Wormtown Productions kicked off the 2010 festy season right with the 8th annual Strange Creek Campout in Greenfield, Mass. last month.
Strange Creek, along with its partner in crime Wormtown Festival, act as bookmarks to the festy season, with one beginning in May and the other ending in September.
I’m sure you all remember Buntology’s adventure at Wormtown last year, and this year’s Strange Creek was just as awesome. The campground and faces of this intimate and affordable festival is so familiar to the Bunty staff that it’s become more like a family vacation than hippie retreat.
Check out our Facebook or Flickr page for some awesome pictures, or check out the photo album after the jump.
Shout-outs to Phaze from DPR (Danny Pease & the Regulators), the Alchemystics, Chelsy Lau (Sauce / Fungus Amungus vocalist) and King Cantor (Goosepimp) for their friendliness and Buntological support!
Also, stay tuned next week for a lil’ video recapping the weekend!
“Just because it’s acoustic doesn’t mean we can’t go a little crazy.”
Remember when I saw 2/3rds of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs play a show last week not 35 minutes from my house?
I remember- and it was awesome! Karen O and Nick Zinner performed an acoustic set under the moniker the “Yeah Yeahs” and were able to tug my heartstrings yet rock my world at the same time. Despite the lack of electric guitar, a raucous crowd and an even more raucous singer, this was one of the most captivating shows I’ve seen in a long time.
Kind of ironic considering frontwoman O is known for her wild stage presence (seen here) and basically acts like a f*cking wild woman when she performs. Yet onstage at the Colonial she admitted to being “really nervous” and acted kind of timid and unsure of herself. Clearly, rolling around and making pelvic thrusts onstage is more her comfort zone than singing to a quiet theatre with only string instruments to hide you. Oh yea, and her dad was in the audience.
Does anybody else feel like their entire summer is already booked?
Buy your tickets in advance, or pay the price!
Besides the regular 9-6 that takes up approximately 45 hours of my week, the rest of my summer solstice is steadily filling up with the sweet sweet sound of live music.
May 24 – Karen O & Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ the Colonial in Pittsfield, Mass.
I’ve been a big fan of the YYYs for years, and was disappointed to have to miss their live show twice last year when they played in upstate NY. Lucky for me the Colonial is only 30 minutes from my house so I’ll have plenty of time to stalk the band after their acoustic set. “KARENNN!!! LET ME HAVE A LOCK OF YOUR HAIR!”
June 19 – Phish @ Spac in Saratoga, N.Y.
This will be the 6th time I’ve seen this band in a justtt over a year. Not trying to be a cliche hippie, but the sheer awesomeness of their live show is undeniable. Sing it, Trey!
I’d love to write a fancy story about Grace Potter & the Nocturnals’ performance a few weeks ago at Mass Moca, but the truth is all I remember is drinking, dancing and having a blast.
This is the third time I’ve gone to a show at Moca (Museum of Contemporary Art) without any prior knowledge of the performer, and the third time I have been very pleasantly surprised. While the venue isn’t ideal (kind of big and spread out, a little too dark and mediocre sound quality), the music has always been good enough for that stuff not to matter.
The performance by Grace Potter & the Nocturnals was no different. The bluesy, chick-fueled rock n’ roll had the crowd (which varied from young to old, college kid to townie, to old artsy townie college kid) on their feet and shaking their ass. Well, at least the group of people I was with.
Grace Potter & Honus Honus... separated at birth?
Anyway, what’s not to love about a band fronted by a blonde babe, especially one brave enough to wear a completely sequined dress onstage?
Click here for photo album, or check out our “media” page!
Up-and-coming band Tidwell’s Treasure performed Saturday at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass., and luckily Buntology was there to catch it.
For those not “in the know” Tidwell’s Treasure is a new group from Western Massachusetts, and they’re pretty damn good.
The band’s sound is kind of marching band-ish / ska-ish / rock-ish / dance your ass off-ish, and when they opened for Rubblebucket Orchestra last weekend they certainly caught the crowd’s attention.
Of course I have a special place in my heart for the band because I went to college with two of the members, so as the editor of Buntology you should listen to everything I say and check out TT before they blow up and can’t play club shows anymore.
The second studio album from singer songwriter Samuel Beam, former college professor turned indie legend, turns six years old this spring. Iron & Wine’s popularity and influence has become increasingly harder to ignore since Beam stopped teaching and started recording music full time.
Having written songs used in television shows and films as far back as Garden State and as recently as Twilight, (did I lose you right there? Stay with me, I’m sorry) Beam’s songs are no secret to the public eye.
So whether you’re unfamiliar or you’re a fan, I challenge you to give what I’ve decided to call the perfect “rainy day” album, Our Endless Numbered Days, a once-through.
Gogol bordello is one of my favorite bands. They stand somewhere in the middle of an eclectic mix of rock, punk, gypsy jazz, and folk genres. I love everything about them- from Eugene Hutz’s eastern European-accented lyrics, to the mad 50-year-old violinist, known as Sergey Ryabtsev, who
shreds better with his violin than most guitarists can with their guitars. So, needless to say the three hour trek I took to NYC’s Webster Theater last week to see them live was more than worth it in my eyes.
I had seen Gogol once prior in Boston and it was quite possibly the best show I had ever attended. They played for over two hours with such ferocious intensity, and I was curious to see if they would reach the bar they set so high the last time. The band did indeed reach the bar, and even raised it when they played an encore so climactic that I am still recovering today.
Wow! We can’t believe 2009 has come to an end. This year saw a lot in music, and so did the staff at Buntology. Between Phish, festies, and a smattering of new and classic rock concerts, it’s going to be hard to top all of the awesome performances 2009 had to offer.
But, before we look at the music, let’s take a second to remember the great musicians that passed away this year: Ron Asheton (The Stooges), Jay Bennet (Wilco), Bob Bogle (The Ventures), Ean Evans (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Adam Goldstein (“DJ AM”), Kelly Groucutt (Electric Light Orchestra), and Michael Jackson (Jackson 5). Rest in peace!
But with death comes rebirth, and this year the stork brought us many new “super-groups” like Them Crooked Vultures, The Deadweather, Further and Tinted Windows. This past year we have seen the rise of young artists like Passion Pit, Asher Roth, Matt & Kim and Gogol Bordello. We have also seen some older bands dust off their Fenders and start playing again, like The Flaming Lips, Weezer and Blink 182.
Blink 182 reunited this year, not only to record, but also to tour and play shows through the US last summer. Though Blink has not released any new music yet, they have are currently working on a new album. Another band that reunited after a break for a few years was Phish. They released a new album “Joy” and have went on an extensive summer and fall tour. Of course one of the highlights of Buntology staffer Ivan’s summer was the performance by Sir Paul McCartney, who played a show at Fenway Park in Boston, Mass.
How about some other musical highlights of the year? In no particular order…
Have you ever tried to start a band? If you’re anything like me (and for God’s sake let’s hope not) then you probably have.
I can still remember the day me, my twin and our girlfriends decided to form B.E.G. That’s an acronym for “Brown Eyed Girls.” None of us knew how to play any instruments, or sing, or write music or lyrics, but that didn’t matter, dammit! It was about the passion. And passing time on a snow day.
From what I remember I was basically the Paul, John, and George Martin of the band. I wrote songs, attempted the guitar and I think I even made a website devoted to us. Of course we broke up before we could release our EP, but Buntology has recently uncovered a demo that’s sure to wet any cult B.E.G. follower’s appetite.
