Although I am no stranger to Grand Rapids, I had never attended a show at the Intersection until the Rothbury Pre-Party.  There is no more appropriately named venue to host such a dynamic collaboration of talent.  EOTO, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus and Herm Productions is quite the trio to kick off the Rothbury Music Festival.

This Wednesday, July 1st, will mark an important one year point for Fort Collins band Tickle Me Pink. Just short of twelve months ago on this date in 2008, Tickle Me Pink were to celebrate the release of their first album on Indie label Wind-Up Records, but instead found themselves alongside many fans mourning the sudden death of 22 year old guitarist/bassist Johnny Schou.

The day Michael Jackson died was a particularly beautiful one, here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Blue skies, just enough clouds, and uncharacteristically low humidity greeted the audience along with the stunning natural scenery of the Ginter Botanical Gardens, in Richmond, Virginia.

On Sunday, the Boulder Theater simmered with genuine blues bravado, the kind that clings to the air with an intoxicating presence. The source of this beautifully hazy down-home sound came in the form of guitarist and vocalist Robert Cray.

Going back to my high school days growing up in Iowa, I specifically remember the first time I heard Phish.  I was with a group of friends (guys I am still in touch with today) riding around on a hot summer day on our way to what had become almost a daily sand volleyball session.  A buddy popped in the Picture of Nectar CD and told us we were in for a real musical treat.  Some band from the East with a simple but oddly spelled name.

Truly integrating two disparate musical genres into a third doesn’t occur all that often.  And when it does, it’s often lopsided in favor of one genre – over another.  It’s unbalanced, and noticeably so.  But when an organic musical marriage does happen, it can be like dynamite.  Happily, such is the case for Asheville, North Carolina’s Toubab Krewe.

On Friday June 12, at around 9:25 I walked into Ashkenaz on San Pablo Ave, in Berkeley, to the sounds of the Dead Guise playing their opening set of acoustic Grateful Dead covers, in a style similar to the Grateful Dead’s early 80’s acoustic albums Reckoning and Dead Set.

Festival season started early this year.  Well, early for Colorado.  Last Saturday The Disco Biscuits and a cavalcade of friends and like-minded musicians brought the ruckus to Red Rocks Amphitheater for an all-night non-stop mini-festival of epic proportions.  If that sounds like an overstatement, perhaps it is.  Although technically not a festival – the word is honestly a little big for what went down – being outside and seeing no fe