On My Radar: TweetStock

There is buzz in the Twitterverse about TweetStock.

Described as a “21st century Woodstock for the digital age,” the festival will be (according to founder @jayelectronica) “a free event for people the world over to connect as humans, encouraging through art, the open exchange of thoughts and ideas.”

Event organizers are pinging Twitter for lineup suggestions as well as looking for city leaders to help mobilize the movement.

Those interested in being a city leader for #TweetStock should contact: info@tweetstock.net.

Jay Electronica, an unconventional rapper and producer known for his ties to The Roots, Nas and other heavy hitters (as well as tweeting the birth of his child with Erykah Badu) is an active user who’s history reads like a motivational diary.

You can follow the conversation around TweetStock by following @TweetStock, hashtag group #TweetStock, Retweetist’s TweetStock search and TweetStock founder @jayelectronica.

I am looking forward to watching official lineup, location and date info unfold!

TweetStock would not be the first festival to be organized through Twitter, but it is still exciting to think about thousands of folks meeting up in a place like the Grand Canyon after collectively deciding the lineup.

>> More on Twitter Festivals here <<

Summer Fun: Lollapalooza ~ Pre-Flight Thoughts

Later this this evening I am flying to Chicago for this year’s Lollapalooza. From August 1st – 3rd, I will be providing remote production support for all of our festival coverage (editing and producing on location for MTVNews.com).

This year’s lineup includes The Ting Tings (I recently shot them at the McCarren Park Pool Party), Kid Sister, Rage Against the Machine, Broken Social Scene (I recently shot them at Siren Music Festival), Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, The Kills, Cat Power, CSS, Spank Rock, Radiohead and more.

I have never been to Chicago before, or Lollapalooza. A regular 3-day pass is $200 dollars and a single day pass is $80, so I am psyched that I am being sent this year otherwise I would never be able to afford the cost of traveling, lodging and tickets to experience an event like this.

The trade-off is that my colleagues and I will be working non-stop so it’s highly unlikely I will catch a full set by anyone, but I am *hoping* I can catch Radiohead on Friday night at 8pm on the AT&T stage.

Even if it’s just for a few seconds… That would be a dream come true.

I will be taking as many personal photos and mini videos as I can in my “free” time and uploading them to my Flickr account, but expect a full report about my adventures on The Lair when I return next week.

M.I.A. performed at last year’s Lollapalooza. She climbed up the scaffolding, look! I wish she was performing again this year…
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Summer Fun with Janelle Monáe @ Afro-Punk

A while back I wrote an open letter to Summer ’08 and listed Janelle Monáe’s music as a source of inspiration and adventure. Little did I know at the time that it was a self-fulfilling prophesy.

This past weekend I was at BAM in Brooklyn shooting performances and holding interviews with the artists at the 4th annual Afro-Punk festival. I was able to meet and interview Africa Bambaataa, The Apes, Millsted, Sweetie, The Smyrk… and Janelle Monáe!

You can read the blog entry that I wrote for work on the MTV Newsroom blog.

While searching for other coverage this morning, I came across this video shot from the audience. You can see me up on the left hand side of the stage shooting Janelle Monáe (at 9:08 in).

At one point she dove down from the stage and for a moment latched on to my shotgun mic. You can see what I saw (and shot) here:The crowd LOVED her and I, while working, experienced my ultimate definition of summer fun.Janelle Monáe is one of the few artists around who I think should have either a daily vlog going on or some sort of weekly episodic series about her life and the Wondaland Artists Society. I say this purely as a fan of her music and her message.

I hope that in August she brings a shooter with her on her trip to Norway for the Oya Festival where she will be playing with N.E.R.D. I also hope that eventually she will release a live performance DVD. Her stage presence is electric and I should know, as I was inches away from her and was almost knocked off the stage when she flung herself into the crowd this past weekend ^_^. Awesome!