MerleFest, one of the largest Americana music festivals in the United States (perhaps the world), takes place every year during the last weekend of April in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. I grew up outside of Wilkesboro and consider the festival to be a highlight of every year because for four days I get to hear bluegrass and other Americana music while relaxing outside. At MerleFest, I have met fellow bluegrass/ Americana fans from around the world. The box office said fans in the past traveled to the festival from 44 states and seven countries. In 2000, the festival webcasted the music on a pay-per-view basis and will expand its capabilities this year.
Using the Internet and other resources,
I dug up information on MerleFest and other bluegrass/ Americana festivals.
Here are some Web sites to check out:
The Digital Folklife Address: A catch-all web site for bluegrass/ folk life lovers that includes: interviews with musicians and other artisans, photographs of various festivals and play lists from McLaughlin's radio show. Source: John McLaughlin and Jamie Downs, Folk Life Magazine
Official MerleFest Home Page Offers information about the upcoming festival and descriptions of past festivals. Lists artists who will be attending; explains the festival set- up; provides ticket ordering information and details about the webcasting of the 2001 festival. Source: Wilkes Community College and MerleFest Organizers
Planet Bluegrass Home page Describes the festivals in Telluride, CO-the daddy location of all bluegrass festivals. From the web site, you can purchase tickets for the upcoming festivals and cd's of past performances. Source: Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Rocky Grass and Folks Festival
WNCW Online You can listen in real audio to WNCW's shows, which are rooted in folk music and often feature bluegrass musicians. The station broadcasted from the 2000 MerleFest. Play lists, cd collections and information about volunteering are among the components of this web site. Source: The western North Carolina-based NPR station, WNCW, and its various underwriters
Woodstock.com: Artist Bios Woodstock.com made history in 1999 with the webcasting of the Woodstock music festival. This site focuses on the streaming media, including interviews with Dave Mathews and Wyclef Jean, who collaborated with Santana, and former members of Jefferson Airplane talking about Woodstock 1969. Source: Not positive, but I'm pretty sure the site is managed by the Woodstock festival organizers.
Here are some non-Web resources to pilfer through:
Marilyn Kochman, ed., The Big book of bluegrass. New York: W. Morrow, 1984. ML3520 .B53 1984
Hopkins, Jerry. Festival! the book of American music celebrations. New York: Macmillan, 1970. ML37.U5 H7
Merle Watson Memorial Festival 1992. Produced by North Carolina Public Television and the Merle Watson Memorial Festival. 120 minutes. Wilkesboro, NC: 1992. video cassette. C784.4 M564m
Old Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival, celebrating 70 years of traditional music--25th anniversary at Fiddler's Grove, May 29-29 1994. Published by Echo Broadcast Services. Union Grove, N.C., 1994. compact disc. C784.4 O44o
(1999, April 28). America's Premier Acoustic Music Festival Starts Tomorrow. PR Newswire [online], 502 words. Available: Academic Universe. [1999, April 29].
Let's switch gears entirely and head out to the West Coast, specifically to a town in Silicon Valley......
Doin' the View: Mountain View, California and its silicon valley identity
With dot.com businesses and other Internet affiliates passing in and out of existence almost unnoticed, it is often easy to overlook the physical locations of the United States' technology industry. Cyberspace, however, does have links to the natural world, and since the early 1970s, many computer companies have called California home.
Mountain View, California, is one town associated with the notorious Silicon Valley. Located in the San Francisco Bay area, Mountain View has a population of 75,000 and the Chamber of Commerce boasts that nearly 140,000 potential customers for area businesses live within three miles, and 890,000 live within 10 miles of its downtown (1).
Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh has plans to create a satellite campus in the town for its technology-interested students (1). Netscape Communications Corporation came to Mountain View in 1994 and mega-search engine, google.com, followed in 1998.
The creative and somewhat wacky atmosphere of the Google offices has caught the attention of some journalists. Lee Bergquist of the Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel described the unique culture of Google and its perks for employees, including on-site oil changes, saunas, laundry service, two free meals a day and electric scooters to ride between meetings (3).
Before keyboard, hard drive and modem had entered our everyday language, Mountain View was known for its cherry, apricot and plum crops. It was incorporated in 1902 as a city and the canneries located there thrived for many years. Many World War II soldiers who passed through the area before heading off to combat fell in love with Mountain View and returned after the war finished (4).
The Mountain View of today is not soley dominated by cybertechnology industries. There is a thriving senior center, numerous park facilities and community groups that support a variety of interests.
Sources:
(1) Schackner, Bill. (30 November 2000). Traffic slows CMU's plans for campus in California. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [newspaper], 814 words. Available: Academic Universe. [30 November 2000].
(2) Bergquist, Lee. (25 September 2000). Groovy jobs, sweet perks. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [newspaper], 1,436 words. Available: Academic Universe. [25 September 2000].
(3) http://www.ci.mtnview.ca.us
(4) http://members.aol.com/Nap98/MtnViewGuide1.htm
This page was last updated 12 April 2001