Whedonfest 2013

If Lebowski Fest and Fandomfest has let loose your inner Cosplayer and you can't wait 3 weeks for Louisville Zombie Attack, than you are in luck! next weekend in Scottsville Ky (outside of Bowling Green, directions here) is Whedonfest; a fest for all things Joss Whedon.. If you are not acquainted, you have sooo much homework to do. The good news is that is isn't just a Firefly fest, or Avengers fest, or even Buffy, or Angel,  or Cabin in the Woods fest, or even Toy Story if that's your thing, but it's a fest for all things Joss Whedon. Personally I can't decide which way to point my enthusiasm.. the guy has done a lot. Whether or not  the fest will be as Shiny as Kaylee's optimism, we will see. The fest is an official Can't Stop The Serenity event,  a pretty amazing foundation founded by fans (browncoats) of the show Firefly that raises money for Whedon's favorite charity Equality Now (as well as other charities) and has raised over $20 million worldwide since 2006.
Whedonfest is Aug 9-11 and is $130 for the weekend but includes all meals and overnight stays for Friday and Saturday, day tix are available too. the three day event is packed with music, panels, games, and movies, including a "shindig" (showing of Serenity) on Saturday, and a showing of my personal favorite Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog on Sunday.

A Mighty Fine Shindig (Firefly Con)

Review: a WIRE & Lebowski Fest weekend

I have to say I was more excited to see WIRE ($20/Clifton Center/July18) than I was to see Forecastle. Forecastle has the excitement of 24,000 people running around in barely any clothes happy to be free from reality, and I enjoy that. But as time goes on Forecastle heads toward making multitudes reasonably happy with 'evergreen' bands, rather than making a few thousand people super excited about music. I think it's possible, Pitchfork Fest being cheaper than Forecastle (3 day pass= $120) with a much heavier line up: The Breeders, Low, Swans, Belle & Sebastian, Bjork, R Kelly, MIA, and 40 others (including WIRE).

WIRE at the lovely Clifton Center

That being said I thought Wire was lacking. Don't get me wrong, just seeing this legendary band live is enough in some respects, but it wasn't until their second encore that they really seemed to be excited about playing. Some of the crowd reported loving the show, others reported being left a little wanting. They didn't play their most popular tracks, which is what disappointed me, but some people thought this was to be expected, keeping in with Wire's early punk ethic, shunning the spotlight (and they literally shunned the spotlight, repeatedly asking that the stage lights be lowered until it was barely a dim glow). I might have enjoyed it better if I had paid an extra $30 to see them the following day at Pitchfork along side Bjork.
The following night, another $20 ticket for Lebowski Fest Movie night at Executive Bowl.

a Walter tailgating at Lebowski Fest

One thought about Lebowski Fest, it being around as long as Forecastle, it has stayed true to it's original theme. It has taken to the road and even jumped the ocean, but it's theme of bowling, one movie, costume contest, and one or two oddball performers is still there. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing.. I do think it could grow, maybe cut down the ticket price (to half ) or open up movie night to public even, add a roster to the band list that people know.. but then again we all see what can happen when our fests grow bigger than we thought possible. Even I am faced with harsh compromises while trying to afford and contain Zombie Attack these days.

Kentucky Prophet and his new EP with 'Horse VS Technology' 

 Regardless, I had fun at Lebowski Fest Movie Night. I really enjoyed the "oddball" performers. one being our very own Kentucky Prophet, the other being 1/2 of Tenacious D: Kyle Gass, otherwise known as Rage Kage. After all, Lebowski Fest is honoring eccentrics and also for eccentrics. and the Kyle Gass band dressed up as characters from The Big Lebowski along with the rest of us.. Kyle as Walter. They had fun, The Kentucky Prophet had fun and the crowd had fun. And even tho we have all seen The Big Lebowski soo many times, and it doesn't really have an ending, it really was fun watching the crowd sing along to the soundtrack and recite every little line in the movie. and just like how 'Browncoats' rallied around Firefly and made the world aware of a show that wasn't given a fighting chance, and turned that enthusiasm into a major motion picture 'Serenity' (also known as 'The Big Damn Movie'), these Achievers may be why we are hearing rumblings of a Big Lebowski sequel.

John King and the 'Rage Kage' Kyle Gass 

The Kyle Gass Band 

Cynthia Plaster Caster at LOT tomorrow

the Infamous artist know as Cynthia Plaster Caster has been casting molds of rockstar dicks since the days of Jimi Hendrix and will be showing her endowed collection for the first time in Louisville at Land Of Tomorrow gallery; opening tomorrow night. 
as a special pep-rally, Cynthia will be a guest on  ARTxFM tonight, July 31st, at 10 PM.  stream the interview here: artxfm.com

Last Week of Fundraising for Louisville Zombie Attack

Louisville Zombie Attack comes up every year on August 29th, rain or shine, weekend or weekday since it's inception 9 years ago. Beginning in 2005 with just 100 or so zombies, last year saw over 15,000. No one could have guessed it would grow this big, but as it has it still remains a free event. The organizers want to keep this free but face mounting costs as the crowd grows, and are asking for donations to help offset some of these costs. the Crowd-funding campaign ends August 3rd and is supported by Rockethub. please visit the site here.

garyquick.com

Zombie Attack 2013: 

8/29 Pre-party at Back Door 6-8 pm 

Walk Launches from Mid-City Mall 8:29pm

Main Event at Monkey Wrench 9pm with Movies, Costume Contests and music

Bands include: The Revenants, Vice Tricks, All Dead, and more

Forecastle 2013 Photo Overview

Jeni's Ice cream from Columbus Ohio, and Heine Bros' Streamline were big vendor hits this year.

slight chaos on Saturday when Metro-safe called for evacuation. 

The Flaming Lips on the Boom Stage.

Wayne Coyne 

Class barriers still abound in the VIP section: air condition, free ice cream and swanky restrooms.

Matt Weir making good use of the one of dozens of full mattresses in the VIP section. 

El-P and Killer Mike doing their best on the Red Bull stage, inconveniently located under a steel and concrete overpass. 

on Sunday the Art Wall was cut up and sold per Sq. foot. 

Robert Plant playing before the severe rainstorm halted everything for an hour.

It isn't a Fest without mud play.

Datsik 

staff keeping order;Tennessee flag in the background.

Beer slingers at the Louisville Vintage Motorcycles tent.

Forecastle 2013 Day 3 Review

         

         

         On day three of the Forecastle festival, things kicked off with a performance by The Wild Feathers on the WFPK stage with Tennis picking up around 2:45 to bring their slightly-reminiscent-of-No-Doubt sound to a scorched waterfront. Temperatures were high, but things really picked up when Grace Potter and the Nocturnals took the Mast Stage, opening with Stop the Bus from their '07 album, This is Somewhere. The Nocturnals played through a lot of their self-titled album and The Lion The Beast The Beat for their set and, while I didn't expect too much from them, I have to say their leading lady can tear a guitar up. The band even covered Hank Williams' Devil's Train halfway through their set while the audience was in full participation.

         I'm not entirely sure anyone knew what to expect when Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters sauntered out onto the Mast Stage, but  I'm certain that nobody was disappointed in the music. The band got through nine songs, including four Led Zeppelin tunes, with Plant sounding nearly as good as he did the first time he sang Black Dog. The nostalgia of the old hippies in attendance didn't last long, as rain blew in, forcing a very angry group of British men off of the stage.

         Thousands of fans gathered under the overpass to seek shelter from the rain that started during Robert Plant's set, forcing the band off stage. The rain continued for nearly a half an hour before crews took back to the stage to remove the tarps they had set down to protect the musical equipment. As soon as the rain let up, the crowds rushed back out to get as close as they could for the Avett Brothers, who started an hour later.

      

         Despite earlier cancellations and thousands of soggy shoes, The Avett Brothers started on time to dive head-first into an energetic and audience inspired performance. Taking songs from their entire discography, the band hee'd and hawed and jumped up and down, taking breaks occasionally to cover traditional songs like Just a Closer Walk With Thee and Blue Ridge Mountain Blues. The music stopped at eleven o'clock on the dot, just as scheduled. But after only five minutes backstage, the boys came back out to thank the audience for "using their love to push the rain away" and played a four song encore that began with Townes Van Zandt's No Place to Fall and ended with their own fan favorite I and Love and You.

         

WIRE tonight

Don't forget! 70's punk (and then Post-Punk) group WIRE  is playing tonight (with NATIVES) at the Clifton Center (2117 Payne Street). Starts at 8pm. $20 at the door.

Wire's 'Heartbeat' from Chairs Missing (1978)



Big Black's cover of 'Heartbeat' from Pigpile (1992) (recorded during 1987 European tour).
 fun (personal) fact, the first show I saw at Clifton Center was Shellac (with Steve Albini from Big Black).

Meet me at the Waterfront: Logan's Day 2 Review

The first show I saw on Saturday was Louisville’s own 23 String Band, who came out on stage to the lovely Marion Dries of 91.9 WFPK announcing “The 23 string band has informed me that they have added more strings, free of charge for the Forecastle audience.” I met with Scott Moore, fiddle player for the band, under the conditions of our previous interview, and he’s just as cool in person as he is on phone interviews. I was told that 23 string is working in studio right now for a new album.

            Following a suggestion given to me in the press tent, I did end up wondering over to the Foxygen show and was pleasantly surprised. Their psych-pop sound was a relief to hear as the four piece rocked the socks off of the crowd with great confidence. Later in the set Sam France broke the barrier, climbing into the crowd to sing an entire song. Their fuzzbox fueled guitars and time signature jumping rhythm section tied the sound together to deliver a grand performance to the Forecastle audience.

            After Foxygen finished their set, the grounds were evacuated due to a storm that was rolling in from the west with seventy mile winds and dime sized hail predicted to hit the city of Louisville. Hordes of attendees were set loose on the downtown streets, filling bars, restaurants and parking lots evenly. A little rain sprinkled over the city and the grounds were opened back to the public.

            Do you remember the cute girl from high school who wore floral skirts and started a band for the talent show where everyone found out that she shreds on a Stratocaster? Well some boy in Wales is kicking himself for never asking her out right now, and 37 Flood is right there with him, because she grew up and started the aptly named Joy Formidable. The Welsh rock trio had a sound as big as the river and as loud as the Fjords in a hurricane. Ritzy Bryan (the trio’s guitarist and lead vocalist) couldn’t sit still as she ran back and forth from the drum kit to the bass rig as she played her heart out, breaking those of all in attendance as she wailed through their hour and fifteen minute long set. The performance came to an appropriate halt as she smashed her guitar on the amps like a true grunge veteran.

            The highlight of the day was inarguably the Flaming Lips’ set. The band took the light covered stage to open with crowd favorite Look… The Sun is Rising through their new album’s title track and into The W.A.N.D., Coyne clutching a baby doll wrapped in strands all the while, kissing and rocking it to sleep. The band emphasized throughout that this was  “the perfect fucking night” for a Flaming Lips show, with Wayne shining a handheld lamp on the audience deemed “the pot smoking light.” He was dressed like he bought his suit from David Bowie's garage sale. 

            If you’re a band with the reputation that the Lips have, it’s really easy to tour promoting your current album, but that’s not what the Flaming Lips are about. The band played six tracks from The Terror, and two from Embryonic (Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast, and Silver Trembling Hands). Not only did they play from all three albums from their famous trilogy (including the obligatory Do You Realize), but they went as far back as to grace the audience with Unconsciously Screamin’ from their 1990 release In a Priest Driven Ambulance and a cover of Devo’s Gates of Steel.

            Overall, the evacuation was inconvenient for everyone, but who cares? The festival staff was trying to keep everyone safe and none of the performances were cancelled as a consequence. Day 2 in general was the highlight of my Forecastle experience, regardless of the overlap.

John's Forecastle Day 2 Review

Saturday at Forecastle could almost have been called Crazy-fest for all the raucousness, some planned some not, that filled the entire day.
For me the day started about 2 pm when I showed up to try and sneak into The Flaming Lips press interview.. but as my Press Pass only got me into the Festival and no where else I was turned away (which I'm not complaining, compared to the big time press agents covering the Fest, it is kind enough that the Forecastle peeps even gave us a Junior Press Pass).
But shortly after this Metro Safe decided to evacuate the grounds due to threatening weather, which turned  out to be only a threat with no real punch, but better to be Metro-Safe than sorry.  The downside was that after the evacuation there were thousands and thousands of people still exposed to the elements wandering around downtown with no where to go (including the 37flood team).

displaced Forecastlers spilling into the streets during the evacuation

After an hour of evacuation and an hour of re-entering the metaphorical ship had righted it's self but with a little confusion as to what-where-who was playing and when.  But this set back was a blessing as my afternoon was freed up to catch the entire Freakwater set. The last time I saw them play was at Mercury Paw waaay back, and they haven't missed a beat. It was a great trip down memory lane, and great to know these guys (mostly girls actually) still have a following of die hard fans.

Freakwater of the WFPK stage

After freakwater was the onslaught of overlapping headliners: Jim James, The Flaming Lips, and The Black Keys all playing over top one another. with the 3 biggest names of the fest, I have no idea why these bands were not spaced out over the 3 days. on Friday I left after Big Boi ended at 9pm because the last band was The String Cheese Incident which isn't my cup of tea. (Sunday's Headliners are Avett brothers and Animal Collective, and the latter canceled).

Regardless, Jim James being the top notch performer, put on one hell of a show mixing My Morning Jacket songs with his Solo songs along with crowd favorite covers (He ended the night with Let It Be). On stage with him were Louisville favorites like Kevin Ratterman and Dave Gibbons drummer from Month Of Sundays.

Jim James Band

After Jim James wooed the crowd I caught some of the explosion that was The Flaming Lips, it would have been great to see the whole show, but when acts are scheduled on top of each other a man has to choose, and I chose Louisville natives... and I stand by it.

The Explosion that was The flaming Lips

I did see The Black Keys, which was an energetic trip across their entire catalog, which was great for folks like me who kept up with them for their first 3 records and then trailed off... They did have a second guitarist, a bassist, and a keyboard player which surprised me.   The first time I saw The White Stripes play with a bassist I was a little shocked, but playing live means bands get a chance to do things a little differently.  

Because of the evacuation the schedule was kicked back an hour which meant The Black Keys, being final band of the night, played for maybe 30 shorter than planned, but this was no ones fault.. when the city permits office says you end at midnight, you end at midnight (actually the Keys snuck past this by about 15 min..  but if they hadn't there might have been a riot). 

and that was DAY TWO!

Bob Mould Band Review

         When the Bob Mould Band took the Boom Stage, it was easy to tell that members of the audience had been with the frontman since the years of Husker Du, through the pop-fueled days of Sugar, and past the ’08 release of District Line and 2009's Life and Times. The band pounded through the first half of the set with the stamina of a teenager, pounding through track after track before apologizing openly to Louisville for his eight year absence.

           

         As if Mould’s own punk/indie rock reputation weren’t enough, joining him on stage to make the band complete were Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy, rhythm section of Superchunk, working with him to make one of the closest knit three piece bands around. Wurster showed his punk chops have not been lost over the past few years joining Anti-folk band The Mountain Goats on stage. Mould remarked that the band had been together for five years, nearing the mark set by Husker Du for the longest time Mould has ever spent with a single band. It was obvious why they’ve stayed with each other.

Their stage presence was full of energy as the aged punk rocker was well aware of the loyal fan base in front of him. However, the band’s setlist consisted mainly of tracks from their new release, Silver Age. Overall the Bob Mould band put on a fantastic performance, but the overflow of current material in the sea that is the frontman’s catalogue led me to believe that they were selling something.