Dad reporting agin. Somewhere in the middle of all those waving arms is Trombone Shorty leading a New Orleans style Second Line March thru the field in front if the west stage at Merriweather Post Pavilion. What a great show! Horns, beats, ripping guitar abd gear songs all capped off by the frenzy pictured here.

So we are 2 for 2, but Damn, it’s hot.

20 years ago.

Wow.

It wasn't called the HFS-tival that year, in fact it wasn't even our idea. The Fairfax County Department of Parks and Recreation called and said "Hey, we're having a family friendly fun Fourth of July festival, would you like to help promote it and bring some bands?"

So we did. The Tragically Hip, The Pursuit of Happiness, Concrete Blonde, Neal Cody, Winter Hours and a couple others I can't recall.

It was $5 a carload. It was fun. We decided to do it again.

The next year there were bigger bands and a much bigger crowd.

It was more fun. We decided to do it again.

It wasn't until year four, when the
Painful decision to move to RFK Stadium was made that the name HFS-tival was created. There was a lot of of arguing for and against the big stadium. After all stadium shows suck.

So we had to be bigger than the venue. We promoted it "We're taking over RFK for the HFS-tival 20 bands for 20 bucks." Sold out in 53 minutes. It didn't matter
Who the bands were, the audience wanted to be there for the scene, the
Party, the event of the summer.

But the bands were great. INXS, The Posies, Iggy Pop, Stereo MCs, Belly, Matthew Sweet and X. And More.

2 stages, inside and out, rides, beer, games and Gak! We had a Gak pit – remember that stuff? Nickelodeon sent us cases of it and we filled a bath tub – and people reached deep down in looking for prizes.

We provided free booth space to about 50 progressive non Profit organizations to hand out info and talk to the people. It was awesome.
So we decided to do it again.

And again and again. It was imitated dupilcated and made  a LOT of money for the station.

Until the Year there was no HFS.

But this year there is another HFS-tival. Sometime in September. At Merriweather, promoted by WHFS2 which can be heard online or via the HD2 Channel of 94.7 fm in DC.

Tickets have been on sale for a while now, great seats still available.

No rides, no games, No Gak.

Alex Chilton died yesterday and took another piece of Rock and Roll with him. Lead singer of the Box Tops, he scored a huge hit at age 16 with “The Letter”. That song blasted out of the AM radios and jukeboxes of my youth and grabbed me by the ears. “Give me a ticket for an aeroplane, ain’t got time to take a fast train”. This guy was on a mission! His baby had written him a letter!

But the real brilliance came later in the music of Big Star. I’ll admit that, like most, I missed these albums for many years, but somewhere in the late 80’s I heard “Seotember Gurls” for the first time.

Wow. What a perfect record. And every single time I have heard it since I have felt the same way, sometimes being moved to tears by it’s beauty. Like today.

On December 16th I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down and talk with Christofer and Hayden of NeverShoutNever and The Shout about the upcoming album and the tour, which kicked off last night. The tour is completely stripped down and acoustic and the opening acts are acoustic as well. All venues on this tour are small and intimate, I was literally against the stage because at the venue last night there were no guard rails but speakers and boxes in the way. These small venues create an amazing sound and make the experience that much better.

After an amazing show and cooling down I was able to meet up with Chris and Hayden and have a chat. Dad was there handy with the camera and there to chime in with a few questions. What made the interview exceptionally special for us was that they were kind enough to perform a song off the new album. Pick up NeverShoutNever's album, "What is Love?" on January 26th wherever music is sold. Or preorder it at http://www.nevershoutnever.com/whatislove/

Full Interview With Song:

Exclusive Acoustic Performance of 'Can't Stand It':

I know I know, I'm talking over the blog with all of these posts. But I'm a teenage girl with a lot on her mind and have a whole lot more to say.

I was just thinking for a bit as I watched some videos I had taken from recent concerts. I was taking a look at a video of a opening act at a show and unlike the video of the headliner, no one was really singing along with the lyrics. I wasn't singing even though I knew the words because I really didn't want to tarnish the video with my voice but I felt bad hearing no one else sing. And it made me realize that I always look up the opening acts on shows because I feel so much guilt standing there in the crowd and never having heard the song that was playing. Plus it makes the wait time go so much faster if you are enjoying and are farmiliar with the music playing. One last thing about checking out small bands before you see the show. There are a few things that I have experienced that have made me feel really great about myself. And I can honestly admit that one of them is being able to see the look on the bands face when they spot you singing in the crowd to their songs. 

That's all for now

-Chelsea

PS-it's way easier to get a guitar pic from a band member if they see you singing along or if you know their name.