With Jam bands dominating the bill, my biggest question entering the ROTHBURY music festival was how outliers like Modest Mouse and Of Montreal would be received by the tens of thousands of fans.

But the biggest question mark clearly belonged to Snoop Dogg.

Remember, this is a festival built around the concept of sustainable energy and social responsibility. And Snoop is the same guy who proudly hawked Girls Gone Wild and said he’d “never hesitate to put a N***a on his back.”

Of course, I had nothing to worry about. As Snoop slowly pedaled his way on stage on a chrome, low-riding tricycle, he knew exactly how he was going to connect with this audience.

“Anybody here smokin’ some weed?” he shouted to deafening applause. They belonged to him.

Even he seemed surprised by the crowd’s enthusiasm. “You guys are havin’ too much fuckin’ fun.”

Happy Fourth of July everyone! As you can see, it didn’t take long for me to make friends at ROTHBURY. After a continually delayed flight and a four hour drive, it was nice to arrive to the soothing sound of the Wailers.

This is lead singer Elan belting out his rendition of “Stir It Up” (startlingly similar to Bob Marley’s vocal timbre).

Snoop Dogg is up next. I’m off to get pics! Stay tuned…

The burgers have been eaten, the booties have been shaken and the fire works have been … ‘a sploded’ (shout out to Quinn & homestar runner on that one). It’s time to wind down a little bit with ‘The Late Night Fire’ mix. Grab a blanket and that cutie you’ve been checking out for the entire party and relax with this laid back mix of acoustic, smooth blues and chill rock. (Guys, I PROMISE this is NOT just a lovie, girlie mix )

OK - so you’ve been eating and drinking all day and the sun is going down. The night has officially begun and it’s time to pick the party up! So throw down some cardboard and get ready to shake your booty to the ‘The Dance Party’ mix. This mix is bumpin mostly hip hop and soul but you’ll find some groovy latin and electronic tunes sprinkled in for kicks.

So your out in the sun, tossin some burgers on the grill on the 4th of July… there’s kids in the pool, someone’s grandmother is getting sauced in the corner and that neighbor you thought you’d be able to avoid just showed up and brought his close-talking girlfriend … and it’s hot … you want some tunes that make you feel good right? In ‘The BBQ’ you’ll find a delicate blend of americana, rock, country and indie flavors. There’s a little somethin in here for everyone … even grandma.

Scrolling through Music, Video and Lyrics - The Music Lovers Group - and came across this gem.

Fat Boy Slim and David Byrne make up the collaborative group BPA or ‘Brighton Port Authority.’ For some tantalizing censored nudity check out the video (which features UK sensation and one of my favorite interviewees - Dizzee Rascal).

For lyrics and more info on the video - check out the MLG post!

The boys of the Northern Room left their home state of Wisconsin and headed for Nashville after spending only 1 year together as a band… and we’re happy they did. Their powerful instrumental sound hints of pop rock masters like Coldplay and U2 … it’s the kind of music that makes you wanna run out your front door and change the world!!!

I’m gonna start by running out and changing the oil in my car … so it won’t break down when I need it to go out and change the world… which will be happening shortly thereafter.

Check out Northern Room!

We’re very excited to announce Squid as our latest Grand Prize winner. They’re from Tel Aviv, making them our first international winner (we’re going global!).

Big thanks to all you crazy kids who dropped in on the Finals Week PartyLine last Friday. I was hoping for it to be crowded, but I could never have predicted the massive turnout we ended up with. Hundreds of you showed up and made more than 3,000 comments in two hours(!). Here’s how it looked from my office…

3:01pm- General excitement as dozens log on to PartyLine

3:07pm- When I click “next track” it skips ahead six songs. When I click “last track” it goes back three. Did I mention PartyLine is still in Beta? Ok, my pre-made playlists aren’t going to work. Gotta adjust on the fly…

3:41- Rachel, my intern who spent countless hours making pre-made playlists, gets way stressed and turns into Emo Kitten (Read Rachel’s blog to get her side of things).

4:45- I narrow it down to 3 finalists for the free 10,000 Lakes Festival tickets.

4:55- Before I can decide on one winner… PartyLine A Splode!

That’s right. The PartyLine shut down because so many of you came to the Party! It’s like the cops shut us down for being too loud. Awesome.

Now, because I never got a chance to announce ONE winner for 10KLF tix, I did a little digging (with special help from Stephanie our marketing all-star) and found three pairs of tickets! So all three finalists (Megan Nicole, April Start, and Matt from gogoPilot) are headed to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to see the Flaming Lips, George Clinton, Michael Franti and many more at the 10,000 Lakes Music festival. Everyone wins!

Here’s a playlist of all the songs I can remember playing during the PartyLine, created by a much-less-stressed-out Rachel.

BTW, the majority of songs played in the PartyLine made it to Semifinals(!). And many, including Squid*, Sarah Tollerson and Philadelphia Slick, landed #1 in their respective channels and are battling it out today for the $5,000 grand prize. Congrats!

Now all of you who were there: Go forth and start your own PartyLines. Invite your friends and fans. Invite ME! I will definitely try to show up. Click here to see how to start a PartyLine.

And please, in the comment section below, let me know how the PartyLine went for you. What did you like? What would you like us to change? Did you discover and love any artists during the party? Any bugs that we need to fix (be kind: we’re still in beta)? Did you just have a good time and want to share? Let me know. Thanks.

-Quinn

*Update: Squid, who showed up to the PartyLine, won the grand prize for June for their song “Junky” which I played that afternoon. Congrats Guys! Did the PartyLine attention give them an extra boost? We’ll never know, but it didn’t hurt! Check out this video where I announce them winning.

(This post written by OurStage intern Rachel Richmond)

On Friday, Quinn threw OurStage’s first ever mass Party Line and with the amount of people who showed up, it turned into an all out rager. Let’s break down what happened.

1. Ever seen The Day After Tomorrow? Like that part when that huge wave descends on NYC and it’s total chaos? That’s what it felt like when we opened up the chat at 3pm. I’ve never seen such deluge of rapid fire messaging. I think I had a little epileptic shock trying to keep up.

2. OurStage fans and artists are a hilarious bunch. From the SunDogs‘ idea to write the song “It’s Okay to Think Quinn is Hot” to Quinn dropping the line, “We don’t want To Catch a Predator to show up to this chat,” the chat had all of us laughing with what you all came up with.
[NOTE: It’s not a real chat unless someone mentions TCAP.]

3. I never realized how much work would go into pulling off the Party Line. Let’s just say that the interns get such “glamorous” work. Like spending four hours researching all the semi-finalists and making playlists that would be rendered obsolete. Not like I am bitter or anything!

4. Because of you guys, our first huge Party Line was a great success! I was suddenly transported back into 8th grade when my friends and I would have chat rooms with each other. Thankfully there was a lot less of “OMG, boyz!”

I have to give props to Quinn for being such a good host and for actually participating in the chat while trying to keep things in order. You should have seen his reactions to Alyssa starting the “Quinn is hot” meme. Priceless.

We had good music, good conversation, and good times. What more could we ask for?
Let’s do this again, OurStage. I’ll bring the tunes and you bring the jokes.

Intern Rager Mix:

1. “To The Disco” - The Turf

2. “Top That!” - Renegades

3. “Good Food Quickly” - Philadelphia Slick

4. “Ohlone” - Sentinel

5. “Sleep Must Heal The Heart” - Molly Marlette