radio airplay throughout the country as we speak. Also, they're playing this summer at Bonnaroo and Aspen Jazz and Roskilde and Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Festival and on the Conan O'Brien Show and... you get the idea. Basically, if you haven't heard this group yet, you're about to and, unless you have no soul, you're gonna love them!

And in the early spring (April 3), The Flatlanders will be rocking the house. The Flatlanders are Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, and they (no joke) invented "alternative country" as we know it. Jimmie Dale has actually played GrassRoots before, but it was awhile ago (1995 - I didn't even have all of my molars yet), but this is the first time he's been back through since then. Also (I wasn't supposed to mention this), he played Smokey, the "fragile" pacifist in The Big Lebowski, so I assure you that I will be insufferably quoting that movie up until the minute that show starts, because it's one of my favorites EVER! "Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey." "Obviously, you're not a golfer." "That rug really tied the room together." "No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There's nothing to be afraid of." I CAN'T STOP! So anyway. These three guys are total legends, and the show is going to be amazing.

We'll also likely add one more show to the series as the season goes on, but we're feeling pretty darn good about this lineup so far! Subscription ticket sales for the State go on sale on June 9, and individual ticket sales start on July 14 (which will be a busy week!), so write it on your calendar, and git yer GrassRoots on all year 'round! And while you're sitting there, just imagining the good times we're gonna have this summer, why not check out the State Theatre Lineup for the season... they'll add more shows as time goes on, but it's already incredible - aside from our shows, they've got Citizen Cope, Andrew Bird, David Crosby and Graham Nash, The Soweto Gospel Choir, and all sorts of other awesome stuff. It's an amazing place, and it's where we spend a great deal of time during the winter months. We're proud to be their friends!