2009 Bonnaroo Poster and Line-Up

You know, The Blot actually thought this year’s Coachella line-up was pretty sick until Bonnaroo unveiled its 2009 line-up last week. This summer’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is already shaping up, at least on paper, to be one of the best music festivals in recent memory. In fact, it completely blows away pretty much every other music festival’s line-up from the past two years. If The Blot didn’t already have a killer summer trip planned (more details on that to come later), I might have to consider busting out my old sleeping bag and heading to Manchester, Tennessee.


Bonnaroo ’09 will include performances by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish (who will be performing twice), Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, Al Green, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Costello, Erykah Badu, Paul Oakenfold, Ben Harper and Relentless 7, The Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, David Byrne, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and way too many other amazing artists to name. You can find out the music festival’s complete initial line-up by clicking on the official 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival Line-Up poster below:


Bonnaroo takes place June 11-14, 2009 in Manchester, TN. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here through Bonnaroo.com. General Admission Weekend Passes are currently priced at $249.50, while VIP two ticket packages are being sold for $1,349.50. Payment plans are available for both options.

The Blot Reviews The 81st Annual Academy Awards Nominations

Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences unveiled the nominees for their 81st Annual Academy Awards show and The Blot is more than a little disappointed in who was left off the ballot. Neither The Dark Knight nor its director Christopher Nolan were shown any love from Oscar! This is just another example of why the Academy Awards have take such a huge ratings hit over the past few years. It’s like they are trying to push viewers away from their telecast.


Too often the Academy gets wrapped up in art films no one sees and refuses to acknowledge the artistic majesty of films embraced by the masses. Yes, The Dark Knight was a superhero movie, but once you look past its comic book origins the film truly is an artistic masterpiece. The truth is, very few films in recent memory have resonated with the American people like The Dark Knight did this past summer, and I really believe that grossing as much money as The Dark Knight did says something about the quality of the film.

Thankfully the real star of that movie, the amazing Heath Ledger who was taken from his friends and family too soon, received the Best Supporting Actor nomination he so richly deserved. I will be tuning in to the Oscar telecast next month if for no other reason than to see Mr. Ledger win this award. I have no idea who will be accepting the award on his behalf, but I expect a rousing tribute to an amazing talent.

I was also unbelievably shocked to find out that Bruce Springsteen was not nominated for his song “The Wrestler” from the movie of the same name considering he just won a Golden Globe for the very same song a few weeks ago. Not only that, but the Academy only nominated three songs this year for its Best Song category. Something about that just doesn’t sit well with The Blot!


Regardless, I was really happy to see a Best Actor nomination go to Mickey Rourke for his performance in The Wrestler and a surprising nomination in that very same category go to Richard Jenkins for his role in The Visitor. I also thought Robert Downey Jr.’s Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Tropic Thunder was the perfect way to cap off his 2008 comeback. The other interesting storyline brewing is if Kate Winslet will finally win an Oscar this year after having lost 5 times before. All in all, it should be a very interested awards ceremony to say the least!

The 81st Annual Academy Awards will be hosted by Hugh Jackman and air on February 22nd at 8/7c on ABC.

The 2009 Oscar Nominations
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Actor
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Actress
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Director
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Original Song
“Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Peter Gabriel and
Thomas Newman)
“Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman and Gulzar)
“O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman and M.I.A.)

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band Live in Houston, Texas

Last night, after many years in the making, The Blot attended his first Bruce Springsteen concert at the Toyota Center in Houston. After listening to friends from the northeast talk for years about what an amazing concert Springsteen and The E Street Band put on I finally started considering going to a Springsteen show back in ’05. Springsteen was coming to Dallas and my buddy Lippy and I were going to go…that is until we found out Springsteen’s Devils & Dust tour was a solo tour without The E Street Band. That was a deal breaker for us both since neither of us had seen Springsteen before and we wanted our first show to include both the hits and The E Street Band.

Flash forward three years later to Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s Magic tour in support of the Boss’ latest album Magic. Once I heard the group was coming to Houston 5 months ago I jumped at the opportunity to get tickets. To be honest, I don’t know that many Springsteen songs, but figured once we were there I’d end up knowing a lot more than I realized (kind of like my experience at the John Cougar Mellencamp concert a few years back). Boy was I wrong! Between not knowing most of the new material from Magic and my limited knowledge of Springsteen’s extensive catalogue The Blot was clueless to most of the song’s played.


While knowing the songs definitely enhances the experience, I’d still give the concert an A+. Besides being one of, if not the, biggest crowds I’ve ever seen at the Houston Toyota Center for a concert, it was by far the loudest. Almost every song found the entire arena singing along and feeding off of Bruce’s every word. The crowd was definitely amped up to a 10 and from the looks on the people’s faces around me everyone was having the time of their lives.

Springsteen played the almost three hour set, with only a slight encore break, with the same intensity throughout. The Boss, along with The E Street Band, definitely put on an impressive performance. It seems like age has not slowed this great musical act down one bit and time on the road has not taken away their love of performing. After the encore brea, Springsteen first brought on stage Alejandro Escovedo to perform “Always A Friend,” the lead single from his upcoming release Real Animal. Springsteen then had Joe Ely join the band to perform his song “All Just To Get To You” from his album 1995 album Letter to Laredo. It was a wonderful performance by Springsteen and it was definitely well worth waiting the three years to finally see him live.


Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
April 14, 2008 - Set List
Houston, Texas - Toyota Center
01. Cadillac Ranch
02. Radio Nowhere
03. Lonesome Day
04. Atlantic City
05. Magic
06. Because The Night
07. Candy's Room
08. She's The One
09. Out In The Street
10. Livin' In The Future
11. The Promised Land
12. Girls In Their Summer Clothes
13. The E Street Shuffle
14. Terry's Song
15. Devil's Arcade
16. The Rising
17. Last To Die
18. Long Walk Home
19. Badlands
20. Thunder Road
Encore:
21. Always A Friend with Alejandro Escovedo
22. All Just To Get To You with Joe Ely
23. Rosalita
24. Born To Run
25. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
26. American Land