170 bands, 13 stages, 1 memorable experience

It's been a day since the Rock 'n' Roots festival in Bakersfield and I'm still recovering. The thought of a one-day festival with 170 bands on 13 stages is mind-boggling, and it was truly sensory overload. There were so many stages close together that sound often bled into shows from bands two stages away, forcing my brain to work in new ways. The day was both exhilarating and frustrating.
The Chop Tops play authentic, quality rockabilly
I spent most of the day standing watch near my daughter and her friend, so didn't get to sample as much music as I normally might, as if anyone could catch all 170 bands. I would have like to have stayed to hear Lee Rocker but the three of us couldn't stay that late.

The best band I saw was The Chop Tops, a killer rockabilly trio out of Santa Cruz featuring stand-up drummer, upright bass and a guitarist who respects the roots. I heard them out of the corner of my ear while tyring to figure out which stage to hit next, and thought, "Is Phil Alvin of the Blasters here?" No, but that's OK because the Chop Tops put on a terrific show, mixing great stage presence will killer musicianship. Highly recommended (the video above is from a different show but representative). I especially like their mantra of "no scenes," the cliques that too often permeate rockabilly and punk fans, even though both have foundations rooted in individuality.  
Four stages along Chester Avenue were jammed side by side, leading to major soud bleeding from stage to stage.
Saw other good performances from Good Charlotte, Stick to Your Guns, Lightnin Woodcock, Boys Like Girls, Forever the Sickest Kids and local band Hello Friday. Not so good were an awful performance from Unwritten Law, who sound great on record but are a bloated, obnoxious mess in person.

One of the most interesting facets of the show was the booking and ticket sales. According to a friend whose son was in one of the bands playing, some -- if not all -- local bands were asked to sell at least 60 tickets at $35 per (below the $40 advance public price). The more pre-sale tickets a band sold, the later in the day they played. So, if you didn't sell a lot of tickets, you played at 10 a.m. when crowds were sparse. But pull in a big crowd and you get a nice slot.One of the stranger bands playing on a stage at the furthest reaches of the festival

So, doing some very simple math just for scenario sake: If half of the bands were asked to sell 60 tickets, and those bands sold 30 each, you have $89,250 in sales. Judging by attendance, there were many more than that jammed into Stramler Park. Sounds like a decent payday for local promoter Tim Gardea, who more typically is known for booking smaller but quality bands into places like The Dome and Jerry's, as well as venues up the valley in Fresno and Stockton.

The not too-distant future of user interfaces

Watch this and tell me if you agree with John Underkoffler's suggestion that this type of wild user-interface will be possible with home computers in five years.

I say yes, even as I grasp to fathom all the possibilities.

A fun look at harcore music geeks

I consider myself a music geek so it was fun to hear a Soundcheck interview with Steve Almond, author of "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life."

Almond is a bit more over the top in his music passion than I am but I do share his unabashed appreciation of guilty pleasures. I too owned a few Styx and Toto albums back in the day, and still consider Side 1 of Toto's "Hydra" well worth my time. Drummers know what I'm talking about.

I've downloaded a sample of the book onto my Kindle. I'll let you know what I think, but 17 customer reviews so far peg it at 4.5 stars.