Rothbury on the 4th of July

It's halftime at The Dead concert in the Rothbury Music Festival so I thought this would be a good moment to re-cap some of today's highlights and to post some photos.

GIRL TALK

This 24-hour time frame started with a frenetic 90-minute set by Girl Talk. Right before the show, some guy said GT “goes ape shit” while on stage. His assessment was close, as GT – whose real name is Gregg Gillis from Pittsburgh PA – incited the whole crowd to go ape shit in one big, bouncing dance party. It’s 2 a.m., do you know where your parents are? At that hour, who gives an ape shit?

GT commands that he is NOT a DJ. Instead, he is the leading innovator in the relatively new “mash-up” music genre. Gillis’s art takes samples of popular commercial recordings and mixes-and-matches and overlays seemingly mismatched songs into high-powered dance tunes that go in unpredictable, surprising directions. (Pop-up Michael Jackson riffs got the largest crowd reaction.) He creates clever, sometimes ironic, audio/musical collages. The crowds love GT. Recording conglomerates hate him.

I’ve always liked mash-up music genres and performers. Most recently The Nortec Collective's Mexican electronica has grabbed my attention. And I still greatly appreciate the early works of Dread Zeppelin, the reggae band fronted by an Elvis impersonator singing Led Zeppelin songs. You can hardly get more mashed up than that. Check ‘em all out, starting with Girl Talk.

GIRL TALK DANCE PARTY, 3 A.M.

THE DEAD

Tonight at Rothbury, we have the main attraction. Not Dread, but The Dead. This is the only stage going right now at Rothbury. The traveling Dead Heads are here. I talked to a guy from the East Coast who – like so many others – follows this band everywhere, Jerry Garcia or no Jerry Garcia. Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann quickly drew a crowd while visiting his art exhibit here at the festival. People were thanking him for all the memories. Tonight, from the looks of it, will be another good memory. The band is jamming in good Dead fashion.

BILL KREUTZMANN(right) GREETS SOME FANS

ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA

Zappa Plays Zappa performed earlier today with an impressive set of – what else? – Zappa tunes. Guitarist Dweezil Zappa (below) led the band through a rousing set and adding one more relentless performance to Rothbury’s relentless musical weekend. This festival’s reputation has grown with each quality performance and we still have one more day to go.

DWEEZIL ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA

MY FRIENDS ON THE 4TH OF JULY

Below are photos of concert goers dressed for Independence Day, 2009.

MISS AMERICA

MR. AMERICA

HIGH FLYING WOMAN

DEAD AMERICA

MI STATE POLICE PATROL (Note the Bubble Light on Top)

One more day! Should be fun.

-- Rico Thomas Rico