Michael Franti & Spearhead @ Wolf Trap - 5/27/10

Michael Franti (on the lawn) at Wolf Trap

Ah, back in the press office for a show night. First time since September 2009, and the energy is definitely palpable. In a strange way, it's a comfort to be back in this satellite office, knowing that there are roughly 100 shows ahead of me...but we'll see if I'm singing the same tune come August.

If you are a lawn ticket holder for tonight's show, then you are in for a treat. Rumor has it that towards the end of the show, Franti and Spearhead will jump off stage and head to center lawn where they will play out the remainder of their set. I can somewhat substantiate this rumor because I saw them sound check from the lawn earlier this afternoon, and it sounded fantastic.

Franti's new single "Say Hey (I Love You)" has clearly exposed him to a much broader demographic, as evidenced by a greater percentage of preppy folk sitting on the lawn. He typically draws a more traditional reggae crowd, but his decision to move more towards the music "center" has obviously paid serious dividends for him. Franti arrived in D.C. a day early and found some time in his very ZEN schedule to chat with Mix 107.3's Tommy McFly. You can check out the interview here if you're in the mood for some Franti candids.

Enjoy the show if you're headed out...and sit on the lawn! I'll post a set list tomorrow - I hope to do that a lot more this season. In an ideal world, 2-3 times each week.

Get Your Exile on Main Street Fix

I'm relatively young (nearing 30, yikes), so I can't claim to have grown up with some of the best rock 'n' roll bands in music history. In fact, I can't think of one band from my teens and early 20s that has yet to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I came of age listening to Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Collective Soul, Phish, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, and many others. Not the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and certainly not the Rolling Stones. Is this to say that I don't have an appreciation for the bands who helped define the rock I grew up with? Of course not. I know plenty of people my age who say, "I don't like much about the Beatles", and "The Rolling Stones are little unpolished sounding for my tastes". I am the first person not to judge others on their taste in music, but I flat out don't trust anyone who can't sit down and enjoy the heck out of The White Album or Exile on Main Street.

So, even though The Rolling Stones don't spend an inordinate amount of time in my listening rotation, I am very much looking forward to this month's re-issue of their 1972 masterpiece Exile on Main Street, which will include a remastered CD along with the original album, a separate disc with 10 never before heard outtakes some with newly added lyrics and vocals, a 64-page illustrative book, and finally-if that weren't enough to satisfy even the most ardent of Rolling Stones fans-a documentary DVD.

There has been some great media coverage on this month's Exile's re-issue.

NPR's Morning Edition extensively interviewed both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger-you can hear both interviews as well as some unreleased tracks from the outtakes CD here, as well as a discussion from other famous musicians on their favorite 'Exile' tracks.

The latest issue of Rolling Stone offers a nine page feature on the album, which spins the recording session in a darker, seedier, more controversial fashion as is the magazine's style.

And on the often times dimly witted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon program, Phish appeared as the musical guest (their first late night appearance in 6 years) to cover "Loving Cup", with an introduction from Keith Richards, who also appeared as a guest. I had the pleasure of hearing Phish cover this amazing tune as the closer for their tour stop in Charlottesville this past winter.

If you're a Stones fan, you're in for a good month.

Why We Love PBS @NewsHour Art Beat Blog

For a lot of reasons. A few being - their editorial staff is full of young, culturally minded, technologically proficient music heads; blog content runs the gamut of relevant arts topics ranging from pop to commemorative world cup dances; and of course, they often cover Wolf Trap events! Check out this May 11 entry in which Wolf Trap activity is featured in two different capacities. NewsHour Blogger Lauren Knapp graciously promotes Wolf Trap's ongoing commitment to environmentalism, while Chad Stokes (front man for State Radio at Wolf Trap w/John Butler Trio on June 16) is featured at the tail end of this informative entry.

We look forward to having NewsHour back soon to speak with some of our summer artists.

107 Summer Shows...You Ready?

Wow. I still can't get over the size of our summer schedule! 107 shows in roughly 100 days. How do we do it? I'm not entirely sure. Adrenaline, mostly.

Regardless, we're excited for May 21st to hit, which marks the start of our 40th summer season (1971-2010). As you know, all but four performances are currently on-sale, but the esteemed "final four" will be available for purchase to the general public starting tomorrow at 10am. As a refresher, the four performances are:

Harry Connick, Jr. - Tuesday, June 15

Counting Crows - Monday, August 9 (been trying to get them for a long time, we're thrilled to host them this summer)

Jackson Browne - Sunday, September 12

Abba-The Music - Friday, September 17

You can grab them online at http://www.wolftrap.org,/by phone by calling Tickets.com at 1.877.WOLFTRAP, or in person at the Filene Center Box Office on Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm to save the service charge.

On the topic of service charges, Chris Richards of the Washington Post's Style Section published a "charticle" comparing/contrasting D.C. area venues' various service charges. It's aptly titled Truth in ticketing: How concert fees add up. I'd encourage you to spend a moment assessing the true value of each concert ticket you purchase.

Apple To Shut Down Lala, But the Concept Could Play a Big Role in 2010

You may remember my post in February detailing Lala technology, which, in essence, introduced a revolutionary cloud technology where users could access their digital music library from any available web portal. Back in December, Apple swooped in and acquired Lala, and six months later, they are shutting it down. What gives here?

While this is really only speculative at this point, it appears as if Apple plans to utilize Lala's cloud technology to launch a mobile iTunes.com site sometime in 2010 where users will be able to access all of their personal music, movies and relevant media via a browser-based experience. This translates into universal access for all iTunes users, freeing us from the constraints of the iTunes client and individual playback devices.

If this maneuver comes to fruition, Apple will corner a major segment of the mobile media market, offering drastically different advantages from subscription based services like Rhapsody, Napster or Pandora. Our proprietary files can be grabbed out of the air whenever we please. And this model requires no new license acquisition, since all users opt-in to purchase their media.

Media on-demand without any subscription model? Sign me up. Let's hope this speculation becomes a reality.