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Zoe's Sweet Spot Pic

While perusing all of the Sweet Leaf Sweet Spot picture submissions, as we often do, we came across a pretty nifty one of a Sweet Leaf Tea bottle transformed into a candle. Sustainability is always a focus here at Sweet Leaf, and we are constantly looking for new ways to transform our bottles, cans, lids and labels into something new and interesting and something that isn’t going to be thrown away. This candle idea is a prime example, so we contacted the candlemaker, Zoe from San Antonio, to ask how she did it. It turns out that Zoe and her boyfriend Danny have been converting used Sweet Leaf bottles into candles for quite some time now. They gave us some directions so we–and anyone else reading this–can make Sweet Leaf candles of our own. Take it away, Zoe and Danny!

I’m a sucker for great music, delicious food and exciting new places. So, one can imagine my immense disappointment in not being able to attend this year’s Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago. After seeing this year’s line-up, an early bird ticket purchase for next year’s festival is happening.

It’s funny after seeing the line-up, I  realized how broad my musical taste really is. Even if it’s not something I would go out of my way to listen to I can still either appreciate it, dance to it or sing to it –so long as it’s not pop-country–, but even so, poke fun at how ridiculous and terrible I think it is. So in a nutshell  when there’s music in the air (good or bad), you know I’m having a good time!

The bands I would go out of my way to listen to at Lolla, however, jumped off the page and my heart got pretty sad knowing that I wouldn’t be there to enjoy them. Among the shows that will be sadly missed- Minus the Bear, The Strokes, Blues Traveler, The Black Keys, AFI, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Spoon, which has been my summertime favorite this year.

So for those of you going to Lolla this year, enjoy! I’ll have to settle for ordering in a deep-dish pizza from Mangia’s with a side of Spoon and a box of tissues = ( I’ll see you one day Lolla, but until then I’ll have to party down with my ridiculous fun favorites at home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIEVqFB4WUo

By, Kamie Dorris

It’s now 9 days away and I am already starting to recall the sights and sounds of one of my favorite music festivals taking place in one of my favorite cities.

Sweet Beats

Phoenix is a band that I was introduced to by my past boss, Clayton Christopher. Scrambling one day to get him tickets for an Austin show, I decided to take a minute to listen to one their songs. Ever since then I’ve been hooked. Now it’s finally my turn to see them live! Soundgarden is one of those bands that immediately takes me back to early 90s MTV (when they still showed music videos). This should be a great time to see these guys back together and rocking it out under the Chicago skyline. As she returns to a land that once in 2007 no one really knew who she was, Lady Gaga is back at Lollapalooza! I am looking forward to the music, art and the crazy fashion sense she brings to the stage.

Sweet Eats

When we arrived in Chicago for last year’s Lollapalooza, co-workers and I stumbled upon a pizza and pasta joint in the heart of the city called Giordano’s. After the plane ride we needed to eat something to carb us up for the weekend ahead. I have a strong feeling that I will need to do the same this year. Friends Sushi – is just that. Great Sushi with friends on a street side patio was awesome. Let’s see if we will get a chance to do it again. Chow town is the food court at Lollapalooza that offers a wide variety of the local eateries in Chicago. I have always been huge fan of vendor food. That being said, the most food I will eat during the entire trip comes from the festival.

Can you believe that Lolla has existed on and off since 1991!? I was there….

Fast forward to 2010, and it’s that time again, only now instead of it being a traveling festival complete with Jim Rose Side Show, (and if you miss that part, go say hi to Mr. Lifto while he’s tending bar at Casino El Camino!)  it stays put in Grant Park in Chicago. Because Perry Farrel will have to do without me again this year, I’ll share my list of bands that belong under April’s MUST SEE list with all of you!

Because I’ve been on a HUGE LCD Soundsystem kick lately, my list of bands include stuff that my LCD LastFM station plays.

Hot Chip: Man, most of us have been given burned (yes, illegal) CD’s from friends of music that just wasn’t a turn-on, so you completely ignored it after one half-hearted/uninspired listen and Hot Chip is one of those bands for me. Sheriff Ricketts (nickname of an ex-coworker) burned me some HC a few years back and I thought that it probably wasn’t my thing. What was I thinking!? I love the marriage that exists between traditional rock n’ roll instruments and electronica. A little emotional, (read: NEW WAVE) a little trippy, and pretty freakin’ good. Are you going to check them out for me? Well, grab a can of Sweet Leaf Tea and get your dance on. Mmm k? Thanks.

Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor (Live on Jonathan Ross 2008)
Uploaded by plazzTT. – Explore more music videos.

Cut Copy: This Australian band plays happy dance music with vocals that aren’t annoying. There are a few bands that play on my LCD channel that when I look down to see who it is, I smile and think, “of course it’s —–. That’s why it’s so awesome!” Cut Copy is one of those bands (the other is usually The Juan Maclean-see him throw down if you get the chance, by the way.) and since I can’t go and get DOWN to CC, I think you need to for me. We all understand that one of the biggest challenges facing festival goers of today, besides insanely-long beer lines and disgusting port o’ potties is figuring out how to see all of the bands that are on your list without missing any. Well, I’m here to say that it’s about impossible but if you at least pick a couple of bands that just make you want to dance, you’ll sweat your need to pee out (saves on waiting around for a port o’ potty) AND you’ll discover a really great band. Is there anything better?

Social Distortion: If you’ve been reading my festival music blogs over the last couple of years, then you’ll know that I usually take a moment out to write about one of the old skool bands that always end up on the bill. Well Lolla 2010 is no different and since Rosemary already wrote about seeing Devo, then my pick has got to be sexy Mike Ness and his band, Social Distortion. Social D was my first punk show and my first mosh pit at the young and impressionable age of 15. I had bright green hair for that show and unfortunately, since I had added more green to it that evening, once all of the sweating happened, it bled everywhere. I have a friend that was 2 years older than me that recorded the evening for his communications class, so somewhere out there is video proof of that night, but I’ll digress on that one for now…I remember watching the Screaming Trees rock out as the opening act and slipping on the beer-soaked floor, which caused me to fall down a lot in the pit. I was on the ground a while and starting to freak out a little when I realized that I should just grab someone’s pants and tug on them to let them know I was down there. I tugged and some big, old(er) punk rocker looked down, picked me up and literally threw me back in the frenzy. It was so awesome! I realized that night that as much as I loved the mellowness of my new wave (read: BIG HAIR-lots of hair spray) lifestyle, my soul also yearned for something raw, loud and full of energy. I feel like I found it that night. A $7 ticket changed my life. I just know that you’ll have a good time if you go see them play. Be sure to tell Mike Ness that I said THANKS for helping to redirect my teen angst!

I hear so many cool things about that town and hope that one day I’ll get to ride a bike around Chicago, taking in all of the great stuff to see, do, hear and eat. It’ll be there when I get there!

Have a great time and make sure to come say hi to our SWEET Tea’m while they are working the booths. They will be working hard, slinging tea, trying to keep you guys hydrated and smiling. It’ll be that much easier to get between those giant stages.

This Thursday, we at Sweet Leaf gave Al from Tampa, Florida some very good news. Because he received the most votes for his picture he posted on our Sweet Leaf Sweet Spot Contest page, he received a VIP trip for two to Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 6-8, including airfare and accommodations. We had some fun telling him that he won. Check it out here.

Al's Winning Picture

Just like all of us here, Al is really looking forward to Lolla this year and wanted to share with everyone who he was most excited about seeing.

Foxy Shazam

Here’s Al:

The Lolla lineup is INSANE this year!