Lineup Announced for 13th Annual Russian River Blues Festival

The initial list of performers for this year's Russian River Blues Festival, set to take place on Johnson's Beach in Guerneville, CA on June 13th and 14th, has been announced. As always, there are some deviations from what the "blues" part of the title may lead one to expect as far as the festival's programming goes, but it only leads to some nice surprises. Case in point: Los Lonely Boys and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. 

Once thing to note about the venue: it's literally right on the Russian River. So if you want to watch the festivities from the comfort of an inner-tube, then this is your party. There will also be 3 wine-tasting sessions, featuring various selections from the famous Northern California wine country. Two-day passes for the festival will be $80, with $45 for a one-day ticket in advance. Single-days can be purchased at the gate for $50. For more info, go to the festival's website. 

22nd Annual UCLA JazzReggaeFest Lineup Announced

Those upstarts down at UCLA have managed to pull together the likes of The Roots, the Doors' John Densmore, Stephen Marley, and Capleton, among others, for their 22nd edition of the JazzReggaeFest. The student-run festival will use biodiesel to power its mainstage, among other aspects of a general green initiative that will pervade the festival this year, which may unfortunately explain the fact that not even all students attending the college can get in for free.

Advance tickets are $25, with the first 2000 UCLA students getting in for free. To find out more, Click here.

Antigua and Barbuda Romantic Rhythms Music Festival

                                                         Photo Credit: Manchester Evening News
The first annual Antigua and Barbuda Romantic Rhythms Festival is set to get off to a pretty darn good start, what with the kinds of people they have on the lineup the first year. A diverse lineup includes Lionel Riche, Kenny Rodgers and Shaggy, among others, and the event will be held in a $60 million stadium that formerly hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The thing goes down Saturday and Sunday, June 13th and 14th respectively. Find out more here.

Lineup for Rhythm, Blues & All That Jazz Weekend Announced

                                                           Photo Credit: Guy Peters Reviews
Ok. This festival is indeed held at Carnegie Hall (except for one performance, a free street dance which takes place at another venue called The Terrace), but the Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg VA. Running from June 26th to June 28th, the lineup as announced features its share of heavyweights, such as Herbert Sumlin and Bill Frisell. Tickets for the festival's bulk of performances, which are on Saturday, cost $30 a pop, and do not grant admission for the individual performance by the Bill Frisell Trio on Friday, the 27th. To claim your tickets or read more about the festival, click here.

Doheny Blues Festival Announces Lineup

The folks at Omega Events have just announced the complete lineup for the 11th annual Doheny Blues Festival, set to take place on May 17th and 18th at Doheny State Park in Dana Point, California. Saturday, the 17th will be headlined by former guitar prodigy, current funk virtuoso Johnny Lang and the venerable Bonnie Raitt will headline the 18th. Other notables include the Robert Cray Band and Eric Burdon & the Animals on the 17th and Little Feat and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk on the 18th, with a grand total of 26 performances.

While special VIP and Gold edition tickets have been sold out, a weekend pass goes for $45. Click here to get tickets.

Summer Jam Lineup and Tickets Released

                                  Photo Credit: Urban Music (Word Press)

The country's foremost mainstream hip-hop festival has announced its lineup and put tickets on sale. SummerJam, which has packed 60,000 people into Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. every year since 2003 and is put on by New York radio station Hot 97, has in store what seems to me to be two can't-miss sets. The first is fairly obvious-- the headliner Kanye West, who's three albums have each set new standards in production and witty lyricism.

The second set that deserves a lot of focus is what seems to be the first one of the day-- Lil' Wayne featuring Gym Class Heroes, the only billed instrumental outfit at the festival. Wayne has produced most of his beats with the "usual" drum machines, loops, and synthesizers, so it'll be very interesting to see how he can gel with a guitar, bass and drums behind him, as well as how Heroes frontman Travis McCoy will fit himself into Wayne's lyrics. Also, how will the material be divvied up?

Against the history of SummerJam, this year's edition might only seem decent (where are T.I., Jay-Z and Ludacris?), but perhaps Kanye and Wayne will break from a tranquil relationship and help carry on a "proud" tradition of Summer Jam-- beefs, including Jay-Z v. Nas and 50 Cent v. Ja Rule, blowing out of proportion. You can witness a major moment in hip-hop history, for better or for worse, on June 1st for only $40. More information on the opportunity here.

-- Ross Moody