Log Jammin’ and Roots Rocking
This weekend we stayed pretty close to home. On Friday we went out to Stillwater, a super cool little town on the MN side of the WI border. For many years there was a summer festival there called Lumber Jack days. They haven’t done it for the last couple years. As I understand, it just got too big and the city sort of got tired of it. I heard some story of Skynyrd (or wahtever version of that band exists now-days) headlining a few years aback and people just trashing this beautiful picturesque town. Anyhow, some folks have revived the festival under a new name, The Stillwater Log Jam (Jackie Treehorn approved), and we were invited to headline the first night of the new incarnation of this great event. These guys REALLY know how to take care of a band!! We rolled in around 6pm and unloaded the bus with plenty of time to enjoy Stillwater before our 8:30 set. We watched a bit of Ruben’s set. If you dig classic rock and great songwriting, check these dudes (and 1 lady) out. If you don’t care for classic rock and good songwriting, it must suck to be you. Anyhow, we had reservations down the street at Smalley’s Carribbean BBQ, so we took off on foot. On our way we happened upon an antique shop that sells used LPs. We didn’t score anything amazing, but our newfound obsession with making mixtapes for the bus has added a new dimensison to record buying. It was for that reason that I was able to grab some records that I could get excited about. Here is a look at what I snagged. After geeking out over weird-ass records, we finally made it to Smalley’s for dinner. Man, if you’re ever in the area, GO THERE!!
After destroying some bloody marys, wings, roasted peppers, BBQ shrimp, ribs, and sandwiches, we walked back down to the festival. We caught the end of Galactic Cowboy Orchestra. Those guys can really play. Their music sounds like a proggy version of The Flecktones. Give ‘em a listen if you dig hearing top notch players flex. We hung out backstage and enjoyed some Lift Bridge beer. I’ve always loved their beer, so that was a nice bonus. The festival rigged up one of the coolest makeshift green rooms we’ve seen. Take a look…
We had a great time playing our set. People danced their asses off. It was fun to play a family friendly event. I saw a lot of young children dancing with their parents. Playing bars for drunk 20-somethings is always fun, but it’s nice to know our set can stand up in this type of setting. To me, that’s part of the fun of playing in this band. It can work in many different settings. I grew up playing punk music (or as close to punk music as we could get in Fridley, MN). The settings in which that music can work is very limited. After finishing up we packed the bus and went back to Minneapolis. The following day we played Minneapolis’ Roots Rock And Deep Blues Festival. Before the festival we met up at Casey’s house and did some cleaning on the bus. Earlier this week Sam and I (with some help from some others) removed the wheel chair lift from the bus. Between that and the scrub down, it’s like a whole new ride! Blair had been recording in Nashville all week. He felt bad that he didn’t get to see his dog, Buckley, while he was gone, so he brought him to Casey’s and to the festival! Once word got out that Buckley was going to hang, Sam brought his pup, Denny Hecker, out for the day as well. Check out this party on the bus ride.
Right as we pulled up to unload, Black Market Brass kicked into their set. Cole plays in that band, and I couldn’t be more pumped for him. They sounded amazing. The organizers had me stage my kit in the bed of a budget rental truck. At first I thought it was sort of silly, but actually it was great! After staging my kit, I got up and played a bit of percussion with BMB for a couple tunes. Then I retreated to the bus with a few of the Lakers for some pre-show bourbon.
We were the headlining act on the main stage (1 of 5 stages). The bummer is, we had to miss Black Eyed Snakes because they started 15 minutes before us. Anyhow, we had an absolute riot. Sonny brought out some new moves. He was finding really fun ways to keep the energy consistently higher. I’m pumped to see where it takes us! I swear almost every time we play I tell him, “that was your best set yet!” I don’t know how he does it.
-Eric Foss
Drums
