Rusted Root's Michael Glabicki on Jamming, Healing, and Virginia Key Grassroots Festival

This time, Glabicki and company's trip to South Florida will take them to the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival.

In 1945, Virginia Key Beach was established as a "colored-only" hangout. And until 1947, it was accessible only by boat. In those days, a black person had to carry a signed work document just set foot in Miami Beach. To swim there would mean violence and arrest. So Virginia Key was an island of tranquility in a sea of racism. By 1982, though, the beach fell into disrepair and was closed. But it was revitalized, restored, and reopened in 2008.

"That's deep. That's crazy. I can't believe that," Glabicki says, discussing the complicated history of Virginia Key. "I mean, I can believe it historically. But I'm excited that the festival can bring that healing energy to it."



The spiritually minded singer often speaks in those terms. He says things like "I've always been interested in meditation, but I feel like it's getting harder and harder to do that with all the radio waves and cell phones and just the overpopulation of the Earth."

At the same time, though, he recognizes that those same devices are how most music is heard in the digital age. "I enjoy music on my phone as much as everybody else," he admits. "I'm not downing it. I'm just saying it's a sort of reality you have to accept. That's the way it is right now, and I'm just going with the flow."