The Roundup

Even Wally had a great time at the All About The Music Fest

Great to see such great support of the Fest this year at Wiggins. How serendipitous was it that Patti Smith too covered "Like A Rolling Stone"? Both her and Rodney Crowell brought different kinds of energy to it, but it just kind of shows how incredible a song it has remained over the years. They don't call it classic rock for nothing, right?

So...here for me in no particular order were some of my favorite Moments:
Soulive busting out Bobby Brown's "I Know You Got Soul," and "Tighten-Up" by Archie Bell & The Drells"; Erin McKeown singing with the Indigo Girls; Loudon's "Camden Rant"; Patti's Philadelphia Rant and love of Camden; "Redondo Beach" by Patti; Rodney rockin' the crowd through his entire set; Devin and Birdie and John paying homage to the Hooters; Ernie & Neal; the water in the Children's Garden for a quick cooling off; John Legend and Warren Haynes.

Until next year.....

Children's Garden / Kids Corner

WOW.

It's early in the morning of The Day After, and all I can say is wow. I'm sure there will be a slew of posts about the Festival, but I wanted to post from my point of view all weekend - in the oasis that is the Camden Children's Garden.

From the moment the gates opened there was a sea of smiling faces - for the first time in 12 years, WXPN was providing an authentic escape for kids (and kids of all ages) from the day's festival. Just the chance to step into the Garden and follow a maze through nature - or to sit on a bench planted smack-dab under a massive weeping willow tree - hearing the breeze through the leaves and the sounds of live music from the distance... it really made a differnce.

And this year families had something to do all afternoon - I met dozens of parents with kids in tow, who spent hours just within the Garden. Between the live music we had on our stage (more on that in a moment) and the never-ending things to do and see for kids - it was a perfect weekend, all around.

And the music! First, thanks to the musicians that volunteered to be part of a great experience! Saturday we had Bubboon and Bubbles, The Cat's Pajamas, Milkshake, Steve Pullara & The Cool Beans Band, and Sunday Skip Denenberg, Ernie & Neal with their full band and John Flynn!!

Plus two hypnotic nature shows from Jane Kirkland, animals from the Philadelphia Zoo, free face painting and crafts from Abington Arts Center.

There were many highlights - but for me the best was simply being there. Since I was producing the stage, I was chained to the area - and there were times where I almost forgot that thousands more were just outside the trees in the grassy bowl of Wiggins Park. It was that fun!

So, for those that swung by ... Thanks from both Kathy and me :)