Yesterday, I wrote a poll about Rock on the Range, the long-running, hard-rock music festival which this year, will feature some of rock’s most recognizable bands: Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn and Bush, among others. Most recognizable, as my colleague pointed out, if it was 1992. Since I didn’t start listening to those bands till recently, this obvious point eluded me but he was absolutely right. Rereading that list of bands could transport you back a couple decades to when “Siamese Dream” broke onto the scene or when “Black Hole Sun” was winning Grammys. It made me wonder, if I wasn’t listening to Chris Cornell in 1992, what the heck was I listening to?

Then, later on that day, I shocked some other colleagues to the core when I admitted I didn’t recognize the U2 song “Even Better Than The Real Thing.” I honestly relayed that while I was familiar with “Mysterious Ways” and “One,” the other single had eluded me, and I had never actually owned nor was I all that familiar with “Achtung Baby.” So again, I had to ask myself what the hell was I listening to in the early 90s and what the hell have I been listening to since then so as never to have experienced the infamous U2 album? To answer these questions, we must journey down the path of my strange and unusual history of music.

Born in 1981, I wouldn’t declare myself old enough to have a music phase until my pre-teens. Enter phase 1 – the early 90s – when some people were listening to Smashing Pumpkins and when I was listening to country music. Yep, I was living in a loft in NYC, harboring a secret country music addiction. I didn’t discuss this with my classmates, but rather, I had a best friend who lived in the Catskills who I would visit often and play my Clint Black and Reba McEntire tapes with.  I am neither proud or ashamed to admit that the first time I heard “Piece of My Heart” wasn’t the Janis Joplin classic but a cover by country beauty Martina McBride. Similarly, the first time I heard “Take It Easy” wasn’t the famous Eagles recording, it was a cover by country crooner Travis Tritt. VH1 had a Country Music hour in the morning where I would catch up on the latest John Michael Montgomery videos. But, I soon left my country roots behind and moved on to the next logical thing – hip-hop.

Enter phase 2 – the late 90s – when my friends and I donned North Face jackets and attempted to tie a million leather strings to our Jansport backpacks, and we listened to hip-hop. The first hip-hop song I ever memorized was Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.” You know, from the movie featuring Michelle Pfeiffer. The first hip-hop album I ever bought was 2Pac’s “All Eyez On Me.” I’m still pretty hard pressed to not get up and dance whenever “California Love” plays, as I used to do every time the video played on BET. And, the first hip-hop concert I ever went to was Slick Rick where I sang along and danced to “Mona Lisa.”  A good phase, but I still hadn’t found my true passion.

Enter phase 3 – the Aughts – where I finally found rock and roll. In 1999, I graduated high school and against my parents’ wishes, went to the Woodstock 99 music festival with my then, much older boyfriend. I heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I heard Metallica and I heard Rage Against the Machine. It was awesome and it kick started my new obsession. Then, with help from the boyfriend and one of those CD mailing subscription services (Columbia House?) I expanded my musical palate to include The Doors, Billy Idol, Bon Jovi and of course, Guns ‘N Roses. I have never looked back and I have since been to concerts featuring each one of those artists (well, except for The Doors). I dabble in some grunge (even made it to a Soundgarden concert last year), and who doesn’t love a belted out Beyonce tune, but I am a true rock and roll fan now, and forever more. Admittedly, this doesn’t exactly explain why “Achtung Baby” never made it into my catalogue, especially since you could find me at MSG during the “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb” tour, but it has prompted me to do something I should have done a long time ago – download the album!

So that is my journey through the different genres of music. Do you have a journey? Tell us about it, and tell us which of these genre-jumping artists is your favorite.
Kelly Clarkson
Kid Rock
Lionel Richie

It’s rare these days that we get any new information about the Columbine High School massacre.  The case is officially closed, with only a few details remaining under wraps about what happened in the days leading up to the tragic events of April 20th, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado, with the killers’ infamous “basement tapes” being all that remains hidden from public view.

Aside from 9/11, there was probably no single event that impacted my generation on such a large scale.  It was one of those moments like Altamont or Watergate that crushes the idealistic hopes of every young person en mass and breaks their parents’ hearts as the failure of their combined effort to leave a better world for posterity becomes apparent.

But when I was thumbing through the news today I saw this piece from Yahoo! about a new interview with Dylan Klebold’s parents, which contained a shocking revelation from his mother Sue:  She had prayed for him to kill himself when she found out what was going on at the local high school.  She tells writer Andrew Solomon in an interview for his new book about children with mental issues Far From The Tree:  “I had a sudden vision of what he might be doing. And so while every other mother in Littleton was praying that her child was safe, I had to pray that mine would die before he hurt anyone else.”

It’s almost an admission of guilt.  It reads like a mea culpa for a disconnected parent.  This of course begs the incriminating questions about “Well then where were you when he was buying the guns?  Didn’t you see that subversive looking trench coat he was wearing!?”

Mother Sue with a young Dylan Klebold

But those aren’t the real questions and never have been.  Sue Klebold is not a perpetrator of this crime, but a victim.  Let’s not forget that she is also an innocent who suffered the loss of a child.  This prayer for her son’s death was an unselfish act that resonates with a complicated heroism that we usually only see in movies and that writers grasp at in the worst melodramatic reverse-morality fiction that pollutes prime time television.

The arguments that would blame her for her son’s actions break down when you consider that she actually asked God to have him commit the ultimate treason.  If she had been the ignorant absentee parent that the press attempted to paint in the weeks following the Columbine High School tragedy in a desperate attempt to bail out their Hollywood and music industry chums, she would have been too busy making excuses for her poor, misunderstood little angel than to pray for his destruction in the name of saving innocent lives.

But what really interests me about this particular article, is the paranormal element of Mrs. Klebold’s alleged “sudden vision” of the atrocities that her child was committing.  Such prophetic abilities aren’t as rare as one might think under circumstances such as those surrounding the massacre in Littleton, CO.

Telepathy is defined as the transference of thoughts from one person to another via the mind or the soul.  According to bullyonline.org, an anti-bullying resource in the UK, it is possible for such phenomena to manifest themselves in response to shocking or emotionally damaging stimuli:  “Trauma and paranormal experiences often go hand in hand, with one triggering the other…Experiencing paranormal activity as a result of trauma (particularly if you’ve not had paranormal experiences before) may initially increase the trauma, especially if denial escalates. Those who already perceive your psychiatric injury as a mental illness are likely to take your disclosure of paranormal activity as confirmation that you really are on your way to the funny farm.”

I’m not a psychologist by any stretch, but could it be that in order to avoid the denial stage, that Sue’s mind could have tapped into one of its long forgotten and suppressed functions such as telepathy and she actually saw through her son’s eyes for a brief time?

I won’t answer that because I quite simply don’t know.

But it doesn’t make her choice of words any less interesting.  People in Mrs. Klebold’s position probably wouldn’t say things like “I had a sudden vision…”, especially to an educated and accomplished writer such as Andrew Solomon, unless they really believed it to be true, nor would they skip an entire stage of grief and just jump straight to acceptance without some kind of first-hand knowledge of the exact circumstances of the events.

For this woman to honestly ask God to make her son destroy himself before any more innocent lives were ruined, she has to have seen something so shocking and painful that she just defaulted psychologically to “My child must die.”  I’m not sure that mothers even have that ability outside of the reaches of cognitive science.

Columbine was one of the most tragic events in American history, and marked the end of the revival of hippie idealism that had swept in with the Grunge movement.  These social changes were exemplified even further that summer when Woodstock ’99 became a corporate-sponsored pit of rape, destruction, and murder.

The problem is that our parents thought they had a monopoly on rebellion.  They thought that by supposedly holding the moral high ground over our grandparents on things like civil rights and the Vietnam War, that we’d never question the validity of their ideas of peace, love, and “doing your own thing”.  They thought that their revolution was a success, despite being reminded of its abject failure every time they put on a necktie.

After all, it was their set of values being taught now, all the way from “Sesame Street” right up to Harvard University.  They were the parents, they were the teachers, they were the filmmakers, they were the writers.  Augusto Pinochet, former dictator in chief of Chile, once said that “…not even a leaf moves in this country unless I know about it.”  This was the same kind of complacency that our parents exerted over American culture while we were growing up.

But then a funny thing happened.  We got to be teenagers.  Kurt Cobain spilled his brains all over the wall of his Seattle home and blasted the dreams of the love generation into oblivion as collateral damage.  All of a sudden the lyrics to “Imagine” just sounded like irrelevant bullshit sputtered up from the gutter by some smelly old man who should cut his hair, buy some shoes, and get a job.

An aerial view of the chaos at Woodstock ’99

Where our parents had believed in free love, we were under the threat of death from AIDS.  Where they’d dressed in lively colors with flowers braided into their long hair and celebrated the unity of man, earth, and life, we garbed ourselves from top to bottom entirely in black, shaved our heads and wore combat boots, spikes on our wrists, chains on our belts, and discussed the failure of humanity, the glories of cyber-reality, and the ghastly thrills of mowing down demons with chainguns on computer monitors.  Our parents had started the Jesus movement to promote peace and believed in the importance of finding your spiritual self, but we quoted Nietzsche and watched the World Trade Center collapse on HD cable news.  Where they had superheroes like Batman and Robin who shook hands with the mayor while they handed the Joker over to the courts, we had Duke Nukem and The Crow who put the barrel of a shotgun in the mouth of anybody who offended them.  They used marijuana and LSD to bathe in sacred light while happily spinning to soulful American rock n’ roll.  We used crystal meth and ecstasy to induce hallucinogenic techno-industrial nightmares and stalk the darkness of cities like vampires.

I find myself wondering how different the world might be right now if at some point in 1969 somebody had turned down the hi-fi, put out the bong and just asked, “Hey, what are we going to do in thirty years when our kids rebel against all this peace and love shit?”

I’m not saying that either side is right, I’m only saying that you can’t have it both ways.  If you want to preach far-left hippie values to an entire generation via maintaining a progressive deadlock on public education, then don’t be surprised when they turn on those values in rebellion just as you turned on those of your own parents and teachers.

The more extreme the indoctrination, the more extreme the rebellion, hence Columbine.

And none of that is the fault of Sue Klebold, who was willing to commit the ultimate act of self-sacrifice to save the lives of strangers.  As rare as such a sentiment is today, it should be heralded with praise and gratitude and not with misplaced hostility and irrational blame.

Bob Dylan was at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island today in 1965, being booed by Folk purists for whipping out and plugging in a Fender Stratocaster.  Contrary to legend, many in the audience were quite enthusiastic about Dylan’s “new direction”.

Neil Young was at the Fillmore East in New York City tonight in 1969, appearing for the first time with his old Buffalo Springfield bandmate Steven Stills and his new friends David Crosby and Graham Nash.  He was invited to play live with them, but would continue as a member of the band…when he felt like it…for the next 30 years.

AC/DC released their first album since the death of lead singer Bon Scott back in February, Back In Black today in 1980.  It would become their most popular, indeed the second best selling album of all time, just behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller and just ahead of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.

The second attempt at recapturing the spirit of the original Woodstock festival ended badly today in 1999.  Woodstock ’99 was held at a treeless former Air Force base and EPA Superfund site in upstate New York some 200 miles from Max Yasgur’s farm, the festival featured $150 tickets, 100 degree heat, violence, fire, and rape. The only performers from the original “Three Days of Peace and Love” to appear were The Who’s John Entwhistle (with his solo band), and Grateful Dead drummer Micky Hart’s “Planet Drum”. MTV’s Kurt Loder said “It was dangerous to be around. The whole scene was scary. There were just waves of hatred bouncing around the place… It was clear we had to get out of there…. It was like a concentration camp. To get in, you get frisked to make sure you’re not bringing in any water or food that would prevent you from buying from their outrageously priced booths. You wallow around in garbage and human waste. There was a palpable mood of anger.”

Rock and Roll Birthdays

Nazareth lead guitarist Manny Charlton is 71.

Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty is 69.

Uriah Heep bass player and lead singer Mark Clarke is 62.  He only played on one of their albums, but Demons and Wizards was their biggest seller. Clarke went on to play with Blackmore’s Rainbow, Mountain, Ian Hunter, Billy Squier, and in 1985 he joined The Monkees, continuing to work with Davy Jones until his death this year.

The greatest memories of MCA (born Adam Yauch) and the Beastie Boys will always be politically based, off of MTV, and the trio’s loving connection to their home borough of Brooklyn.  They were truly the first white rappers to break loudly with regalement into the hip-hop mainstream (one of few American divisions that primarily features black entertainers at the forefront magnanimously) and during a time that rap was deep into conversation about the inner city struggles and the necessary need to be black and proud admist the crack epidemic and the Reagan administration.  The Beastie Boys legacy has been honored since 1985′s Licensed to Ill by rap music’s most honed pioneers and contemporaries, yet it can be noticed that their contributions have occasionally been quietly overshadowed as far as what white people have offered to rap and hip-hop as valuable assets.  The dubious popularity of Vanilla Ice and the royalties/sampling drama of his hit “Ice Ice Baby” and the massively provocative rise and rise of Eminem have been profiled regularly in comparison to The Beastie Boys, and in today’s industry there’s been a recent influx of talented, sometimes egotistical, though warmly blue-collar new generation of the white rapper that includes an ol’ G like Matisyahu, Mac Miller, Yelawolf, Machine Gun Kelly, Australia’s Iggy Azalea, and so far, one-hit wonder Kreayshawn.

Though the Beastie Boys met some chagrin at the beginning of their career, even if “Fight For Your Right (To Party)” was a house party soundtrack inclusion, their sincere love for the art form of rap, appreciation of fellow acts like Run-DMC and being true to the culture, kept them from becoming easy to write-off lust for life animals, to born again street smart boys to men, to eventually and possibly their most known outfits by the time they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, menschs of civil rights both in America and overseas for countries like Tibet.

After 1992′s Check Your Head, for what seemed to be years to their fans, in 1998 at last came Hello Nasty, and the for the last members of Generation X meets Y, were properly introduced to the Beastie Boys.  We remembered “Sabotage”, but our favorite Beastie song belongs to “Intergalactic”.  The somewhat electronica pop-rap tune was a welcomed comeback and the video was even more fun to watch. Even as their sound evolved in later years to a kind of groovy, edgier rhythm and blues hip-hop (like on their LP To the 5 Boroughs), their work, especially their earlier feats, always obtained a punk sensibility that worked accordingly with their effortlessly chill panache of Brooklyn charisma and a DIY lifestyle of taking chances and believing in yourself and the causes that matter to you most.

That same year “Intergalactic” was out, the Beastie Boys were adulated with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard at the MTV Video Music Awards.  As they accepted their award from Chuck D of Public Enemy, MCA (Adam Yauch) took the time to speak to the audience about dire decision of the U.S. to fire missiles in the Middle East.  He stressed that it should be strongly advised that everyone, and especially the government, seek non-violent ways to find the answer to uncomfortable junctures, and that secretive racism was not an excuse for abrupt or malicious behavior.  Yauch’s speech on the what happened then was a foreshadow of the feverish conflict between the Middle East and the U.S. that by the end of 2001 9/11 had occurred and by 2003, the Iraq War began officially.

I remember thinking that it was brave of Yauch to deliver such a political speech and at an event that is such a party, the VMAs are almost a form of escapism in all that is collected are the designer duds worn by the celebrities, the songs that made us feel good, and the videos that were equally as affective. Yauch’s speech was heartfelt, sudden (at least as a viewer), and still oddly appropriate because in front of a huge audience in which the message would be transferred in viral proportions, Yauch and his observation didn’t come across as selfish or worse, pious.

The Beastie Boys by then became known for their anti-violent, anti-discriminatory objections and they did it again the next year when the won the first Video Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Video in 1999 for “Intergalactic” and this time it was Ad-Rock (aka Adam Horovitz) and his disdain for the awful aftermath of once peaceful outlet Woodstock (Woodstock ’99) and its reports of malleable violence, rapes and sexual assault towards women.  When Ad-Rock declared his sneering recollection of his thoughts, the Beastie Boys were veterans in rap music, old enough to offer substantial advice for a better, more liberal surrounding of which music can once again be the leader of progression, whenever they could, opinions were voiced to encourage change not complicity.

Shock is what I first felt when I was overlooking the newspaper of a passenger sitting on the 6 train going downtown, as the headline quickly read that MCA died at the age of 47.  Instantly, the trio’s passionate crusade for human rights through their award show speeches, concerts, and interviews came to mind and that be the most comforting prospect of the passing of MCA.  The Beastie Boys will always be iconic for their boisterous depictions of youthful rebellion, but also, they’ll be respected for being public speakers for many people who are often voiceless in the Western world and for letting their fans and non-fans know that it’s also important to fight for what is right.  Beast in peace, MCA.

–Carmen Shardae J. Chambers

“Recordings selected for the National Recording Registry are those that are culturally, historically or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.

For the purposes of recording selection, “sound recordings” are defined as works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sound component of a moving image work, unless it is available as an autonomous sound recording or is the only extant component of the work.

Recordings may be a single item or group of related items; published or unpublished; and may contain music, non-music, spoken word, or broadcast sound. Recordings will not be considered for inclusion into the National Recording Registry if no copy of the recording exists.

No recording should be denied inclusion into the National Recording Registry because that recording has already been preserved.

No recording is eligible for inclusion into the National Recording Registry until ten years after the recording’s creation.”

While some of the recordings (rightfully so) belong into the Registry, however the Wild Heart thinks they forgot a few while in the process.

1. The Concert for New York City – This recording became eligible a few weeks ago. However this was one of the things that brought the city of New York together like never before, but nevertheless after the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
2. Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music - This recording has been eligible for at least 40 or more years. This festival defined what the 1960′s were all about.
   
3. Woodstock 99 - If Woodstock 69 (mentioned above) was the embodiment of peace and music, Woodstock 99 was it’s evil twin. Take in mind the time of 1999: 2 of the major news events that happened were the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton over his affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky and the school shooting at Columbine Highschool, which killed 15 people including the shooters themselves. There were also many copycat crimes as well. It was a rather violent time. Woodstock 99 was almost like a violent reaction to that time, however in the same violent vain.
4. Dreamboat Annie by Heart – This was released at the peak of the second wave of the Women’s Liberation Movement. If anything, the fact that not one but two women head up this band. History was made with this album.
5. 52nd Street by Billy Joel – If I ever want to know what life is like in the Big Apple, I just pop in one of his albums. This was, to me, what I picture Manhattan to be like at that time. Especially with such songs as Big Shot, Half A Mile Away, Zanzibar and the album’s title track.

News Analysis: By the Time They Got to Woodstock [‘99], It Was Gone

Lessons learned — and not learned — a year later

WHAT?! is anyone else confused about the circumstance of these bottle-wielding fans? Dave Matthews doesn’t really draw a violent crowd

Lakini’s Juice by Live at Woodstock ‘99 »> yeah, this mofo was there!! And no, that wasn’t me in the pit… I was best described as affable that weekend… yep, affable. 

And, damn I still wish I could find that picture of me posing with the two hotties wearing nothing up top other than beautiful body paint. Gawd damn!! I guarantee my ex threw that one out! I will post the picture and an apology to her here if I discover otherwise! 

“it was an evening i shared with the sun

to find out where we belong
from the earliest days
we were dancing in the shadows

more wine
cuz i got to have it
more skin
cuz i got to eat it

inside the outside, by the river, used to be so calm
used to be so sane
I rushed the lady’s room
took the water from the toilet
washed her feet and blessed her name

more peace
is such a dirty habit
slow down, we’re too afraid

let me ride
let me ride
burn my eyes
let me ride”   

Today marks the 30th anniversary of MTV’s debut.  I was thinking the same thing as you, holy crap, I’ve gotten old.  While the channel has gone as far away from their roots as one possibly can, no one can argue it’s place in American culture.  I remember as a young kid watching it at my grandma’s place in New Jersey and just loving it.  Hours upon hours of music videos. 

It wasn’t until the early 90′s that MTV really entrenched itself and defined an entire generation of kids.  I can still remember the first time I saw “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Jeremy”  and was completely turned on to a type of music that I still love to this day.  There were days we would rush home to catch debuts of new videos.  It was must-watch TV.   I can still recall when Kurt Loder came on and announced that Kurt Cobain had died and how much that affected our generation. 

I can still remember late nights staying up to watch Headbangers Ball or Yo MTV Raps. I really started to shape my taste of music through this channel.  I was among the many who watched this crazy experiment of “reality TV” with  Real World New York and watched the many following season through college. 

I enjoyed the rise of Beavis and Butthead.  It is still one of my favorite shows.  No, I wasn’t one of those kids who tried to light cats on fire or any of the other crazy stuff portrayed on the cartoon, it was just good, stupid, entertaining TV that made the daily drudgery of teenage life go away for 1/2 hour at a time.

The highlight of my MTV years was Woodstock ’99.  It came just a couple of months after I graduated college.  MTV aired the whole thing and I sat in my apartment watching this unfold in front of me.  I think this may be the last time I watched the channel for any length of time.  In a way, that concert marked the end of my “college life” and started the transition into my “professional life”, since I started my new job at NBC a month later. 

Those ten years of MTV were, in my opinion the golden years of the network.  It still played music but did well mixing in other shows.  It has been a steady decline since.  To call themselves MTV now is an insult to what they once were. 

So today I choose to remember those formative years between 1990 and 1999 when MTV was destination television and thank them for helping me through those difficult years. 

Ani Difranco says, “What happened always adjusts to fit what happened after that.” When I gaze behind me, at the last 26 years of my life, I’m surprised to find the thread of a woman wrencher. Incredibly thin, almost invisible, and mostly ignored, there it is, a trail between the then and now.

In the summer of ’99, after my freshman year of high school, my father and I planned an eccentric camping trip in the Adirondacks. We camped on the plateau peak of a quarter-acre island mound in the middle of Saranac Lake. We quickly realized it was subject to high-speed, severe wind chilling gusts, but we set up camp anyway.

We brought  our gear there on a motor boat, towing behind us a tiny kayak, and towing behind that, a tiny sailboat. It was quite a procession.

We also brought a Dutch oven and the ingredients to make gourmet stuffed rolls, homemade pizza crusts and muffins. We were in bear country, but since we were on an island we couldn’t think of any reason to contain the sprawl of baked goods, crumbs, and ingredients. When we got home we realized that bears swim. Duh. Fortunately, none swam to our island and invaded the party.

On our drive up to Saranac Lake, I saw, for the first time, a classic VW Bus. “Dad, I want one of those!” He laughed and told me a about the van’s role as the hippie mobile. It was the vehicle of choice to follow The Dead and give people rides for gas money.

I just loved that van. I came up with the idea to find a cheap one and fix it up when I turned 16. My dad thought it was a great idea. The wrencher in me was stirred.

That same summer I went to Woodstock ’99 with my ex-boyfriend. I saw so many VW busses!  Painted with murals, in tie-dye style, covered in all manner of graffiti, all colors… I really loved it. I took a lot of pictures.

Though stirred, the car girl who couldn’t wait to roll underneath a VW drivetrain, disappeared as quickly as she had come.

Ok I’ll stop.

FlashMob! has recently undergone a period of increased activity. We spent the entire fall ramping this band up with enough songs to cover a three-hour show (which equates to about 50 songs, if you care). A lot of hard work has gone into this entertainment monolith of a cover band, so we were understandably anxious to get the product to the people. I’ve done my best to document the carnage along the way. Check out a couple videos from recent shows below. These have already been released on Facebook but to those who aren’t all about having their face in a book, enjoy.

P.S. If you’re not yet a “fan” of ours on Facebook (please help our self-esteem, become a fan), you’re either

1)  my father

2) still talking about how “off the hook” Woodstock ’99 was, or

3) a member of rival local cover band “Good for Gary.”    (No, I’m not linking to them)   :P

For your sake, I really really hope it’s #2.

Bunker’s, downtown Minneapolis, 1/23/10

The Red Carpet, St. Cloud, 1/29/10

Bonnaroo. It’s the coolest, hippest music festival that everyone LOVES to go to. It’s a real MUST SEE for music lovers everywhere. But not me. I’ll pass.

I wouldn’t call myself a Bonnaroo old schooler, but my appreciation for the festival definitely happened in its earlier years: 2005 and 2006. Making the trek from Pennsylvania to Tennessee was no easy shuffle, but it was worth it to see so many famous jam bands and acts all in one place.

Some of my favorite acts from those years were Toots and the Maytals, Keller Williams, Steel Pulse, Tom Petty, and Phil Lesh.

When I was a Bonnaroo-er, everyone was peaceful, including the musicians. It was all about having a great time in a nonviolent way and truly connecting with the music. There were never bands on the lineup like GWAR, Jay-Z, or Dropkick Murphys. When you incorporate this kind of music into a peaceful festie, the whole vibe is overhauled and violence is introduced.

Now, the tone for Bonnaroo has changed dramatically. It no longer remains a haven for hippies and jam band fans. With the inclusion of more ‘hardcore acts,’ the scene is just like any other rock festival. Remember Woodstock ’99? Fans, reportedly out of control by all the intense music, decided it would be a great idea to light things on fire and rape women. I can only hope Bonnaroo doesn’t end up that way.

Other than those ‘harder acts’ mentioned above, the complete list of new performers coming in 2010 can be found on Bonnaroo’s artist line-up website. While there are a few bands that look great to me, most I can live without seeing. There is no going back for this festival. It won’t return to the way it was, but I guess that’s just evolution.

In the summer of 1999, more than 200,000 concert-goers traveled to an abandoned Air Force Base in Rome, New York for Woodstock ’99, one of the largest music festivals in history.

For Generation X degenerates, it was the party of the millennium.

Woodstock ’99 ran from July 23-25 and was broadcast live by HBO. Stations such as MTV and MuchMusic also covered the event with their own crews.

Even though many attendees complained of expensive ticket prices ($150 plus service charges for three days), the line-up was top-notch.

The Offspring was touring for Americana, Korn’s Follow the Leader was still selling well and thrash metal bands Metallica and Megadeth were on the bill for some headbanging performances.

People moshed, crowd-surfed and jumped with the music, and when they weren’t at the stage, the crowd made its own fun by rolling in mud, making music with garbage cans and throwing hundreds of frisbees at once.

Protesting Peace

But after “3 More Days of Peace and Music,” the final night turned into an evening of chaos and looting. Rage Against The Machine and Limp Bizkit were blamed for inciting riots.

During the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ set, an audio tower caught fire and a concert organizer went on stage, announcing that the fire department was on its way.

“If you look behind you, we have a bit of a problem,” said the organizer in an understatement.

It didn’t help that RHCP returned to the stage to cover “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix, an homage to Woodstock ’69.

A big mistake on the promoters behalf was to only allow its 1,200 security guards within the Woodstock grounds rather than hire police officers to overlook the event. After two days, nearly half of Woodstock’s security was gone–some were fired, others just left.

By the end of the show, more bonfires had been lit with candles that were intended for a candlelight vigil. Trash was all over the place, concession stands were burnt to the ground and still, the NYPD was on the outside looking in.

State Troopers were finally called in to help regain control, but a lot of damage had already been done. Four rapes were reported, seven arrests were made and police reviewed video to identify looters of overpriced vendor merchandise.

Dave Mustaine said it best when Megadeth finished their set: “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?”

Today ’09

Looking back, people seem to only remember the bad parts of Woodstock ’99.

They remember how disgusting the porta-pottys were, how expensive the food was, how hot it was outside.

It was not your mothers Woodstock.

One Beavis and one Butt-head is enough, but when you get some 200,000 of them together, surely even former MTV VJ Kurt Loder (who was at the event) should realize that the elements are combustible.

In reality, it’s a sad thought that ’90s teens could be so depraved, but it’s unlikely that even a small percentage of the turn-out partook in tearing down Woodstock ’99. With only seven arrests and six injuries out of 200,000 people, that might be a record.

The main thing to remember is the music; there were dozens of great bands on one bill and being there would’ve made you one of a lucky 200,000 to see them all live.

The rest of us could watch it on HBO, without the riots, $4 water bottles and drunk frat boys yelling, “Show us your tits!”

Bonnaroo delivers again, with over 100 bands, comedians, and something for everyone with art activities, workshops and vendors to supplement the live entertainment.

Bruce Springsteen, fresh off his Super Bowl appearance, plays his only North American festival of the year. 

And a lineup covering everything from Ben Harper’s new project, Relentless 7, to an appearance by the resurgent David Byrne promises to make this a great excuse to make a visit to the Tennessee countryside.

This is a golden era of music festivals, although there have been casualties (such as today’s announcement of the cancellation of this year’s Langerado Festival).

I will recommend to you what you already know – you owe it to yourself to get to one of these shows someday soon.

Don’t let the disaster of Woodstock ’99 dissuade you from checking out this new breed of rock festivals.

Tickets, prices, and additional details on Bonnaroo 2009 at bonnaroo.com.

I admit it. I didn’t really like dance music or electronic music before I got into the New Alternative. Growing up a little rocker kid I was always a fan of actual songs with catchy hooks, distinct lyrics, strong melodies… not these seemingly boring, repetitive things called DJ mixes and / or VIP tunes. If you wanted something to hit you right, you put on the Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Bush – Everything Zen. The Offspring – Self Esteem. Radiohead – Paranoid Android. But times changed. 9/11 killed all of us a little bit inside, and it metaphorically laid the seeds for the creation of a new musical aesthetic, of the New Alternative.

Woodstock 99 inaugurated the era of caricatures of the original energy of 90s grunge and hip hop, Creed-esque rock, Nu-Metal and Gangsta Rap. Of course there were different trends there too, but these have been the predominant trends in our culture as the Billboard charts have historically shown. Pearl Jam derivatives developed into Creed and now Nickelback and crew. Tupac and Biggie gave rise to a whole culture of rapper imitations. But like the history books show, there have always been other trends there too.

Outside of their similar sheer noisy dissonance, Korn sounded nothing like Nirvana. It hit at a chord in the public that resonated. People felt the pain underneath the feel good 90s. The extramarital affairs of our drinking, drugged out parents hurt us deeply. So did presidential terms engulfed in sex scandals. Our country became a little less innocent and alot more emo. But emo didn’t come out of the blue. The Cure and the Smith’s were popular in the 80s, but the 90s wasn’t about that same sense of self absorption, it was more about punching reality in the face, just listen to any Rage Against the Machine album and you know what I mean.

But like all things, the hippest trends are usually derived by something that is at least 20 years old, and we see at the dawn of the 2000’s a resurgence of interest in the 80s. The Killers, the Bravery, the Faint, Coheed and Cambria sounding like a carbon copy of Geddy Lee (yet totally different), jangly nu-brit rock bands like the Strokes, the Hives, etc; the rediscovery of the Gang of Four and the bands inspired by them such as Bloc Party, We are Scientists, etc, and groups like Fischerspooner bringing back the sequenced sounds of 80s electro into their classic album, Odyssey.

Isn’t it appropriate that at the dawn of the 2010′s we see the development of a new music that takes it’s energy and inspiration, in my mind at least, from the sheer violence and electricity of the 90s. Straight up, no chaser here, Trent Reznor and his music was phenomenally ahead of it’s time. Say what you will about the lyrics; his use of sequencing electronic instruments, layering distorted sounds versus clear / basic sounds, and his strong DIY ethic is, to my mind, the driving, inspirational energy that propels the creation of this new electronic alternative music.

Nine Inch Nails, in it’s early incarnation, took the trends of electronic music and brought them together into a cohesive, pop-oriented music focused towards a mass audience. It had raw sexuality, pop melody writing, and shocking, stunning noise. Similarly, the new alternative, which saw it’s first salvo occur with groups like Justice, Digitalism, Boys Noize, et al, has the same sense of electricity. Just listen to Waters of Nazareth and you can hear the beginnings of a raw, bloody, jarring, convulsing sound, which has since grown into a large array of styles which we at Straight No Chasa conveniently call New Alternative ( for simplicitie’s sake)

Of course, there is another set of trends that totally underlie the growth of this new music, namely that aforementioned ‘boring’ dance music which I didn’t grow to appreciate till recently. The origins of House, Detroit Techno, and more importantly, Drum n Bass, gave rise to the techniques and mindset which provides the philosophical and technical foundation for making this new type of music. But that is something which would require a whole entire other set of posts to elucidate. The point here is simply this, the New Alternative isn’t about emotions, it’s about fucking dancing. It’s about punching reality in the face, just like NIN, just like the 90′s.

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Appropriately, I gather that people expect that on these new types of blogs that there should be music posted on here to satisfy a need to actually HEAR that of which we so passionately seek, read about, and oh yes, listen to. So without further ado, here are Straight No Chasa’s selects from the last few days (and boy they’re that good this week.)

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First up on our hitlist from great tunes to grace our emailbox from this week, a huge remix from up-coming and unknown, to us at least to now, producer Meterhead from LA. Their remix of Busta Rhymes’ song Get Down is absolutely off the hook. From it’s huge fidget step bass line, whateva that means, to its fucking hot use of Busta’s rappin, this remix is absolutely and uberly hot. I wanna hear that motherfucka say… DL this shit cuz it be blowin up.

Busta Rhymes – Get Down (Meterhead Westside Remix)

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Lots of tunes run across the blogosphere gracing the covers of the best blogs out there, but few are as hugely rocking as this Crookers remix. Sure you’ve heard it everywhere already, but here is the best quality mp3 I’ve heard of this tune to come out yet from one of my favoritest other blogs out there at the moment, You Can Call Me Pelski. Check it, Rock it, Buy it!

Busy P – To Protect and Entertain (Crookers Remix)

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They might not be Daft Punk, but Romulus and Remus wrote what is one of the hardest banger tunes that I’ve heard in a good while. Wait till it hits around 1:00 into the mix: it’s a huge party rocker that is definitely hip and legit. They haven’t got much press but they seem to be friends with the very cool Trashbagskids Blog from that land down under. Look into them both!

Romulus and Remus – Rar

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Corporate America seems to be taking a liking to new hip, alternative stuff. Look at the recent Scion sponsered IHEARTCOMIX Mix. Nike here apparently sponsored the awesome group Goose in creating a new tune to run too. I’m not exactly sure if I would run to electro, but I would definitely take this tune and mix it into my live sets to create complete, utter, awesome chaosness. Buy it now!

Goose – Original Run (Nike Commission)

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I heard on NBC the other night that Brazil’s commodities market is booming, as is the rest of their economy. Other than that news, or from Marky, I don’t know of much other stuff happening in that large place known as Brazil. Thank the lord I recently discovered young fellow alt-dudes from Sao Paolo, Database. Here’s a distorted, discofied remix of Scenario Rock’s, Both Gotta Move On. Exciting, propulsive, Electro-DJ-friendly Sweetness.

Scenario Rock – Both Gotta Move On (Database Remix)

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And last but hardly least, here is a great remix of some dude known as Usher. Taking the basic structure of the original tune, Morsy’s remix clubifies it into a hot, poppin’ mix. This is one of those remixes where the words ‘tasteful adjustment’ are quite appropriate. This tune is very similar to the original, yet at the same time, it’s not. It has a huge, extroverted dancefloor sensibility the original lacks. I love it, let’s bang.

Usher – Love in this Club (Morsy Remix)

I used to, in college.  No more, though.  It lost it’s appeal quickly. Its hot. Its loud. The girls are dirty.  Drinks are expensive.  Drinks are hard to get.

I did once or twice because my friends made me. They don’t get why I hate it. They’re not really my friends anymore because they want go out clubbing all the time. I watch football and play video games. But most of the time they are hungover and sleeping from late nights at club.  Meh.

Describe the most uncomfortable sex you’ve ever had. – NYCModo31

Oh, hands down in the clearance pc game section of CompUSA.  I had pointy red racking digging into my back and leg, and the part she was holding onto for stability kept screeching with the dragging of pointy metal over tile flooring.  I launched all over the inside of her sweater (it had been turned inside out), and she had to wear that out, only adding to the uncomfortability quotient, for her anyway.  I had scratches and divots all along my back.  Mayhem.

Ok, If you could have the ability to not have to sleep, would you take it You would recieve all of this benefits of being asleep already, but you could never go to sleep?  -PieBowler

Of course.  Only idiots say no. Its a free 30 years to live.  You spend A THIRD of your life WASTED in sleep.

The Death Penalty is stupid and Barbaric. No one deserves to die no matter how terrible the act they committed was. They should suffer in prison and not be treated like other inmates. They should be made to suffer by not receiving meals, light or even a cell larger than 2 feet by 6 feet. Make them wish they were dead, dont be barbaric and slip to their level. -TimAldren

It is hypocritical to punish someone for murder, by murdering them.  Having said that, Im not about to tell the victims families what would make them feel better.  i think they should get to decide.

You know the expression that your not really dead as long as your not forgotten? What if that was true; as if you were held in purgatory or in ghostly form on earth until everyone has forgotten you. Once the very last memory of you has dissapeared and the last person who knew of you died, then you went to heaven. If that was true, our need for legacy is very dibilitating; being a President, or any important figure that’s kept in the history books will be wandering the earth forever, waiting an hoping to one day be forgotten.   So, average jo’s who do nothing with their life will have the last laugh. -BoatMealWookies

You should totally make this movie, and then prepare for the backlash from the Christian community for your claims that Jesus has not ascended into heaven. If you are forgotten there is no way anyone can learn from what you had to offer.  To be remembered is not a curse.

What do you think are the greatest sports moments of this decade? -90MPH

In order;

1.) Red Sox being down 0-3 winning 8 in a row to win their first World Series in 80+ years.
2.) Giants beating undefeated Pats in the Super Bowl.                                                             3.) Vince Young vs. USC                                                                                                       4.) Brett Favre on Monday Night the day after his dad died.

I always think “Why won’t they ever have another Woodstock?” Then I remember what happened in Woodstock ’99.    Dear Generation X,   Thanks for ruining it for the rest of us. -Hallidenn21

But it paved the way for us to hear “Ill take Rampant Tent Rapings for $200 please, Alex” someday, so there’s always that.

Last night, my 13 year old sister told me she was gonna score some weed.  For the record, I told her no.  I made her agree not to and threatened to tell our Mom if she did.  I just wanted to hear what you think of how I handled the situation.  -Windbeneathmythings

Well, now she won’t be notifying you of the number of potentially serious things she may or may not be doing in the future. I hope her considering getting high and eating smores was worth the trust in your relationship.  I’m not saying what you said was wrong.  It was the wrong way to go about it, though.

Do fat people have feelings? Everytime I walk by an obese person, I can’t possibly think that they have feelings.  Do they? -ColinInsick

Just hunger, shame, jealousy, and embarrassment.

As I write these “reviews”, which are more displays of information than opinion-based, I’ve come to know a lot about the history of the nation’s music festivals. In searching information about Coachella, I came across a lot of background information I had never been introduced to before, and a lot of recent news regarding both the festival and its creators…

Coachella, the shortened name given to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, was conceived out of the boycott of Ticketmaster and the Southern California venues it previously charged. A performance by Tool and Pearl Jam at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, CA in 1993 led to the creation of the festival six years later (and three months after Woodstock ’99). The festival has been held annually since its conception, save for its cancellation in its second year, 2000, due to financial issues brought to light during ’99.

Set in the desert of Southern California, Coachella is set up like many and most music festivals in the nation; tents and stages hold performers, audiences and art exhibits. With temperatures reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, anyone, dancing or not, will work up a sweat.

The festival’s line-up has been released with acts such as Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, the Raconteurs, the Breeders, Fatboy Slim, DeVotchKa, M.I.A., Rilo Kiley, Animal Collective, and Roger Waters (performing Dark Side of the Moon). The line-up is as varied as those inclined to attend. I myself am not outrageously impressed with the full line-up, but there is no doubt that the festival will please.

Location: Indio, CA

Date(s): April 25 – 27, 2008

Tickets: Single-day passes (SOLD OUT) – $90.00, Three-day passes – $269.00

2008 Artist Line-Up: http://www.coachella.com/

Website: http://www.coachella.com/

(Something I found very cool about the festival… In 2007, organizers started a recycling program where festival attenders could trade five empty water bottles for a full bottle. This followed years of free water, then $2/per bottle water. Nice compromise, I think.)

Claro, no todos los que se animan a iniciar la travesía corren con suerte. Algunos la pasan muy mal. Y con esto no me refiero a los mochileros que por error se enamoran de unas exhuberantes chicas eslovacas que luego les tienden una trampa mortal y terminan involucrándolos en un juego despiadado donde hay gente que se divierte pagando por verlos envueltos en una macabra tortura que se desarrolla, a escondidas, en el sótano de un viejo hostal. Eso, señores, es lo de menos. Los que han viajado alguna vez de mochileros saben que nada resulta más escalofriante, terrorífico, siniestro y atormentante que llegar a un hostal que nada tiene que ver con el que viste en internet.

Definitivamente, allá afuera hay mentes enfermizas que se divierten creando páginas web de hostales que ofrecen cómodas habitaciones, conveniente ubicación, instalaciones totalmente renovadas y un completo desayuno gratuito que prácticamente no existen; repugnantes personajes que nos invitan a disfrutar de un acogedor hostal con amplia terraza en la que suelen hacerse parrilladas de verano mientras que decenas de rubias europeas bailan desenfrenadamente hasta el amanecer, proyección de películas en pantalla gigante todas las noches y los fines de semana, una increíble banda tocando en vivo el mejor bossa nova del planeta. Toda esta farsa la plantean con una sutileza que sólo desarrollan los sádicos más radicales.

Ellos, desde algún sótano húmedo y oscuro, dan forma a un pertubador juego en el que terminan participando -ingenuamente- todos los mochileros que durante horas buscan en internet el hostal ideal para sus vacaciones. Las pobres víctimas pasan semanas -incluso meses- viendo como locos las fotos de cientos de hostales, leyendo comentarios en forums de viajeros, fantaseando con las noches de rumba en la terraza y las rubias desatadas, indagando minuciosamente acerca de las instalaciones de cada prospecto, sacando cuentas y tomando notas hasta que finalmente creen encontrar la opción perfecta. Un hostal económico pero acogedor. Modesto pero limpio, que es lo importante. Un lugar céntrico, ubicado en el casco histórico de la ciudad y a pocos metros de la estación principal de tren/metro. Una perla cuidadosamente colocada en la mágica Europa, pues.

Mochila a cuestas y maleta de sueños en mano, cada quien inicia su aventura. Unos pocos afortunados arrivan a un lugar con características similares al que reservaron online pero la mayoría de los mortales -los que pasaron más tiempo frente a la compu buscando la mejor alternativa- terminan alojándose en un hostal que nada tiene que ver con lo que estaban esperando. Esa situación, en algunas ocasiones, es forjadora de pesadillas insufribles. Yo en Europa corrí con suerte (obviando el episodio Roma – por cierto el Hostal Cristina es UNA MIERDA) pero en Buenos Aires no tanto. ¿Por qué? Bien, porque prácticamente todo lo que ví en la página web del Hostal BAIT no existía y eso, lamentablemente, sucede en todos los rincones del mundo. Los hostales, institutos de educación, hoteles y demás proveedores de servicios han aprendido a cazar taritas colocando fotos encantadoras en sus websites, aún sabiendo que el cliente potencial no encontrará nada parecido cuando arrive al lugar.

Yo me pregunto: ¿Por qué coño tienen que poner fotos de cosas que no lucen igual cuando llegas? ¿Por qué hablan de inmensas terrazas con parrilleras, computadoras con conexión wi-fi, bandas de bossa nova en vivo, pantallas gigantes e insuperable desayuno americano cuando en realidad lo que tienen es un balcón a medio terminar, 2 PC que usan eternamente el carajo que atiende en la recepción y la chama que limpia, un disco de Bossa N’ Marley (odio toda esas series de pacotilla) o dos pendejos mal tocando el intro de “Stairway to Heaven” o “Nothing Else Matters”, una sábana enorme donde proyectan películas rusas sin subtítulos y un miserable desayuno que con suerte incluye -bombos y platillos- una taza de café, 2 galletas y 1 gr. de mermelada de piña? ¡No jodan!

Y ni hablar de las amplias habitaciones y la céntrica ubicación. ¡Por favor! Cuando estuve en Polonia, la página web del hostal en el que me hospedé decía que estaba cerca del terminal de autobuses de la ciudad, en el casco histórico de Cracovia; además las habitaciones eran baratísimas y tenía un bar gigante donde vendían cerveza a mitad de precio. No podía pensarlo dos veces, tenía que reservar de inmediato. Cuando llegué, el hostal quedaba a no menos de 10 Kms. del terminal de autobuses (tal vez exagero un poco, pero estaba lejos) y no había forma de preguntar direcciones porque en Cracovia, como era de esperarse, la gente prefiere ser fiel a su lengua natal y no traicionarla pronunciando cosas en inglés, mucho menos en español.

Terminé entonces caminando durante 2 horas sin un rumbo muy claro, con una mochila no poco liviana en mis hombros y decifrando avisos de ruta en polaco hasta que finalmente llegué al Krakow Nathansvilla, que sinceramente valió la pena reservar. El único detalle fue la ubicación, que no era tan práctica y conveniente como ellos la pintaban (“10 minutos a pie desde la estación de autobús”), pero de resto el sitio es recomendable al cien por cien.

Sin embargo, a veces todo falla y nada se parece a lo que viste en internet. Sino pídanle a Héctor que les cuente como lucía el hostal en el que se está quedando cuando lo vió por primera vez en Internet y cómo realmente es ahora que está allá. En las fotos había un patio precioso, con grama y árboles pero en realidad “no hay ni una mata de cayena” y además, “el hostal aparentemente es para gays, pero ahora hay un poco de hijos de puta jodiendo en esa vaina y el marico de la recepción nos odia”. Me parece justo que en algún momento las cosas salgan mal para el que tiende la trampa.

Finalizo entonces esta humilde protesta rogándole a la gente que alquila habitaciones en hostales, que ofrece servicios educativos en escuelas de música y publicidad, que promueve atracciones turísticas y recorridos guiados por las ciudades y afines, que por favor nos hagan las cosas más fáciles y posteen fotos que verdaderamente corresponden con lo que encontraremos en cada lugar. Sino, tarde o temprano, se va armar una aplastante arremetida que hará lucir el último día del Woodstock ’99 como la celebración final de un retiro espiritual para personas de la tercera edad. Advertidos están.