Great Outdoors Jam for Your Holiday Weekend!

Maddox Ranch

The Central Florida jam scene is a beautiful thing, with kind folks and a stable of  creative and diverse musicians who like to get together and rage it.

This weekend (July 3-5,) the Great Outdoors Jam, a campout fest, happens at Maddox Ranch in Lakeland with Cope, Big Something, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, The Fritz, Come Back Alice, Applebutter Express, Savi Fernandez Band, Post Pluto, Jahman Brahman,  Holey Miss Moley, and more. You can see the lineup here.

Tickets (which include primitive camping) are $80 at the gate for the weekend. There's a Thursday pre-party for $20, and you can buy a ticket for that at the gate. Some info: Vendors will be onsite with food and drink. No dogs allowed. RVs and campers are allowed, but there is no onsite electricity so you will need a generator to run your rig.

This Weekend's Getaway: Roosevelt Collier Music Fest On the Suwannee

Happy place - the beach at Spirit of the Suwannee. festgrrl photo.

Lap-steel guitar player Roosevelt Collier, of the hard-charging South Florida sacred steel band The Lee Boys, kicks off the first of a new camping and music series at  Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fl June 26-27.  

Stages will be going at the Suwannee River beach during the day and at the courtyard outside the Music Hall at night. Swim a little, dance a little, repeat.

Collier, a festival stalwart who has sat in with everyone from the Allman Brothers to The Funky Meters, Dumpstaphunk, and Yonder Mountain String Band, will play both nights with his Trio. A roster of regional bands will fill out the stages the rest of the weekend:  Flat Land, Groove Orient, Squeedlepuss, Post Pluto, Vlad the Inhaler, Dambella, Matthew Connor, Lai-Mal, Charlie Hustle, amd Trictops 1.

This fest is a bargain for a weekend in paradise and a great chance to hang at the park when it is uncrowded.

Weekend tickets, which include primitive camping, are only $30 advanced and $40 at the gate, Single-day tickets, which don't include camping, are $10.

You can snag an air conditioned cabin with a rental golf cart for $256 for the weekend, Sweet!

You can get tickets here

Wow, Jam in the Sand Looks NICE

What a thing to save up for seven months from now:  Dark Star Orchestra's  Jam in the Sand with  Peter Rowan's Bluegrass Band and Steve Kimock's tribute to Jerry Garcia, featuring Jeff Chimenti, Jay Lane, Reed Mathis and Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz.

It happens at the all-inclusive Jewel Paradise Cove Resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, January 19-23, 2016. Music happens at night (Dark Star plays two sets for three nights,) and your days are free for beaching it.

Tickets go on sale Monday, Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. Eastern

Bonnarooooooooooooo

Matt Shultz of Cage the Elephant at last year's Bonnaroo. FilmMagic photo.

The biggest fest in the Southeast kicks off this week, I'm talking, of course, about Bonnaroo, the 80,000-fester-strong musical gathering in the boondocks that is Manchester, Tennessee. Tickets are still available, and general 4-day admission (Thursday-Sunday)  is $357.25 (that includes fees.)

This year's headliners include Billy Joel, Mumford & Sons,Deadmau5, Kendrick Lamar, Florence and the Machine, Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, My Morning Jacket, Bassnectar, Earth Wind & Fire, and the Alabama Shakes.The full lineup  is here.

The crowd goes on forever!

With over 125 bands, plus movies and a comedy club, it's a busy place. Rolling Stone magazine has an excellent Bonnaroo music guide, organized by whatever genre you like.  And the must-read document about the culture of Bonaroo is this indispensable alternative insider's guide. 

It's a pop-up city, y'all

If you aren't up for the challenge of a giant field in Tennessee in June, you can watch many of the performances from the comfort of your couch. Bonnaroo in the past has always had an above-average webcast, with cameras all over the stage. Concert giant Live Nation bought a stake in Bonaroo last spring, so this is the first time the mega-company is involved. Not sure if any changes will be happening.. The webcast is here.

One of the most intriguing acts of the weekend will be the Superjam, happening Saturday night/Sunday morning, starting at  1 a.m. -- check out the lineup below -- NICE!: