Most of them have never heard of Styx, OK?

I agree with you completely about a general lack of risk taking and diversity. My point was simply that more indie rock wasn’t going to turn Summerfest into a sprawling, diverse music festival. I don’t find indie rock to be a cure-all.

Indie rock – apply directly to the festival
Indie rock – apply directly to the festival

If you look around this blog, you’ll also notice I’m not a big indie rock fan. As for those folks who are, well, every music clique has schmoes in its ranks. However, I will never be critical of someone for being passionate about a particular band or music. If certain music really moves you, even if I don’t care for it, then there’s nothing for me to be critical about. But it does get in my craw when someone promotes a particular band or genre by privileging it above all others and heralding it as being in some way objectively better. The term “music blog” is almost synonymous with “indie rock blog” and my point was that there are more good bands in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the indie rock philosophy.

Having said all this, I can still appreciate the fact that more indie rock acts at Summerfest would be a good thing. But so would musicians of other stripes. Not having seen this year’s schedule in its entirety and relying on past experiences, I’d like to see more local bands, more non-rock music, more progressive rock (a pipe dream, I know), more polka/non-Southern American folk, et al. Put up a tent and have some Sacred Steel music or some gospel from Milwaukee on a Sunday morning and even this godless heathen would be there. How about some more off the wall world fusiony stuff like Felonious Bosch, Gogol Bordello, or Madison’s own Reptile Palace Orchestra? Get Racine proggers Kopecky up on a stage. Guy Davis, Beatallica, Roscoe Mitchell, The Polkaholics, KTU, Madeleine Peyroux, Brave Combo, Los Lobos, Giant Brain, the Yoshida Brothers …there’s just too much great music out there.

Now that I’ve actually looked at the schedule, I see that Beatallica will be playing plus a lot of bands with which I am not familiar and have no idea what kind of music they play. I also see Baghdad Scuba Review and Mercury Crossing, the latter of which is led by a friend’s sister. And I notice that The Flying Calarco Bros. are appearing as well. Perhaps there is more variety than I realize. Then I see a couple progressive rock cover bands and ask myself why not get some newer prog bands? Amongst the groups with which I am not familiar, I see that The Melismatics describe themselves as an “indy powerpop rock band”. Is it also possible that there’s more indie rock there than you realize? It’s just that these bands aren’t well-known because they haven’t been reviewed on Pitchfork or the like. (Not being into the indie rock scene, I honestly don’t know where fans go to find out about new bands.)

Like you, I have to wonder about The New Cars and the appearances of Styx, Foreigner, etc.

But “I’m Just Sayin Is All” is not a typical indie rocker blog intent on being the first to introduce you to Sweden’s next big electronica group. The music and art featured are thoughtfully chosen and accompanied by heartfelt descriptions of the type you won’t find on other blogs.

Yes, the criticism of Summerfest was indie-centric, but so are most successful music festivals. You say yourself that you’d like to see fresh blood at Summerfest – perhaps if enough people have this discussion we’ll all see more diversity on the lakefront in future years. What would you like to see there?