I established long ago that outdoor music gigs are fair game for this blog. Saturday I played my first gig with Magnolia Blue, at a small festival called The Hometown Getdown up in Clarksburg Maryland.
I got there at about 11:30 AM, at which time things were kind of slow. To tell you the truth, it looked kind of like a refugee camp for displaced Millenials. I wandered up to the camping area and found the band members who had been camping there. Katie's tent had been slashed. Another woman's tent had been rifled through. I've heard this kind of stuff happens at the big festivals. It's never happened to me - perhaps because I only go to old fogey festivals like Clearwater - and I'm surprised it happened in an intimate little festival like this. One more data point showing the Millenials are scum.
I was kind of wondering what I had gotten myself into and was wondering how strongly to wave off the friends I knew were coming.
But it wasn't all bad. It's nice to play at a venue big enough that there was a hospitality tent for the artists (albeit a pretty shabby one) and where there was a tech crew running sound and lights for real. And the overall vibe, once the music started, was very positive. And the bands were very good! There was Charm City Funk Brigade (a repertoire similar to ours), good bluegrass from The Dirty Grass Players, and great western swing from Mindy Miller and the Chrome Tears. I left during Lionize - they were good too but more hard rockin' then my usual taste. I do have to admire their dedication to old school gear: a full Hammond Porta B organ with Leslie speaker, walls of amps, just like the 70's!
Our set went well - got the crowd up and dancing. And I even picked up a Getdown t-shirt, which had our band name on it. A good first gig! And thanks to regular readers (and blog subjects) Tom, Suzanne (and Marilyn) for coming out!
I got there at about 11:30 AM, at which time things were kind of slow. To tell you the truth, it looked kind of like a refugee camp for displaced Millenials. I wandered up to the camping area and found the band members who had been camping there. Katie's tent had been slashed. Another woman's tent had been rifled through. I've heard this kind of stuff happens at the big festivals. It's never happened to me - perhaps because I only go to old fogey festivals like Clearwater - and I'm surprised it happened in an intimate little festival like this. One more data point showing the Millenials are scum.
I was kind of wondering what I had gotten myself into and was wondering how strongly to wave off the friends I knew were coming.
But it wasn't all bad. It's nice to play at a venue big enough that there was a hospitality tent for the artists (albeit a pretty shabby one) and where there was a tech crew running sound and lights for real. And the overall vibe, once the music started, was very positive. And the bands were very good! There was Charm City Funk Brigade (a repertoire similar to ours), good bluegrass from The Dirty Grass Players, and great western swing from Mindy Miller and the Chrome Tears. I left during Lionize - they were good too but more hard rockin' then my usual taste. I do have to admire their dedication to old school gear: a full Hammond Porta B organ with Leslie speaker, walls of amps, just like the 70's!
Our set went well - got the crowd up and dancing. And I even picked up a Getdown t-shirt, which had our band name on it. A good first gig! And thanks to regular readers (and blog subjects) Tom, Suzanne (and Marilyn) for coming out!
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