Fest Season is Heating Up

Actually, festgrrl is hoping it is cooling DOWN. She's about worn out from dancing in the 90-degree-plus heat.

Many, many music festivals are on the books for the next few months here in the southeast, and I will be running them down as we move along through fall.

My wallet is digging the free fest coming up in a few weeks, the Po Jo Festival  Sept. 16 &17 in downtown Port St. Joe, in Florida's panhandle. Danceable New Orleans Honey Island Swamp  Band  headlines Friday and    ALO (Animal Lienberation Orchestra) out of California, headlines Saturday. Bob Schnieder also plays Saturday.

ALO is a jazzy-jammy band hardly ever makes it to our neck of the woods, so I'm definitely hustling to the sleepy burg of Port St. Joe to check them out. No camping there, but there are a bunch of motels. Here's a great ALO song (sorry the video is nothing, but the song is great!)

Langerado Advanced Tickets On Sale

Advance tickets -- at $150 for 2 days and $75 for one day -- are now on sale for the Langerado festival, which returns to the South Florida scene October 8 & 9 in Markham Park in Sunrise, Fl. This year they are offering free camping, but spots are limited so you need to get on that as soon as you can.

Wierdly, all the music ends at 10 p.m. The lineup includes Death Cab for Cutie, Trey Anastasio Band, Ben Harper, Thievery Corporation, Ween, Arctic Monkeys, G. Love & Special Sauce, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wolfgang Gartner, Etienne De Crecy, the Glitch Mob, Ghostland Observatory, Das Racist, Portugal. The Man, Friendly Fires, Childish Gambino, Smith Westerns, Super Mash Bros., Conspirator, Savoy, Mates of State, the Whigs, Yuck, Metropolis, Keys N Krates, Two Fresh, RAC DJs, Lance Herbstrong, HOTTUB, Bobby Lee Rogers, the Heavy Pets, Nicos Gun, a Million Pieces, Nic Cowan, Bear Cub, K. Flay, Rachel Goodrich, and the Kingston Springs.

The Broward-Palm Beach New Times has a nice "Langerado Survival Guide," with hotlinks to help you decide where you want to stay, etc. This is a big fest in a pretty populated area, so pre-planning now is a really good idea.

Elvis Costello Tours Florida in September

New Wave pioneer Elvis Costello is playing four Florida shows in September -- Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Sept. 17, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Sept. 18, Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando on Sept. 19, and the Florida Theater in Jacksonville on Sept. 21. He'll do a show at Atlanta's Chastain Park on Sept. 24.

Costello continues to be one of the most innovative performers around, a musician's musician who has spread art and tunes around the globe. On this tour, he's bringing along "The Wheel" a roulette game which has songs and themes. Folks from the audience are chosen to spin the wheel, then Costello and his band The Imposters will play the random song or a series of songs which correspond to a theme. Costello pioneered this fun live approach back in the 1980s. Here's a blast from that past to start your week out right:

Jambando This Weekend, Seaside Next

I am heading out to Jambando in the Park II this weekend for some swimming, laughing, dancing and camping along the Suwannee River.

I wanted to give folks a heads up about an event next weekend. Little-known (but incredibly talented) New York singer-songwriter Pat Hull joins his friend, former Panhandle resident, Corey Copeland and cool indie duo, The Smoking Flowers, for Corey Copeland's album release. The event happens at the intimate Seaside Repertory Theater in Seaside, Fla. The show is Sunday, September 4, at 7:30 pm. and tickets are $20. Hull's latest release, Light,is a soaring, ethereal work that I just can't stop listening to.

Here's Hull and Copeland playing at last year's 30A Songwriters Festival:



And here's Hull the year before with a song that blew my mind!

String Cheese Tickets On Sale Tomorrow

Jazzy jammers String Cheese Incident are touring for the first time in years, and two Southern shows are on the bill -- one Nov. 26 at the fantastic historic Fox Theater in Atlanta and one Nov. 27 in the newly reopened Georgia Theater in Athens, Ga. Nice! Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Here's the full tour:

November 25, 2011 Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Asheville, NC
November 26, 2011 Fox Theatre Atlanta, GA
November 27, 2011 Georgia Theatre Athens, GA
November 28, 2011 Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN
November 30, 2011 Lyric Opera House Baltimore, MD
December 1, 2011 Tower Theatre Upper Darby, PA
December 2, 2011 The United Palace New York, NY
December 3, 2011 The United Palace New York, NY
December 4, 2011 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA

The Legendary JC's Break It Down

The Legendary JC's (stands for Joint Chiefs)are a great Orlando-based soul-funk band playing this weekend at Jambando in the Park II at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fl. Lead singer Eugene Snowden is fantastic, and he can rock the James Brown good-foot dance and the get-down split on stage! Here they perform at Bear Creek Music And Art Festival for your listening pleasure

Some Cope to Help you Cope with Monday

Here's a little Cope, the great funky jam band band out of Tampa, to start your week out right. Cope plays Saturday night at Jambando in the Park II at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. Some people have been asking me about this little gem of a fest, and I say it is a not-to-be-missed weekend of bands and swimming and jamming for just $30 advanced! There will be bands playing at the Suwannee river beach on both Saturday and Sunday during the hottest parts of the day.

Electric sites are only $25 for this event, so you can plug in your box fans and microwave ovens!