Louis Molinary is convinced that the Stones wouldn’t really care if he wasn’t able to make his mortgage next month.  The fifty-something real estate developer from Charleston, SC  is quick-stepping into the festival alongside me, headed back to the picking tents.  He tells me he’s new to bluegrass music and wants to hear some more, he said.. Until last year, when a longtime friend finally convinced him to come, Molinary had been more of a fan of The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin.

A nasty day in February became much brighter when my Treo blew up as texts started flying in informing me that Rothbury 2009 was officially on.  After months of speculation and discussion about leases and bankruptcy and rumors of a possible alien abduction of any confirmed artists, this was fabulous news!

On April 10, Indie rockers The Hold Steady played to a packed house at the Fox Theater here in Boulder.  Appealing to a mix of the young and hip and the grown-up and mellow, this group of rock and roll storytellers put on quite the high energy, low tech spectacle.  Whereas only the night before the Fox Theater had been aglow with BoomBox’s pink, purple, red, and blue lights, the closest thing to the Aurora Borealis that Boulder will ever see, for The Hold Steady the theater was bathed only in dull