More than one way to rock

Land of Nod promises a 'grassroots music and arts festival unlike any other'

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As the young Rothbury Festival takes 2010 off, and earlyCommon Ground announcements point to another sweaty week of big-name summerfare, Michigan music fans seem faced with another year of more (or even less)of the same.

Enter the Land of Nod Experiment.

The self-proclaimed “grassroots music and arts festivalunlike any other” will make its debut July 23-25 in Leoni Township, a ruralcommunity in Jackson County about 45 miles southeast of Lansing. The new festboasts an eclectic lineup of national independent and underground acts. Amongthe notable are theatrical, indie dance-rock stalwarts Of Montreal, hard rockheroes and Queens-of-the-Stone-Age-affiliated The Eagles of Death Metal and theweird space-pack rap of Dr. Octagon. Filling out the bill are plenty ofup-and-coming national acts and Michigan favorites, including The Macpodz andSatin Peaches.

Co-organizer Dan Sheridan said he and business partner JasonReed created a lineup that couldn’t be easily tagged by genre.

“We want tostand alone from a lot of the other festivals,” Sheridan said. “A lot of thefestivals you see in the summer time all have the same lineup, it’s just in adifferent city on a different weekend. The Land of Nod has always been aboutexposing people to new styles.”

Land of Nod will also include a “Fringe Forest,” featuringperformance artists, vaudeville, cabaret, a circus sideshow and originalartwork, as well as roaming buskers. Most of the music slots are booked, butSheridan said interested performance artists should get in touch through thefestival’s website.

From now until the concert, Sheridan plans to basicallyspend his weekends camped out at the site. There’s plenty of work to be done,and those willing to put in at least 15 hours will get festival passes and evenbe able to work toward VIP passes.

Sheridan, 41, of New Orleans, grew up in metro Detroit areaand attended Ferris State University, where he got involved in staging concertsand events, which he continued to do after school.

The founder of his own tribal design clothing line, NooMoon,Sheridan hit the festival circuit as a vendor, traveling with the OzzFest toursof the late ‘90s, as well as Woodstocks ’94 and ’99, several of the Free Tibetconcerts and, more recently, Bonnaroo.

In 2000 Sheridan moved New Orleans, where he first launchedLand of Nod as a subset of the annual Voodoo Music Festival. But he neverstopped dreaming about a large-scale art and music happening on a friend’shunting property in south-central Michigan. “It’s been brewing in our heads forabout 10 years,” Sheridan said.

Two years ago, he and Reed began working with Leoni Townshipto get things in motion. Last summer they staged a one-day test run with localbands and artists for local residents, government and police. “They wereimpressed with what they saw,” Sheridan said.

For residents old enough to remember Leoni’s last major rockfestival, a little more convincing had to be done. Forty years ago this summer,tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of music fans flooded the small communityfor the Goose Lake International Music Festival. Acts included Jethro Tull, JoeCocker and home state favorites Bob Seger, The Stooges and SRC.

“I heard thesestories of naked hippies running around smoking weed and having sex on thehoods of cars; some images like that stay around forever,” Sheridan said.

In an effort to “grow with the community,” Sheridan iscapping total attendance at 10,000, which means only 8,000 tickets will besold. So far, only three-day passes have been made available at early-birdrates. Sheridan said prices will soon go up, and individual tickets will beavailable for at least Friday and Sunday.

For each ticket sold, Land of Nod will give $3 to the LeoniTownship Public Safety, $3 to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and $1 tothe Armory Arts Village in nearby Jackson.

Sheridan said response from the community has been positive.“People are excited it’s coming to Michigan and to Jackson,” he said.

Land of Nod Experiment, July 23-25: Featuring Of Montreal, Eagles of Death Metal, Tokyo PoliceClub, Rasputina, Dr. Octagon and more. Full lineup and ticket, camping info at www.noomoonlandofnod.com

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