Orange Blossom Jamboree this weekend!

Head on out to the Orange Blossom Jamboree this weekend outside Tampa, an intimate, family friendly  fest in a lovely location, the Sertoma Youth Ranch outside Brooksville. This venue has hot showers, bathrooms, and vendors. It's $45 advance and $60 at the gate, kids 12 and under are free. That price includes primitive camping. Water an electric sites are $40 more, and you can pile as many folks on your site as you can fit.

The lineup includes 3rd Stone, the funk/blues world beat group out of Gainesville, talented Dead cover band Crazy Fingers, Orlando jam band funkUs, Tampa jam band Cope, Saltwater Grass, and national up-and-comers, The Heavy Pets.  

Music cranks up at 11 am Friday and goes through 4 p.m. Sunday.

The fest website has a free 3 CD download for your listening pleasure -- nice!

The Earth Day Jam Happens This Weekend in Tally

Now this is going to be a good time for a good cause.

The Earth Day Jam hits the bucolic Bradfordville Blues Club on Saturday, April 9 with proceeds benefitting the Magnolia School.

Tickets are $30.00 at the gate, $20 advance. Kids under 12 are free.


You can go for the day or camp primitive overnight. Don't forget to bring a chair, and they don't want any coolers or pets there, so leave those at home. Libations and food will be sold on site, and there will be lots of environmental groups represented, as well as a solar stage, and free drinking water with biodegradable cups. The gate opens at noon.

Bluegrass pickers The Mosier Brothers headline. Other acts include the wonderful world-beat Gainesville band, 3rd Stone, The Sarah Mac Band, The Swingin Harpoon Blues Band, The Popheads, Trial By Stone, Stranger Still, The Silver Daggers, Eclectic Acoustic, Ital Stew, Bedhead Betty, Sharla June & The Mayhaws, The Wailin’ Wolves, TZ Jonz & The Ontological Elephants, The Electric Government Cheese Band, The Tallahassee Tuba & Euphonium Ensemble, with special after hours performances led by Two Foot Acoustic and renowned Tallahassee bluesman Big Daddy Randall Webster with Red Hot Java. You can check out the schedule here.


Here's what the promoter has to say:

The four Earth Day Jam festival stages are named for the classical elements of the old world: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Bring your camp chair or blanket and enjoy music on three outdoor stages, or slip into the blues roadhouse for a rousing indoor set. The EARTH STAGE will be positioned in an open, gently sloping field on the Blues Club grounds, creating a grassy natural outdoor amphitheater.  The Earth Stage is sponsored by The City of Tallahassee. The AIR STAGE will be positioned in another naturally sloping area under the ancient live oak trees that tower over the grounds.  The Air Stage is sponsored by Leon County "Growing Green". The WATER STAGE will be the famous "corner stage" inside the legendary Bradfordville Blues Club, "the badest little blues roadhouse south of Chicago and east of New Orleans".  The Water Stage is sponsored by The Bradfordville Blues Club. The FIRE STAGE is a pre-existing, permanent stage located on the grounds of the Bradfordville Blues Club beside their popular bonfire pit. The informal, "organic" nature of this stage promises to be one of the more intriguing aspects of the show, as several musicians from the day’s festivities (and other surprise guests) perform in an environment of spontaneous creativity and improvisation.  The Fire Stage is sponsored by J.B. Ritter Sound and Stagecraft.

Most outdoor music festivals sell bottled water, at inflated prices, and the empty bottles pile up! To eliminate the need for plastic bottles which clog our landfills and cause problems down the waste stream, ice cold water will be served FOR FREE at the Earth Day Jam. Buy your biodegradable cup for just one dollar and reuse it throughout the festival. The Earth Day Jam committee is also proud to announce the use of a SOLAR generator this year to power the outdoor stages, backed up by propane - which burns cleaner than diesel or gasoline, reducing the event’s carbon emissions. CELL PHONE AND PRINTER CARTRIDGE RECYCLING ON SITE! Bring your old cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players and toner cartridges to The Jam. Recycling bins will be available to keep your obsolete device out of our landfills and out of the Pacific Gyre.

Full Moon Fest Returns!

The Farm To Family Full Moon Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday outside Gainesville near Ginnie Springs. This little low-cost fest is sweet and filled with wonderful folks and great roots music.

This festival has been on a long hiatus due to complaints from neighbors of too many cars and commotion on their dirt road. So they moved it to 120 acres in Gilchrist County. Camping is primitive, no hook ups, but plenty of room for cars, vans, tents, and the RV's . . . there are three camping areas. Back Stage Camping, Remote Camping, and Drum Circle Camping.

In past shows, the promoter has set up couches under and open-sided tent so it's like a living room. This fest is family friendly and there's usually a big bonfire and drum circle. And, of course, it's under the full moon!


The excellent, steppy Gainesville world music band 3rd Stone headlines Saturday night. Tickets are a mere $23 for the weekend, $12 for a day pass. Gates open at 11 a.m. and show starts at 2 p.m. Saturday and goes through Sunday at 6 p.m. A nice, chill way to spend a gorgeous fall weekend.

Orange Blossom Jamboree This Weekend!

The Orange Blossom Jamboree debuts this weekend at Sertoma Youth Ranch in Brooksville, you can see my previous post on this little fest, which takes place at a  fantastic small venue with a creek running through it, shade, and really nice bathrooms.  It's the same place they hold the excellent fest Riverhawk.

I love the Gainesville Funk-Afro-beat band 3rd Stone that will be playing there, also FunkUs out of Orlando is a lot of fun. It's only $30 for the weekend, which includes primitive camping! You can't beat that with a stick, y'all.

Four Good Shows in Tallahassee This Weekend

Grayton Beach's Newgrass pickers Dread Clampitt play at the new Stinky's Fish Camp on Highway 90, which is located in a strip mall east of Capital Circle that used to house the Tallahassee Car Museum (how Floridian is that, directions based on what USED to be there -- a truism my friend noticed is that every direction given in the South includes "where the Winn Dixie used to be")

Anyway, Stinky's is at 6725 Mahan Drive, in the old site of the Rose and Thorn pub. Show starts at 9 or 10.Dread Clampiptt will be playing next month at Suwannee Springfest in Live Oak.

Gainesville Afro-beat awesome band 3rd Stone plays at The Engine Room Saturday night as well.These guys  play Bear Creek Music and Art Festival and the Farm to Family Full Moon festivals outside Gainesville. You can get a taste of their sound at their website. 

Folk-rock experimental  band Akron/Family, with its soaring harmonies and otherworldly sound, plays at  9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Club Downunder, in the FSU Student Union. Warpaint opens. Tickets are $12 general public and free for FSU students with valid ID. For more, visit http://unionproductions.org/


Finally, reggae supergroup John Brown's Body plays the Engine Room Sunday night, doors open at 9. The bill also includes Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad and Tomorrow's Bad Seeds. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 day of show.

New Fest on Spring Lineup

Fabulous Afrobeat Funkateers 3rd Stone, above, will play.

Hey folks, check out the Orange Blossom Jamboree, May 21-23 at the gorgeous Sertoma Youth Ranch in Brooksville (home of Riverhawk and String Break)

Looks like a great lineup with Gainesville-based 3rd Stone, Orlando's Funk Us (both bands have new CDs out, BTW), and the excellent Dead cover band, Crazy Fingers, among others.

This is a really nice park to camp at, with lots of bathrooms and showers, a pretty lake and a pretty creek running through it. It's also a small venue, very intimate, festgrrl recommended!

FULL MOON FEST!

What a nice Labor Day weekend treat! For just $20, 3 days of world beat, ska, jam, funk, and steppy bluegrass at the Farm To Family Full Moon Fest. This month it has a new location at the Lion's Club Music Park in the lovely old town of High Springs. African jams tonight, Friday, bands from noon-10:30 Sat., and noon to late night Sunday.

This is a bargain! And though festgrrl isn't so excited about this part, they will have big screen TVs to watch the Gators play... whoever they play.

But the music will be fine! Burnin' Smyrnans on Sunday night not to be missed. I'd describe them as a Klesmer punk band and they are definitely high energy and a lot of fun. Also, Boss Lady's funky reggae grooves are bound to please. 3rd Stone is an enormously talented reggae-ish band that shouldn't be missed. I also really like Brian Smalley, a singer-songwriter who will kick things off Sat. at noon.

This is a family-friendly event. Usually there are one or two food vendors and some excellent hippie wares to buy. People are super chill, and Don sets up a tent facing the stage to keep folks out of the sun. Just a lovely group, lovely tunes, and a beautiful weekend to enjoy it!

If you get too hot, you can always head over to the nearby Poe Springs and dip yourself in the Florida's cold, cobalt heart.

On the Road Again!

Heading out today to the Mossyheadz fest outside North Florida's DeFuniak Springs. I was disappointed to learn that Dread Clampitt won't be playing as usual, but I am going to tough it out in the wilds of Walton County anyway! Lots of bands I have never heard of, so that should be fun. Looking forward to the Burnin' Smyrnins, Ralph Roddenberry ( I just leanred he's Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's nephew, who knew? All I know is he ROCKS it), Rebecca Jean Smith, Dubconscious, and the excellent band 3rd stone which I wrote about in my last post from the Farm to Family Full Moon fest last weekend. Promoter promises two surprise guests. Wonder who they are??

It's gonna be hot, but there's a spring a short drive away, aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh....

UPDATE: I went, the spring was closed. Boo hiss. The fest site was super super hot, camping was a quarter mile away from the stage. Why????????? I left and stayed at my friend's place on the beach, which was lovely. I later heard bands had to be cancelled on Sunday (which was best lineup) due to poor attendance.

A Lovely Time at Full Moon Fest

The weekend crowd at the Farm to Family Full Moon Fest was pretty small, but the bands were smokin' and the vibe was sweet. It was HOT out there, y'all. Thanks to Don and the organizers for the misters and the generous shade tent.

Standout performances came from 3rd Stone, with fat and funky reggae grooves and killer vocals; The Duppies, kick-ass ska band that that got the crowd up and moving under the glorious moon, and Boss Lady and The Company,whith Boss Lady's strong and heartfelt vocals. The Glass Camels and Crazy Fingers laid it down with two super solid Dead sets late night on Friday and Saturday. Festgrrl also has to prop her fave band, who raged it as usual, Dread Clampitt

I am also loving the little acoustic duo The Bandits!

This was an inaugural show for the Farm to Family folks OFF their usual location, and it was an expanded three-day fest. Since turnout was kind of low, they cut things short on Sunday and asked people for donations to help pay the bands.

I kind of missed the smaller venue, to be honest. Next month it's back to the old farmstead, I'll post the date when I get it.