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High Sierra Music Festival Announces Inital Lineup!
Mike McKinley
March 13, 2009
State of Mind rolled out west last year for our first experience at the wonderful, wonderful High Sierra Music Festival, and it was amazing. We felt the same way Amy Fischer, our good friend and fellow Northeasterner, did about her first High Sierra: "I was the shadiest person there." Check out our photos and review from last year.

July 2-5, 2009 will mark the festival's 19th anniversary, and they've just announced the initial lineup through this cool video. Looks like another stellar year…


Friday Stuff - Allman Brothers‚ GOTV line-up...
Mike McKinley
March 13, 2009
First‚ holy shit… it's been a week since Phish returned to the stage at Hampton. Yeah‚ they're back: fiery and inspired. This summer is going to be fun.

After such an incredible weekend‚ Trey and Page are keeping busy. Both of them sat in last night as part of the Allman Brothers Band 40th Anniversary celebration run at the Beacon. Hidden Track has more on that. Be sure to check out Doug Collette's conversation with Derek Trucks -- I was especially intrigued with his experience playing with Eric Clapton. Speaking of Clapton - what are the chances we'll see him make an appearance at the Beacon? Final night? Gotta love the rumor mill.

The Gathering of the Vibes in comical-technical-difficulties fashion did a webcast last night to announce this year's line-up. The big news is that moe. is back to headline Friday night. It's their first time playing the Vibes since 2000. To celebrate‚ they did a webcast of moe.'s set from 1999. And yes‚ it was a reminder that we're getting older… and better! Al Schnier‚ to no surprise‚ asked people to pick up some trash on their way out.

Here's the initial lineup: moe.‚ Bob Weir & Ratdog‚ Buddy Guy‚ Levon Helm Band‚ State Radio‚ George Clinton & P-Funk‚ Dark Star Orchestra‚ Keller Williams & MDS‚ Assembly of Dust‚ Strangefolk‚ Deep Banana Blackout‚ Grace Potter & the Nocturnals‚ PGroove‚ John Brown's Body‚ Ryan Montbleau‚ Lettuce‚ Max Creek‚ Harlem Gospel Choir‚ and more.

Besides the surprise to see moe. back at the Vibes‚ it's great to see Levon in the mix. His band is hot! Here's "Ophelia" from last year's moe.down. Seriously‚ can you feel it? It's about time to get down in the sunshine.

Gathering of the Vibes Artist Announcement via Live Webcast
Live Music Beth
March 11, 2009
Gathering of the Vibes founder Ken Hays will be announcing the 2009 lineup via live webcast Thursday March 12 at 8pm. And a sweet little bonus follows - video of moe.'s performance at the fest in '99‚ which took place at Seaside Park in Bridgeport‚ CT‚ the same spot the festival reclaimed as home two years ago‚ AKA the best festival spot in the Northeast.

Go here tomorrow at 8pm for the announcement. Summer's coming‚ people! Neil to the Rescue
Adam King
March 3, 2009
Wow‚ sometimes when you're feeling crappy‚ Mr.Young is the only thing that can perk you up. I don't know about anybody else‚ but I honestly love Living With War. When it first came out it seemed a little too direct‚ but now it's one of my most listened to Neil Young albums. Tons of great ones on there‚ but I'm a huge sucker for slow‚ sad songs‚ and "Roger and Out" is one of his best. A really great song is one that despite you directly knowing it to be about one thing‚ it grabs hold of your heart by reminding you of something else all together. I was never a kid in Vietnam‚ but this songs still gets me‚ hard.

"Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own" - when Robert Hunter wrote that in "Eyes of the World" he wasn't referring to The Grateful Dead playing their own music. He was talking about how some songs‚ some music when you hear it‚ you make it your own - it becomes connected to you in only your way‚ and truly becomes yours.

Neil did a whole video series on the recording of Living With War but this is my favorite clip. Check out 2:30 when he's talking to the backup singers‚ he's a friggin magician. Or at 3:45 when his own drummer starts talking to him - classic stuff.
The 2nd Life of 8-Bit Sonics
Adam King
March 2, 2009
There was a peak of Nintendo resurrection about two years ago‚ I'd say. Pop culture seems to always rotate in 20 year cycles. But I guess enough math-rock bands got tired of being told that their music sounded like Nintendo music‚ so they just started to become a Nintendo cover band. There's a fair share of them - I've always put The Advantage at the top‚ there's also Select Start‚ and the notable feud beetween The Minibosses and NESkimos. Apparently it stems from the ideological stance on the validity of playing The Super Mario Brothers Theme Song. One of them apparently thinks it's too easy and kitchy‚ simply done to appeal to the masses and not to showcase the technical wizardry needed to perform other tunes. For despite the memorable melodies of Koji Kondo‚ the balls-out songs come from Konami composer‚ Hidenori Maezawa. Seriously‚ there's some people who are really into those guys. But anyway‚ I'm placing the new crown on Bit Brigade for the simple fact that they have an actual gamer in their band who plays an entire game live each set‚ which the band performs to. Here's a clip of them as the Contraband:

Of course when it comes to crafty covers of Nintendo songs‚ there's millions on YouTube‚ but this has to be my favorite as of late:

Aaaaand‚ it's kinda hard to go wrong with this gem:

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