Wakarusa
June 4-7, 2009
Mulberry Mountain Ozark, Arkansas
www.wakarusa.com

Wakarusa, which The Marquee loved last year, is psyched to help them announced their first official list of confirmed artists for 2009’s festival.

Not only does the line-up look varied from last year, but this year’s event will also have a new home, as Wakarusa is moving from Lawrence, Kansas to the Ozarks of Arkansas at what appears to be a premiere festival site. We’ll keep you posted on updates as we draw closer, but for now, check this out:

2009 Line-up
Yonder Mountain String Band (2 big sets!)
STS9 (2 big sets!)
Galactic
Buckethead
Sly & Robbie
Railroad Earth (2 sets)
Cross Canadian Ragweed
Digable Planets
Porter, Batiste & Stoltz (2 sets)
Steve Kimock & Crazy Engine
Perpetual Groove (2 sets)
Split Lip Rayfield (2 sets)
Lucero
The Egg
20/20 Soundsystem
Jimmy Herring Band
Cornmeal (2 sets)
EOTO
Boombox
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
Secret Chiefs 3
Joe Purdy
Dirtfoot (2 sets)
Pretty Lights
Big Smith (2 sets)
Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
Ott
Heavyweight Dub Champion
DJ Rekha
Underground Orchestra
Moonalice
My Dear Disco
Blue Mountain
Truckstop Honeymoon
Elephant Revival
Burnin’ Smyrnans
Euforquestra
Hana Pestle
. . . and many more to be announced!

Tickets on sale today!
via www.wakarusa.com. 
Full Event Passes, VIP Passes and Camping Passes will be available today (Friday, January 9th) at 12 p.m. (CST) via www.wakarusa.com.
For a limited time, Full Event Passes will be available at the “early bird” price of $99, plus fees.
As always, the earlier you buy, the more you pocket, so buy early!  Also, only limited quantities of each price level are available.  Our allotment of Holiday tickets sold out quickly, so get your “early bird” tickets NOW.
Also, new to 2009, all vehicles entering the festival grounds will require a Camping Pass.  Information on Camping Passes is available below and at www.wakarusa.com.

VIP Passes:
Expect all of the usual VIP amenities from previous Wakarusas with our 2009 offering, but throw in a fantastic camping experience and you’ll be ready to go VIP for life!  The VIP campground offers the opportunity for a shaded, mountainside residence for your stay at Wakarusa!  VIP Passes are available in limited quantities for $395, plus fees.  Camping is included with VIP Passes (no separate camping pass is required).

Camping Passes:
Four levels of Camping Passes are available this year.  RV Sites, Mainstage, Primitive and Family.
- RV Sites:  On sale Thursday, January 15th at 12 p.m.  RV Sites are equipped with electric and water hook-ups.  The sites are shaded and the campground includes a permanent shower facility and bathrooms.  There is a very limited number of RV Sites available, so these will likely sell out in days if not hours.  $295, plus fees.
- Mainstage:  As the name states, this campground is the closest to the festival’s mainstage.  Ideal for those who want to listen to music while they lounge in their camp chairs.  Minimal walking to all festival stages.  $79, plus fees.  1 vehicle and 6 campers per campsite.
- Primitive:  General campground easily accessible to all festival stages.  $29, plus fees.  1 vehicle and 6 campers per campsite.
- Family/Quiet:  Again, as the name states, this campground is reserved for those of you with children in attendance or folks looking for a quieter camping experience.  This campground is more secluded and a little more remote.  $29, plus fees.  1 vehicle and 6 campers per campsite.

Complete information and maps are available at www.wakarusa.com

Waka Winter Classic

Throughout February 2009, the Wakarusa Festival will be traveling to numerous cities to locate the best and brightest musicians the region has to offer.  At every stop on the tour, several bands will compete in a regional talent showcase.  The winner of each showcase will receive an invitation to play at Wakarusa’s new location ( Mulberry Mountain, Ozark, Arkansas ), but . . . it doesn’t end there.  The winners in each city will also have their music featured on our website and compete in an online talent showcase.   The top two bands in the online showcase will get a chance to play one of the festival main stages.

Want to take part in one of our talent showcases?

Visit  www.sonicbids.com/wakawinterclassic and submit an Electronic Press Kit for you home city.  If selected, you could very well be on your way to playing at the Wakarusa Festival!

Check  www.myspace.com/wakawinterclassic for Waka Winter Classic dates near you.

:: Umphrey's Mc Gee ::
:: Aggie Theatre :: Jan. 22 ::
:: Boulder Theater :: Jan. 23 ::
:: Fillmore Auditorium :: Jan. 24 ::
:: North Indiana Allstars feat. members of Umphrey’s McGee :: Cervantes Masterpiece :: Jan. 24 :: (late nite) ::

By Lisa Oshlo

Starting on their second decade as a band, Umphrey’s McGee is continuing to gather momentum like some of the great bands that have come before them. In fact, as their new album Mantis demonstrates, they continue to push their limits and are continually looking to evolve their sound.

Mantis (to be released on January 20) is their darkest and heaviest album to date and showcases these influences more readily than their previous releases. Recorded over 20 months in their home base of Chicago and kept completely under the radar until this tour, Mantis promises to be an exciting album for hardcore fans and newbies alike.
The Marquee had the opportunity to speak with keyboardist Joel Cummins about their latest effort, as well as everything new in the world of Umphrey’s McGee.

“Mantis ended up being this really intricate, dense record, and definitely the best music we’ve put together to date,” said Cummins. “It’s made up of completely new songs that we’ve never played live before, which is something that our audience won’t fully expect. We usually tend to road-test the songs and then tweak them in the studio. But it was different with this album, and I think we’ve really captured the personality of what the band is at its core.”

Umphrey’s McGee was formed in the shadow of the Notre Dame campus in 1997 by guitarist/vocalist Brendan Bayliss, bassist Ryan Stasik, keyboardist Cummins, and drummer Mike Mirro (who left the band to attend medical school in late 2002). Since that time, they have added percussionist Andy Farag and guitarist Jake Cinninger, and replaced Mirro with jazz drummer Kris Meyers.

While they are often lumped in the ubiquitous “jamband” category, the band is actually far more influenced by progressive rock bands like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, and Pink Floyd.

For a band whose reputation was bolstered by the strength of its live shows and the enthusiasm of its fans, it has been difficult for Umphrey’s McGee to keep the new music under wraps, but Cummins thinks fans’ anticipation will be rewarded. “It’s definitely unprecedented for us to have this much new material, so this tour should be really exciting,” said Cummins.

One of Umphrey’s greatest strengths is their ability to improvise onstage, bringing new life to songs that have been played countless times before. It is meticulous work, and one to which the band devotes much time and energy.  Cummins described aspects of this process: “One cool, creative tool is to identify sections as places to break off and improvise. So over a song’s life there might be five or six different sections that change, and I think that’s really exciting for us and just as exciting for our fans, because you just never know when these spots are going to pop up.” While they prepare heavily in advance, they also rely on each other in the moment for direction. “Once we’re onstage we have kind of an elaborate system of communicating with each other which includes hand signals and body language, like a baseball coach,” said Cummins. “Some things are more composed and some are more open-ended, where anyone can take the lead. On any given night, something different is going to happen no matter what. Usually it happens really organically.”
Despite their playing three shows on the Front Range, Cummins promises the fans completely different setlists from night to night. While they will certainly highlight the new material, they will also be playing many older tunes, covers, and fan favorites.

In addition to their vast catalogue of original music, Umphrey’s McGee has notoriously good taste in cover songs, which they play with and make their own. “We like to play covers that we’ve heard and liked, but maybe haven’t heard live before,” said Cummins. “We like to do the songs that will really surprise our fans. Anything from Metallica And Justice For All to a Daft Punk song or something like that. We really try to morph the sound so we can get as close as we can to authentically recreating the song. Fortunately, we have guys in the band who have everything from classical training to having drummers and guitarists that have played every type of music from metal to country, so we can really have some fun with it.”

While Chicago is still home-base for the band, Cummins said that Umphrey’s McGee looks forward to playing on the Front Range.

“This will be the first time we’ve played at the Boulder Theater, which will be a really cool thing for us,” said Cummins. “We’ve played the Fox since about 1999, so it’ll be nice to step into a little bigger room with all the new production we’re bringing out. And yet it will still be an intimate experience. We’ve definitely got the the best light show that we’ve ever had coming out on the road with us, and in addition to that, I think the new album is going to feature some pretty cool vocal arrangements that are a little more dense than what we’ve done in the past. We’ve been holding onto this material so long, it’s been killing us not to play it live.’

:: Umphrey’s Mc Gee ::
:: Aggie Theatre :: Jan. 22 ::
:: Boulder Theater :: Jan. 23 ::
:: Fillmore Auditorium :: Jan. 24 ::
:: North Indiana Allstars feat. members of Umphrey’s McGee :: Cervantes Masterpiece :: Jan. 24 :: (late nite) ::

Recommended if you Like:
• moe.
• Frank Zappa
• Tea Leaf Green

:: Sam Bush ::Cervantes’ Masterpiece :: Jan. 17 ::

By Kathy Foster-Patton

Sam Bush is one of those guys who is a staple of the bluegrass scene and especially the progressive aspect of the genre.  The mandolin guru founded New Grass Revival back in the 1970s and led it for 18 years.  His band influenced the evolution of standard bluegrass into the progressive sounds of the likes of Nickel Creek and Yonder Mountain String Band, among others.

Bush spoke with The Marquee while on a working vacation in Florida, a couple of days after temperatures in Denver hit seventeen degrees below zero and he was quick to lord over the writer with his current location.  “Wow — I shouldn’t even tell you where we are — 70 degrees. Bathing suits,” he said, adding, I suppose to elicit some sympathy, “It’s a working vacation. I bring my instruments and an 8-track digital machine and it’s a great way to spend December.  We live in Nashville and we get so busy and it’s fun to come down and concentrate on the preproduction of the next record.”

Continue — Read more »

:: M83 :: Magness Arena :: Jan. 17 ::

By Timothy Dwenger

The Eighties … whether you liked the legwarmers and big hair, tight-rolled jeans and neon everything is immaterial. It was a decade of excess, when cocaine was a designer drug and a movie star was the president of the United States. The days of the hippies were over, their music had faded into the background and in its place was a strange kind of pop music that owed a ton to the synthesizers that emerged as a major part of the music during the disco era. Bands like The Police, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode were topping the charts while solo artists such as Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson were at their creative peaks. Like it or hate it, the music of the ’80s made an indelible mark on music history. 

Continue — Read more »

:: Young Coyotes :: Hi-Dive :: January 23 ::

By Tiffany Childs

Young Coyotes are a band fairly new to the music scene, which makes the whirlwind of buzz they’ve been receiving of late a little more surprising. Until you listen to what they are playing. With comparisons from Arcade Fire to Akron/Family to The Shins, this two-piece is creating songs that sound like super lo-fi DIY indies mixed with a little Motown. And, apparently, they are doing it at breakneck speed.

In a recent interview with The Marquee, Zach Tipton (vocals/guitar) said the band got its start when Tipton and Adam Halferty (drums/backup vocals) met while touring with their previous bands (Moros Eros for Tipton, the Axe That Chopped the Cherry Tree and the Chain Gang of 1974 for Halferty). The story goes the two of them were bored and got together to jam. The result was five songs in that day. So, when their respective groups disbanded, Tipton moved from Georgia to play with Halferty. A fairly big move with what appears is on its way to a big payoff.

Continue — Read more »

:: Drew Emmitt Band ::

:: Aggie Theatre :: Jan 27 ::

:: Boulder Theater :: Jan 28 ::

:: Bluebird Theater :: Jan 29 ::

By David Stuhlemmer

“It’s been probably the biggest year I have ever had, and it’s been wonderful,” Emmitt told The Marquee over the phone from Vail. After a drive through the day from Crested Butte, he was ready to take the stage with some of his oldest friends — Leftover Salmon.

Intermittent yet ever-successful reunions with Leftover Salmon, maintaining two other national touring acts, one album that came out in July and one due up in the spring, all contribute to a cumbersome calendar. “It gets a little crazy but it’s nice because it is not monotonous,” Emmitt said, seemingly more comfortable about his position now than he has been in the past.

Continue — Read more »

:: Marc Ford & The Neptune Blues Club :: Quixote’s True Blue :: Jan 25 ::

By Brian F. Johnson

Marc Ford hasn’t had it easy, but he’s certainly had a lot, and life just keeps giving him more.

Just two days after he and his wife had a baby girl named Eva, Ford talked on the phone with The Marquee about this newest addition to his life and also about another chapter that he recently started — his new band The Neptune Blues Club.

Ford reported that Eva — Ford’s third child, but first daughter — was born on a Friday morning and that both mom and baby are happy and healthy.

Continue — Read more »

:: Matt Skellenger ::

:: Breakfast on Broadway :: Jan. 11, 18 & 25 ::

:: Matt Skellenger Quartet ::

:: Dazzle Jazz :: Jan. 16 ::

:: The Lovely and Talented ::

:: Mead St. Station :: Jan. 8 ::

:: Highland Pacific :: Jan. 23 ::

By Timothy Dwenger

The electric bass is often thought of as only a part of the rhythm section of a band, an instrument that blends into the background. Yet we’ve all got to remember that no one would be dancing to funk music without a good bass player and the bass beat is what anchors any good dance track. It is a critical part of music and the fact that it is over-looked by so many is a crime.

There are several players out there in the world who have dared to bring their bass playing to the front of the mix and make any self respecting music fan stand up and take notice. Some that come to mind include Les Claypool, Victor Wooten and Mike Gordon. Each of these players has something in common; they have the ability to play the bass as a lead instrument and they can coax melody from an instrument largely relegated to the rhythm section.

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Dave Matthews Band

Live At Mile High Music Festival

RCA

3 out of 5

Let’s get something straight: Dave Matthews Band is not a jam band. They are a rock band and their fans mistakenly categorize them as a jam band. Their live jams are structured and there is very little real “band” improvisation going on anymore.

Ask any hardcore DMB fan and they will tell you exactly when the solos are coming and how they will end. I was a pretty big fan back in the 1990s. I saw my fair share of shows and still have a place in my heart for the group. I was at this show and it is always nice to have an official CD copy of a show you attended. However, this 3-disc set is a rock band, delivering more of the same.

Continue — Read more »

U2: The Diary

Omnibus Press

3 out of 5 stars

This book might just be one of the biggest timelines ever assembled — outside the Star Wars universe anyway. From their beginnings, to their ego heavy Zoo TV to their philanthropist activities, everything you want to know about Ireland’s reigning heroes is included here.

Eminem

The Way I Am: Autobiography

Melcher Media

4 out of 5 stars

Looking like an uninformative coffee table book made for people with A.D.D., this journal style autobiography should not be judged by its cover. A compelling read that will make you dig out the copy of Marshall Mather’s LP that you know you bought, even if you don’t want to admit it.

Neil Diamond

He Is  … I Say

Da Capo press

3 out of 5 stars

Neil Diamond probably isn’t on the short list of “must see before I die” for most Marquee readers, but his popularity is an influence that can’t be denied. This fanboy-penned tome explores Diamond’s longevity. One question remains unanswered though: How the hell did he perform at The Last Waltz?

Laurie Dameron

I Can’t Wait To See You Again

Windchime Productions

4 out of 5 stars

This is not your average local jazz CD. This is a sophisticated release filled with near-flawless jazz guitar work and vocals that pay homage to jazz legends. The album bogs down in some sections, however, as the pace fails to change enough to keep it interesting. That said, Dameron has put together a fine piece of art for her genre.

Ash Ganley

Cruel Waters

Hapi Skratch Records

3.5 out of 5 stars

If Ash Ganley doesn’t watch out he’s going to end up like one of his main influences, such as Doyle Bramhall II — an amazing blues virtuoso mired in obscurity. Ganley plays the same way, with a soulful blues voice that is intertwined with an Americana base. It’s good, really good, but where Ganley stands out and where he can make his mark are his county-esque tracks like “Moonshine.”

Welcome to 2009!

With 2008 finally behind us, 2009 is looking up for the music scene. Please note that I am careful to single out “for the music scene.” The whole rest of our society might be crumbling but music is going to get even better this year.

As mortgages continue to fail (and I’ve seen a report that a whole ’nother round of different mortgages are going to tank too), as the stock market is in turmoil, as even our great American car companies are looking for help to avoid bankruptcy, we’re sitting pretty as music fans.

When everyone hears these stories of bailouts, it’s really hard to not think, “Well, what about me? Don’t I get a bailout?” And I’m happy to report that as a music fan, you actually do get one. It may not be financially, it may not keep your bills paid and your heat turned on, but our musical bailout package is here, nonetheless.

First and foremost, as times get tough, it’s a well known fact that people turn more and more toward art and music to help boost their outlooks. So in the short run, we can expect more shows of greater magnitude to at least give us reprieve from reality in three- and four-hour chunks.

Additionally, as long as gas prices stay low (which might not be much longer), it’s easier and more cost effective for bands to tour for longer periods of time, unlike what we saw in the summer of 2008 when bands couldn’t afford to tour to the end of their block.

But, what I’m really hoping for, is a change that all music fans will feel in their wallets. As markets continue to tank, and people seek out music and art, it’s not unheard of, or even a ridiculous notion, that ticket prices and maybe even retail prices (see CDs and merchandise) might come down too.

Now, I have an economics degree, but I don’t really use it, so to me this idea seems plausible, but I take no actual responsibility if I’m wrong … If I’m right I will take full credit, though. If a club that holds 700 people is only seeing 400 to 500 people on average, promoters and bands may begin to ponder dropping their prices by a few bucks to get more folks in the door. Stranger things have happened.

I just hope that the small independent promoters, who add so much color to the scene, can afford to keep their heads above water during these times. I’d hate to see, when all is said and done, that we’ve lost such a crucial element to the scene.

I wish you all a great 2009!

See you at the shows.