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The opinions expressed in these blogs are solely those of the people who wrote them, and do not represent the views of WPSU or Penn State University.

Live Local Music

Who are the Battling Bands?

Posted by Matt D'Ippolito on 03/30 at 11:02 AM

Movin’ On is less than a month away, so it must be that time again: time for the Battle of the Bands!

This year’s battle will feature 12 acts. There are a lot of folk-influenced groups competing, which is probably fitting considering one of the headliners is The Avett Brothers. Still, the lineup includes a house and dubstep DJ in Keegan Tawa, a first for Movin’ On Battle. There are also acts as diverse as ska and the ever-popular rock/reggae/hip hop fusion of Atlas Soundtrack. Here’s more information on each, in the order they will appear:

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Local Food Journey

Farm Diary: Pruning in March

Posted by James Eisenstein on 03/30 at 10:13 AM

Most people know that pruning does not consist of attaching prunes to fruit trees and bushes, despite what Amelia Bedelia understood it to mean. But beyond that, I’ll wager that most folks who read Unpaid Field Hand only know that it involves some sort of cutting and thinning of fruit trees and canes.

Of course, you can learn all about it by going on the web and googling “fruit pruning.” But even after reading the 7,280,000 results available, you might be forgiven for still not knowing just how to do it. And for good reason. That’s because even the most knowledgeable experts sometimes give contradictory advice. Even Michael Phillips, whose book The Apple Grower is considered an authority to many apple cultivators, confesses that he hopes to know how to do it by the time he is eighty.

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Live Local Music

Movin’ On Battle of Bands: Saturday, March 31st 9PM at Alumni Hall

Posted by Pat Baxter on 03/29 at 02:33 AM

This Saturday, March 31st starting at 9PM, Movin’ On’s Battle of Bands will take place.  It will be held at Alumni Hall in the HUB at Penn State.  Twelve bands are competing, but only 2 will be selected to join the the lineup of major acts of the festival on April 27th.  The winners will join The Avett Brothers, Ludacris, David Mayfield Parade, Michael Franti and Spearead, and Young the Giant.

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Local Food Journey

Vignoles Cake

Posted by Linda Weaver on 03/28 at 09:18 PM

This weekend Mount Nittany Winery is concluding its month-long celebration of our local wine trail with a special desserts offering.

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Local Food Journey

The Great Coffee Adventure: Avenue 209 Coffee House in Lock Haven

Posted by Naomi Elle Schwartz on 03/27 at 07:54 PM

For our first stop on The Great Coffee Adventure, we elected to begin in Lock Haven, Pa. Home of Lock Haven University, this is a sleepy little college town with an incredibly unique and impressive coffee shop called Avenue 209 Coffee House.

Avenue 209 Coffee House is just straight-up COOL. They are industrial and artistic and thoroughly local. Like someone’s little brother who went to college as a scrawny 18-year-old kid and came back as a hipster musician with style.. and everybody raises their eyebrows. I don’t know what I was expecting, but Avenue 209 definitely went straight up and over those expectations and delivered the ambiance that I’ve been longing for in a local coffee shop.

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Live Local Music

The Real Beef with XXL’s Freshmen

Posted by David Porter Callanan on 03/26 at 06:28 PM

Every year XXL, the largest rap publication in the country, puts out a “freshman” list containing ten rappers that the magazine believes will break out in the following 12 months. In the past, the magazine has made some questionable calls for the cover but also has included some of the game’s biggest stars like Big Sean, Lupe Fiasco, Wiz Khalifa, J. Cole and Wale. Obviously not everyone is going to be happy with the list and in the past there has been backlash through email and social networks. But this year the negative feedback reached an all time high. Bloggers, critics, radio host’s, fans and even fellow rappers dissed the magazine for the choices they made and while I can see their beef (I personally respect only three, maybe four of them), the problem lies more within the idea of the cover itself.

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Local Food Journey

Food Safety Study

Posted by Emily Wiley on 03/26 at 03:02 PM

Pennsylvania supermarkets are increasingly requiring that local growers show proof of good agricultural practices. For local growers to maintain wholesale market opportunities, they will have to put forth substantial effort to comply with and verify their on-farm, food-safety practices.

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Local Food Journey

Starting Seeds is Easy: How to Plant the Seeds

Posted by Jamie Oberdick on 03/23 at 01:07 PM

If you followed my last blog post, you should be ready to plant some seeds indoors. First things first, fill your cell flats with moistened potting soil or seed starting mix. You want it moist, not saturated.

Next, plant the seeds. This is by far one of the most important tasks of your gardening year, and you need to make sure you do it correctly because, well, you want them to germinate.

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Live Local Music

Album Review: “The Odd Future Tape Vol. 2” by OFWGKTA

Posted by Matt D'Ippolito on 03/22 at 05:00 PM

Bewildering. Trippy. Abhorrent. Fantastic. Scary. Cool. Different. As usual, an incredibly diverse set of adjectives can be applied to an Odd Future production.

Most of all, though, the hip hop collective’s second major release is confusing. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to rate.

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Local Food Journey

Why Organic? Part 3: Pesticides

Posted by James Eisenstein on 03/22 at 12:10 PM

It’s confession time. I made a small mistake, so uncharacteristic of me, as I’m sure you will agree. You see, in Part 3 of my series “Why Organic?” I wanted to talk about how pesticides are bad for our health and the environment, and then do the same for GMOs.

I intended to make a few, short, simple points about the health effects of pesticides—like they aren’t good for us (especially children) and they aren’t adequately tested and regulated.

My mistake? I decided to do a little Google research for the health effects paragraph, anticipating my inquiring readers’ insistent demands for “evidence.” The more I found out, the clearer it became that just one paragraph wouldn’t do.

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Live Local Music

Movin’ On 2012’s Final Act: Michael Franti and Spearhead

Posted by Pat Baxter on 03/22 at 10:27 AM

The Movin’ On 2012 CORE Committee announced earlier today that it has finalized contracts with the fifth and final act for its music festival, signing Michael Franti and the Spearhead. Michael Franti and Spearhead is an alternative hip-hop group that mixes a variety of genres including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock with lyrics promoting peace and social justice.

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Local Food Journey

The Great Coffee Adventure: Introduction

Posted by Naomi Elle Schwartz on 03/20 at 10:24 AM

Hello Local Food Journey fans! I’m Naomi Elle. I’m a local photographer enamored with the personalities and products of small-town Pennsylvania. While I have been a Pennsylvania resident for the majority of my life, my husband is a recent “transplant” from the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area.

And we both LOVE coffee.

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Live Local Music

Artist Breaking Out in 2012: Madeon

Posted by Christopher Will on 03/20 at 01:51 AM

When you hear the phrase “Top 40 radio,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind (OTHER than Adele)?  Probably dance music, and for good reason.  With mainstream recognition of electronic dance music (EDM) skyrocketing over the past few years, it is clear that America wants to dance its problems away.  Thus, the public is turning its attention to those artists who swath their music in house, dubstep, and electro to tend to its needs.  One need only check the Billboard Hot 100 for proof.  DJs and producers like Skrillex, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, and Avicii currently reign supreme, maintaining steadfast positions in the top 40 and beyond with their club-ready singles.  With so many diverse and unique EDM artists in the mainstream spotlight, it’s hard to imagine anyone else breaking into the public eye.  We have David Guetta’s ubiquitous electro-house, Calvin Harris’ minimalist, icy dance-pop, Martin Solveig’s alternative rock inspired house, Skrillex’s dark, aggressive dubstep, The Cataracs’ sexually charged video-gamestyle electro, Avicii’s iconic sampling and more. How could there be any more room for creativity? Enter Madeon, the 17-year-old French electro-pop prodigy.

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Local Food Journey

Why Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?

Posted by Kim Tait on 03/19 at 01:32 PM

For over 25 years, the CSA movement has been gaining popularity with small to medium size farms across the country. In its simplest form, a group of individuals become paying members of a farm and in return, the farm grows fresh produce for the members. In this mutual partnership, the farm and the members share in both the abundance and short falls associated with farming.

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Our Town

Our Town Emporium Kickoff!

Posted by Jessica on 03/16 at 10:00 AM

On Friday, March 9th, Sam Komlenic and I made the beautiful drive from State College, through the Quehanna Wilds Area, to Emporium to meet with about 10 folks at the Emporium Borough Building to kickoff the 66th installation in the Our Town series!  This is the second time we have visited Emporium for the Our Town series. The first was in 2001—and we thought that it was time for an update! We’re looking for community volunteers to help tell the story of this town at the heart of the PA Wilds!

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