Summerfest 2008

Why I love the idea of Summerfest: In the span of one hour on a random Thursday night during the biggest music festival in the world, you have to choose between Alejandro Escovedo, Ingrid Michaelson, and Marie Digby. Later that same night, you'll get to choose between Gomez, Gavin DeGraw, Lucinda Williams and the Plain White T's. All for a flat entry fee of $15.

Why I find Summerfest very trying in practice:
1. The crowds -(See pic)


2. The technical difficulties -

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Summerfest, Unplugged - Boom boom go the lights for almost three hours

3. But perhaps most importantly, the escalating beer prices! Grrr... -

WISN 12: Price of beer goes up for Summerfest 2008

The wisdom of the populace...

The year-end best-of lists will flow in steadily in the next few weeks, and Amazon is early on the bandwagon, declaring Fesit's The Reminder the best album of 2007. But I think the Amazon customers top 100 is actually a little more interesting. The wisdom of the populace ranked Feist at 11th (a more appropriate placing, in my opinion) and included some real surprises, including Neil Young, Pink Martini, Lucinda Williams, and the Once soundtrack, as well as LTF favorites Patty Griffin, Wilco, Amy Winehouse and the Hairspray soundtrack. And that doesn't even cover the top 30.

I have to say, it gives me a whole new faith in democracy when I see that Joni Mitchell, Rufus Wainwright, Colbie Caillat, Spoon, Stevie Nicks, Elliot Smith, and Mavis Staples all made the American public's choice for top 100 albums of 2007.

Check out the list here.

TV on the Playlist

It's time for a new LTF playlist (at right.) This one's called TV on the Playlist, because it was inspired by my newfound love of the ABC ensemble drama Brothers & Sisters. The soundtrack is mostly mellow and acoustic, very heavy on the album closers. To round it out, I've included some songs from a former television love of mine, ABC's spy drama Alias, using the logic that many of the people who used to work on Alias now work on Brothers & Sisters.

Artists include Chantal Kreviazuk, Depeche Mode, Lucinda Williams, Nina Simone, Ray LaMontagne, and Jonny Lang, among many others. So flip through and find something new to love!

(And if you're curious, ABC airs Brothers & Sisters at 10/9C on Sunday nights or you can watch a few episodes on demand on their Web site. Check it out!)