Big Head Todd and the Monsters

A major new festival known as The White River Arts & Music Festival (WARMfest) today announced that its inaugural three-day event would take place on Labor Day weekend Saturday, August 31; Sunday, September 1 and Monday, September 2 at Broad Ripple Park in Indianapolis.

The Ride Festival recently announced its second installment – happening July 13th and 14th at Colorado’s breathtaking Telluride Town Park. The 2013 Ride Festival lineup includes David Byrne & St. Vincent, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Cake, Drive-By Truckers, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller and Son Volt, with others still to be announced.

Longtime Colorado favorites Big Head Todd and The Monsters have mapped out their summer tour plans. In addition to a handful of theatres in the midwest, the band headlines their annual Red Rocks Amphitheatre gig on June 11, where Guster will be on hand to open the show.

Strong winds from the west blew across a dirt parking lot… people tuck their heads, pulling their hats tighter to their skulls as they struggle against the wind, walking towards a dusty, rock strewn patch of earth… getting closer, t-shirts and the tarps they are laid out on struggle to stay grounded as their owners try to protect their wares from the dust… Girls in ruffled tutu’s and fishnet stockings are re-thinking their outfit choices in light of the chill the wind brings with it- but dust and wind are commonplace occurrences for these veteran Colorado concert goers… rocks brought along

Borrowing a thought from another Grateful Web writer, I’d say that you can tell a lot about a festival by how it handles its second year.  No festival is ever perfect, and the first year is definitely the experimental year.  In the second year, you get to see how the festival responds to the demands placed upon it by its patrons.  Do things get better or worse, smoother or more of a hassle?  Last weekend, July 18th and 19th, I boogied on down to the second annual Mile High Music Festival just outside Denver, Colorado.  Having rocked