Life is good Festival Preview

Life is good Festival :: 09.11.10-09.12.10 :: Prowse Farm:: Canton, MA

Good music, a good cause and a good attitude. What's not to like about the inaugural Life is good Festival? Spring forth this coming weekend in Canton, Mass, a suburb of Boston, this event gathers together heavy hitters like Ben Harper & Relentless7, Ziggy Marley, Jason Mraz and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals to help raise much needed funds for the Life is good Kids Foundation, which aids children and their families with life-threatening ailments.

"The 2010 Life is good Festival at Blue Hills is a one-of-a kind event. No other festival in the country can offer the talent and entertainment experience that families and music fans alike will find at the 2010 Life is good Festival – all while helping to raise funds for kids facing life-threatening challenges," said Bert Jacobs, Chief Executive Optimist for Life is good. "We have some of the very best performers coming together and we are going to have a great time while we raise more than $1 million dollars for the Life is good Kids Foundation."

On top of being a positivity charged fine use of one's dollars, this festival has some great musical talent over and above the top names. Here's a few suggestions if you make your way to Blue Hills on Saturday and/or Sunday.

1. The Sippy Cups:: Saturday & Sunday :: 11:30 AM-12:30 PM :: "Good Kids" Stage
Kids music is largely a wretched hive of sub-par crapola (trust the parent of a 3-year-old boy), but Bay Area gems The Sippy Cups are fun, clever AND good musicians who don't pander to kids so much as engage them in a cool way. The Cups open musical festivities both days and it'd be tough to start your 'goodness' on better footing – whether you have kids along or not!

2. Eli "Paperboy" Reed & The True Loves :: Saturday :: 12:30-1:15 PM :: "Life Is Good" Stage
Real soul music is making a small comeback in 2010, and this Massachusetts native is part of the cresting wave that's bringing back the quality and vibe of vintage Motown, Stax/Volt, etc. but in a living, breathing way rather than a nostalgia exercise.

3. They Might Be Giants :: Saturday :: 2:30-3:30 PM :: "Good Kids" Stage
Speaking of kids music that doesn't suck it sideways, TMBG have carved quite the nifty niche for themselves inside the Disney empire in recent years AND done so with real dignity – a trick the Mouse Factory makes VERY hard. Like Ween's good-natured twin, the Giants are masters of all styles and know a hook when they find one. They also play on Sunday, 1:00-2:00 pm, on the same stage. Go and yell, "Istanbul!" at them and see what happens!

4. Toubab Krewe :: Sunday :: 1:15-2:30 PM :: "Good Vibes" Stage
Each time onstage is different yet consistently electrifying for audiences and players alike with Toubab Krewe, who dabble in a bit of this and that to mold something rhythmic, dense and engaging that's as original as anything out there today.

5. Brett Dennen :: Sunday :: 4:45-5:45 PM :: "Good Vibes" Stage
A spot of sensitive singer-songwriter fare always goes down so, so well around sundown, and there's not many better proponents of this stuff than Dennen. Grab a piece of grass, lay back and let him float you away on wings of song. Kinda corny but sounds nice, eh?