It's been a busy few weeks for me, behind the scenes at WBOS and gallivanting around the country to indulge my music jones...

Had an interesting trip to Colorado for an industry convention, in which radio programmers in our format (AAA) from across the country schmooze, compare notes & strategies, and spend some time with various record company types who are there to showcase new artists and upcoming music releases for the fourth quarter and early part of next year. Boulder is a beautiful city, clean and cosmopolitan, and a wonderful place to spend a few days. Saw some interesting artists perform, although nothing that really blew me away. The best part of the trip, for me, was to pick the programming brains of some other PD's on how they continue to run successful AAA radio stations.These are people who've been doing this much longer than I, so any opportunity to learn from their experiences is well worth taking.
From there, I went to Chicago for the Lollapalooza Festival. What an incredible event! 12 stages, well over a hundred thousand people, and dozens of bands of all stripes & styles. Saturday's highlights included Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Muse, followed by a few hours spent exploring Chicago (never been before). Great city, full of friendly people and some beautiful architecture. We ended the night at the House of Blues, where Ryan Shaw did a post-midnight set that brought the house down.
We started at Lolla on Sunday around noon, with the temperature already in the mid-90's with equal humidity. Caught sets from some great up & coming bands like The Cribs, Heartless Bastards, Peter Bjorn & John (until their amps blew mid-set) and veterans alike, most notably Iggy & The Stooges. Iggy, in all his 60-year-old punk rock glory, was a sight to behold. The band was in prime form, ripping thru classics from "No Fun" and their new CD "The Weirdness" with equal aplomb. Iggy is a madman; stage-diving, exhorting the crowd ever further...truly a special moment in my rock & roll life.
The day ended with the reason I went in the first place: Pearl Jam. I'm one of the Pearl Jam freaks that have quietly mushroomed into an army over the past 17 years or so; been a fan since first hearing them at UMass in 1991 and have seen them many times. Anyway, this one was special for a number of reasons. First, it was their only U.S. show this year; secondly, lead singer Eddie Vedder is originally from Chicago and was clearly stoked to be performing for the city of his youth, especially in the gorgeous Grant Park in front of an absolutely massive crowd that was so intensely involved with every note of the show. The band, fresh from a European tour, was in fighting form and lit it up for two hours of fury. "Why Go," "Not for You," "State of Love & Trust," "Alive," "Evenflow," "Crazy Mary" and "Elderly Woman" were all standouts, as well as a new protest song about BPAmoco and a couple of adapted verses from "Another Brick in the Wall" that Eddie turned into an admonishment of the Bush administration. The end-of-show highlight was a young, wheelchair-bound Iraq War veteran who came out with Eddie and Ben Harper to mention a couple of protest organizations before Eddie & Ben performed a new duet together, followed by an all-hands-on-deck blast thru Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World," with a stage full of audience members joining on tambourine.

Separately, we had a fantastic Copley Free Summer Concert Series this year, and I want to thank everyone who attended each week. I think Matt Nathanson is STILL signing autographs!
Until next time...