It's summer and that means that festival season is upon us! Hopefully you'll be packing up the car this year and heading out to at least one festival somewhere in California. For the more sedentary types in the Bay Area, see my Top 10 San Francisco Festivals article for the great events in our backyard. For the rest of us, we'll be right there with you, in line at the vending area waiting for my giant egg roll or Java a go-go, partying in the hotels, campsites, and the late-night events. Here is a top 10 list of our favorite California festivals in calendar order starting with the festivals still to come this year.
Reggae on the River/Reggae Rising
Beginning of August (3 days) - Humboldt, CA
California's premier roots and reggae festival with headliners like Ziggy, Damian and Stephen Marley, Fantan Mojah, Collie Buddz and Steel Pulse. The story of Reggae on the River became very interesting this year. After 23 years of holding the annual event at the Dimmick Ranch and French's camp, the founders of the festival mysteriously lost their lease on the venue and subsequently lost the event entirely. People Productions and Dimmick Ranch applied for the lease and were granted permission to throw the event under the new name Reggae Rising. There appears to be some bad blood between the 2 groups, but the festival lives on (kind of) and promises a killer line up this year. If you dig reggae, this is the festival to hit.
Burning Man
Early Sept - Labor Day Week (7 Days) - Black Rock City, NV
Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind. While Burning Man technically takes place in Black Rock City, NV, this is definitely a Californians festival. The event is totally unique in that there is no "planned" or "hired" entertainment, no vending whatsoever and it's located in the absolute middle of no where. Each year, tens of thousands of partiers, performers and artists flock to the desert for a week long "do what you feel" kind of event. Groups of festival veterans create "camps" and each brings it's own unique flavor and artistic slant on what Burning man is to them. The art is out of this world, the music is totally unpredictable and the experience is second to none. This year's theme is Green (of course!).
*Planning ahead is an absolute must since every person is responsible for bringing in their own supplies and surviving on what they have.*
Earthdance
Mid September (4 Days) - Laytonville, CA
Earthdance is a 3 day camp out and celebration for world peace and unity featuring 5 stages of entertainment from jamband to electronica and reggae to folk music. Late night cinemas, speakers forums, global crafts and eco education (what festival is complete without eco education!) and a healing village make this festival very very California. Earthdance is very big on global community and it shows at every corner of the event. This years headliners include Lyrics Born, Medeski Martin and Wood, Ozomatli, Les Nubians, New Monsoon, ALO and many more.
Love Fest
End of September (officially 1 day but parties happen all week long) - San Francisco, CA
Even though we did a piece on San Francisco festivals that talked about Love Fest, it is impossible to write an article about California festivals that does not include Love Fest in it. This is North Americas largest electronica event that attracts close to 100,000 people to the streets of San Francisco for a party that was created in the vision of the Love Parade in Berlin. The party starts with a parade through the streets of SF and ends at Civic Center for a full day of some of the most amazing dj's in the world on the dozens of floats parked around the square. Pre parties and after parties abound and this event ends up being a full week long when all is said and done. Amazing.
Symbiosis
Late September (4 Days) - Northern California (Location TBD)
Symbiosis Gathering is a synaesthesia of art, music, transformational learning, and sustainable living integrated into an unparalleled extravaganza of fun under the Northern California skies. With headliners this year including Hallucinogen, Shpongle, Eat Static and Bassnectar, this is gonna be a party under the stars like no other.
Coachella
End of April (3 days) - Indio, CA
When Coachella started back in 2000, founders Paul Tollett and Rick Van Saten had a vision of creating a festival that drew in massive crowds and showcased the top musical talents in the world. During the first 2 years, the pair lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and Paul nearly lost his house, but somehow the word caught on and the crowds grew. Today Coachella serves as the pinnacle of music festivals perhaps in the entire world. During the 3 days of the festival, 100,000+ music fans head over to the Empire Polo Fields each day in Indio, 20 miles east of Palm Springs in the middle of the desert. Generally considered to be a rock festival, Coachella has an amazingly diverse offering of music including world class DJ's, punk rockers, pop stars, country legends and everything inbetween. Over the course of the 3 days, there are over 120 artists, bands, dj's and comedians scheduled to perform.
Lightning in a Bottle
Mid May (3 days) - Santa Barbara, CA
Lightning in a Bottle is in it's 8th year and is what we would call a "festival with promise." While LIB hasn't yet reached the size of some of the other festivals listed here and the artists that perform are still on the local level, the seeds have been planted and each year the festival grows in popularity. For a glimpse at the Burning Man esque madness, check out the video we shot while at the event in 07. MetroWize presents Lightning in a Bottle
Harmony Festival
beginning of June (3 days) - Santa Rosa, CA
The Harmony Festival brings together eco consciousness, health and healing and music and raps it all up neatly into one of the best California Festivals of the year. Celebrating its 29th year this summer, Harmony festival continues to expand in size and quality. This year it featured 3 stages of music, a full global craft village, 2 exhibition halls for health and wellness, dozens of food and beverage vendors and a handful of powerful political speakers... oh yeah, there were also over 10,000 attendees! Next years event is sure to be even bigger and better so stay tuned.
High Sierra Music Festival
July 4th weekend (4 days) - Quincy CA
An intimate yet first-rate festival nestled in Northern California's majestic mountain range, the High Sierra Music Festival is a unique four-day music and camping festival that features an eclectic and boldly creative span of music from acoustic singer-songwriters and down-home bluegrass to high-energy funk and skillfully improvised jazz, rock and live electronica. Held in Quincy, CA and celebrating its 17th year, High Sierra launched as a roots-oriented festival with 20 artists on one main stage and has since evolved into to a 10,000 person event with more than 75 performers on five day-time stages and in five late-night venues. When it comes to camp out events with lots of great music you have never heard before, there is none finer than this one.
Got an event that we missed? Let us know what you think are the best festivals in California, we'd love to hear what you think.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Top 10 California Festivals, 2007
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Gearing up for High Sierra Music Festival
Even though the city is a constant center of amusement and entertainment for me, it's good to get out of town from time to time. It makes me remember that there is a summer after all. So then, are you heading out to High Sierra Music Festival this week? You should be! With acts like Tea Leaf Green, ALO, Bassnectar, and most of SCI, it looks to be one of the strongest line ups in years. Here are a few final thoughts to share before you head out.
1. Expect to pay $20 to stay overnight in line the day before. Because so many people will be arriving on Wednesday, expect big crowds early.
2. Check out the merch area to the left of the main stage. Every year they get better and better about recording real time shows and selling them off within 12 hours of the set. They're great soundboard quality and some acts, like Xavier Rudd need to be listened to live.
3. Expect some great collaborations this year! Kyle, Kang and Travis from SCI will all be there, as will Page from Phish. Something cool is bound to happen, just get to the workshops if it's not too hot and see what goes down.
4. Keep your eyes out for all the post HSMF shows. The promoters do a great job of bringing all the acts into town days after the festival, (mostly because of proximity). So, if you live anywhere in California, you'll be able to catch most of the bands in the coming weeks in your home town.
5. Wear sunscreen. This year is going to be scorching hot.
That's all for now. Share your tips below if you have any to add or check out my 10 Tips for HSMF article from a few months back if you want to learn the real secrets. I'll see you out at Big Meadow, in line at Java a go-go or dancing to the Disco Biscuits late night.
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Thursday, June 21, 2007
How Weird 2007 Photos
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Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Live 105 BFD 2007 - Preview
BFD began in 1994 and it has featured bands like White Stripes, Beastie Boys, and the Cure in it's 12 years. This year is another affair entirely. The bill is chocked full of electronic indie bands, and there are even two huge pre-parties at Mezzanine. The official BFD roster for 2007 includes Bloc Party, Interpol, The Faint, and tons more. If you decide to hit up the pre-parties, then you’ll get to see LCD Soundsystem, CSS, Bondo do Role, and even a DJ set by The Faint.
If you’ve got the extra cash and the itch to drive down to the south bay for a day of sun and music... this is the place to be.
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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Harmony Festival Preview
Harmony Festival will celebrate 29th years of proving that awareness and partying can go hand in hand. Beginning on June 8, those who make the trek to
For a full line up and more event info, visit harmonyfestival.com
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Lightning Strike - LIB reviewed
Last weekend in
Festivals like this are always great because you get lured in by names you know and recognize and then ultimately you leave with new artists and music that you love and can’t wait to hear again. At LIB, the headliners definitely delivered but it was the lesser known (at least to me) artists that stole the show. Here is a brief run down of the people I heard while there that I think you need to check out.
Ganga Giri- Not sure how to explain these guys other than “They Rock!”. I think their site says it better… “Ganga Giri mixes red natural elements with fat tribal beats and dirty funky bass lines to create a unique tribal-technological deep earth dance experience.”
The Glitch Mob - I walked into this show at the Treehouse Stage and these guys were tearing the roof down. Some of the sickest, deepest, funkiest, hip-hop infused beats you will ever hear. Luckily these guys are
Goddess Alchemy Project - These 4 female MC’s are lethal. They destroyed the main stage on Sunday morning. Again, their description says it best: “In collaboration with many artists and producers, Goddess Alchemy’s sound alchemizes a fresh, feminine flavor by integrating elements of underground hip hop, world accents, spoken word flows, and soulful melodics.”
BLVD feat Souleye - BLVD is a three-piece band that fuses live instruments with electronic samples to create a truly unique sound. Combining elements of house, breakbeat, and rock, their high-energy sound is perfect for the dance floor.
Others that you need to check out if you haven’t already…
Kid Beyond - Human Beat box master
DJ's that rocked!
Bassnectar
Random Rab
The Ianator
Blue Tech
Jesse Wright
Sammy Bliss
I could go on… Bottom line is that this festival rocked and there are some fast rising stars in the genre that are going blow your socks off so watch for ‘em.
For a view into the wonderful madness, check out the Lightning in a Bottle video.
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Tuesday, May 8, 2007
The return of the Wize Guide
Friday, May 4, 2007
How Weird Faire
Who wants to get weird? You know you do, and in a city like San Francisco that ain't a problem most of the time. This week in particular, San Francisco gets really weird though. How Weird Street Faire is back in what appears to be it's final waltz (at least in it's current locale of Howard and 11th). The How Weird Street Faire is a hoj poj of burning man meets Love Fest meets SOMA and it's all rapped together with 4 sound stages that rock all day long. Even though this is on a Sunday, the after parties (of which there are many) rock until the wee hours of the work week. Gear up SF'ers this is gonna be a weird trip!
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Thursday, May 3, 2007
Lightning in a Bottle Festival - May 11
On May 11,
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Metrowize Love Fest VIP Contest
The largest electronic dance festival in North America, Love Fest, is coming and Metrowize wants to send you to it in style as we celebrate the launch of our revamped email magazine, Wize Guide. After registering, you will be instantly eligible to win a two night hotel stay
Check the Love Parade site for more complete event information.
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Green Apple Festival - Music to save the World
Back in 1970 when Senator Gaylord Nelson declared that there needed to be an "Earth Day", his intentions were to bring awareness to rising environmental issues facing the world. Over the last 40 years the environment has unfortunately gotten a lot worse (anyone seen Al Gore's movie?), but a man by the name of Peter Shapiro along with Relix magazine are on a mission to fix that with a festival they call the Green Apple Music Festival. Over the weekend of the 20th-22nd of April, over 200 artists will play at over 60 venues in San Francisco, Chicago and New York in the name of saving the planet. Green Apple is a completely eco-friendly event and it's goals are to affect change amongst people to make a positive impact on our environment. Read more about it and see the full line up below...
About The Green Apple Music & Arts Festival:
Entering its second year, The Green Apple Music & Arts Festival is produced by Peter Shapiro and Relix magazine in partnership with Earth Day Network and presented by JPMorgan Chase. It is bringing the message of Earth Day to over 60 live music venues with over 200 performances in New York, Chicago and San Francisco over Earth Day weekend. The event achieves its mission of increasing awareness for Earth Day by combining top-tier live musical performances with educational programs to elevate activation of crucial environmental issues on both local and global levels.
The Green Apple Music & Arts Festival will put the Earth Day message into practice by “greening” all of the participating venues. Working with Onyx Distribution and JPMorgan Chase, Green Apple will provide venues in each city with environmentally friendly cups and straws; napkins and paper towels made of recycled materials, compostable garbage bags and biodegradable cleaning materials to ensure the event has a direct impact on how the venues operate.
Furthering their zero waste goal, the entire Festival will be carbon-neutral, meaning it will offset any carbon dioxide emission produced as a result of the festival, making this the nation’s largest carbon-neutral event ever. Additionally, each venue will have an informational table featuring educational and volunteer information relating to prominent environmental issues and organizations.
“The core idea of the Green Apple Festival is to raise awareness of Earth Day,” said Peter Shapiro, Founder and Executive Producer of the Festival. “By featuring a diverse group of musicians and uniting these venues under one cause, we are able to coordinate a very exciting, and somewhat unprecedented event. We hope the national footprint of the Festival will help inform as many people as possible on these important issues. And, we hope to expand to additional cities in future years, as I think everyone would agree that Earth Day should be recognized in a big way every year.”
Full line up of artists performing in San Francisco for the Green Apple Festival this year:
Bob Weir and Ratdog, Stephen Marley feat. Junior Gong, Greyboy Allstars, Yonder Mountain String Band, Martin Sexton, Trans Am, Tea Leaf Green, Railroad Earth, Electric Six, Newmaster Sounds, Everyone Orchestra, Girlyman, Akasha, The Drastics, DJ Scheme and Plan B, May Lake, Kite Flying Society, Black Taj, The Sippy Cups, The English Beat, The Plimsouls, Xiu Xiu and Smoosh.
For a complete schedule of performances and venues, go to:www.greenapplefestival.com
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Coachella 2007 - The biggest show on earth
Ok, so the biggest show on earth might be a bit of an exaggeration but not by much. Over the past 6 years Coachella has gone from idea (of Paul Tollet) to one of the most notable annual events in music. This year attendance is expected to top the 200,000 mark over the course of the 3 day event and at this point 2 of the 3 days (Saturday and Sunday) are already sold out. Headliners including Bjork, Rage Against the Machine, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyke, Interpol, The Decemberists, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Manu Chao and Willie Nelson come from around the world and cross just about every genre imaginable.
When Coachella started back in 2000, founders Paul Tollett and Rick Van Saten had a vision of creating a festival that drew in massive crowds and showcased the top musical talents in the world. During the first 2 years, the pair lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and Paul nearly lost his house, but somehow the word caught on and the crowds grew. Today Coachella serves as the pinnacle of music festivals perhaps in the entire world. During the 3 days of the festival, 100,000+ music fans head over to the Empire Polo Fields each day in Indio, 20 miles east of Palm Springs in the middle of the desert. Generally considered to be a rock festival, Coachella has an amazingly diverse offering of music including world class DJ's, punk rockers, pop stars, country legends and everything inbetween. Over the course of the 3 days, there are over 120 artists, bands, dj's and comedians scheduled to perform.
For more details you can visit their site at http://www.coachella.com/ and for tickets for Friday (the only day left) you can go here.
Are you going to Coachella this year? Have you gone in the past? Tell us about it and we will add your story to this article. Send articles and submissions to feedback@metrowize.com.
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Tuesday, April 3, 2007
WMC on Red Bull/Red Bull does WMC
We all know that Red Bull is synonomous with clubbing and partying. It makes sense then that they would send a team of Red Bull peeps down to Miami to party and document WMC this year. Our good friend Mason works on the Red Bull on the Move team and he hit Miami in a major way this year. We asked him about it when he got back from his trip and he couldn't remember a thing. Luckily for us, he kept a journal of all 6 days there...
DAY ONE
At LAX airport, had an easy check-in but a weird cab ride, total agro cab driver who wanted to make sure i understood that he was a bad ass and that drivers who cut him off would pay, he drives an old beat up Crown Victoria and doesn't care about it and he'll ram you without thinking about it. So if you are in Los Angeles, don't cut off or flip off a cab driver... it could be that guy.
On the plane, saw Mike Hiratzka who has a new album due out soon with good friend D:Fuse got the sampler called Skyline Lounge with 3 sampler tracks and one exclusive, plan on sharing that with everyone. Also saw Andy Caldwell who was sipping his coffee saying it was a little too early in the morning for him. Sat next to a real nice girl, Isis who is a singer for a house music label out of Spain and lives in L.A. Rocky Balboa was the movie on the flight and it wasn't that bad... I actually thought it was pretty good, despite some of the poor acting and writing, but man, I love Rocky, I can't deny it.
In Miami not hot but terribly breezy and somewhat cold staying at the Loews at 16th and Collins, a great hotel got a nice corner room with a view of the mayhem below. Luis' room is one floor above my own. Grabbed some drinks at the Raleigh pool and discussed the madness before us, then hit up some events went out Shine at Shellborne where Todd Terry and Jazzy Jeff were playing. Saw my old friend Dennis Wheeler of Def Mix who is running Shine. Stayed for awhile and then cut across town to the Large party just in time for Chuck Love's set which was amazing. He was playing live and spinning. Played everything from keys to horns to guitar and sang on his tracks this guy is talented and knows how to do it. After his set Mr. V got on to say a shout out to him and said he did everything back here, he played Trumpet, he played Keyboards, he sang, he played video games great response from the crowd. After that Mr. V came on and destroyed the place stayed awhile longer and decided to head back and on my way out ran into Miguel Migs and Marques Wyatt big hugs all around and hello gotta love WMC run into people you don't normally see everyone is out making rounds.
DAY TWO
Had breakfast with Luis and Sky of BPM (XM) as well as Mike Abrams (XM). Took off after a nice early breakfast and went to the pool to relax and work on scripts and plans and got kicked out of the chairs by some old bitch woman who said you didn't reserve these chairs you have to move these are mine! I reserved them! Okay lady, no worries don't get excited we can move... but the last laugh was on her because we sweated all over her towels. Down to the beach to relax there, no grief try and get rid of my pale look so people don't think I have jaundice. Big afternoon, first off to Pearl to set up for Hi-Tek Soul party and get gear set up to record. Then off to Mandarin Oriental hotel downtown with a great interview and catch-up with Danny Howells who is one of my all time favorite DJ's and someone who has always been so kind and welcoming to doing interviews and recording. He is a class act and an amazing DJ can't wait to hear him tonight he is going to destroy the place! He is the man. After a great interview and a few laughs we were off to Pawnshop for set up of gear in the booth. Finally got through all of that and jumped in a cab back to South Beach... this time the cab was strange the driver had on some African Talk radio station where the man was speaking in French and for about 5 minutes was ranting and ranting. I finally broke the weirdness in the cab by saying doesn't this guy take a breath? Everyone laughed and then we couldn't stop laughing at this radio station, the host was seriously pissed about something and it was almost sounding militant. Strange.
Back in South Beach walking around bump into Jay-J of Shifted Music and then to Monique Bingham and Joe B of King Street Sounds... again gotta love Miami get to see people you normally only talk via email.
It is finally time to head out, a group of us meet up at Pearl @ Nikki Beach for the Hi-Tek Soul party lots of great peeps here and got some great interviews. Had a chance to meet with Stacey Pullen and Lee Burridge as well as get some sets from them to share... also we met with the legend Derek May for the show. Then it was the arrival of the Red Bull Pinz which is a crazy truck driven by a gracious host, Tim. He waited for us and got everyone in the Pinz that had the Move playing on the soundsystem with Mackies in the entire thing... also in the back seat was a Red Bull fridge. We put Lee Burridge and Betty Kang of Plexi PR and crew in the Pinz and took them to B.E.D. - while dropping them off I ran into Villo and Chris Fortier of the Balance Record Pool, old friends and music partners of mine. Now it was off to the Pawnshop for Danny... we all arrived and it was absolutely pouring rain out. When we got into the place it was going off, totally mental and we were able to capture the set to share with everyone. This is a party that is not to be missed, great vibe and Made Event really went the extra mile bringing in a full sound system on top of what was already there. The place was jumping and Danny was in full force loving every minute of it and hitting the horn on the Mac truck DJ booth and igniting the place. Finally left there at about 6AM and back to the hotel to get some sleep, even bigger day ahead tomorrow.
DAY THREE
Up at Noon and organizing gear and preparing for a very long day indeed... while Luis heads to Remix Hotel I’m off to Beach Plaza Hotel for the OM records meet and greet where I am able to catch up with Chuck Love and Colette... also catch up with my SF Peeps from OM and off to Remix Hotel for our first day of live broadcast. Good lineup with Scumfrog and Kaskade and had some great visits from Luke Fair, Hector Romero and Villo of Balance Record Pool. A nice vibe all day and great crowd, the weather actually cooperated for the most part and had a nice broadcast.
Relaxing back at the hotel have to turn it around big night at Y Ultra Lounge / Totem Gardens for OM records party... an amazing line up. Headed out tonight at 10pm and it is now 5:30AM and I am back after an amazing party that had four rooms of music going absolutely off... rammed packed and great sets by Troydon, Bassnectar, Jake Childs, Peter Kruder, Sir Piers, Chuck Love, Farina, Heather and so many more... Gunnar & Lindsay of OM made sure I was well taken care of for interviews and recording... going to be a great show... need rest long day ahead again.
DAY FOUR
Up at Noon off to get some food and head over to Remix Hotel for day two of the live broadcast... big lineup with Minus crew... Ritchie Hawtin, Magda, Gaiser, Troy Pierce and Tiefschwartz.
Amazing day place was rammed packed and the music was spot on... good minimal driving beats - also able to head over to the Smart Bar party at Beach Plaza Hotel and capture Justin Long and Dayhota for the show... full Chicago Style!
Went and had a nice dinner with Luis and friend Peek and then back to the hotel at about midnight to get organized and head out wanted to go see Miguel but passed out from total exhaustion and woke up at 3AM... can’t get hold of anyone... figures now I can’t get back to bed… oh well… tomorrow is another day right?!
DAY FIVE
Lots of things to do today start it all off with a production meeting by the pool and then off to make sure things are set up for recording tonight. Luis is off to Ultra while I’m interviewing Mark Farina at the Sagamore and then to the Townhouse for ESL vs. Supperclub party and then two gigs tonight.
Farina was a great interview... now to race back to the hotel and grab the crew and head to the Townhouse... great rooftop party ahead. Fort Knox Five, Nickodemus, J.Boogie and Ursula 1000 for ESL vs. Supperclub. All friends and good people... place was slow because it kept pouring rain and we were on a rooftop! After two times people were just like fuck it and just danced away despite the weather. Music was pumping and got some great interviews... then I had to run and change and make it over to the Red Bull Fashion tent for a two hour gig with friend DJ Isaiah Martin. A nice time, played some soulful house, then had to run over to Dek 23 for another gig out on the patio for good friends Shifted Music (Jay-J’s) party.
This was by far my favorite party the music was insane all night! Good people great vibe and Ron Carroll destroyed the front room. A long walk back to the hotel, or more or less stumble, it’s 6AM... time for breakfast!
Day Five just rolled into Day Six... its pool time after a few hour nap... time for food and production all day. Grabbed a great dinner with the crew at Tantra although the place is nice it is super expensive like all Miami is… and they had a Drum & Bass DJ who decided it was best to blow the place out... hilarious at this point I was two dirty martini’s deep after a long week so all I could do was laugh... out of South Beach headed back to L.A.... glad WMC only comes once a year.
Red Bull on the Move is dedicated to bringing you closer to the underground. For more articles, videos, photo galleries and other cool stuff, visit their site. www.redbullonthemove.com.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Massive is alive and well - ETD Pop 2007
This weekend in San Francisco (Saturday actually), clubbers, ravers, trendsetters, scensters, teenagers and adults will all come together and converge on the Bill Graham Civic Center for the 10th installment of Electro Techno Disco Pop from the legendary party promoters at Skills. ETD Pop is a party of epic proportions by every definition of the word with 3 giant stages of sound, international superstars like Infected Mushroom, Christopher Lawrence, DJ Dan, Diesel Boy, Mark Farina and Kaskade (to name but a few) and 10,000 people expected in attendance. This is a party that had a budget of more than $250,000 and took 5 months to plan. Needless to say, you need to be at this event.
March 31st will mark the 10 year anniversary for the Skills parties and Skills founder Jason Sperling could not be more excited for it. “Skills has been through the good times and the bad times of the (dance) scene and we feel lucky to have been doing our events for the last 10 years” says Jason about the company he helped start bak in 1997.
Plans for an event of this size start as much as 5 months in advance and begin with securing the venue. Once the venue has been booked, it’s time to go after the talent and which can sometimes be complicated due to the fact that the date and venue have already been established and the artists they are courting are international DJ’s who are constantly playing all over the world. There are tours to think about, album releases that come in to play and exclusivity contracts that only allow performers to play a particular venue in the city or only so many times in a year. It’s a lot of work to have someone come and play records.
Skills hasn’t always had to go through all of this work to bring people in to their shows. In the first years when they started throwing their annual massive, the dance scene was healthy and full of young people who couldn’t get enough of the new sounds that boomed out of the towers of bass. Back then, Skills was able to rely on just their name to draw in the crowds. If it was a Skills party, that was enough. The focus was on the good vibe and music and not so much the big name stars performing. That’s all changed in the last 3-4 years and now it is much more about bringing in the biggest names, having the best sound and over the top lighting and decor. Jason welcomes the change and thinks it has made the energy level rise and the crowd has become more diverse and eclectic. “We now have to think of ourselves as concert promoters creating a top notch experience with the best sound and lighting and world class talent.”
This Saturday, all sounds in electronica will be well represented. Main headliner Infected Mushroom (originally from Israel) have been rockin’ stadium crowds around the world for years and Jason is excited to give them the stage that he says they deserve as the main act in the main room. Christopher Lawerence makes his 3rd consecutive appearance for Skills to add to the massive Trance sound that will be represented. In the house arena, some of the big names include DJ Dan, Kaskade and SF’s very own Mark Farina. Diesel Boy, Ed Rush and Optical headline the Drum and Bass room. According to Jason this is the most diverse line up a Skills party has ever had. For more info visit the site and for presale tickets go to Groove Tickets.
Make sure to check back next week because we are going to be there with our cameras so we will have some great videos.
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
High Sierra Announces 2007 Line-Up and Top 10 Tips
Ok, so it's still early, but the preliminary line-up for this years High Sierra Festival has been announced and it's shaping up to be a good one. Some of the early headliners include Tea Leaf Green, Yonder Mountain String Band, Bassnectar and ALO to name but a few. What's High Sierra you ask? Well, read on and I'll fill you in on the best summer camping music festival on the West Coast.
High Sierra Misic Festival is held each year in Quincy, CA, about an hour north of Lake Tahoe/Reno area. It's a four day camp-out festival that seems to have stayed consistently at about 7,000-10,000 people. Between the four stages running from 11AM-1AM and the Late night shows going all night, it's a non-stop party. Add to this that even in the drier northern Sierras, it's still beautiful country with rivers and lakes and plenty of sun. I tend to spend my days with a schedule in my back pocket, a beer in my hand, and maybe a frisbee if I'm feeling athletic. If your musical tastes range from Bluegrass to Rock with a little electronica thrown in, then don't stress about the line-up, just get your friends together and go. Before you do though, make sure to follow my HSMF top 10 tips while you're there, you'll thank me later. If you're a regular and you have tips of your own, add them in. Enjoy the festival, looking forward to some summer heat and good tunes!
1. Get there early. Good spots are limited for camping and the morning sun is your enemy when it starts baking you in your personal oven (tent) at 7am. Good shade can be found in the aptly named Shady Grove and under the big circus tent tops provided by the Big Meadow Stage. If you can't get there early, bring a shade structure.
2. Take a day trip away from the festival to the river at least once. The water is ice cold and clear and a swim in it can serve as your shower for the day.
3. Don't bring too much food. Some might disagree, but I think keeping something cold in 100 degree heat for 4 days isn't worth it. Invariably, I'll see somebody eating some soggy crap while I'm enjoying my delicious Mango Lassi and Chicken Tikka Masala from the Indian vendor for $6. Just buy some good vending food and bring snacks.
4. Don't be stupid with drugs. Do all the drugs you want, I'm no preacher, but past years have had run in's with law enforcement, so don't be dumb. They ranged between being complete assholes, to apologizing, to basically saying, "just don't be a jack-ass and we'll leave you alone". That's a pretty good mantra for life actually; don't be a jack-ass and you can pretty much do what you want.
5. Buy your beer at Safeway down the street. Ever go camping
near a city yet load up on everything in your car? Quincy is actually a legitimate town and they have food there. I forgot that the first year, but now I load up in town.
6. If you've got it in you and you can play hookie one extra day, stay for Sunday night. It wasn't until year three that I stayed till Monday but I have ever since. I always thought people went home Sunday. Not true. The party rages till the wee hours on Monday morning.
7. Save some energy and hit the late night shows. Use the money you saved from my beer-run-at-SafeWay advice and buy late night tickets. It's well worth it and people will keep you up anyway. If you can't beat 'em join 'em. There are also good free shows late night too. Point is, the party kicks up a notch post 1AM so don't miss it. Make sure to buy your late night tickets ahead of time because the good ones will sell out.
8. Hit some of the musician workshops that happen throughout the festival. One of the coolest aspects of HSMF is the collaborations between the many artists and the sit in's. The workshops are a rare opportunity to get to know the artist on a personal level and they are indoors so they often serve as a good way to beat the heat.
9. Use the pool. The pool is great because it's so damn hot in Quincy, but it's even better because you get to use their showers and over the course of 4 days of partying, you start to stink real good. Definitely worth the price of admission.
10. Last but not least, be prepared for some drastic temperature changes. By day, it's gonna be 90-100 and blazing sun. By night it might get all the way down to the 40's so bring fleeces and wool hats, etc. By 8am the next day be prepared to literally get cooked out of your tent as the heat starts moving up again.
Ahh, High Sierra!
This article was added by Metrowize co-founder and 7 year High Sierra veteran Brian Lillquist.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Noise Pop 2007 - Interview w/ Kevin Arnold
Well it's time once again for the annual Noise Pop Festival here in San Francisco and this year (it's 15th!) promises to be the biggest and best yet with headliners including Cake, Lyrics Born and The Dandy Warhols amongst others.
For our coverage of Noise Pop this year, we wanted to go beyond telling everyone that this is a great festival that you really need to come out and experience. We wanted to get to the source of it all and find out what Noise Pop was really all about so we went straight to the top and worked out an interview with Kevin Arnold, founder of the Noise Pop festival. Listen Now!
For Everything Noise Pop including schedule of events, list of performers, history, photos and Noise Pop shwag, go to www.noisepop.com
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Saturday, January 27, 2007
Anon Salon New Years Eve (Video)
This year for New Years, MetroWize went big with Anon Salon. Sea of Dreams 2006 featured some of the biggest names in the music and dance scene and was the place that nearly 10,000 people celebrated the coming of 2007. The 2 day event was huge and the parties were off the hook. We have a video to prove it... See it now!
New Years Eve with Anon Salon featured String Cheese Incident, ALO, Lotus, Mark Farina, Bassnectar and many more...
Put this video on your website, myspace or blog! Just click the Get Code Icon to get the html. Need to know more? Check out our article on how to take MetroWize videos with you wherever you want.
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Sunday, December 31, 2006
LoveFest 2006 - San Francisco
Check out our videos Girls of LoveFest 2006 and DJ's of Lovefest 2006. We got a ton of pictures this year too up on the MetroWize flickr account so check those out too...
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