Why Jam Band Fans Are Better Than Indie Rock Fans

Reprinted from Idolator.com, by Christopher Weingarten (an Indie Rock Fan).

I was skimming through this year's Bonnaroo lineup as part of my usual round of cyber-stalking Neko Case, and I came upon an interesting discovery—this festival kicks ass! Although one of my friends described the layout as a desert of dust and piss, and the jam-centric lineup means stupid Phish is going to play for approximately 76 hours straight, I can pretty much get behind anything that brings together High On Fire and Janelle Monae (that isn't made by the Hood Internet). Something this good could never happen on indie rock's watch! Here are five reasons why the mud-caked hippies who will attend Bonnaroo are better than your sweater-clad ass!

1. Jam band fans don't care about pesky shit like aesthetics.Why does Bonnaroo get to have awesome, underrated thrash metal band Shadows Fall, but the Scion Rock Festival doesn't? Because indie rock kids only care about fringe genres when they are fashionable. Shadows Fall, being a real metal band, bring a lot of zitty teenagers and honest-to-god longhairs to their shows, so indie blogs and mags don't touch them. God forbid someone break up the steady stream of warmed-over stoner rock and black metal bands (only the ones Hydra Head endorses!) in your RSS, guys.

2. Jam band fans are loyal.A jam band fan would sooner eat his hacky sack than give up on a band he loves. Who do you think kept the Grateful Dead alive until "Touch Of Grey"? Or between then and Devendra-fueled revisionist hipster appreciation? Ben Harper and Galactic and Moe are all playing this year, and who knows if I've heard a single note of any of them in a decade. Ben Harper could have been cryogenically frozen next to Walt Disney for all I know. In indie rock circles, bands are played out once their blog cycle ends. How did the Rapture lose all its fans before they even put out a follow-up to Echoes? Why does it seem like an eon since I've heard someone in a sweater vest tell me they're "really feeling Dipset"? Who was in Goblin Cock again?

3. Jam band fans have better drugs.OK, drugs are silly if you're over, like, 19 years old. But I'm guessing the dude on psylocibin mushrooms who's talking to a giant purple hot dog in the sky is probably going to have a more fulfilling night that the coked-out sweatball at the Late Of The Pier show telling me he knows Steve Aoki. Plus, who are you gonna trust to find you good weed? An Octopus Project fan?

4. Jam band fans support music from other countries.I only hear indie-rockers tell me about African music if the hivemind is whispering that it's OK to like Konono No. 1 this week, or Etran Finatawa the next. Meanwhile, when I go to the free African music fest in Prospect Park every summer, it's overrun by hippies! They know the score. At this year's Bonnaroo: Toumani Diabate, Amadou & Mariam, Femi Kuti and the Positive Force, Vieux Farka Touré, and the unstoppable King Sunny Adé & the African Beats.

5. Jam band fans waste their days away following bands and doing drugs and making arepas on the engine blocks of old VW vans instead of writing snarky blog posts all day.Shit.

As Cuts Loom, Will Working From Home Lead to a Layoff?

This Washington Post article seems to indicate WFH puts employees at higher risk of layoff.

Summer Tour

We've started joking that if you want to know where we are, just take a look at the Disco Biscuits tour schedule. Okay, so their tour is a little more aggressive than our pocketbooks or our schedules allow, but we are planning to spend some time with them this summer. Here are our travel (and moving) plans.

The DISCO BISCUITS:
April 17 & 18: Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
April 20: 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL, Lafayette, LA:
April 22-26: Lineup TBA
Note: Shane's parents will be visiting, yay!

JAZZ FEST, New Orleans , LA:
May 2: Bon Jovi
May 2 (late nite): Blue Nile, Orchard Lounge
May 3: Neil Young

The DISCO BISCUITS:
May 29: Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO
May 30: Red Rocks Amphitheater, CO

MOVING TO BOULDER, COLORADO!!!! The rest is ...

Mardi Gras Lafayette Style

Beads, boudain, and booze, oh my! That was Mardi Gras "season" and Fat Tuesday in Lafayette. I couldn’t find a local to tell me why beads are thrown so I looked it up online.

The tradition of throws (the beads) dates back to the 1920s. Each parade is put on by a krewe, and according to Hardy (quoted in the article), the Rex krewe began thetradition of throws by tossing out inexpensive necklaces of glass beads. The beads were an instant hit and were soon adopted by all the parading krewes, of which there are about 60 (in New Orleans) today.

The glass beads of the early throws were imported from Czechoslovakia and Japan. Today the plastic throws are manufactured mostly in China.

And for those of you who want to know what boudain is, it’s a tasty “sausage” made of a pork rice dressing and stuffed into pork casings. It’s a traditional Cajun cuisine and quite tasty.

Depression sets in

I no longer know what (or where?) to call home. We’ve sold our house in VA and live in a corporate apartment in LFT. I can be happy anywhere, but I’m happier in some places than in others. Shane is miserable and our trip to Boulder gave us hope we could find a place to live where like-minded people congregate.

This time in our lives will be marked as a period of reflection; a time when we figure out what we want out of life. Depression sets in because I see how unhappy Shane is. It doesn’t help that I do not know when our next bisco gathering will be. It hard to admit because it sounds so crazy, but the people we’ve met at Biscuits shows make me feel loved and I'm happy to call some of them our family. On the same accord, just listening to tDB makes me feel happy! Call me a groupie, call me whatever you want, but I can tell you that when I'm listening to their music I feel contented and full of love.

Red Rocks or Bust!

Out West

Just returned from an invigorating trip to Colorado where Shane and I had a wonderful time with friends, family and of course our favorite band. Part of the reason for making the hasty trip was to give ourselves the opportunity to check out Boulder. We loved it! In fact, we fell in love and can’t wait to make our way back there. Stay tuned for more details.

Pictures Tell the Story

Outside the Tabernacle Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, about 12 hours after we planned to leave the venue.






I left the car keys inside the locked theater.

25 Random Things About Me

1. I met my husband when I was 17 and married him when I was 28.
2. I was named after a 1967 song by the Association that was later nominated for a Grammy for best contemporary group performance.
3. I have two “i”s in my name instead of a “y” at the end because my parents didn’t want any of the letters in my name to “go below the line,” hence, Windi Kristine Wentworth.
4. My favorite band is the Disco Biscuits (wait, that’s not random, EVERYONE knows that). Listening to their music makes me feel good about myself.
5. My favorite nut is the pistachio and my favorite color is still purple.
6. Between now and mid-March I’ll be in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Miami, all for pleasure.
7. I was an international competitive figure skater until I was 17. (No connection to meeting my husband.)
8. I speak two languages and want to learn Spanish.
9. I fit in well in the South because I drink Miller Lite (heavily).
10. My friend Kelly decorated our apartment and I love it!
11. I own a gun and don’t know how to use it.
12. I’ve lived in 3 countries, 7 states, and the District of Columbia. I’m an Army brat.
13. Shane and I are considering a move to Boulder, Colorado or Amsterdam.
14. My favorite Halloween costume is Pippi Longstocking. Particularly when Shane goes as The Pimp; Pippy and the Pimp. Pippi is very unconventional, assertive and extraordinarily strong, being able to lift her horse one-handed without difficulty.
15. I’ve lived in Alaska and been to Hawaii but never the Dakotas.
16. I have a backstage pass to Arlington National Cemetery because my dad is interred there.
17. I’ve been to the top of a at least 10 mountains on two continents.
18. I want to hike the Appalachian Trail one day. The whole thing!
19. I have a 9 degree curve in my spine. 10 degrees is considered scoliosis. I wake up in pain every day and am considering seeing a doctor for it.
20. I quit smoking a week ago using Chantix. The side effects may be worse than the addiction withdrawal.
21. I am an award-winning gardener in the state of Virginia.
22. A new car has been on the agenda for 5 years and it will probably be another 5 before I finally buy one.
23. My favorite movie is Gone with the Wind and my favorite book is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
24. If I drink coffee I drink it at night after dinner with lots of caffeine and no milk or sugar.
25. I’ve received 10 of these things (on Facebook) and it’s my cousin’s posting that made me cave and finally write one of my own.

Kelly, This One's For You

My friend Kelly says she won't read my blog until I post a picture of her. Be careful what you wish for!

Global Warming?

I've been in VA this week for work and the weather has not been to my liking.