Where are the bands (from)?

I recently had a conversation with my Journeys, Voyages, Quests class about bands.

I said that American Idol had killed bands in America (not wanting to consider the possibility that rock music, a typically band-centric genre, may simply be losing favor). 

I asked students to name the bands they liked. I got two responses: Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band that was popular when I was in high school, and Foo Fighters, popular when I was in college. 

Then I looked up the 2011 Grammy Nominees and found that, of the 25 nominees for the top 5 awards, only 2 are bands: Foo Fighters and Mumford & Sons.

Are bands over? 

Are they simply the curios of such culturally-marginal things as documentary film festivals? Maybe. But, man, are they alive and kicking at documentary film festivals.

Dubb Nubb (folk/roots trio from Columbia, MO)

The bands at this year's T/F fall into two categories:
(a) bands that mentioned where they were from and
(b) bands that never mentioned where they were from.

Dubb Nubb is is in category b. They were great. Like if Davendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom had a baby and named it Bjork.

Pearl and the Beard is in category a. They totally rocked, and they totally mentioned five times in a 20-minute set that they were from Brooklyn, New York. That's right, flyover people. Brooklyn. Don't forget it.

I also saw the band, Run-On Sentence. They let us know they were from Portland, OR, both in words and in the resplendent beard of the lead singer.

Nick Jaina and his band

This band never mentioned once that it was from Portland. It also didn't have a band name. Coincidence?

The Toughcats were from Maine, but I had to look that one up. I could not believe how much energy that drummer had. Holy cow. Even during a solo acoustic number, wherein the guitar player sang and played by himself, the drummer started playing the guitar player--slapping him and his guitar. My friend Jeremy said that that kind of energy probably made for a great drummer and a not-great friend. He also sweat a lot. He was the best person I saw on stage all weekend. And I saw some awesome people on stage: 

Like Morgan Spurlock and a woman wearing
a video-game-character-inspired costume.   

And the very cool directors of Undefeated. I think that's them.
I still had tears in my eyes from the movie, that way emotional movie.