Folk & Roots Festival: Anything Goes
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On the surface it might seem like these choices are about money. In its first year, the Folk & Roots Festival was headlined by alt-country favorite Robbie Fulks and bluegrass hero Del McCoury; 9,000 people came. The next year it was twangy rocker Steve Earle and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett; attendance more than doubled. When I first wrote about the school’s move, in the summer of 1998, Hirsch told me, “Could you ever see a Miller beer sign here? Sure–why not, if it was done properly and supported a program that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to present?” And in May, after American Airlines contributed money and travel, the school started putting the logo on its tickets.
She also notes that the scope of the event varies from year to year based on who’s touring and who the school can afford. Sunday night’s program this year features Cajun rockers the Bluerunners, merengue traditionalist Joaquin Diaz, and legendary Zimbabwean singer Thomas Mapfumo, and the Sunday-afternoon dance workshop features live music by the kitschy North Carolina salsa group Bio Ritmo and hard-core honky-tonker Dale Watson.
Post’s dismal attempt came out in May, and last week Warner Brothers released Gordon’s solo debut, Tonight and the Rest of My Life. Produced by Bob Rock over seven months in Hawaii, the record has been ready to go for a year, but Outpost, the Geffen imprint it was originally made for, didn’t survive the Universal-Polygram merger.
Enrique Bunbury, the former lead singer for the popular Spanish rock group Heroes del Silencio, performs Tuesday night as part of a Spanish rock showcase at Joe’s. Bunbury’s recent solo album, Pequeño (EMI Latin), is a sophisticated mix of dark pop hooks, cabaret-flavored drama, and well-deployed North African and flamenco accents. Also on the bill are Bunbury’s countryman Juan Perro and Si*Se, a bilingual New York electronica outfit recently signed by Luaka Bop.
