andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Having just hosted a Jazz and Comedy festival only a few weeks ago, Montreal was once again the pearl of Canada this past weekend with the undeniable success of the Osheaga Music and Arts festival- a two day event filled with performances beginning at 1:00pm all the way until 11:00pm.

As Saturday would feature notable acts such as Jason Mraz, The Roots, K’naan, The Stills, Girltalk and above all, the grandmaster Coldplay, andPOP decided to venture down to La Belle Province for day no. 1.

But something funny happened by the end of our trip. Not only did we go from being pale skinned to maple brown sunburned, but we also went from being a concert reviewer to a behind-the-scenes explorer.

With four different stages and acts scheduled at similar time slots, we had to pick and choose which musical path our day would lead towards.

This is our story.

2:30 pm- I begin my journey in Hell’s Kitchen. Beautiful sunny day in Montreal, but sweltering 30 degree Celsius heat. For some reason though, the crowd seems to want to stand through it for acoustic rock performer Donavon Frankenreiter at the Mountain Stage. The musician and also pro surfer gathers a trickling crowd with an immediate groovy set- reminiscent of longtime pal Jack Johnson.

Part of that next batch of sunshine tune-fellows like Johnson, Ben Harper, Matt Costa and G. Love,  Frankenreiter ignites the festival’s spirit with his variety of catchy soothing numbers- most notably It Don’t Matter, which leads fans into a massive chant. A laid-back Frankenreiter even lets a lucky fan help him belt out the chorus, sending the crowd into rave cheers.

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The 2009 Cutting Edge Music Festival (CEMF) is bringing The Roots to Kitchener/Waterloo for two days of live music, camping and partying. The two-day event runs from August 1-3 and marks the band’s exclusive appearance in Ontario this summer.

“The festival will be host to over 50 different performances by some of the biggest names in the music scene.  With two live rock stages and a pounding dance warehouse, this is no ordinary music festival!”, CEMF partner Carey Kurtin said in a statement.

Currently in its fourth year, CEMF is a unique festival that includes music, water slides and the Smirnoff Dance Warehouse. The event includes performances by The Bronx, Ten Second Epic, Lady Sovereign, Dead and Divine, Moneen and many others. The roster of Canadian talent features Protest the Hero, Thunderheist and illScarlett. 

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The Roots have announced details of their second annual hometown “Roots Picnic,” which will take place June 6 at Festival Pier in Philadelphia.

Among the performers handpicked by the hip-hop band are TV on the Radio, Public Enemy, The Black Keys and Santigold.

According to Billboard, Public Enemy will perform their landmark 1988 album, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” in its entirety, backed by The Roots and Afrobeat band Antibalas. It will mark the first time Public Enemy have performed the album with a live band.

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The Roots are well on their way to recovery after a serious bus crash in France Wednesday, even managing to keep a concert date the next day.

The band was en route to Paris to open for Kanye West when their tour bus lost control and flipped, leaving the front end of the double-decker vehicle suspended in the air and a van pinned underneath.

Luckily, everyone emerged with minor, if any, injuries.

Roots member ?uestlove was even able to blog about the incident almost immediately after it happened: “well…since we are sitting on the side of the road. what better way to pass the time while the ambulance comes then to….blog.”

Later, he gave a detailed account of the events, describing how he’d been sleeping when the crash occurred:

“next thing i knew was the most surreal feeling ever….was i upside down? why am i covered in cereal? oh shit….that coffee pot is coming for my face!!!” he wrote.

“in reality the crash was all of about 7 seconds….but to do a 360 on the highway and end up ramped up (the van that crashed into ours was UNDER our double decker bus) in the air….is….well…a frigging miracle.”

Some of the band suffered “cuts and (had) neck braces on” following the accident, wrote ?uestlove, but were otherwise okay.

“that was divine intervention. we are so grateful for this outcome,” he concluded.

You can read ?uestlove’s full account of the accident here.

Despite initial uncertainty about whether The Roots would make it to the Kanye show, all of the group members did in fact appear on stage Thursday night for their slot on the “Glow In The Dark” tour.

The band, who released their tenth album, “Rising Down,” in April, have a slew of European dates lined up through to December.

With stories about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina still flooding the newswires, several more prominent musicians have stepped up to help in the relief efforts.

Pearl Jam have added an extra date to their North American tour in the fall that will benefit victims of Katrina. The rare club show at Chicago?s House of Blues Oct. 5 will sell for $1,000 per ticket and go on sale this Saturday.

All net proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross and the Jazz Foundation of America.

It is not yet known if the show will feature additional acts or be available for download on Pearl Jam?s recently launched digital bootleg store, a spokesperson told Billboard.

For their part, The Roots have called upon Jill Scott, TV On The Radio and Deerhoof for a Friday show at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. The musicians will be donating their performance fees to the NAACP’s hurricane relief program.

The TBC Brass Band, whose members were evacuated to Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and Sacramento, Calif., in the wake of Katrina, will also play at the show.

In additional concert news, a Katrina benefit at the Los Angeles Wiltern Theatre Sept. 22 will feature Tenacious D, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme with Jesse “The Devil” Hughes, Fiona Apple and comedians David Cross and Sarah Silverman.

Tickets for that show go on sale Friday via Ticketmaster.

Meanwhile, a digital EP from Coldplay went on sale at Apple’s iTunes Music Store Wednesday, with all proceeds benefiting the American Red Cross and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund.

The EP includes the band’s new single “Fix You,” as well as “The World Turned Upside Down” (left over from sessions for the group’s latest Capitol album “X&Y” and also featured on the new War Child record ?Help: A Day In The Life?), a live take on the non-album track “Pour Me” and a live version of “Fix You” from a summer show in Arnhem, Holland.