Straight from Bonnaroo, Rock the Earth Outreach teams worked the East Coast tour of the original Bad Company, who were supported by no less than the Doobie Brothers. The Clearwater Festival on the banks of the beautiful Hudson River followed. It was great to see old friends Taj Mahal, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, and Cornmeal, along with Susan Tedeschi, Arlo Guthrie and the one-and-only Pete Seeger, who is 90 years old and still rockin’! Rock the Earth once again had the pleasure of presenting at the High Sierra Music Festival in beautiful, Quincy, CA. It’s an incredible setting with great music from John Butler, Umphrey’s McGee, Disco Biscuits, Ani DiFranco and Del McCoury - just a few of the top-drawer musicians who played the festival.
What can be said about the ROTHBURY Music Festival? ROTHBURY is… a very unique experience! An awesome artist lineup was highlighted by The Dead in a very special Fourth of July festival appearance. An almost four-hour set culminated with a spectacular fireworks show. The night before, the String Cheese Incident showed everyone why they are so loved. Willie Nelson is always great and is a true American Treasure. Brett Dennen, Black Crowes, Grace Potter, Gov’t. Mule, Girl Talk, G.Love, Toubab Krewe, Sherwood Forest and a late-night set from Umphrey’s McGee were among the highlights. America’s poet laureate Bob Dylan closed the show. Continue Reading HERE »
Tuolumne River and Hetch Hetchy Hetch Hetchy Valley, in Yosemite National Park, is an area of remarkable natural beauty. One of only four glacially-carved valleys in California, it features granite bluffs, tall waterfalls and grand vistas. Since 1923, Tuolumne River has been impounded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, creating Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. This 1,900-acre lake in the middle of the National Park supplies San Francisco with over 85% of its drinking water, along with a modest amount of electrical power. The dam was built over the strenuous objections of legendary conservationist John Muir, and environmentalists have deplored its existence ever since. Continue Reading HERE »
For more information on this issue, visit the project page on our website.
Rock the Earth Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign In partnership with Musictoday, Collective Good and Gibson , Rock the Earth has been collecting mobile phones for recycling at music festivals across the country, and we thank all those who’ve participated in the campaign to keep mobile phones out of landfill. In this special promotion, all festival attendees who brought a phone to the Rock the Earth booth for redemption will receive 20% off future Musictoday purchases, and have been entered into a sweepstakes drawing for prizes like CDs, DVDs, T-shirts, magazine subscriptions, signed artist memorabilia, a pair of tickets to next year’s festival, a Gibson guitar, and much more. Each phone redeemed is worth one entry into our Grand Prize “Party like a Rock Star” sweepstakes drawing – the winner and 12 friends will enjoy the use of the Gibson Guitar Tour Bus!! The mobile phone recycling drive continues… Please recycle your phones with Rock the Earth at the following festivals and tours, and help us keep toxic chemicals out of local landfills: Floyd Fest (VA)
10,000 Lakes (MN)
Outside Lands (CA)
Allman Brothers Band / Widespread Panic US Tour If you wish to recycle your phone/s but are not planning to attend any of these upcoming music events, you may do so online at Rock the Earth mobile phone drive . More tours and participating venues to be announced soon…
New Advisory Board Member: Kelli Richards We are very happy to welcome new Advisory Board member Kelli Richards. Ms. Richards is Principal at her own advisory firm, The All Access Group, which specializes in providing strategic insights and fostering high level alliances to technology companies and established musicians alike. Her clients have included folks like Apple, Motorola, Sony, Philips, Virgin Mobile, Mozes, Riptopia, Todd Rundgren, and the band Triumph among many others. A visionary in the digital media space, Kelli has co-authored two books including: "The Art of Digital Music: 56 Artists, Visionaries & Insiders Reveal Their Creative Secrets” (2005), and "Creating Business Breakthroughs You Want: Secrets and Strategies of the World's Greatest Mentors" (2004) Kelli holds an MBA with an emphasis in marketing, and a BA in marketing/filmmaking from San Jose State University. She is also a Certified Life Coach through the Ford Institute for Integrative Coaching. She's a Board Member (SF Chapter) of NARAS (Grammys). Read more »
In the Key of Green: Unplug It Even when our appliances are technically turned off, they continue to suck energy out of the wall and money out of your wallet. “Phantom load” accounts for more than 27 million tons of CO2 emissions in the United States every year, as well mountains of resources wasted to produce the power. This standby power or idle current totals 5 to 15 percent of your monthly electricity bill. In fact, Americans spend almost $4 billion a year on electricity for things they’re not using. To eliminate phantom loads, you need to unplug your devices and appliances. Use a smart power strip with an on/off switch that can be turned off when not running anything, when you go to sleep and when you go away on vacation. More info: U.S. Department of Energy - http://www.energy.gov/energysavingtips.htm.
New Merchandise: Tad Carpenter Shirts Tad Carpenter is a Kansas City-based illustrator and designer who we met earlier this year at South By Southwest in Austin. With a portfolio that includes poster work for Wilco, The Shins, My Morning Jacket, Dashboard Confessional, and Neil Young, Tad has created two very cool designs for new Rock the Earth T-shirts, which have proven to be very popular this summer and are available exclusively to Rock the Earth members.
Bonnaroo Solar Stage Part Deux As reported last month , Rock the Earth created much of the programming for the Solar Stage in Planet Roo, the village that houses non-profit organizations and eco-friendly vendors at Bonnaroo music festival. The sessions, moderated by Rock the Earth Board President Marc Ross, all centered on the theme of "Social Change Through Music" and included panelists like Danny Louis (Gov’t. Mule), Al Schnier (moe.), Will Sheff (Okkervil River), Ben Sollee, Bob Ferguson (Oxfam), Andy Bernstein (Headcount), Paul Faeth (Global Water Challenge), Sally Palmer (The Nature Conservancy), and Justin Levy (Conscious Alliance), among others. We also conducted one-on-one interviews with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Brett Dennen and Patterson Hood (Drive by Truckers). To listen, go here »
What Rocks Your Earth? Kris Nowak of Cornmeal
Cornmeal & Rock the Earth Executive Director Shawn Kilmurray (L to R: Wavy Dave, Allie, Shawn, Chris, Kris & JP) As the son of a World War II refugee and post-war American immigrant, I was born and raised in the hard-working environment of Northwest Indiana. Each of these aspects of my upbringing has made deep impressions on me and my attitude towards the current state of our nation’s and our planet’s environmental issues. First, since my mother spent the first twenty years of her life living in refugee camps and adapting to a new society and culture; all material goods, especially food, were respected and cherished as gifts from the heavens. As such, while growing up I heard the phrase “waste not, want not” from my mother several hundred times, invariably followed by a story of her own struggles with hunger and poverty. Way before the practice became common, my mother instituted the 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) in our household because she respected what we had, and she feared the day that might come when her children would be poor and hungry like she was as a child. What has inspired you to combine environmental activism with your art? Coincidentally, we lived in a hard-working area where many immigrants settled to find work. Steel mills, oil refineries and chemical plants were all around us, and it’s where virtually everyone in my family worked at some time or another. It also became apparent that these mills and plants were wreaking havoc on our entire community. Family, friends and neighbors were being diagnosed with odd diseases and rare forms of cancer, and the awful stench that blew into my backyard from the north was just something that you got used to when living there. Even now Lake County, Indiana is rated among the top ten worst counties in the United States in terms of air and water quality. For these reasons, environmental activism is a passion of mine. As a songwriter and performing artist, I believe it is my responsibility to use my voice to echo what vibrates in my soul. While environmental issues are only one of many that make up my identity, I feel it is my duty to speak up about the issues that have shaped me and my viewpoint. If by chance one person hears me speak or sing or listens to my song and is able to better themselves or their corner of the world even in the slightest, then I believe that my efforts are justified. What environmental issue(s) do you consider to be the most critical at this time? I believe that the most critical environmental issue we face today in the United States is actually more of a social issue. This issue is personal responsibility and empowerment. The individual American must understand that he or she is in charge of this nation. It is not the elected leaders or the economically powerful corporations who run this nation, but the voters and consumers. If the citizens of this nation realize this power, then we will be able to affect change and influence our leaders, both political and corporate, to lead responsibly. If individuals lead, the leaders will follow. Where is your favorite place in nature to go to find solace or inspiration? In light of this, my favorite places in nature I like to visit are the darkest and dirtiest parts of our large cities and urban areas. In those dark places I find solace and inspiration. It is easy to visit beautiful and pristine places, but the so-called “bad areas” of our nation are the most critical to an environmental revolution. These are the areas that need our help and attention the most. We cannot continue to just look the other way and pretend that these areas do not exist or that they are beyond hope. If the Hudson River in New York and the Great Lakes of the Midwest can be reclaimed and renovated, then so can so many other problematic areas of our world.
to Timothy Leary. It is rugged camping in their backyard on a farm, and basically some kegs and stage in the middle of the woods mixed with a lot of drugs. I went up there with some city kids who hate jambands and it was hilarious. The bands that played, WAGAN (this new band is playing a fun festival this summer), Funk Wagon and The Halfway Crooks were amazing. but really made me realize how much endless jamming on the same blues chords/scales that jambands do. This my highschool buddies and former music major/prodigy pointed out. Though I grew up with hip hop I cam to love jamming, the common ground here is summed up in Camp Bisco, massive parties in the middle of the woods are pretty awesome(but best when the weather is nice.) Hippies have been doing this up since the 60's and have perfected the giant rave party to a science, (see Rothbury, Bonnaroo, Langerado, Camp Bisco.) The hipsters chilled hard in the most rugged of camping conditions there was absolutely no campground, nor could you camp by your car like at most festivals. There were just tents in the middle of a field and it rained off and on the whole time. It was wet, cold and primitive but the NYC crew whethered it as well as any seasoned wookie or tour rat ever could. One good thing about camping is that you can leave behind the little things that bring you down in the city and forget about them for a while. The air is pure and trees are cool. One of the solid parts of this mini festival that made it a legit festie experience was the incorporation of psychedelic drugs which always make a party more real. If nyc wasn't such a stressful place they would definitely have more of a prominent role in . I road up in my van with a creative DJ, who was definitely experienced and probably has shamanic potential, he makes music and podcasts and I think he could potentially turn on a lot of kids in NYC. So thanks for the experience hipsters you were fun to chill with and I realize now that fun is what its all about no matter what kind of music you like.☮
