Gadling’s Massively Huge 2007 Summer Music Festival Roundup

by Justin Glow on

Welcome to Gadling’s massively huge 2007 summer music festival round-up! This is the definitive guide to music festivals from around the world, from Serbia to Japan, Ireland to Kansas — we’ve highlighted 33 of the world’s best. No matter where you’re traveling to this summer, there’s sure to be a fest to suit your musical tastes. Let’s go!


Pinkpop, May 26-28, Landgraaf, Netherlands. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this three day event is the oldest annual music festival in the world, with almost 40 years under its belt. The 2007 lineup includes Marilyn Manson, Iggy and the Stooges, The Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, and Scissor Sisters. [Official website]

Primavera Sound Festival, May 31-June1, Barcelona, Spain. Located on the beautiful Mediterranean coastline of Barcelona, the Primavera Sound Festival boasts an impressive headlining act including the likes of Wilco, The White Stripes, Sonic Youth, and a personal favorite of mine: Of Montreal. [Official website]



Gods of Metal, June 2-3, and June 30th, Milan, Italy. With a name like GODS OF METAL, how can you go wrong? This is Italy’s largest and loudest metal festival, featuring bands like Mötley Crüe, Velvet Revolver, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Megadeth, and Type O Negative. [Official website]

Sweden Rock Festival, June 6-9, Sölvesborg, Sweden. The Sweden Rock Fest has been around since the early 90s, when the stage was mostly filled with Swedish bands. Today the festival has gone international, offering up such class acts as Aerosmith, Meat Loaf, REO Speedwagon, and Motörhead. [Official website]

Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival, June 7-10, Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.A. Wakarusa is a newcomer on the festival circuit — the four day festival, which was born in 2004 and is held just outside of Lawrence, Kansas at Clinton State Park, features a jam band-focused lineup consisting of headliners Les Claypool, Widespread Panic, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Yonder Mountain String Band, and many, many more. [Official website]

Bonnaroo Music Festival, June 14-17, Manchester, Tennessee, U.S.A. The word “bonnaroo” is Cajun slang meaning “a really good time,” and with the star-studded lineup this year, the festival stays true to its word. What began in 2002 as a mostly jam band festival, Bonnaroo has branched out to include music from all genres, and this year is no different. Headliners include The Police, Tool, Widespread Panic, Wilco, and The Flaming Lips. [Official website]

Hultsfred Festival, June 14-16, Hultsfred, Sweden. The Hultsfred Festival (Hultsfredsfestivalen in Swedish) is an annual, three day event which began in 1986. The wildly diverse bill includes Ozzy Osbourne, 50 Cent, Pet Shop Boys, and Korn. [Official website]

Bang Your Head!!!, June 22-23, Balingen, Germany. Die ultimative Rock und Metalparty, Bang Your Head!!! began in 1996 and quickly grew to become one of Germany’s premiere underground metal festivals, bringing in audiences from all over the world. 2007 will see bands like Heaven and Hell, Edguy, Hammerfall, and Amon Amarth. [Official website]

Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, June 22-24, Pilton, England. Glastonbury is the “largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world,” with over 150,000 people sprawling over 900 acres (in 2005). Unless you’ve already got tickets to this monstrosity, you’re out of luck. The show has completely sold out, well before they’ve even announced the full lineup. You can bet it will be big, though. [Official website]

Hellfest Summer Open Air, June 22-24, Clisson, France. Hellfest is an “extreme music” festival located in Clisson, France. Korn, Slayer, Dream Theater, and Megadeth lead the lineup, with plenty of other bands with crazy, hard-to-read logos there for support. Running an “extreme music” festival in rural France isn’t easy, though, and the organizers urge concert-goers to “respect the residents, the community, the environment and all other aspects of the festival,” and to “help combat prejudices and media propaganda who portray metal heads as violent, blood-thirsty demons who revel in black masses.” Looks like they’re on the right track. [Official website]

Hovefestivalen, June 26-30, near Arendal, Norway. This festival is the only one on the list that takes place on an island: Tromøy, formally occupied by vikings. This summer, over 20,000 people will shipwreck themselves to see many great bands, including Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire, Chamillionaire, The Killers, My Chemical Romance, and Slayer. Also of note, they bill themselves as the most “environmentally sound festivals in Norway.” [Official site]

Peace & Love, June 26-30, Borlänge, Sweden. Peace & Love is one of Scandinavian’s fastest growing festivals. Their goal is to spread the message of “Diversity, Solidarity and Understanding,” while mixing in music, poetry, theater, and art. Iggy and the Stooges, Alice Cooper, Babyshambles, and many others will be there to help spread the message. Wait… peace and love, and… Peter Doherty? We’ll see about that. [Official website]

Eurockéennes de Belfort, June 29-July 1, near Belfort, France. The Eurockeennes has been held at the peninsula of Malsaucy near Belfort, France for the past 18 years. This year the Wu-Tang Clan, Arcade Fire, and Marilyn Manson headline the event described as being “a hullabaloo of different musical style[s.]” [Official website]

Open’er Festival, June 29-July 1, Gdynia, Poland. This Heineken-sponsored music fest takes place on the Babie Doły military airport grounds in an “urban complex” called Trójmiasto (which roughly translates to “3-City”) which consists of — you guessed it — three cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. Beastie Boys, Björk, Muse, The Roots, Sonic Youth, Bloc Party, LCD Soundsystem, Groove Armada, and Dizzee Rascal will all be in attendance. Killer lineup. [Official website]


Roskilde Festival, July 5-8, Roskilde, Denmark. Second only to Glastonbury Festival in size, the Roskilde festival is one of Europe’s largest, with over 100,000 attendees last year alone. The festival also features a “Naked Race” each year, where an even number of guys and gals strip off their clothing and run laps around a track. Why? Why not? Two winners — one male and one female — are comped at next year’s festival. Musically speaking, Muse, The Who, Beastie Boys, The Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age and Björk will all be in attendance. Nude people and great bands — what else do you need? [Official website]

Evolution Festival, July 7, Florence, Italy. Who knew Italians loved metal so much? With Gods of Metal in June, and Evolution in July, metal-heads have no reason to leave Italy this summer. Fans of Sebastian Bach, this is your lucky day — literally: Evolution takes place on 7/7/07, and aside from seeing everyone’s favorite Skid Row, the festival is bringing in underground metal acts from all over the world, including Nevermore, Sodom, Cynic, and Virgin Steele. Be afraid. [Official website]

Oxegen, July 7-8, County Kildare, Ireland. Oxegen is another fest sponsored by Heineken (Open’er in Poland also serves the green-bottled goodness), only this one is in Ireland. This makes you wonder why they don’t have a certain other beer company’s support. Guinness, where ya at? Turns out, Guinness used to sponsor the show. I’m sure there’s a good story as to why Heineken took over. Anyway, the festival boasts six stages, camping areas, and carnival rides. And the music, right — the music! Air, Bright Eyes, Muse, Interpol, Bloc Party, Daft Punk, and a TON more will be making an appearance. [Official website]

Dour Festival, July 12-15, Dour, Belgium. Pronounced dow-er (don’t lose any scene points for saying the name wrong!), this huge music fest in Belgium saw upwards of 130,000 people over four days in 2006. This year Andy C, Hot Chip, Wu-Tang Clan, and DJ Shadow are included in the list of headlining acts.

Masters of Rock, July 12-15, Zlín, Czech Republic. Look, another heavy metal festival in Europe. This one’s big, though — real big. Masters of Rock is the second largest heavy metal fest (out of 10,000, it seems!) with almost 30,000 headbangers in attendance in 2006. Motörhead, Children of Bodom, Rage, and Sepultura are on the bill, along with a ton of smaller Czeck heavy metal bands.

EXIT, July 12-15, Novi Sad, Serbia. Head a little further east, and you’ll run into the 7th annual EXIT summer fest in Novi Sad, Serbia. Watch out, Heineken. Beck’s has their hands all over this one. “Held in the picturesque setting of an eighteenth century fortress by the Danube,” the festival boasts the hottest names in the electronic and dance music scene, including Basement Jaxx (another personal favorite of mine), John Digweed, and Richie Hawtin, along with pop music mainstays like the Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, and Robert Plant. [Official website]

Pitchfork Music Festival, July 13-15, Chicago, Illinois U.S.A. US-based Internet music mag Pitchfork has turned their snarky online success into one of Chicago’s hottest summer festivals, featuring a bunch of bands whose fans hope you’ve never heard of. I kid, I kid! The bill includes Sonic Youth, Slint, GZA, The New Pornographers, Iron and Wine, Of Montreal, and a few others. [Official website]

Metalcamp, July 16-22, Tolmin, Slovenia. Another — cough — European metal fest. Metalcamp is no walk in the park. Hard-hitters such as Motörhead, Blind Guardian, Immortal, Hatebreed, and Sepultura will be there to disturb the peace. [Official website]

Earthshaker Fest, July 19-21, Kreuth, Bavaria. Motörhead, Within Temptation, Cradle of Filth, Testament, Kreator, Sepultura, J.B.O., Gamma Ray, U.D.O., Unleashed, Korpiklaani, Legion of the Damned, God Dethroned, Freedom Call, Norther, Dew-Scented, Keep of Kalessin, Hatesphere, Graveworm, Threshold, Mystic Prophecy, Eluveitie, Melechesh, and last but not least: Beatallica! Haven’t heard of Beatallica? Start with their entry on Wikipedia, and then do what you can to see them live. [Official website]

Paléo Festival, July 24-29, Nyon, Switzerland. Named afer a successful racehorse (seriously), The Paléo fest is one of Switzerland’s biggest. Located on the shores of Lake Geneva, over 3 million people and 250 artists have attended the fest since its inception in 1976. 2007 brings the Swiss artists like Björk, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, and Arcade Fire. [Official website]

Fuji Rock Festival, July 27-29, Naeba, Japan. Our one and only Asian festival to make the list, the Fuji Rock Fest began its days in 1997, when a typhoon struck the Mt. Fuji area and nearly demolished the entire event. Meanwhile, hardcore fans stuck around like there wasn’t a frickin’ hurricane going on. Amazing. Even so, the second and third day of the festival had to be canceled. Hopefully this year the weather will hold, because they’ve got a killer line-up. Artists include The Chemical Brothers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Shins, and Blonde Redhead. [Official website]



Augustibuller, August 2-4, Lindesberg, Sweden. “Augustibuller” literally translates to “August sound pollution,” so don’t be mad when you show up and hear the likes of whatevercore bands like Madball, All That Remains, Discharge, and Rotten Sound. Hey, they warned you. [Official website]

Wacken Open Air, August 2-4, Wacken, Germany. The Wacken Open Air fest bills itself as the “largest exclusively metal music festival in the world,” with over 60,000 metal fans congregating in Wacken, Germany in 2006. It’s truly unbelievable how many metal festivals there are in Europe, but this is the one to go to. [Official website]

Lollapalooza, August 3-5, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Ah, Lollapalooza — the quintessential American rock music festival of the 1990s. You’ve had some rough times in the past, sure, but we’re glad to see you back in the swing of things. And what a line-up! Grant Park, watch out. Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Muse, Iggy & the Stooges, Modest Mouse, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, and many, many more will invade the Windy City this August. Be there. [Official website]

Uppsala Reggae Festival, August 9-11, Uppsala, Sweden. Uppsala is the largest reggae festival in all of Scandinavia. Earlier this year, the company who organizes the festival declared bankruptcy, leaving the fate of the festival unknown. Fortunately a new company (with some money) was formed, and the festival will continue on as planned. USCB Allstars, Gentleman, and Midnite are all on the bill, with plenty more reggae favorites to be announced soon. [Official website]

FM4 Frequency Festival, August 15-17, Salzburg, Austria. Austrian radio station FM4 and promotion company Musicnet joined forces back in 2001 to create the FM4 Frequency Festival, now Austria’s largest alternative music celebration. Nine Inch Nails, !!!, and M.I.A. are expected to perform, along with ex-Blur front man David Albarn’s latest project: the unnamed band whose debut album,The Good, the Bad and the Queen, reached #2 on the UK albums chart and reached gold status. Unnamed band, eh? I wonder how they announce them to the stage? “Ladies and gentleman, put your hands together for…!” [Official website]

Slane, August 18, Slane village, County Meath, Ireland. Slane is an annual concert held in Slane village, along the banks of River Boyne. In the past, ticket-less fans have died while attempting to swim the river to gain access. Teams of jet ski-riding rescue units now patrol the water during festival time. The Rolling Stones will be headlining this years concert, though it seems to be sold out. [Official website]

A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise, August 18-19, Biddinghuizen, Netherlands. More commonly referred to as simply Lowlands, this festival is on par with late-May festival Pinkpop for popular Dutch festivals. This year, bands like Arcade Fire, Dizzie Rascal, and Motörhead are on the bill, along with the “hillbilly tribute to AC/DC,” Hayseed Dixie. A mixture of music, stand-up comedy, film, visual arts, literature and street theatre makes for a unique experience dubbed “Glasto meets Goa!” [Official website]

Electric Picnic, August 31-September 2, Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland. Who knew Ireland had so many good music festivals? The last, but not least, on our list is Electric Picnic, a unique festival that offers up an eclectic mix of music, film, stand-up comedy, and silent disco. Wait, silent disco? According to Wikipedia, “the concept of a silent disco is having a DJ play music which is then transmitted to headphones worn by audience members.” Modest Mouse, The Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, and many others will perform over three days. [Official website]

Fin!

A Canadian in Beijing: Suzhou’s Hidden Gardens

by Ember Swift on

I’m tired of being stared at and so I’ve crouched down and I’m writing in here, tucked between two full benches in a room that holds one thousand people, easily. This is one of five waiting rooms at the Suzhou Zhan (train station) where people are waiting for their Labour Day trains to take them away from their lives for a few days. There really aren’t a lot of white faces in this town and mine has received a lot of stares, points, giggles and craning necks.

Today I came to Suzhou on a day trip from Shanghai. It was Jeni’s idea, really, and she even bought me a ticket here and everything. This is the site of some of the world’s oldest traditional gardens and I wanted to see them (or at least one of them) and take some photographs.

Today is Lao Dong Jie, or “Labour Day” as we know it, and it marks the beginning of a week’s holiday for nearly everyone in China. It’s amazing that I was able to get a return ticket back to Shanghai considering the line-ups at the train station this afternoon. The whole process took about an hour and a half. I stook in one line about one hundred feet long next to maybe thirty other identical line-ups just slammed with people. And while they moved fairly quickly, there was pushing and budding and shouting at the ticket windows, which made for some very stern clerks.

I waited patiently and when it came to my turn, I was given a wide berth – a sort of foreigner’s deference. Strange at times and common here in China, but today it was appreciated as it made it easier for me to communicate with the attendant and secure my return fare. I was the only white face that I could see in a room of more people than I could estimate and this photo (above) does not do the scale justice.

Suzhou is known for its beauty and many people retire here. It is a smaller city – only about six million people, or a bit bigger than the size of Toronto! – and it is full of greenery and lovely canals that line walkways and parks.

After the train station, I walked in the direction of the most recommended garden. There was so much construction on this road that I couldn’t find it and everyone I asked was either also visiting or was too shy to respond. I ended up joining the throngs on a small shaded patch of grass by a river to have a snack and to rest my walking legs.

When I started up again, I finally saw a historical landmarks sign that told me that I’d overshot that particular garden. “Mei wenti,” I thought (or, “no problem”), “I’ll just go to a different one!” So, I followed my nose and my eyes and zeroed in on an historic temple that cost too much to tour (but was free to photograph!)

I was sure that the temple would have some gardens to tour but I was wrong. I continued on. I even hopped a rickshaw for a large section of one of the busy streets. There was just something sweet about the rickshaw driver and he caught me with tired feet!

When I hopped out, I was supposed to be really close to the “Joy Gardens,” which were next on my map. I walked along the road and couldn’t see a single garden nor an entrance way or alley towards one. I did, however, pass a music shop.

That’s when it was all over.

A young man was sitting in the entrance way and was playing an erhu. These traditional Chinese instruments have always fascinated me and I even own (a broken) one at home. I walked past the shop and smiled but then a few paces later I remembered that I needed a guitar strap and so I doubled back.

The men in the doorway greeted me with smiles – both the proprietor and the young musician – and motioned for me to tour the store at my leisure. I asked about the guitar strap and promptly purchased it (only 10 kuai!) and then proceeded to ask some various questions about the erhu. Eventually, I imagine that my questions got a bit trying and they asked me if I wanted to try to play it. Of course I did!

They gave me an informal lesson on holding the bow and the instrument on my leg, finding the notes (doh, ray, me, fah, so, lah, tee, doh) and the correct posture. I was concentrating so much on trying to hear the pitch and land the notes correctly that I didn’t realize until I looked up about five minutes later that a small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk to watch this blonde foreigner make horrifying, out-of-tune sounds on the erhu!

The owner subtly motioned for me to move into the store and he sat me down half-way back and away from the onlookers and then plopped a children’s erhu lesson book in front of me. If was equipped with pictures and diagrams. He told me to keep working on it with an impatient “why-have-you-stopped?” gesture and so I did. It only took me about another five minutes to successfully nail the major scale. They applauded. I smiled like the little kids in the pictures and I knew that I had to buy one.

Only 175 kuai later and I had a starter erhu and case filled with extra strings, rosin and the shopkeeper’s well-wishes.

Now they wanted to hear me play the guitar and so I spent another half an hour picking and strumming away at a very cheap guitar that he pulled off of the wall for me to play. They clapped and laughed at my style of playing but kept encouraging me and I was easily baited into playing more. Finally, though, it was time to put the cheap guitar back on the wall in hopes that it would one day stay in tune.

I strung my new erhu over my shoulder and bounded out of the store with music in my step.

I was still looking for that garden, but I again couldn’t find it, even after asking the police who made a grand (and loud) show of miming how to get to the garden to me despite my ability to understand basic directions.

A half-hour later and I was no closer to any traditional garden. I had planned to meet some friends from Canada in Suzhou in the afternoon and I was already late. I caught a taxi and had to accept the fact that I wouldn’t be seeing any gardens this time around. The traditional gardens of Suzhou will have to wait until the next time.

(I’m sure they’re beautiful!)

I’d like to think of this music shop as my hidden garden in Suzhou. It was beautiful and full of tradition!

They’re calling my train now. Time for me to lift my stuff off of this dirty floor and make my way back to Shanghai. I have a “standing only” ticket (i.e. no assigned seat) for the ninety-minute, jam-packed trip back to Shanghai. . . so wish me luck!

Erhu image came from Deborah Koh’s page dedicated to the folk music of China.

An Organ Played by the Sea

by Justin Glow on

Located on the sparkling shores of the Adriatic Sea in Zadar, Croatia — home of what Alfred Hitchcock once called “the most beautiful sunset in the world” — lies the one and only pipe organ designed to be played by the sea. Built in 2005, this unique structure utilizes the rolling sea and strong, unsystematic winds to create a majestic and completely random sound that is never the same twice.

According to an article on OddMusic.com, “Each organ pipe is blown by a column of air, pushed in turn by a column of wave-moved water, through a plastic tube immersed into the water.” The end result ends up sounding a bit like this. [.mp3]

Interested in visiting what Lonely Planet calls “one of the most beautiful parts of Europe?” Head to your local bookstore and pick up the 4th edition of Croatia, released in March of 2007.

Update: This isn’t the only sea organ in the world (sorry!) — there’s another one in San Francisco. (Thanks Oana!)

[Via A Welsh View]

Festival Mizik Jakmel

by Adrienne Wilson on

World music lovers listen up and get ready to pen this one on your festival calendar if you haven’t already. On May 25-27, 2007 a beach not quite as well known to the world as those on the neighboring country will play host to the Haiti’s first international music festival.
Jacmel is just 25 miles south of the country’s turbulent capital and yet worlds away from the headlines that too often keep visitors away from the country as a whole. Festival Mizik Jakmel will include 24 bands from across the globe with Stephen and Damien “Junior Gong” Marley headlining the free event. In addition to the live shows parallel events include a tourism conference, art events and workshops. An attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest drumming ensemble will also take place. As of now India currently holds the title by having 7,951 people drumming continuously for five minutes in 2006. The organizers of Festival Mizik Jakmel are hoping to have 10,000 in attendance and anyone is welcome to bring a drum and join – though you might want to register online first. For complete details I suggest swinging over to the official event website and if you can’t quite make it or find an affordable ticket to the island look into other ways to join in from afar.

A Canadian in Beijing: Sonic Youth in Beijing

by Ember Swift on

I took in a concert this week thanks to a friend who couldn’t use his (expensive) tickets. He gave me a great deal on them (thanks Stuart!) and I went with some friends to see the Sonic Youth concert here in Beijing. I have to admit that I don’t know Sonic Youth very well, musically that is. I went for the experience more than anything and it was quite an event.

Star Live is a big mid-sized music venue in Beijing and I think it probably holds over a couple thousand people, if not more. Based on my experience gauging a crowd size at festivals coupled with the sold-out crowd at the show, I’m guessing around 1,500 to 2,000 people were in the room but I could be wrong.

The original price of the tickets was about $350 kuai, which is far out of my league, financially. It is WAY out of most people’s league here in Beijing.

As a result, more than half of the people were non-Chinese. I heard more English being spoken than I did Mandarin and we were squashed against people on all sides in a sweaty, smoke-filled, hard-to-see-over-taller-people’s-heads, central spot in the middle of the room.

The opening act was forbidden to play by the Chinese government. That’s all I know. They’re a Chinese band called Carsick Cars and many people were excited for them to have such an opportunity. I wish I knew more about the reasons, but I don’t. If anyone does, please post a comment!

When Sonic Youth finally came on at about 9:30 (having had no opening act), the place suddenly filled with the flash of digital cameras. In fact, I found it funny how many hands were in the air holding cameras or taking video. So, I of course had to join in! I also love this picture that captured the flash of a nearby camera (see below).

Do you remember in my previous post after my gig here when I said that people had told me that a technical difficulty in a show in Beijing is just par for the course? They actually said that ‘perfect shows, tech-wise, are almost unheard of.’ Well, I watched one of the vocalists from Sonic Youth exist for nearly an entire song with no vocals before the band actually stopped playing and dealt with her microphone problem. Sarah turned to me and said: “See? It even happens to Sonic Youth.” And then she smiled. Yes, no one is immune no matter how famous.

Oh well, they got it fixed and then continued the concert.

The show was just over an hour long including the encores. It’s hard to say if there even was an encore because people were super polite and didn’t scream much and certainly didn’t pound the floors demanding the band to come back. I wondered if they even would return to the stage considering the lack-lustre occasional hooting (probably by Westerners) and the random clapping. The only thing that signalled that they’d return were the lights that remained dim and pointed to the stage.

Actually, I have to admit that I left after the first encore. I wasn’t into it.

Still, I learned a lot and the experience was really worthwhile. Most interestingly to me was the fact that I felt awkwardly part of some elite group of people who could apparently afford such expensive tickets. I’m not saying it’s wrong to be able to afford concert tickets and nor would I balk at this price back home, but it definitely highlights the divide here between those with money and those without.

North American labels and bands are rarely able to lower their ticket price to match the economy of their touring destination. After all, how would they pay for the cost of travelling if they did? I understand all this, as a businessperson in this music industry.

Still, it makes it impossible for artists like me – independent artists — who build audiences from the grassroots level. We wouldn’t be able to afford to come over unless we were already famous. Album sales would barely cover the cost of making the albums in the first place (even counting manufacturing them over here, which is much cheaper), and ticket prices for even the bigger independent shows haven’t gone above 30 kuai, as far as I’ve seen. That’s under $5 a head and airfare doesn’t get any cheaper depending on the destination. The only other option is to start here and build a following while living here and then return to what has been built.

Which is, I suppose, exactly what I’m doing.

I hopped a cab and headed back to Wudaokou after the concert. I felt thoughtful and pensive the whole ride home.

I may understand it all logically and professionally – certainly from my Western perspective – but as a new Beijing resident, I felt saddened by this chasm between the east and the west that can only (seemingly) be crossed on a bridge of cash.

I’m currently looking for other means of transport.

(She was in the middle of dancing wildly with her arms when I snapped this shot. I love how it makes her like like she has ENORMOUS biceps. I had to include the picture because it makes me smile every time I look at it!)