Mystic Beat Lounge once again brings the heat to the After Dark extravaganzas, featuring some of today's hottest and most exciting artists on the scene, ramping up the party with rootsy good vibes, reggae and soulful songwriters to light up the stage in what promises to be an unforgettable night.

 

Kicking off the night of Friday June 10 are rising reggae stars, Rootz Underground, one of Jamaica's younger bands who are paving their way with positive vibrations. They emerged in 2000, in a blaze of high-energy performances, conscious lyrics and a harmonic alternative reggae sound that mirrors their intellectual, spiritual and creative energies. Their brand of reggae music is inspiring, energizing, and real. It’s progressively unique and edgy with a modern hip hop feel infused with slivers of jazz, rock and revolutionary dub. The band envisages the future free from the shackles of Babylon - taking the Rootz Underground message far and wide is their sole life's work. As they say, prayer and hard work reap rewards and their journey has only just begun. Revolutionary reggae music - edgy, raw, natural, roots...that's Rootz Underground.

 

Taking the night deeper into the groove, is renowned singer and songwriter G.Love & Special Sauce. The enigmatically smooth and uber-cool Garrett “G. Love” Dutton is one of Philadelphia’s funkiest performers of laid back, alternative hip-hop blues (a genre he helped define). As an insatiable musical omnivore, G. Love somehow manages to synthesize his iconic influences by shedding their layers to find that harmonic convergence where song and listener bare their souls to each other, speaking nothing but the raw-boned truth.

 

Once again we’ll bring up the bass for the dub & reggae riddims as we welcome the Soldiers Of Jah Army to the Grace stage. Often dubbed "road warriors", SOJA has brought their unique stage show to nearly every city in North America, as well as many cities throughout the world. While touring in Puerto Rico, the band linked up with sax player Hellman Escorcia & trumpet player Rafael Rodriguez. These two exceptional musicians earned their position as SOJA's mainstay horn section by helping further develop the band's eclectic sound. This band is on the forefront of Revolution with hopes to bring about positive change, environmentally, politically and socially; it's all about the message in the music for this band.

 

Closing out the night is Techno-Tribal Dance 2009 headliner, Gaudi, accompanied by the mind-boggling performance troupe, Quixotic. Gaudi's eclectic style and versatility has kept him at the forefront of his field throughout a notable and prolific career. His music, which is an organic fusion of dub, world and nu-beat, is in production, on the playlists and regularly performed live in the UK and internationally.

 

Voted "Best Performing Arts Group" by Kansas City Magazine, Quixotic creates a full spectrum experience of dancers, multimedia designers, and aerialists beyond the expectations of reality and with stunning beauty.

 

 

 

 

The Sound and Art of San Francisco Bay Area, A Tribute to Jerry Garcia and Owsley Stanley (Bear & Jer's Night) w/ special guests.

 

In the Harmony Festival tradition, the visual arts grab just as much spotlight as the sonic, and Harmony Hall will overflow with Rock Art by TRPS; live art and installations by Tribe 13 featuring original art by Jerry Garcia, Owsley Stanley, Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse, The Merry Pranksters, Alex Grey, Mati Klarwein, Martina Hoffman, and more; a collection of Original Blotter Art curated by Shady Backflash and Rick McCloud; live painting by Stanley Mouse and Mark Henson; visuals by Jonathan Singer; and ambience and interactive experientials by Johnny Dwork and Peak Experience Productions.  

 

In addition to being the legendary chemist behind the psychedelic adventures of mid-60s San Francisco, Owsley Stanley, who recently passed following an auto accident, became the Grateful Dead’s soundman, and in 1973 produced the Dead’s last album with Warner Bros., Bear’s Choice.  Kimock, Nelson, McReynolds and their friends will re-create the album, a long-time Dead Head favorite.  This unique resurrection will cap an evening of performances by musicians who were part of Jerry Garcia’s legendary playing career and extended musical family, including:

  

Steve Kimock, unquestionably one of the pre-eminent guitarists in the jam-band explosion that emerged after the Grateful Dead stopped touring, so it’s appropriate that in the early ‘80s Garcia himself identified Kimock as his “favorite lesser-known guitarist.”  

David Nelson, whose first professional show at the San Francisco State Folk Festival of 1962, was in a band called the Hart Valley Drifters led by Jerry Garcia. David went on to fame as a founder of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. 

Jesse McReynolds, an icon of bluegrass, a peer of Bill Monroe’s and a personal hero of Jerry Garcia’s, recently released a tribute album to Garcia and his lyricist Robert Hunter called Songs of the Grateful Dead.  

Railroad Earth, one of the leading jam bands on the current scene, and members from the band will be playing.

Moonalice, which features the considerable talents of Roger McNamee (Flying Other Brothers), Ann McNamee (Ann Atomic), Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna), Barry Sless (Phil Lesh & Friends, Kingfish), and John Molo (Bruce Hornsby & the Range, John Fogerty, the Other Ones).

 

In short, musicians from all facets of Jerry Garcia’s musical life will converge on the stage at Harmony Hall to make music in the tradition of all traditions. In anticipation of the considerable attention this line-up will garner, music industry heavyweight Guitar Player magazine has joined forces with Harmony Festival to sponsor this once-in-a-lifetime event. 

 

Throughout this legendary show, visual artist, Johnathan Singer, mesmerizes dancers and washes the charged venue with light and color integrating the  art of the era and technology of today.