Wednesday, May. 07, 2008

Rumor has it, Sasquatch could be quite a sight this year

By Jeremy Dutton

There was a gaping hole in my preview of upcoming summer music festivals two weeks ago. The Gorge's Sasquatch Festival had yet to announce its Memorial Day lineup. But after hunting for a little more info, I turned up a reader-generated blog from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that says the lineup will be announced Feb. 25.

From there I uncovered all sorts of rumors, link-by-link. The Cure appears to be already on tap, but a new note is that R.E.M., playing in Vancouver, B.C., the night before Sasquatch opens, will make the hop stateside and headline one of the nights.

As far as any other bands set to play, I grabbed the following from Travis Hay's Ear Candy blog at the Seattle P-I. Read more of it at http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/earcandy. Here goes -- and I quote:

The Cure / R.E.M. / Modest Mouse / Death Cab For Cutie / The Breeders / New Pornographers / Gang of Four / The Gossip / Cat Power / Rilo Kiley / Band of Horses / The Hold Steady / Magnetic Fields / Nada Surf / British Sea Power / Beirut / Jens Lekman / The Heavenly States / Minus The Bear / The Lonely H / Fleet Foxes / Helio Sequence / Damien Jurado / Chris Walla / Gutter Twins / The National / 65 Days of Static / Stephen Malkmus / Destroyer / U.S.E. / Kinski / Blitzen Trapper / Common Market / Menomema / Grand Archives / Cave Singers / Arthur & Yu / Dave Bazan / Explosions in the Sky / Vampire Weekend / Cold War Kids / Black Mountain / Black Keys / Tegan and Sarah.

Hay's methodology for putting together this lineup went like this: See who's playing at other festivals, factor in which bands have big albums due out this year, throw in some buzz bands, add the load of local talent that usually is at the festival and toss in some knowledge of the promoters and publicists handling Sasquatch.

Although it's highly unlikely this lineup will materialize, it would be one of the more amazing ones in recent memory. I'd sell something prized so I could bake in the desert sun to see it.

I'd expect a few more mainstream acts to balance this out as well. But regardless, you'd be wise to start thinking about penciling in your Memorial Day weekend plans right now. And of course keep checking back here -- I'll be sure to keep you posted. If you've got any ideas of your dream lineup, or if you've heard any rumors, drop me an e-mail.

Hillstomp at Ray's

Looking for a post-Valentine's Day treat? Portland's Hillstomp, a dirty punk-blues duo, will play Ray's Golden Lion at 8 p.m. today. I saw them at Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival last summer, and while the fairgrounds carried pretty skimpy crowds, it made their performance all the better. You won't be disappointed. They make the kind of music naturally the White Stripes make with equipment from a time before they were born.

Grammy predictions -- how'd I do?

Well, I should have listened to my gut when picking, as my should-have-won picks were far more accurate than my will-win picks. But honestly, who would have picked Herbie Hancock to take top honors with a strictly covers album? His arrangements are phenomenal ... but best album? I cry foul.

Other than that, the Grammys were a pleasure to watch. Herbie Hancock's performance of Rhapsody in Blue was the stuff of legend, and Kanye West's showing put him on that pedestal too. But other acts like Kid Rock and Kelly Smith's duet were disturbingly awkward, and Jerry Lee Lewis' tired performance definitely placed all three of them out of their element.

- Jeremy Dutton 582-1525; jdutton@tricityherald.com