WinterWonderGrass - 2015 - Saturday

WinterWonderGrass - 2015 - Saturday

Festival Experience Archive

for The Lot Scene by Parker

Saturday - February 21st

Tyler Grant and Andy Thorn - The Wood Brothers - Les Claypool’s Duo de Twang - The Sam Bush Band

Saturday we made our way back to the venue for Tyler Grant and Andy Thorn on the Jamboree starting at 3PM.  We were able to get up nice and close to the stage for a great vantage of some incredibly fast pickin’.  Tyler is always a treat to see; his guitar skills awarded several times over and he made for the perfect counterpoint to Andy Thorn’s distinctive banjo style.  In a word their performance was incendiary, which is precisely what you want and need on a frigid cold winter day in February.  Thorn and Grant sizzled through a setlist brimming with classic favorites such as Bland’s “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane”.  The audience was also treated to a little Irish reel pick from the lads, nice and quick and refreshing.  If you’ve never had the chance to see either of these gents either solo or with their respective bands, I’d highly recommend that you do so at your earliest convenience.  They certainly made for an intense duo!

A little later on in the afternoon, we found ourselves back outside in the gorgeous and unexpected sunshine for The Wood Brothers on the main stage.  The Brothers bring a lot to a festival:  incredible musical skill and acumen, a uniquely distinctive style, tight and well-crafted harmonies, and a large and enthusiastic fanbase.  Just in watching Oliver, Chris, and Jano Rix play, their immense ability and long tenure on their respective instruments was readily apparent — such as, I have never seen someone place upright bass and harmonica simultaneously.  In terms of vocals, so very often family members tend to blend extremely well together, and Chris and Oliver fall very much into that category — I always enjoy hearing blood family sing for that very reason.  I was also interested in my many and varied chats with festival folk about The Wood Brothers being the main draw for coming to WWG in the first place…I have an inquisitiveness about people’s motivations for attending festivals.  Just of as much interest to me were a similar number of people we told me they had come to see Les Claypool and his Duo de Twang.  It seemed that many of them were glad to see additions like Les and The Wood Brothers to WWG in terms of variety, energy, edge, and interest.  Speaking of Les…  

We got some early Jerry Garcia from the Duo de Twang after which Les remarked that Jerry would be freezing his butt off with the rest of us were he at WWG.  Too funny.  In fact, Les was pretty funny his whole set.  We also got a “Battle of New Orleans” decidedly the weirdest version I’d ever heard…but this is Les Claypool we’re talking about.  And, of course, the indomitable Sam Bush guested in to make everything all the twangier.  And it certainly was.  The remainder of the set went back and forth between twangy favorites and Les telling us which parts of his anatomy were frozen — all told an entertaining jam that kept the majority of us dancing, laughing, and warm.  After the Duo it was time for The Sam Bush Band on the main.  

Although I had seen Sam guest in with others before, this would be my first time seeing his band.  My excitement was to be thoroughly rewarded with some wickedly quick and precise picking, all in the driving snow.  Let it be said officially that musicians at WWG are born again hard champs of the highest caliber, braving those temps with fingers exposed and playing for hours.  I salute each and every one of them.  But back to Sam Bush and how much a badass he is…such as, he and his boys covered Elivs Costello’s “Everyday I Write The Book” and they destroyed it!!  And then some Beatles???  How about a speedy, driving, ridiculously good “I’ve Just Seen a Face”?  Amazing.  Sam and his band continued to spin out tunes and songs into the face of the bitter winter winds for a full hour-and-a-half and they delivered a surplus of joy, warmth, and elation.  Such a stellar performance left us all in the perfect headspace for any and all late night activities we planned to pursue.  Such as a little Leftover Salmon at Agave, maybe?

Late Night at Agave - Leftover Salmon

Back at Agave once more and, just as we had set all our stuff down the fire alarm started going off.  All of us just sorted of waited and looked around to see what the deal was all of which culminated in a couple of firefighters showing up after about 20 minutes of noise.  However, the party raged on as bartenders slung drinks and the musicians attempted to soundcheck downstairs.  Peace was finally restored and just in time for some Leftover Salmon!  Never ever thought in my life I’d being seeing Salmon in a little restaurant.  Crazy!  Crazy freaking awesome, that is…  From a little Drew Emmitt “Gulf of Mexico” to some Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love” to a couple of my absolute favorites “Euphoria” and “Up On The Hill Where They Do The Boogie” the Leftover boys proved over and over and over again why they are one of my very favorite bands.  The joyful energy and ebullient abandon with which they approach their music and which they also choose to share with us are always such a privileged treat.  And certainly one hell of a great way to finish up Saturday late night at WinterWonderGrass 2015!

WinterWonderGrass - 2015 - Friday

WinterWonderGrass - 2015

Festival Experience Archive

for The Lot Scene by Parker 

Friday - February 20th

Locale and Travel - Festival Grounds, Venue, and Family Atmosphere - In-Processing - Food

So the very concept of an outdoors bluegrass festival during the winter in the Colorado Rockies might seem a bit too non sequitur when compared to most other outdoor fests at first blush…  Certainly the majority of festival organizers host their events in the warmer months of summer or spring or at least in warmer climes.  Not so, however, for the madmen and crazy women who put on WinterWonderGrass!!  Avon, CO, is located just west of Vail on I-70 — for those who aren’t familiar, this means the fest is held smack dab in the middle of Colorado ski country.  In February.  Now you’re getting the idea.  Avon itself is a little town comprised mostly of ski condos and hotels and the restaurants and other supporting logistical businesses that help keep the nearby Beaver Creek resort up and running every winter.  This means a handful of good and close by restaurants and bars and things like grocery and pharmacy needs.  Whether you opt for hotel or condo accommodations, the location of Avon, nestled in a bowl of snow-covered mountains on all sides, ski slopes, pine trees, ski gondolas floating by…all these things paint a strikingly different picture from any other festival setting to which I’ve been.  However, this setting also has the darker side of potential weather and travel issues, as were all-too apparent this year.  Snow storms either closed or severely slowed traffic on I-70 coming from Denver, so many folks were late to WWG or had to cancel.  Sadly this is just one of the realities when thinking of this festival in the future — just watch the weather like a hawk, consider coming up early if you can, and just know that if you can get to WWG it will be so freaking worth it!!

The WonderGrass festival grounds are situated in Nottingham Park, a public space right in the middle of town.  This year we had the pleasure of seeing the brand new permanent stage and bandshell being used for the very first time.  As WWG is a small fest, the usual festival offerings are also on a small scale, but the quality is certainly there.   Each of the side stage tents, the Jamboree and Pickin’ Perch, are both sufficiently large enough to get inside, get warm, and grab a beer from one of the 15+ Colorado craft brewers on hand to serve.  One caveat to this would be when a super popular band (like Fruition on Saturday, but I’ll get to that) is doing a ‘tweener and the place gets packed to the point of immobility.  Luckily that didn’t really seem to happen much throughout the weekend and, besides, there’s always the OTHER tent.  The WWG folks also put together a nice bonfire and keep it going throughout day and night out near the main stage.  So, all in all, if you dress appropriately and take advantage of what WWG has to offer, you shouldn’t get all that cold.  Families should feel welcome enough at this fest as well — I certainly saw many folks with children of all sizes.  I would say only these two things:  one, the obvious weather considerations…it did get pretty cold this year, but I know kids love snow and cold weather and that parents can get them warmed up in several places around the fest as well, so… and two, it must be said that this is a beer fest as well as a music fest…and it shows quite a lot at times.  While I am all for partying and having a good time, this is just something to consider for those with little ones.  The veritable “trading tickets for wristbands” process went smoothly and there weren’t any horrid lines which was good considering some inclement weather setting in at the prescribed time.  The WWG staff certainly cannot control the weather!  Finally let’s talk eats…my favorite subject.  Small festival does equal small selection, but what was there was delicious, warm, and affordable.  The Moe’s BBQ and Cilantro food trucks were there serving up everything from traditional BBQ sandwiches to green chili to BBQ tofu to vegan/vegetarian dishes. Another food truck served Latin-Asian fusion (think spring rolls and churros) and the fest provided a coffee/tea bar and tent for further warmth.  All told the food was very good and very welcome in the cold.  My crew and I tended to balance out snacks in the venue and meals in town or back at our condo, however, one could eat both lunch and dinner inside WWG and be very happy.

Once through the gates we caught our first real glimpse inside the festival grounds:  the warm tents waiting with music and beer, the main stage dominating the landscape, a stilt-walker and a hooper with a giant uberhulahoop on hand to “festy up” the environs for us, skiers on the slopes in the distance, flakes gently falling — in a word, WinterWonderGrasstastic.  One of my favorite aspects of the entire endeavor had to be the outfits people rocked all weekend:  countless examples of vintage ski gear, goggles, animal print onesies, unicorn costumes…it was such an eclectic mix of fun, funny, and fantastic!!  But, honestly, there was music, too…

Gipsy Moon - Fruition - Elephant Revival - The Infamous Stringdusters

The first notes I heard at WWG sounded from the Jamboree Stage as Gipsy Moon helped kick things off while Chain Station did the same in the Pickin’ Perch Stage tent.  Side stage tent sets were limited to 30 minutes throughout the weekend, but all that meant was that every band packed tons of energy and life into each.  If there was a theme for the weekend it had to have been “fast pickin’ polar-style” and Gipsy Moon’s opening set established that tone for the weekend.  Sadly, however, 30 minutes flies by and next we knew it was out to the main stage for some Fruition.  The cold wasn’t severe enough to make things unpleasant as we walked towards the stage — it was WINTERWonderGrass, after all.  In fact, with a couple of small exceptions, the persistent wintry weather throughout the weekend punctuated by small periods of sunshine and sunset made for a stunning and magical way to fest it up.  Interesting to see the differences in stage set-up, too, as Fruition helped to roar this festival to life:  huge heaters with blower fans all at the front of the stage working double overtime to keep the performers warm, roadies tossing hand warmers to them, and just snow on a festival stage to begin with.  Fruition certainly brought the heat with them as they tore into their set even giving us all a little Greensky Bluegrass cover — what a treat!  The WinterWonderGrass folks most certainly knew what there were doing getting Fruition to open things up for the 2015 festival main stage.  After a quick trip back to the condo (the proximity of so much accommodation at WWG makes floating back and forth quickly an easy prospect) to grab more layers, it was time for Elephant Revival to take to the main.  With a head full of amazing music from them the night before, I had great expectations and certainly wasn’t to be disappointed.  I had never previously heard them cover Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”, however, I will never forget hearing Bonnie’s distinctive and stirring voice lilting out those iconic lyrics.  As the crescent moon rose from behind the stage and over the festival goers, Elephant’s notes drifted as sweetly sighing water falling up into the winter sky only to return to us as the very snow flakes that gathered on hats and instruments and eyelashes and hearts.  I really cannot hope to express to you here the utter beauty of the loving and lusty marriage that is a winter night plus bluegrass.  The Infamous Stringdusters were the last act of the evening at WWG before the late night shows out in Avon later that evening.  An early-placed and driving “Colorado” sent us all into an appropriate frenzy getting mile high and touching the sky and keeping the feet dancing, the face smiling, and the body warm.  Lots of good Stringdusters standards with some crowd-pleasing covers peppered in rounded out their set to include “If I Had a Block of Wood”, John Denver’s “Country Roads”, and even a little Grateful Dead with a grassy and moving “He’s Gone”.  Friday night came to a slammin’ close with their encore of “Where the Rivers Run Cold”, a personal favorite of mine and one that was most certainly apropos given where we all were standing at that moment.  We all exploded into cheers and applause at The Dusters’s final notes and were left with faces split into huge grins as we all began to filter out of the WWG grounds and into the town of Avon for our chosen late night musical treats.  Mine was to be Fruition at Agave’s, a story I’ll tell you now…

Late Night - Fruition - Agave

Agave is a Mexican restaurant/tequila bar turned tiny music venue for WinterWonderGrass late night shows.  The place is small, but has two levels and lots of different angles for seeing the music.  They also seemed to do a very good job at keeping the numbers of ticketed people manageable overall — it was never so packed you couldn’t move.  The Stringdusters showed up and chilled out in the green room and around the balconies for awhile watching Fruition just hammer and nail their late night show.  In addition to several strong selections from their catalog, the Beatles’s “Get Back” was a welcome cover early in the set and they simply spanked it.  Late in the night our spirits were once again roused to raucous action by a little Zeppelin, mainly some “Rock and Roll”.  And at a bluegrass fest, too, right?  I know, I know.  Well, it was extraordinary, no doubt.  And, as is so wonderful with bands like those at WWG, several members of The Dusters sat in with Fruition throughout the night, each time increasing the value that much more of the tickets we all bought for entry.  The last music finished around 1:45AM and so it was time to wake the wooks in the corner passed out and napping on piles of coats and spirit hoods and make our way home for some necessary sleep for, as delightful as Friday was, Saturday and Sunday were still just around the corner…

WinterWonderGrass - 2015 - Thursday

WinterWonderGrass - 2015 - Thursday

Festival Experience Archive

for The Lot Scene by Parker

Introduction

A bluegrass festival.  In winter.  Outdoors, you say?  You must be mad.  Or just into mad fun.  Suffice it to say, I had my ignorance-born reservations about some of the finer points and details of such an endeavor, however, there was just far too much potential for unfathomable amounts of musical joy and festival soul-enrichment to say no.  So we bought our tickets, packed up all our cold weather gear and other sundries and loaded up to head west for some frigid fast pickin'.

The drive through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Avon might just be enough of a reason to make the trek to WinterWonderGrass (for those who did not get stuck in weather or delays on I-70, my heart goes out to all those who did!).  Climbing up over Vail Pass right at sunset, the mountains around us all a watercolored masterpiece in hues of reds and oranges and purples, our excitement growing with each passing mile, we knew that with a line-up as stellar as this year's and a setting almost indescribably wintry and lovely we were in for a weekend like no other.  And we weren't wrong.

Thursday

WWG Kick-Off Party

We were lucky with Thursday's weather in that we got to Avon by dark, got into our condo near the venue, and got back on the road to the Vilar Performing Arts Center for the WWG Kick-Off Party with Elephant Revival and Bonfire Dub.  The Vilar PAC is a small, gorgeous, intimate arts venue that sees a wide variety of acts throughout the year.  Thursday night's menu was going to be heaping helpings of folk, strings, and grass...and it was oh-so tasty.  Sadly we were only able to catch the last few songs of Bonfire Dub's set but we definitely enjoyed the groove we jumped into.  As we found our space, we wandered past groups of folks dancing in the aisles, all ages, all imaginable types of people.  It was clear that a few Vilar PAC season ticket holders were in attendance in addition to the rest of us WWG festival-goers, but they seemed nonplussed by any of our culture's normal shenanigannery.  It's amazing the power that fine-quality music can have on a group of seemingly disconnected humans, right?  Besides, no single group owns a franchise on having a great time through music...which is one of the very reasons we all love and need it so much.

Bonfire Dub

Prior to Thursday I was largely unfamiliar with Bonfire Dub or their music.  Unfortunately, given that we only caught a smidge of their set, I cannot say that much has changed.  However between the positive messages in their music, the unique instrumentation, and the friends guesting in from Elephant Revival, I thoroughly enjoyed their vibe.  With the likes of Bonnie Paine on washboard, Bridget Law on fiddle (who plays with Bonfire part time), and Daniel Rodriguez on guitar on hand to lend a helping note or two (or a hundred) it was no surprise for me to look around a see that not a small amount of those heads dancing in the aisles were covered in white hair.  We all know it's hard to keep one's seat when the music is just so, so good.  The vice-mayor of Avon (and, apparently, the gentleman responsible for bringing WWG to Nottingham Park and to all of us) even joined in for a song on the talking drum.  Talk about cameos!  One of my favorite aspects must have been Bonfire Dub percussionist Mark Levy's instrument:  what appeared to be a stringless banjo whose skin he played with his hands and a couple of crash cymbals bracketed to the side, all of which was held against his body like a cello.  Add a foot drum and you have one of the more fascinating, non-traditional "drum kits" I have ever seen.  Gotta love folk music.  Their final song of the night, "Fare Thee Well", was shot throughout with a joyous and uplifting message for all:  be well.  Well-wishing is such a compassionate hallmark of our species and of our culture, both our music culture and the greater culture at large, and to have it woven into a musical embrace as such certainly left me warm, weighty, and ready for some further revival, Elephant Revival, that is.

Elephant Revival

Almost immediately into Elephant Revival's first set Daniel broke a string on his guitar...but this minor tragedy led to serendipity:  an a cappella treat from Bonnie, a haunting, entrancing song her grandmother had given to her.  There are caves deep under the surface of the earth where no life can live at all that are thousands of times noisier than the Vilar PAC hall was as she passionately sang.    It was a breathtaking string of memorable moments.  Talk about why we get out and see live music -- gathering together for a very powerful reason, one that transcends all other gatherings for things like politics or protests or parades, one that nurtures us through interaction and absorption.  And the soulful serenades that Elephant delivered all throughout their first set were just that very kind of nurture.  However, it really was the second set that held the fire that night.  Oh, I don't know why, really...maybe it was the 14-person-strong folkgrass supergroup that took to the stage?  Members of The Infamous Stringdusters, Fruition, and Bonfire Dub all amassed to augment Elephant Revival for a series of white hot numbers that produced a wall of stringed-up sound the likes of which I know I had never seen nor heard before.  In such a small space, in such close proximity, it was spectacular, as you can imagine.  Andy Hall (Stringdusters) on vintage mando?  Did I even see a melodica up there?!?  As I said, gotta love folk music.  This awesome force for musical good sizzled through song after song to include absolutely nailing Fruition's "Shine Your Light" (after the supergroup had specifically requested to do one of their songs...too cool).  The last song of the evening was a riveting version of Elephant's "Over the River" -- led by Bonnie, we all were once again treated to some a cappella goodness care of some 14 voices and a bit of groovy hand percussion.  As the last note rung out into the hall and just before the first round of applause began, I had time for one quick, but lovely thought:  this WinterWonderGrass thing is going to be one hell of an amazing way to spend a winter weekend in the mountains.