Jackson Hole Underground

After years of traveling to and writing about music festivals in places like New Orleans, Austin and Bonnaroo, at last a big fest has come to us — without even a drive to Grand Targhee.

We will be in full regalia for the second day of the Jackson Hole Music Festival at Teton Village. Reports from the first day said the music and sun were hot.

I wonder whether Ben Harper will sport the Stetson he purchased in Jackson back in 2001, when some of the local ladies took him shopping before his show at Snow King Center. Will Robert Randolph bust out his Fennis Dembo UW hoops jersey, as he did while opening for the Black Crowes at Snow King in 2006?

(I asked Randolph that night whether he had rolled through Laramie on his way up to Jackson, or whether the jersey was a gift. “Yeah, it was a gift,” he said, “from Dick Cheney!”)

The main question I have is whether the Teton area can sustain the tremendous amount of music we’ve been blessed with this year: two great fests at Targhee, a full slate at Center for the Arts, Music on Main, the Mangy Moose, and now this, a two-day marathon produced by one of the industry’s heavy hitters, Festival Network.

I don’t know what you come to do, but as an all-too-short and frenetic summer draws to a close, it’s time to stomp and scream.

Photo © Jim Stanford. Click to enlarge.

As first reported here back in April, a new music festival will be making its debut at Teton Village this summer.

The Jackson Hole Music Festival has added soul guitarists Ben Harper and Robert Randolph to a lineup that already features Wilco, the Black Crowes and Son Volt. The two-day event will be held at the base of the Eagle’s Rest slope on Aug. 16 and 17.

Harper and his band, the Innocent Criminals, have performed several times in Jackson Hole, as have Randolph and his Family Band. Both are fan favorites.

So far, the lineup looks like this: Saturday, Aug. 16 — Wilco, Kaki King, Medeski Martin & Wood, Backdoor Slam; Sunday, Aug. 17 — Black Crowes, Ben Harper, Robert Randolph, Son Volt, the Avett Brothers.

The music will run from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. both days. Single-day tickets are $72.50, while a two-day pass costs $130. For a limited time, you can purchase a discounted “early bird” pass for $110 (plus $13 service charge) by clicking here.

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If I had to pick one moment as the pinnacle of the 2007-08 ski season, it was the Jackson Hole Mountain Festival on March 29.

The concert, featuring The Radiators and Michael Franti and Spearhead, captured the joy of an epic winter in Jackson Hole, coming on a string of powder days in a powder week in a powder season. The jubilation flowed right off the slopes to the stage to the frozen parking lot, where a crowd in hats, gloves and puffy down jackets shimmied like a sea of helium balloons.

With everyone bumping and grooving and attuned to the music, the vibe was as good as anything I’ve experienced outside New Orleans.

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Apologies for any confusion — the earlier post here was premature.

The Black Crowes are slated to perform this summer at the new Jackson Hole Music Festival. The two-day event will be held Aug. 16 and 17 at Teton Village.

Although promoters have had discussions with Wilco and Neil Young, no deals have been reached.

Still a work in progress, the concert is being produced by The Festival Network, which puts on the JVC Jazz Fests in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Newport, R.I. The company plans 17 events around the U.S. and internationally this year.

Festival Network executives visited Jackson Hole earlier this winter and met with local officials, according to a person who took part in the discussions.

The idea of a Jazz Fest-type event at Teton Village has been discussed for years, but this is the most serious planning effort yet, the person said.

Already a buzz has been building around the valley, as rumors of Young’s possible appearance spread like wildfire.

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This is what a season of 605 inches looks like on the last day of lift service.

It had been a few years since I came out to Teton Village on closing day, so it was a great and pleasant surprise to discover the festivities have morphed into Mardi Gras at the base of the slopes. The last tram celebrations of yore are JV by comparison.

In the absence of an emptying tram car to pelt, the party lacked a climactic snowball fight. Then Dick Cheney, after a day of skiing the resort in jeans, got up to address the crowd. His appearance triggered a shock-and-awe-caliber fusillade of snowballs that forced him to fall off a table and flee.

This is a new feature on JH Underground. Click on the above image to enlarge and watch a short slide show of the day’s merrymaking. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the photos.

The over-the-top outrageousness was befitting of an incredible winter that gave us four straight months (and counting) of powder skiing. I can only hope the summer of Two Thousand Great is as bountiful with warmth and sunshine.

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