photos by Graeme Flegenheimer

"It took Patricia Mudnich and Joshua Garcia two weeks, driving their RV about 3,100 miles in a winding route from Santa Cruz, Calif., to arrive at the Rothbury music festival in West Michigan.

Cool weather and a short wait in line after the campground opened Thursday morning didn't faze them in the least. The diehard fans of The String Cheese Incident -- the popular jam band which plays its only reunion show of the summer at the second-year festival Friday -- were all smiles.

"The lineup was so impressive, we could not turn it down," said Mudnich, 41, a high school English teacher who estimated the couple spent more than $2,100 on the long trip, including festival tickets, gasoline and side trips to tourist spots such as Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore. "I used to go to these festivals all the time, but now I can only fit it into the summer."

For devoted rock fans flocking this week to the remote Double JJ Ranch from far-flung places across the United States and beyond, Rothbury has become THE summer destination.

Drawing an estimated 30,000-plus people again this year, many of the festival's devotees have logged impressive road and air miles to see their favorite bands -- from The Dead to STS9 -- with clusters of enthusiastic, colorfully adorned fans making the journey from Vermont, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Colorado and all points between in everything from compact cars and pickups to dilapidated Volkwagen vans and old school buses." [Mlive.com]

Continue reading "pictures from the 2009 Rothbury Festival (NSFW)"

DOWNLOAD: 2020 Soundsystem - Sliding Away (Johnny D remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Moodymanc - Facing Forwards, Looking Backwards mix (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Viking - April Showers Bring May Flowers mix (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kid Cudi - Dat New New (Viking remix) (MP3)

Moderat @ MHOW (poejarker)

Last week in dance was by far, one of the best I've had this year. Things were off to a rocky start Friday night when APT's last minute closing left Disco 3000 temporarily homeless, before it was moved to Le Poisson Rouge. Unfortunately word didn't seem to get out fast enough, leaving very few disco revelers on LPR's dancefloor. Fortunately Disco 3000 will be back in just a few weeks (June 19) and Trus'me will be back deejaying here next weekend for what seems to be a dance party meets circus, And Everyone Laughed.

Back to last weekend...after a fairly tame Friday night, Saturday night was very busy. I started my evening by heading to Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Moderat. From there the plan was to head to Mr. Saturday Night (which was thankfully at a loft not too far away) to see Pilooski.

Unfortunately things did not go exactly as planned. Moderat were supposed to go on at 1. Modeselektor's shows usually clock in around an hour so I figured Moderat's would be similar and I might be a little late for Pilooski (who I heard was going on at 2). Moderat's show was about an hour...but it didn't start until 1:50! I had made the decision to attempt to go to both, fully aware that this might happen so I just crossed my fingers that Mr. Saturday Night was running behind and tried to enjoy Moderat.

continued below...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 1) (2020 Soundsystem, Moby, Chromeo, Moderat & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Ewan Pearson - Buzzin' Fly, August 22, 2008 (MP3)

XLR8R Issue 123 - Best of 2008

This past weekend, which I was really looking forward to, wound up being pretty lame dance-wise. Things started off okay at Webster Hall Friday night. D.I.M. began his set with some oldies but goodies from last year: Boys Noize - "Lava Lava", and the Chemical Brothers - "Salmon Dance" (Crookers Wow remix), then immediately launched into a three song burst of new stuff - MGMT - "Kids" (Soulwax remix), Tiga - "Mind Dimension", and Mr. Oizo - "Positif", which was entirely too short-lived as D.I.M.'s set quickly devolved into what could have unfortunately been a playlist titled "Best Electro of '07". Mostly good songs, just a year old. This can be fine, but nothing D.I.M. was doing was really grabbing my attention.

I started hoping Switch's set would blow me away and save the evening. Unfortunately that was not the case. Switch, apparently nowhere to be found, did not go on, and AC Slater who was scheduled to close out the night, filled in his place. At that point I was frustrated, cold (Webster wasn't too full at that point and was drafty), and having my ear talked off by some drunk a-hole about how great Switch was (after I informed him that it was D.I.M., NOT SWITCH), so I left.

Saturday I was so looking forward to seeing Green Velvet at Sullivan Room (after missing him the past 2 times he was here), but I got a cold and decided to stay in. Apparently he had the packed floor moving all night...

video of that and many upcoming events below....

Continue reading "the Thanksgiving week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Drop The Lime - Best of 2008, Ewan Pearson, FIXED, 19+ @ Studio B)"