Solid State

You gotta hand it to Grace Potter and her merry band of Nocturnals, this is pretty friggin' cool.

Yesterday morning, Higher Ground announced the lineup for this summer's Lake Champlain Maritime Festival, the annual nautically themed bash on Burlington's waterfront that GPN have traditionally played as a homecoming gig after a summer of touring the country. But this year, rather than blow into town, play a set or two and skeedaddle, they've curated an entire weekend-long festival-within-a-festival, dubbed "Grand Point North" — GPN, get it? And while the band is pulling in some serious marquee talent, the bulk of weekend will have a distinctly local flavor. Check the lineup:

Taj Mahal Trio, Deva Mahal, Fitz & the Tantrums, the Wood Brothers, Anaïs Mitchell & the Hadestown Orchestra (VT), Jessica Lea Mayfield, Hoots & Hellmouth, Chamberlin (VT), Barbacoa (VT), Parmaga (VT), the Eames Brothers Band (VT), Lendway (VT), Maryse Smith & the Rosesmiths (VT) and Split Tongue Crow (VT)

Color me impressed. 

The fest runs August 13 and 14, with GPN headlining both nights. I'm told they'll split the two evenings roughly along genre lines, with the rootsier acts dominating one night and the louder, more indie flavored bands the other. Tickets go on sale this Friday.   

Top o' the afternoon, Solid State.

The fine folks from the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival held their annual press conference this afternoon to thank their long list of sponsors, ply the media with ice cream and give Bob Kiss something to talk about that doesn't involve Burlington Telecom. Oh, and also to announce the bulk of this year's lineup, which, while maybe not as top-heavy with monster marquee acts as in recent years, appears solid from top to bottom, including some undercard acts that could well steal the fest.

The big names likely need little introduction: Herbie Hancock, Bela Fleck and the Orginal Flecktones, Poncho Sanchez, aaaaaaaand … muthaflippin' viperHouse, who will follow Belizbeha's lead from last year's fest and get the band back together to relive some Queen City glory days. Rad. Trombone rockers Bonerama (pictured) and the Joshua Panda Band open that show at the Waterfront Groove Tent on Thursday, June 9.

Also at the top of the docket, Bitches Brew Revisited, an all-star tribute to Miles Davis' groundbreaking 1970 record, Bitches Brew. The band features Vernon Reid, Graham Haynes, Marco Benevento and DJ Logic, among some other choice heavy hitters. Local improv jazz outfit — and a personal favorite — YoUSAy Placate open the Flynn MainStage show, which opens the entire fest on Friday June 3. The BDJF is also launching a contest inviting local artists to reimagine the cover art from Davis' landmark album. For more details on that, visit the BDJF site.

The BDJF always does well giving women in jazz their due. But, intentional or not, it seems there is an increased focus on lady songbirds this year, highlighted by a double bill at the FlynnSpace featuring vocalists Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan on Tuesday, June 7. Other choice acts include vocalist Catherine Russell (6/8, FlynnSpace), ecelectic electro-acoustic outfit the Myra Melford Be Bread Sextet (6/9, FlynnSpace) and a MainStage double bill that will see renowned vocalist Roberta Gambarini share the stage with the Roy Hargrove Quintet on Saturday, June 11.

There's obviously much more to talk about, and in the coming weeks, we surely will. Most of the lineup and schedule info is up on the BDJF site. But there are still a few shows that have yet to be announced and should be made public within the next week or so. Stay tuned. 

And here's the latest vid from VT's Cartoon Laureate/Superstar James Kochalka, "Beyonce," from his album Digital Elf. Here's hoping Jay-Z doesn't find out.

Wanna see Starfucker? I've got two tickets to give away to tonight's show at the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge. To win, just tell me why you think you deserve to go in the comments section. Best answer, as judged by a panel of … well, me, wins. Be sure to leave your real name and email addy so I can contact you/have the band's management put you on the list. Contest closes at 2 p.m. Aaaaaand go!

On the heels of Son of Salami/Joey Pizza Slice's bizarre "Fresh Baguettes" vid from earlier this week, Toby Aronson of NNA Tapes renown espoused the singular songwriter's trash-pop virtues in a guest post on Pitchfork sister site Altered Zones. Here's a snippet:

When I first heard about Joey, he was described to me as "that weirdo who just moved to town and has a cardboard robot and an imaginary vampire in his band." Over the years, Burlington, VT has grown to love Joey and all of his endeavors. I've seen Joey singing to frat boys, the homeless, and even the elderly. And it's not every day that "lo-fi pop" can connect with those sorts of folks.

Indeed. Check out the rest of the post here.

Heya, folks.

Here's the latest from local trash-pop auteur Joey Pizza Slice, a bizarre little video for his song "Fresh Baguettes." Because nothing says "I love you" like the gift of crusty bread, especially when aided by a sign language interpreter — y'know, for those who can't read gigantic lips. Take it away, Joey. 

Writing snappy headlines is hard work. No, really. It is. Choosing a handful of words that both grab the reader's attention and impart some clue to what a story is about can be an exercise in madness. And especially in a pun-friendly environment like 7D, there is a fine line between clever and precious.

This week's edition features a story I wrote about composer Philip Glass, an enigmatic and intimidating figure if ever there was one. Given his stature, his body of work and the general direction and tone of our interview, deciding upon a headline that worked was especially challenging. There was a lot of brainstorming involved. And a lot of bad ideas. What follows are some of the best — by which I of course mean the worst. Feel free to add your own in the comments. 

- "The Imaginarium of Dr. Glass"

- "Art of Glass"

- "Breaking Glass"

- "Blowing Glass"

- "Wait … Philip Glass Scored Candyman 2?"

- "Shards of Glass"

- "A Brief Interview with Philip-fucking-Glass"

- "Minimalism: High Art, or Intellectual Masturbation?" 

- "The Glass Menagerie"

- "Minimalism: … "

- "Philip Glass: the Polka Years"

It seems Parmaga's Bryan Parmelee ain't merely one hell of an indie rock songwriter. He also does a pretty good Foghorn Leghorn, as seen in this recent short depicting a pair of local citizens concerned over the recent Lockheed Martin proposal, and Parmelee as a Lockheed snake oil salesman. Enjoy …

Howdy, Solid State.

For the past couple of months, videographer Elizabeth Rossano (of "Alice Eats" renown) and I have been working on developing a music video series for Seven Days, tentatively titled "Signs of Life." The idea is, well, kind of a ripoff of the Take Away Shows — which I adore and have touted on numerous occassions on this here blog. What's that saying about the sincerest form of flattery?

Anyway, the gist is that rather than doing straight-up concert videos, we wanted to capture local musicians performing in unusual locations around Vermont, or in scenarios that simply speak, in some small way, to life as an artist in our oddball little state. We have a couple of sessions in the books and hope to start rolling these out on roughly a monthly basis, at least to start.  

Here is a rough cut of a session we did with Farm at their rehearsal/studio space, the Cave of Legends, underneath Ben Maddox's shop, the Flying Disc, in Enosburgh. Keep in mind that this is by no means the finished product. But before we officially launch the series, we were hoping to elicit some constructive feedback from you, dear readers. Did we blow your freakin' mind? Is there something in this video you feel just doesn't work? Anything you'd like to see more of? Less of? Whatever your thoughts, we'd love to hear 'em.

Without further ado, here's Farm.

Here's the latest DIY vid from local MC Aleck Woog of hip-hop collective Rurally Urban Records. The song is called "A Perfect World" and will be featured on Woog's upcoming album, due out next month. Enjoy!