First Fests for 2014 - Florida's The Place

Husband and wife Grammy winners Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks' band headlines
the Sunshine Music and Blues Festival 

In Florida, we don't wait for no stinkin' spring to start our festing engines. We clean up the New Year's refuse and get back in the jamming saddle.

This month's best bets are the Sunshine Music and Blues Festival  -- a day-long event that happens twice -- January 18 in Boca Raton and  January 19 in  St Petersburg.

This is the second year for this fest, which is headlined by the excellent Grammy-award winning Tedeschi Trucks Band  Also on the bill for this year:  JJ GREY: GALACTIC; LEON RUSSELL; ACOUSTIC HOT TUNA, STANLEY CLARKE; THE RINGERS FEATURING JIMMY HERRING; TAB BENOIT( Boca Raton show only); BOBBY LEE ROGERS;and OLI BROWN.

In the Panhandle, singer songwriters are getting ready to converge at the 30A Songwriter's Festival Jan. 17-19, during which 150 songwriters hold more than 200 performances in 25 different bars and restaurant venues along Scenic Highway 30A in gorgeous Walton County (the little towns of Seaside, Rosemary Beach, etc. between Fort Walton Beach and Panama City.) The level of talent at this fest is top-notch, with truckloads of Nashville professional songwriters heading South to Florida to showcase tunes. It's $180 for a ticket that will get you in to all the performances.

Headliners include Richard Thompson, Ani Defranco, Kristian Bush (Sugarland,) Loudon Wainwright III, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Shawn Mullins, Tinsley Ellis, and more.

Richard Thompson

Be aware this fest is pricey; It's pricey to stay anywhere around there (except camping at Grayton Beach State Park,) and you have to buy food and drinks at swanky venues. The good news is the food is very, very good in this part of the world, and the scenery is divine. I have seen some jaw-dropping performances at the 30A Songwriters Festival, and I am not ashamed to say I cried a couple times at the poignancy of homemade, heartfelt songs! 

In February, head down to Miami to dance your ass off and camp by the sea for the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival, which has a killer lineup of roots and world beat bands, and a decent ticket price as well. Check the link above for my previous post with info about that little gem, now in its second year.  

Ahhhhh....Virginia Key

Holiday Festing in Florida Just Around the Corner

The excellent band, Cope, will headline

Just a reminder that you don't have to spend the holidays without your fest family... You can head to the Home Town New Year's Rally  December 26-29 at Maddox Ranch outside Lakeland, Fla. You can get all the details in my previous post. This promises to be a great escape with good tunes and wonderful peeps!

Maddox Ranch

Next Month: The Sunshine Music and Blues Festival

Tedeschi Trucks Band Headlines

Tickets are still available for the The Sunshine Music and Blues Festival, a traveling  fest which happens in two cities next month  -- January 18 at Boca Raton, Florida's Mizner Park and and January 19th in St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park.  General admission tickets are $49.50 and special Reserved tickets are available for $99.50.

This is the second year for this fest, which is headlined by the excellent Grammy-award winning Tedeschi Trucks Band  Also on the bill for this year:  JJ GREY: GALACTIC; LEON RUSSELL; ACOUSTIC HOT TUNA, STANLEY CLARKE; THE RINGERS FEATURING JIMMY HERRING; TAB BENOIT( Boca Raton show only); BOBBY LEE ROGERS;and OLI BROWN.

Each fest starts at noon, and will have food and beer vendors for your enjoyment.

Now, wouldn't a ticket to this make an excellent holiday gift?

Virginia Key Grassroots Festival This Weekend in Miami

John Brown's Body will play

Tickets are still available for the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival in Miami this weekend -- Feb. 20-24 for just $100. (Camping is extra, check the website for more details.)

This little camping fest on a beachy park just outside Miami is hosted by jam-Cajun-roots rockers Donna The Buffalo.   There are day tickets available as well.

The lineup is eclectic and multicultural slate of  40 bands from South Florida, Africa, Colombia, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, and California.

The promoters say:  'The festival will feature a mix of Roots Rock, Reggae, Latin, Zydeco, Bluegrass and Electronica... Plus: Yoga, Tai Chi, Zen Meditation, Tensegrity Practice, Tea Ceremonies and great wholesome foods. Also, there will be a volunteer project to build a community structure to enhance The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park."

Virginia Key Beach Park

Here's a look at some of the bands who will be playing this fest:

• * The Del McCoury Band
• * Donna The Buffalo
• * ChocQuibTown
• * Oliver Mtukudzi & The Black Spirits
• * Toubab Krewe
• * MC Yogi
• * Monsieur Periné
• * Spam Allstars
• * John Brown’s Body
• * Suénalo
• * Driftwood
• * Elastic Bond
• * Keith Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band
• * Locos Por Juana
• * Uproot Hootenanny

And here's a swanky little preview video from the fest's promoters:

Alabama Shakes in St Augustine Saturday -- Tickets Available

Heads up: Tickets are still available for the Alabama Shakes show at St. Augustine Ampitheater on Saturday, Dec. 7. This band is truly worth seeing. Here's the link for tickets, which range from $26.50 to $36.50. The show is all ages and it starts early -- at 7:30 p.m.

Wanee Festival Early Bird Ticket Sale

So, who all is playing Wanee Festival April 10-12? We don't know yet. But early bird tickets go on sale for this Allman Brothers-hosted festival  this week, on Thursday, Dec. 5, just in time for holiday gift giving.

The early bird ticket sale lasts a week -- starting at 10 a.m. on the 5th and ending at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12. The Early Bird Weekend tickets, which include primitive camping at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fla., are $175 plus fees (not sure how much the fees are at this point.)

This is Wanee's 10th year, and with the wide variety of music in past years as a guide,  I can pretty much guarantee you'll like who is playing. Be aware, this is a big festival -- much bigger than, say Magnolia fest or Bear Creek, so plan accordingly.

Festing For The Holidays: Home Town Rally

The very fine jamband, Cope

A group of super-fun Central Florida musicians are kicking off the new year right with a little down-home fest called the Home Team New Year's Rally  December 26-29 at Maddox Ranch outside Lakeland. This will be a lovely time with kind folks.

Tickets are $65 advanced, $80 at the gate. The bands playing are:

The Applebutter Express, COPE, Green Sunshine, High Cotton, Funky Seeds, Uncle Johns Band, Come Back Alice, Between Bluffs, Juanjamon Band, Honey Henny Lime, Holey Miss Moley, Shoeless Soul, Displace, Free Range Roosters, Charlie Dandilion, Savi Fernandez, The Stick Martin Show, BlessEd, Seratonic, Sunset Bridge, Legacy, Ghost Country Revival, Alex Foster, John Clark Band, Jeff Caruth and Btru, Josh We Know, Ramble Grass, Jeremy Willis, Brass Legacy, and an ALLSTAR Jam Sunday night!

Many of these bands are part of the excellent Orange Blossom Jamboree which happens in May at the Sertoma Youth Ranch in Brooksville, outside Tampa. 

Comeback Alice

Here's more about the Home Team New Year's Rally  from the promoters:

If you’re unable to make it for the entire weekend, Saturday/Sunday (2 day) tickets can be purchased at the gate for $60. And Sunday will be the only day we offer a day pass at $30. Also, camping until Monday is allowed, because Sunday will be just as funktastic as every other day! Primitive camping is included with the tickets purchase.

Maddox Ranch

• On that note…this is a KID FRIENDLY event, and children 12 and under get in FREE! Kids 17 and under MUST be accompanied by a parent or guardian.**
• Since this event is not ACTUALLY on New Year’s Eve, we’ll have a mock New Years celebration on Saturday night, count down and all!! It’s so fun to do what we want, honestly though.
• **VERY IMPORTANT** NO DOGS ALLOWED. The wonderful people at Maddox Ranch are kind enough to allow us to host our event on their property, and we respectfully oblige to their few requests. Thank you in advance for understanding and obeying
• No electricity is provided, but generators are welcome!
• RV’s and campers are allowed
• Designated parking areas will be scattered throughout the property to allow you to park near your campsite, just not on top of it…you know, for space and camp fung shui reasons.
• Raised or confined fire pits ONLY! Firewood will be available for purchase on site at the event.
• Port-o-potties provided, as well as outdoor showers.
• NO FIREWORKS! We wanna melt the place down with the our music, not our pyrotechnics, that being said, fire hoopers and fire poi’s welcome-cause that’s just really cool to watch.

Bear Creek Music & Art Festival Once Again Tops The Fest Charts

The photo festgrrl came to take -- It's Bootsy Baby!

What a weekend! True to form, the bacchanalia that is Bear Creek Music & Art Festival brought some of the finest in funk music to our little corner of the North Florida woods Nov. 14-16, plus world-beat, hip hop (The Roots headlined the packed ampitheater Saturday night,) and electronica. Bear Creek was studded with many one-of-a-kind collaborations, which have have become a welcome hallmark of this most excellent music festival.

Ian Neville rages the Sunday Dumpstaphunk show

A ridiculous panoply of funk talent was on display at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fl.:




 Boston power instrumental funk band Lettuce; Connecticut's blow-your-mind funk/jazz improv masters Kung Fu; The New Mastersounds, bringing their sound to us all the way from England; one-man band soul man Zach Deputy, who put a stage together on a borrowed trailer by the cypress lake and rocked a late-night pop-up show until the park shut it down; San Francisco's psychedelic soul-funksters Monophonics, Boulder, Colorado's hellaciously danceable The Motet;  and a welcome parade of New Orleans' powerhouses:  Galactic,  Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, George Porter Jr. and the Runnin' Pardners, and new NOLA supergroup, The Nth Power.

For funkateers, the star of the hour, with his star-shaped guitar, was, of course, the great Bootsy Collins and his awesome Funk Unity Band.  So, if you don’t like Bootsy Collins, I’m sorry, but I’m just never going to understand you.Those glitter suits! That star-shaped guitar! Those GLASSES!

Life is for living, and Bootsy – who used to be known in his younger days for wearing nothing but a diaper onstage when he thwacked the bass with Parliament Funkadelic – is LIVING.

I was beside myself waiting for Bootsy to take the stage. But first, his giant crew of singers and players came on wearing… ASTRONAUT SUITS! Yes!

They stood at attention while everyone waited for Bootsy to appear...

And then he and his funkateers gave a convivial funk performance befitting his status as a Funk Elder to us all, including Vegas-style hot dancing girls, a graphic, sexy-time sl-o-o-o-w song, and Bootsy making a dramatic foray right through the parted crowd ("So you can TOUCH Bootsy!") Ridiculous and fantastic.

As is often the case, festgrrl got the opportunity to see some bands which were new to her, and that was a blast. Particularly The Resolvers, a 10-piece powerhouse reggae band out of Miami. This show, on the campground stage Saturday afternoon, was one I was very, very happy I did not miss.

Just check out these pics:

Mayhem

Conga line

Dance contest

I had never seen New Orleans' entertaining and unusual Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes before, and wow they had style and killer chops. Their quirky cover of Tina Turner's 'What's Love Got to Do With It" was a crowd favorite.

Cool electric cello - Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes

Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes

 Latin funk band Brownout from Austin, Texas turned in two very impressive sets. I liked them so much the first time, I went to see them again.

Brownout on the Purple Hat stage

Brownout's Aaron Johnson

The show by Brooklyn afrobeat band Antibalas was widely cited by Bear Creekers as one of the best shows of the weekend. With 11 people working hard on that colorful stage, Antibalas absolutely killed it with a mesmerizing, high-energy show. The band follows the tradition of Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, they did Kuti proud -- and then some.

Antibalas horns

MVP badges for sit-ins ought to go out to trumpeter/vocalist Jennifer Hartswick, guitarist Nick Cassarino, lap-steelman Roosevelt Collier, keyboardist Bernie Worrell and bass legend George Porter, Jr.

Jennifer Hartswick

Roosevelt Collier jams with Latin funk band Suenalo

Funk pioneer George Porter, Jr. (The Meters) sat in all over the place

Nick Cassarino

Former Ohio Players trumpeter Ron Haynes brought his band The Gamechangers from Chicago for their first-ever gig at Bear Creek. I mean their first time playing in public as a band at all. Very, very impressive funky jazz.

Haynes told the crowd that, like most first-time Bear Creekers, he hoped to be back next year.

Ron, we hear you on that! Bear Creek next year!

Ron Haynes And The Gamechangers

Look! Are You One of These Cool People of Bear Creek?

One of the reasons festgrrl loves Bear Creek Music & Art Festival so much is that it's full of extraordinarily enthusiastic festers, who fill Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fl. with spectacle after spectacle. Gathering together, dancing, putting on regalia -- it's one of the oldest facets of tribal community and it makes us FEEL GOOD.

Check out these lovelies from the just-finished Bear Creek 2013 -- which, as you will see,  included a Purple Day.

Are you in here?