Land of NOD Experiment

The Detroit News

July 22, 2010

http://detnews.com/article/20100722/ENT04/7220329

Three-day music festival Land of Nod fulfills dream

ADAM GRAHAM

Detroit News Pop Music Writer

Dan Sheridan isn't modest when it comes to talking up the Land of Nod Experiment, the three-day music and camping festival that takes over Dalton Farms in Jackson this weekend.

"It's gonna be the greatest show on Earth!" says Sheridan, in P.T. Barnum style. He pauses, and then adds a qualifier. "Well, at least in this part of the Earth. I don't know what they're doing in Australia (this weekend)."

He has reason to be excited. The Land of Nod Experiment, which features more than 90 national and local acts performing on three stages, is the culmination of more than 10 years of work for Sheridan, who first envisioned holding a festival on the 105-acre site in the late '90s.

Back then, the West Bloomfield native was touring with travelling festivals like the H.O.R.D.E. Festival and Ozzfest, selling his Noo Moon clothing line from onsite vending booths. Those experiences led him to the Voodoo Experience Festival in New Orleans, where he began as a vendor while producing small performance art pieces on the side until he eventually produced his own Land of Nod stage within the festival.

But he always wanted to do his own event in Jackson, and plans for the festival began coming together three years ago. He did small test runs at the site in 2008 and '09 so city officials -- some of whom had bad memories of the Goose Lake International Music Festival that attracted some 200,000 concertgoers to Jackson in the summer of 1970 -- could get a taste of what was in store.

Even with the dry runs down, Sheridan had difficulties booking acts, partially because of a lack of name recognition and partially because of no-compete clauses from Chicago's Lollapalooza festival. He and his partner Jason Reed weren't able to land alt-rock godfathers Sonic Youth or psychedelic electro-hippies MGMT, two acts high on their wish list, but boogie rockers Eagles of Death Metal and New Orleans favorites Trombone Shorty were quick to sign on. When art-rock weirdoes of Montreal and demented rap enigma Kool Keith came on board, Sheridan knew he was on to something.

"We really wanted to expose a little bit of everything," says Sheridan, who says he was inspired by the eclecticism of early Lollapalooza lineups. "We want the hippies and the ravers and the rockers and the emo kids and the hillbillies to all get together and have a good time."

The bill is rounded out by scores of Detroit acts, including Silverghost, the Satin Peaches, Sista Otis and more. Buskers, belly dancers, tribal drummers and other performance artists will wander the festival grounds and campgrounds throughout the weekend.

Event permits dictate an attendance cap of 10,000, and Sheridan says as of last week the fest has sold around half of the available tickets. If all goes well, he hopes to bring back the Land of Nod in 2011 and beyond.

One question remains -- what's with that name?

"Land of Nod, to me, is when you nod off and go to sleep. It's the land where anything can happen," says Sheridan, 42. "Anything that you can imagine can happen in the Land of Nod, and that's what we try to inspire and motivate (in people) -- to come out and express yourselves and live out your dreams."