Weather-wise, this year's Hopscotch Saturday was the best and worst of times. The afternoon could not have been more perfect for drifting from one day party to another, catching snatches of bands playing outdoors on the streets of downtown Raleigh -- Mount Moriah, Double Negative and Megafaun among them. It was a thrill to hear the iconic dB's do "Love Is For Lovers" and "Ask for Jill" back to back (which might rank one-two on my personal dB's top-10 list); and I got lucky with Megafaun, too, when they did my favorite song of theirs, "The Fade." Lovely as always, if you go in for heart-stoppingly lovely.

Alas, Saturday evening was when the bottom dropped out of the sky for the second time in three days, a downpour that threw the City Plaza main-stage schedule into chaos. For a while, it seemed in doubt as to whether or not headliners the Roots would be able to play. But they finally got started about 9:45.

It was worth the wait, too, because the Roots were capital-A Awesome. If you missed them Saturday night, well, it sucks to be you. It felt like watching George Clinton's P-Funk All-Stars in their prime, or the Meters. The lineup included a sousaphone, which made for all sorts of cool second-line rhythms. Black Thought was a wonder on the mike, and ?uestlove his usual amazing self on the drums.

But I thought the real star of the show was guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas, who flat stole the show with an incredible version of "Sweet Child o' Mine." It rocked as hard as the Guns N' Roses original, but with The Funk and even a sense of humor. The whole set was like that, as the Roots bounced back and forth between hot funk, birth-of-the-cool bop and crushing blues-rock. And not only were they tight as can be, they pulled off stage moves the '60s-vintage Temptations would have envied.

I think my favorite part was watching the Roots pogo up and down during a second-line funk workout, and remembering Chapel Hill's Superchunk doing the same thing during a revved-up punk song on the very same stage at last year's Hopscotch. Getting you in touch with the random interconnectedness of all things is what a festival is supposed to do.

Our "Dancing with the Stars" correspondent Lenni G gives us the scoop on last night's Motown-themed show.

It's Motown night and we have Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and Martha Reeves singing their hit songs for the dancers. We also have a group called Human Nature who will be touring the US doing Motown songs. Um, still trying to figure out why a group doing Motown covers is called Human Nature. But I digress.

Great start to the night with The Temptations singing  "My Girl" for the rumba from Gladys and Tristan. Len said that if he was voting with his heart, Gladys would be at the top of the leader board. Yep, she would be. Bruno loved her star quality but wanted more "steaminess." Bruno loves "steaminess." Carrie Ann told Gladys that the night belonged to her and that she would pay money to see this dance again. Me too. Judges' scores - 7's from all three for a total of 21.  

Something country, something Christian, something television-related -- and most all if it rather wholesome. Sounds like the live-concert lineup for the 2009 North Carolina State Fair. One headliner is still to be announced, but so far it looks like this:

Oct. 15 -- Jason Michael Carroll
Oct. 16 -- Third Day
Oct. 17 -- Kellie Pickler
Oct. 18 -- Nat and Alex Wolff (from Nickelodeon's Naked Brothers Band)
Oct. 19 -- Jamey Johnson
Oct. 20 -- Temptations featuring Dennis Edwards
Oct. 21 -- Julianne Hough ("Dancing With the Stars" champion)
Oct. 22 -- To be announced.
Oct. 23 -- Jeremy Camp, Tenth Avenue North
Oct. 24 -- Blake Shelton
Oct. 25 -- Eric Church