Paying homage to traditions

@SL_body_copy_ragged:We didn't always have electricity. We used to have to rough it.

Back in the days when electricity wasn't even a flicker of a thought, people holed up in their homes for the winter, trying to keep warm. They stayed cramped in their small houses and didn't open the doors for fear of letting out precious heat.

The seasons changed, and they went outside. Summer came and the homes were too hot. People had to stay outdoors. Air conditioning was unheard of and all you could do was pray for a breeze.

So people came together in large fields to pray for a breeze or rain. Some people brought drums and fiddles or whatever to play for the rain dancers. Soon, the big open prairies were filled with people praying for breezes and dancing around to the music. These gatherings became tradition. These gatherings became ... the Summer Music Festival, a time when we privileged, pampered, air-conditioned people go back to the open fields we've created in our cities and dance around and pray for a breeze.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival -- aka Jazz Fest -- spans two weekends. They just can't fit into one. The first, April 25 to 27, features Sheryl Crow, Al Green and Cowboy Mouth. The second, May 1 to 4, will have Stevie Wonder, Widespread Panic and Jimmy Buffett.

The Beale Street Music Festival is in Tom Lee Park in Memphis, Tenn. It's known as MusicFest to the locals and as Memphis in May to almost everyone else because of its roots in the Memphis in May International Festival, which highlights a different country every year and anchors itself with MusicFest, BBQFest and the Sunset Symphony on each weekend in May.

Among others, MusicFest will feature My Chemical Romance, Keb' Mo', Santana, Muck Sticky, The Black Crowes and Aretha Franklin on its May 2, 3 and 4 shows.

Head east from there to Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., June 12 to 15. It's the closest anyone of our generation can get to Woodstock. There are no MTV sponsors, just bands, farmland and Tennessee humidity to make you at least smell like a hippie.

Bonnaroo blew up in the early 2000s. It went from a bunch of parking lot grilled cheeses to a full-on, concession-stand event. This year, the organizers are separating the campers from the tents so those truly roughing it won't be choked by generator smoke.

Pearl Jam, Metallica, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Death Cap for Cutie, D.J. Tiesto, Drive-by Truckers, Lez Zeppelin -- did she say Led Zeppelin? No, LEZ, the female tribute band -- and comedians like Janeane Garofalo will all be at Bonnaroo this year.

In July, the Midwest hosts Summerfest. It claims to be "The World's Largest Music Festival," but I think that's equivalent to saying you've got world-famous cheese fries when no one's ever heard of them.

Anyhow, Summerfest in Milwaukee, says it's from June 26 to July 6 but doesn't have concert information up for all the days. What they do have this year is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rush, Rascal Flatts and ... the Jonas Brothers (the Miley Cyrus generation's version of Hanson).

Lollapalooza, which used to tour, but now anchors in Chicago in late summer, plans to release the line up for the Aug. 1 to 3 festival on April 7. And several fall festivals are setting up or finishing up details to ween us from the festival season and ease the transition into winter.

Links to the festivals are posted at semissourian.com. Check them out for complete lineups.