Bonified Bonnaroo vs. languishing Langerado, and where Coachella stands in comparison

To give a little perspective to the Coachella lineup this year, let's take a quick look at two other big music festivals: Langerado and Bonnaroo.

Scheduled for March 6-8 this year in Miami, the Langerado Music Festival announced today was "cancelled due to sluggish ticket sales." Co-Promoter Ethan Schwartz said: "Langerado has always put the fan experience first. Unfortunately, during these difficult economic times, and facing a first year in a new venue, it's become apparent that we cannot execute a production that lives up to the high standards of our past events. Putting Langerado on hold was the toughest decision we have ever had to make. We are very grateful for the support of the greater-Miami community and the music community during this difficult time."

Too bad. The festival had some nice lineups over the years. This year's lineup was scheduled to include: Death Cab for Cutie, Snoop Dogg, Thievery Corporation, Slightly Stoopid, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Dashboard Confessional, The Pogues, Matisyahu, Flogging Molly, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Broken Social Scene, Café Tacuba, Umphrey's McGee, The Disco Biscuits, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Pepper, The Faint, Cold War Kids, Steel Pulse, Public Enemy, Gym Class Heroes, Tricky, Girl Talk, Chromeo, Mute Math, Bad Brains, Ozomatli, Against Me!, George Clinton & Parliament / Funkadelic, Tortoise, DeVotchKa, Black Kids, Grupo Fantasma, Holy F*ck, Budos Band, Tokyo Police Club, Lotus, The Virgins, The Gaslight Anthem, King Khan and the Shrines, Lucero, Murs, Ra Ra Riot, Tortured Soul, Rebelution, K'Naan, The Egg, Zac Brown Band, Tigercity, The Aggrolites, Cloud Cult, Spam Allstars, Rachel Goodrich, Blue King Brown, The Heavy Pets, Awesome New Republic, The Postmarks, Suenalo Sound System, Live Painting by LEBO, Modest Mouse, Gene Ween Band, Deerhunter, Alberta Cross.

That's a pretty nice lineup, but there's probably not the big name headliners to anchor the whole thing... Sound familiar?

On the other end of the spectrum lies Bonnaroo. The eighth annual four-day festival will be held June 11-14 on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn., 60 miles south of Nashville. The lineup is slightly more rootsy and mainstream than Coachella, but Bonnaroo pulled off what the Southern California desert could not: nail down some bonafied headliners.

Check out the list of bands playing Bonnaroo this year:



Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish (2 Shows), Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, David Byrne, Wilco, Al Green, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Costello Solo, Erykah Badu, Paul Oakenfold, Ben Harper and Relentless7, The Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gov't Mule, Andrew Bird, Band of Horses, Merle Haggard, MGMT, moe., The Decemberists, Girl Talk, Bon Iver, Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Galactic, The Del McCoury Band, of Montreal, Allen Toussaint, Coheed and Cambria, Booker T & the DBTs, David Grisman Quintet, Lucinda Williams, Animal Collective, Gomez, Neko Case, Down, Jenny Lewis, Santogold, Robert Earl Keen, Citizen Cope, Femi Kuti and the Positive Force, The Ting Tings, Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Kaki King, Grizzly Bear, King Sunny Adé, Okkervil River, St. Vincent, Zac Brown Band, Raphael Saadiq, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Crystal Castles, Tift Merritt, Brett Dennen, Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue, Toubab Krewe, People Under the Stairs, Alejandro Escovedo, Vieux Farka Touré, Elvis Perkins In Dearland, Cherryholmes, Yeasayer, Todd Snider, Chairlift, Portugal. The Man., The SteelDrivers, Midnite, The Knux, The Low Anthem, Delta Spirit, A.A. Bondy, The Lovell Sisters, Alberta Cross.

Pretty impressive. So you have one festival kicking some serious ass, booking the big names needed to sell tix, and then you have another festival closing its doors. The decision is yours Coachella: follow suit on the former (add a few more bands), or suffer the fate of the latter.

¡DEVOTCHKA!: 'Tuba dance party'

Arrange the uppercase letters anyway you want: Devotchka, or DeVotchKa ... but more like ¡DEVOTCHKA! The band and their excellent label ANTI- prefer DeVotchKa, so we'll defer to them (despite the extra key strokes).

The Denver-based quartet is coming to town for a show this Wednesday at the Belly Up, so I thought I'd get myself pumped by delving into their music a bit. I'll try to write a few words as a follow up to the live experience. They were one of my favorite bands at last year's Street Scene in downtown SD, so I'm excited to check them out in a smaller venue with a more focused eye and ear.

In the wake of the heralded "Little Miss Sunshine" soundtrack and signing with a major label, DeVotchKa released a shiny new album in 2008 "A Mad and Faithful Telling" with the help of Craig Schumacher at Wavelab Studios in Tuscon (see the cool video press release from ANTI- below). He's produced some of my favorite artists from recent years (Calexico, M. Ward, Richard Buckner and Neko Case to name a few), adding a desert-inspired, feverish shimmer to the record.

Sound
Sidestepping all the Eastern Euro-gypsy-mariachi-desert noir lingo, this is what I hear:

Sweeping strings sing and dual mariachi horns blare, like a wide angle sepia-toned photo of flat arid land as far as the eye can see...

... And then the sousaphone stomps into view on the tune "Twenty Six Temptations" like a hairy Hungarian strongman lifting a 300 dumbbell in one hand while grabbing the song by the scruff of the neck and tossing it to and fro with the other hand.

... And then the accordion sweeps you off you're feet in a song like "Strizzalo" with Parisian street busker flair.

But the real gem at the heart of DeVotchKa is the songwriting: sweet and sad and longing for a homeland that's anywhere but here. Flesh of my flesh/Soul of my soul/Come back home sings Nick Urata on "Dearly Departed" in his high-pitched plaintive voice.

One listen to Urata's voice and his crystal clear songwriting, and you're transported into his world of doe-eyed longing for the places you've been and a sense of wonder for the small things surrounding you now. DeVotchKa's music is about movement, not only the journey through the dizzying array of genres they inhabit, but the inherent feeling of missing places you've never seen.

Lineup

Nick Urata: Vocals, guitars, piano, Theremin, trumpet
Jeanie Schroder: acoustic bass, sousaphone, vocals
Shawn King: drums, percussion, trumpet
Tom Hagerman: violin, accordion, piano

Clips

Here's a live clip featuring the song "The Enemy Guns" from Twist & Shout, a record store in the band's hometown of Denver:



"Along the way" live at a SXSW showcase last year in a clip produced by their record label:



Another clip produced by the label, on the making of their last album:

Coachella Lite

Coachella just announced the official lineup. The first thing that stands out: Paul McCartney? Another out of touch artist tries to use Coachella as a comeback kickoff, a la Madonna a few years ago. I would rather he show up and play an acoustic set in a tent rather than try to claim headliner status.

Glad to see SD represented by the excellent Night Marchers. I'm intrigued by Patton & Rahzel, Glasvegas, Los Campesinos!, Okkervil River and what exactly is Shepard Fairey doing? But is there a bona fide, cant'-miss headliner? I don't think so. I'm hoping a bunch of bands swing through SD before or after, so we get to check the bands without the dust, heat and crowds (and high tix prices). And I get to sleep in my own bed. Wait, I'm starting to sound old and boring. I hope they add a Wilco/Pixies/Jane's Addiction/Smiths/Led Zepp-type of band, or maybe a couple so I want to go this amazing festival in the desert. Do the organizers really think The Killers can headline Saturday night?

Here it is:

FRIDAY APRIL 17: Paul McCartney, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Beirut, The Black Keys, Girl Talk, Silversun Pickups, The Ting Tings, The Crystal Method, Ghostland Observatory, Crystal Castles, The Airborne Toxic Event, We Are Scientists, N.A.S.A., Patton & Rahzel, M. Ward, The Presets, The Hold Steady, A Place to Bury Strangers, Felix da Housecat, Buraka Som Sistema, Ryan Bingham, Bajofondo, Peanut Butter Wolf, Noah & the Whale, White Lies, The Bug, Alberta Cross, Los Campesinos!, Craze & Klever, Molotov, Switch, Gui Boratto, Steve Aoki, The Aggrolites, People Under the Stairs, The Courteeners, Cage the Elephant, Dear and the Headlights.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18: The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Thievery Corporation, TV on the Radio, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, MSTRKRFT, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Atmosphere, Mastodon, TRAV$DJ-AM, Henry Rollins, Crookers, Turbonegro, Hercules and Love Affair, Superchunk, Glasvegas, Dr. Dog, Drive-By Truckers, Booker T & the DBT’s, Amanda Palmer, The Bloody Beetroots, Surkin, Para One (Live), Calexico, Liars, Bob Mould Band, Zane Lowe, Electric Touch, Blitzen Trapper, James Morrison, Drop the Lime, Glass Candy, Thenewno2, Gang Gang Dance, Billy Talent, Ida Maria, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Zizek, Cloud Cult, Tinariwen.

SUNDAY, APRIL 19: The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Throbbing Gristle, Lupe Fiasco, Paul Weller, Peter Bjorn and John, X, Antony & the Johnsons, Roni Size, Public Enemy, Jenny Lewis, Groove Armada, Paolo Nutini, Christopher Lawrence, Lykke Li, The Kills, Okkervil River, M.A.N.D.Y., Clipse, Sebastien Tellier, Fucked Up, Perry Farrell, The Horrors, Late of the Pier, K’naan, Junior Boys, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Supermayer, No Age, Vivian Girls, Shepard Fairey, Themselves, Gaslight Anthem, The Knux, Mexican Institute of Sound, The Night Marchers, Marshall Barnes.

Tickets for COACHELLA go on sale Friday, January 30 at 9:00 AM (PT) at all Ticketmaster locations. Three-day weekend passes are $269.00 +$3 charity + $9 facility fee ($1 charity/$3 facility fee per day) and single day tickets are $99.00 +$1 charity + $3 facility fee. The same layaway plan that Goldenvoice successfully implemented for STAGECOACH: California’s Country Music Festival will be available for weekend passes ONLY for this year’s COACHELLA. Festival goers now have the option to purchase 3-day festival tickets and onsite camping tickets on a payment plan.

Eyes on the horizon: SD spotlight shows

Here are a couple of San Diego shows I'm looking forward to in the near future:

Ozomatli with Chali 2na
Three nights at the Belly Up
Why it's important: Reuniting with MC Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) represents a much-needed return to this seminal SoCal rock en espanol band's roots.
Show: Jan. 22-24

Devotchka
Totally rocked Street Scene last year
Belly Up
Why it's important: Great songwriting embedded in Eastern European and mariachi desert noir bittersweet music
Show: Feb. 4

The Bird and the Bee
Inara George (Lowell George's daughter) sings sweet indie pop with Greg Kurstin (Geggy Tah)
The Casbah
Why it's important: One of the freshest voices in indie pop
Show: Feb. 5

Andrew Bird
My favorite singer songwriter from the past few years
SOMA
Why it's important: Multi-faceted classical musician skilled with violin, guitar, voice and his world-class whistling skills
Show: Feb. 15

Hank Williams III
A REAL maverick
4th&B
Why it's important: Master of all styles country from traditional twang to hellbilly, 'III' is touring on a new album
Show: Feb. 24

M-A-C-E-O: Shake Everything You Got

Let's stay on the funk tip and hang with Mr. Maceo Parker for a while. This clip features "Shake Everything You Got," a Maceo staple recorded for a live DVD titled "My First Name is Maceo." This is a great clip with the original Horny Horns (James Brown's legendary horn section): Fred Wesley on trombone (giving an amazing solo that sounds like butter sliding off hot mashed potatoes), Pee Wee Ellis on tenor and Maceo on alto. I believe this was filmed in '94 (as proven by Maceo's abundance of hair and sideburns). Maceo's brand of funk is much more subtle than JB's, slowly evolving through long jams to create a feeling. I always crack a smile when I listen to live Maceo:



I was sniffing around the Interweb when I came across this bio of Maceo (which happens to quote yours truly):

http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608003969/Maceo-Parker.html

Here's the quote:

Throughout the 1990s, Parker continued to tour, record, and collaborate. Parker told Chris Nixon of the San Diego Union-Tribune, "I still love the work, I love my job and I love the people. At the same time, it gets a few bills paid as well."

Here's the article I wrote:

http://chrisnix.blogspot.com/2004/01/father-of-funk-sax-and-ghostly-country.html

I'll try to post a few soundclips from the interview in the next day or two.

Lastly, a non-music related note. My wife and I are attempting our second half marathon next Sunday in Carlsbad. I think our training looked a little something like this:

Video du jour: Godfather teaches you his moves

I love this kitschy little clip of James hamming it up for the camera.

Here's another JB clip I love:



That's JB at the Olympia in Paris circa 1971. Bootsy Collins on bass, Bobby Byrd on organ, and that's a ripping trombone solo by Fred Wesley. The only thing that could make this better is a hot Maceo solo (but he wasn't on this date). Awesome, awesome band at their peak.