Photos by Jay and Laura; words by Anna.
Outside Lands 2009 could have been a lot of things: a failure, a disappointment, a misplaced attempt to draw a wider range of music fans. The slightly off-kilter lineup largely paid tribute to the ’90s (Pearl Jam, Incubus, Dave Matthews Band, Q-Tip and The Beastie Boys — before [...]

Breaking news from the folks behind the Outside Lands Festival: comedy-rock duo Tenacious D have been tapped to replace the Beastie Boys to close out the festival’s third and final night.
The Beasties were forced to back out as headliners following news that MCA had been diagnosed with cancer in one of his salivary glands and [...]

Fans from all over the world got some very sad news from the Beastie Boys‘ camp today. In a video posted to their YouTube channel (and embedded below), Adam “MCA” Yauch explained that his doctor found cancerous tumors in one of his salivary glands and a lymph node.
As a result, the Beastie Boys have decided [...]

Well, it’s two weeks after the fact and I’m finally able to wrap my head around the musical smorgasbord that was Bonnaroo 2009. 75,000 people descended on Manchester, TN, (population: roughly 9,500 for 361 days of the year), for the festival’s eighth year.
The musical equivalent of Willy Wonka’s world of pure imagination, Bonnaroo once again [...]

Initial announcements regarding the lineup at this year’s Outside Lands Festival may have received a more varied reaction, seeing as it branches pretty far beyond the more indie-centric lineup of 2008. Perhaps this announcement of the OSL daily schedule will help sway those teetering on the “not-sure-how-I-feel-about-the-Black-Eyed-Peas” fence.
Single-day tickets go on sale here on June [...]

The organizers of Outside Lands announced the initial lineup for the festival’s second year. The three headliners are Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys and Dave Matthews Band. Bay Area acts include The Dodos, John Vanderslice and The Morning Benders. Here’s the full lineup:

[The Blogmine is a weekly feature where your fearless Stranger Dance staffers dig up all the gold hidden around the blogosphere. Feel free to pass along any interesting stories we may miss.]

Great interview with Scarface, who’s whole tortured gangster persona has always made him one of the more intriguing rappers out there. [The Smoking Section]
Animal [...]

I mentioned before that bad presidents inspire good music. Ronald Reagan was a springboard for a whole generation of punk bands like The Dead Kennedys, Reagan Youth and MDC, among others, while also laying the groundwork for the first wave of political rap groups like Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions.
Inspired by our election night [...]

OK, we’ve given a lot of attention to the Outside Lands Festival in this here part of West Blogistan – The Stranger and Vague Panther have drooled over it several times – but I’m going to play devil’s advocate. What if the lineup is too narrow, too indie-rock intensive without enough goodies for those of [...]

[Editor's note: We'd like to welcome Uncle Corey to our band of brothers here at the Stranger Dance. Besides being a certifiable life-long music lover and all-around brown-bear-cub-like nice guy, he also spent the better part of his 20s working for a host of newspapers across Washington and California, so he'll hopefully bring some kind [...]