Kevin Bronson on November 19th, 2009

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Colorado’s Monolith Festival is in trouble. Organizers of the three-year-old event, plagued the past two years by fractious Rocky Mountain weather, told fans in an e-mail “the future of the festival is very grim,” and that they have “been unable to secure any options” that dig the fest out of its financial hole. Included was a plea for potential buyers/investors. [Full text of the letter after the jump.] Meanwhile, Bonnaroo announced its ninth annual event will be held June 10-13, 2010, near Manchester, Tenn. Tickets go on sale at noon Nov. 27. Meanwhile, only 148 days until Coachella.

Now hear this: Our friends over at When You Awake are mounting a benefit show for the Children’s Music Fund (which provides music and instruments for sick kids) on Friday night at the Bootleg Theater, and it should be a good one. “A Tribute to Neil Young” will feature performances from Delta Spirit, Ferraby Lionheart (whose set last Sunday at Spaceland was excellent), the Parson Redheads, Leslie & the Badgers’ Leslie Stevens, Dead Meadow’s Jason Simon, the Chapin Sisters and a host of others. It’s $12 at the door.

Devendra, the editor: Devendra Banhart, who just released his sixth album “What Will We Be,” is guest-editing the online edition of Magnet magazine and using the opportunity to champion his pals. Nice – Glasser is among those getting some love – but there’s apparently no hyperbole button. Unless you agree that Little Joy is “one of the greatest bands of all time.”

Price is right: Holy cow, free downloads from the top 50 sellers on Insounds. Who are those Grizzly Bear people at No. 1?

Same here: Remember Carbon/Silicon from their appearance at Coachella 2008? The band – the collaboration between the Clash’s Mick Jones and Generation X’s Tony James – have made their new album “Carbon Bubble” available for free. Download the tracks here.

L.A.-speak: Watch for Voxhaul Broadcast’s new album in 2010 – the new material the quartet played Tuesday night at the Roxy was pretty sensational. … Jonneine Zapata has a record deal – in Australia, anyway – having been signed to indie Laughing Outlaw Records. … The recent Jam for Laura Ann (and related sales of memorabilia, including Smashing Pumpkins items donated by Billy Corgan) was a huge success financially in helping Laura Ann Masura defray medical expenses from injuries she sustained in a motorcycle accident. Kudos to organizer Josiah Mazzaschi of Light FM. … And Dublab’s fund-raising Proton Drive is on and always worth some of your spare change. The Web radio station will have a “24 Hour No Sleep” session starting at 10 a.m. Nov. 23.

And finally …: San Francisco’s Dubious Ranger will write you a custom song for 25 bucks. Wonder if that’d worth with blog posts?

After the jump, the full text of the Monolith letter:

MONOLITH Fans,
We are very saddened by the nature of this announcement but wanted to bring it to you first.”  We feel like we have always been very fan-centric, honest and open with you therefore it’s important to us to communicate the severity of our current situation.”  We have tirelessly promoted and produced the Monolith Festival for 3 years now.”  Over the course of those three years we have witnessed some amazing performances, met a bunch of great friends and produced a very special event that filled our voracious appetite to deliver the most amazing new artists in the world.”  Many of you who know us know that we do this out of sheer pleasure, undesirable love of music and a vehicle to tout our admiration for hardworking musicians.
With that said, the future of the festival is very grim.”  A tough economic year and an opening day of chilling rain combined to put a serious dent in our humble operation.”  We have continued to pursue any and all options that would allow us to recover from this year and head into 2010 with full steam.”  At this point in time, we have been unable to secure any options.”  We are communicating this message to you – the fans, the media and the artists who have supported time and time again for good reason.”  We hope that somewhere, in our vast network of music lovers, that there may be someone with the means to pull us up by our boot straps and give us chance to continue building this amazing event.
If you have any input or know of someone who may be interested in investing in/purchasing our small but mighty event, we would love to speak with them. We have a number of options available for interested parties/individuals.”  For more information please contact [email protected].”  Again, this is our last resort and we have explored just about every option that is available to us. To”  the folks who we still hold financial obligations to, we whole-heartedly appreciate your patience and willingness to work through this tough time with us.
A very special thanks to the fans who have bought tickets, told your friends, blogged and shouted from the mountaintops about their admiration and love for Monolith.”  We encourage you to continue this as it can only help our cause.”  We would also like to thank our loyal, generous sponsors who have been there for us year after year.”  Specific thanks and credit goes to Esurance who saw our vision for this event and remains the sole reason why this event was even possible.
Best Regards,
MONOLITH Team
Contact us at [email protected]

Photos: Monolith via Monolith; Banhart by Laurie Scavo; Carbon/Silicon by Bronson