Nice Rick. I was particularly impressed with the lesser known local bands that Howard booked.
All of the performances where fabulous. I did, however, miss Transatlantic.
I was fed up with the "puhrayzuh Jeezhus" banter from Neal after
Sola Scriptura and the Johnny Cash and the Gyrating Jeezhus Freaks in the ailses that only came for Neal's performance. When I'd had my camera bumped into and shots blocked for the umpteenth time by them -- everyone else throughout the weekend was extremely courteous and ducked -- I'd called it quits. M, Kurt and I headed out. Kurt looked like he'd had enough religion too by that point.
The Studio M gang had to place seats and personnel around their tripods after one Gyrating Jeeshus Freak nearly toppled one of their video rigs.
For those not in attendance, the stage and venue were very intimate. The stage as only 2 feet high and viewable from left, center and right sides. Outside, there was a tent housing grills where one could purchase hamburgers and weenies at lunch and BBQ ribs and chicken at dinner. No hot sauce and no beer unless you qualify Coors and Coors Lite as beer.
Next year, I'll bring a cooler. There's ample parking around the tent area facilitating
tailgaters. The venue is rather remote, so it's eat under the tent or bring your own food.
The hotel was about 15 mins from the venue but very direct route to it. We had a nice HUGE suite in the hotel for $79/night. I can't complain.
My only gripes about the festival, save for the GJFs, were with the lighting and the OVER use of the stage fogger. There were times I couldn't see the drummer through all the fog. The back spots were aimed at the front row. If you were seated there, you spent much of your time with your eyes squinting or shut when these gels were fully illuminated.
There was some "excitement" too Saturday evening. Ryo, who was recovering from a broken jaw, was taking some rather potent pain medication. That combined with some alcohol found him passing out in the back of the venue. He was quickly found on the floor and not breathing. One of the attendees performed CPR on him until an ambulance arrived. It was quite scary. Happily, he was taken to the hospital and released the next morning. M and I were in the hotel lobby chatting with Bill Fox, Greg Jones, Laura Meade and John Galgano when Ryo called the hotel looking for Nick DV. Bill got Nick's room number and put Ryo on with him. Ryo performed later that day wiith CGT. He was rather reserved on stage too but, at least, he was there.