COMMON

An easy trap to fall into when talking about rapper and producer Common is to get started with how impressively prolific this elder emcee is. Now, anybody who makes this point is certainly right, but it seems most anybody we talk about Common inevitably interrupts us, “So I had to did, what I had to did, Cause I had to get duh-ough….!” Yep, that’s a proper butchering of Common’s “The Food”, a Kanye West collaboration from his excellent 2005 Be, which earned the Southsider a ton of cross-over appeal — no small thanks to “Chapelle’s Show.” And while we’ll never get tired of the loping tale of good people doing not so great things for honorable reasons, Common has been quick to make new tracks. In 2007, he released Finding Forever, and at Northstar we’ll catch new material from his late-2008 album, Universal Mind Control.

TWEAK BIRD

Brothers Ashton and Caleb (last name Bird) are purveyors of a heavy, almost psychedelic brand of rock and roll. These two Carbondale, Illinois, natives moved to Los Angeles a couple years ago and have created a niche for themselves as turgid rockers. Late last year they released the Reservations EP [Volcom], after releasing a couple seven-inches to critical acclaim.

For more information on the Winter Dew Tour and the Toyota Championship at Northstar-at-Tahoe, visit their site online.

(Courtesy of Winter Dew Tour)