Robstock 2008
by Dan Vierck
September 2008
Robstock 2008 in Whitewater, Wisconsin
Whitewater’s Robstock 2008 is showing all of Wisconsin that worthwhile music festivals are not just for bigger cities like Madison or Milwaukee. The event, boasting 5 music stages, 3 beer tents, a mini petting zoo, magic, psychics, face painters, a bonfire and “mad jugglers” is going down Sept. 20 at The Fuzzy Pig, N8660 Clover Valley Rd., Whitewater.
Besides the petting zoo and magic (let’s hope there’s some overlap there) the 5 stages of music are packed with artists from Chicago, Milwaukee and beyond. Headlining is local-est grooving funky legends, The Pipe Circus. Joining them from the Madison area is Mighty Short Bus, a country-leaning band building quite the history for itself in its own right, blues fundamentalist Paul Flipowicz and open mic-leading, never-stopping up-and-coming soloist Mike Droho.
Of note from Milwaukee, The Delta Routine brings reverb-drenched revivalist rock to the stage, with an emphasis on an era when rock itself still leaned heavily on blues. Fresh off releasing their full-length, “Donna”, the band has a healthy amount of originals but can bust out any number of covers with the same old school, amps-to-eleven energy. There’s no doubting the band’s talent, energy and classic sound that’ll surely draw a mighty crowd.
From outside Chicago, Illinois’s most interesting contribution to Robfest is easily the duo Right Rongly. The name is goofy, yeah, and the sound is pretty out there too. Among acoustic guitar, oddly phrased lyrics and intricate drumming, the sound is something out of a dream where Primus is acoustic, dynamic and concentrated instead of jam-y. The guitar is straight virtuoso and the drums aren’t far off. Together it’s impossible to stay ahead of their notes, but at the same time, it’s just as impossible to not be delightfully engaged.
The whole shebang is free, kind of. There’s a $10 fee to drink, and all those (and all other) proceeds go to the WI Red Cross and other totally legit charities. This is no Summerfest or even Taste of Madison, it just has the solid local music line up like they do, and the profits all go to charity. Is there anything else? Oh, yeah… Pat McCurdy is going to be there.
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