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dancing
On March 7th, I went to the Old Rock House in St. Louis to catch the second stop of the Big Damn Revolution tour, which was headlined by Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. When I first walked in, the Rev’s opener Jimbo Mathus had just started his set with his band called the Tri-County Coalition. Jimbo is also the front man of the swing/jazz band Squirrel Nut Zippers. Although, he played a rockin’ blues style of music with his band the Tri-State Coalition and mostly played tracks off of his new album “White Buffalo.” Here’s a pic of their performance…
After Jimbo’s set, I tracked him down and talked to him for a little bit. Then I asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking a picute with me holding up a picture of my brother since he couldn’t make it and is a big fan of his, and he was more than happy to oblige. Here’s the pic…
Next, my friend Alicia and I snagged a spot in the front row just as the members of Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band strolled on stage. The band includes The Rev himself on steel guitar, electric guitar, and 3-string cigar box guitar; Breezy (the Rev’s wife) on washboard; and Aaron “Cuz” Persinger (a distant cousin of the Rev) on drums. Cuz’s unique drum kit even includes an upside-down 5 gallon bucket! Here’s a few pics from their set…
The Rev is so talented that he even plays bass while is playing guitar! This is a technique that is a dying art form, but few still keep it alive. The Rev then showed the crowd his talent by first playing bass on the lower string with his thumb and then played the melody at the same time with his other fingers. I’ve seen Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn band 3 other times, and I always forget that the Rev is multi-tasking during every song. The show continued on and they played several songs off of their album Between the Ditches. They also played some of my favorites such as “Mama’s Fried Potatoes”, “Your Cousin’s on Cops”, “Clap Your Hands”, and then they ended the show with an encore of their song “Two Bottles of Wine” with Jimbo Mathus and his band. Here’s a pic of them singing together…
My friend and I finished off the night in catching some autographs and pictures with Rev and his wife Breezy. Then I parted from them by saying “See ya at Summer Camp!” and they seemed surprised to see that someone from one of their city shows was going to see them at a festival and then they said “Yeah! I think we’re playing Thursday!”
It’s always a great boot stomping time seeing Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and I can’t wait to see them at Scamp! They’re an act not to be missed!
-Mo
I had a great opportunity to attend the Saturday of Loufest and got to get inside an hour before it opened since I was helping work a booth. Loufest is more of an indie and new music type of festival. They have 2 main stages and another stage in the kids area. Since I was helping with a booth in the kids area, I was able to see every band at the kids stage. This stage’s line-up consisted of local middle school, high school, and college age bands playing all day.
I was able to catch most of the bands on the main stages throughout the day as well. The first band that I saw was a local St. Louis duo Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult who go by Sleepy Kitty.
Sleepy Kitty
These two originate from Chicago and one fun fact about them is that they have been voted STL’s “best poster designers.”
Next I caught King Tuff and Cotton Mather’s set. Then I checked out Little Barrie who is from London and I was pleasantly surprised by with their raw bluesy and garage sound. They were fantastic.
After taking a break and picking up my fellow Summer Camp friend Joe, we headed back up to Loufest that evening and caught Dinosaur Jr. and Girl Talk. I have ALWAYS wanted to see Dinosaur Jr. so I was ecstatic when they came out and started rocking my face off.
Dinosaur Jr.
Then my friend and I left Dinosaur Jr. a little early so we could find a good spot in Girl Talk’s crowd to be in the middle of the party. I’ve seen Girl Talk a couple times before so being in the middle and dancing with total strangers who are just as excited to dance as hard as you is always ideal. If you know anything about Girl Talk, you know the brains behind the operation is the one-man band/sample machine Gregg Gillis. He always has someone pick people out of the crowd beforehand who are dressed eccentric or out of the ordinary to spend their whole time dancing on stage to his fast beats. That’s why at this show there were two Where’s Waldos and many others who were dressed strangely on stage. Also, before the show, he always picks two individuals from the crowd to use leaf-blowers with toilet paper rolls attached to the end to shower the audience with toilet paper. There wasn’t a moment where everyone or myself weren’t dancing!!
Girl Talk Finale
Your girl,
-Mo
June 24th was one of the most fantastic nights of ska that I’ve seen in a very long time. I was on vacation and hit up Cleveland in the beginning of my trip to see Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger and Big D and the Kids Table at the House of Blues. I was so glad that I purchased the day before this show because once I got to the venue everyone was begging for tickets. I guess ska is just as popular in Cleveland as it is in St. Louis.
When I was waiting for the first set to start, I was surprised when I saw that the backdrop on stage read Big D and the Kids Table, because originally they weren’t on the line-up. So I was in complete SHOCK when I saw them come out to play their set. The crowd went absolutely nuts when they started with their first song “Steady Riot”. The pit was at full energy and people were crowd surfing left and right during their entire set. Big D really gave me a big boost of much needed energy since my man and I had just driven 9 hours straight from St. Louis before the show.
Next up was Goldfinger, I was most excited to see them since I’ve never seen them live before. As soon as they came on, I joined everyone else in the pit in singing the first song of their set “Spokesman”. It was amazing; I hadn’t seen such an excited and lively crowd at a show in years. Every person in the House of Blues was on their feet rockin’ out. Goldfinger ended their set with two of my favorite songs “Superman” and their cover of the Nena song “99 Red Balloons”. I was so excited that I even crowd surfed during “Superman” (which I hadn’t done since I was a teenager). What an amaaaazing show!
Now that I was drenched in everyone’s sweat from Goldfinger’s pit, I still had to wait for Reel Big Fish to come on. Last time I saw them live was 8 years ago and it was an awesome show, so I knew I was in for a good performance. They started their set with one of my favorite songs “The Kids Don’t Like It” and just about everyone in the House of Blues went nuts. People were dancing everywhere! They also played some of my other favorites such as: “Good Thing”, “Beer”, “She Has a Girlfriend Now”, and “Sellout”. I danced through their entire set and I must say, Cleveland truly knows how to do ska right! If it weren’t for the fans going crazy for every song that came out of Big D, Goldfinger, and Reel Big Fish, the show wouldn’t have been nearly as amazing and memorable as it was…all I have to say is, St. Louis and future cities, brace yourself for this awesome packed show coming your way!
-Mo
Holla Scampers!
Just want to give my experience as a first timer at Scamp and a recap of Thursday.
I must say that I love the layout of Scamp. I like how there is a large distance between the main stages, making the experience even more amazing when you can focus completely on the band that you’re seeing. I especially love how you can choose you’re camping spot, where at other festivals you are given a specific spot to camp. My friends and I choose to camp in Studio Tan (F area) along the tree line across from the Moonshine stage. It’s a fantastic spot since there plenty of shade and room to spread out. I definitely enjoyed the cheap fare for the Festy Cabs, this was a lifesaver for me when I was carrying my last heavy load of camping gear. And the free tractor shuttles are amazing; I’ve never seen that at a festival before! After setting up camp, I made friends with all of my neighbors who are totally awesome! I’ve never met so many friendly people at a festival before in ONE day. Everyone is amazing and super friendly at Scamp. Also my main man happened to mention my birthday yesterday out loud when we were walking around and the people walking next to us (Jen and Rob) over heard and wished me a happy bday and gave me a free hula hoop. Here’s a pic of Jen and Rob from Chicago who had a booth at Scamp of their hoop business called Hippie Hoops. If you need a hoop, definitely check these guys out, they do an fantastic job, and they’re amazing people!
Things like this would only happen at Summer Camp!
As for Thursday, I hit up some Infantree at the Campfire stage. These guys were really young, but they totally rocked it! Next I went to the Soulshine Tent and did some yoga. The instructor’s name was Tammy and since there were only about 20 of us, she was able to walk around and help us do the yoga moves properly. Later I walked up to the Sunshine stage since I could see a band setting up, but I knew nothing was scheduled for the Sunshine stage, so I checked it out, and low and behold, I see Brendan Bayliss and the rest of Umphrey’s McGee. It was their sound check! And they played a couple songs…so amazing!
Next I saw some Cornmeal, I LOVE bluegrass and have seen them before, so they awesome as usual. Also they covered the Ted Nugent song Strange Hold. I did my best to stay out late Thursday by catching some Team Bayside High (a Chicago DJ duo) before heading to bed. They use a great mix of rock, movie themes, and modern hits. Allover, Thursday was a nice clam day with awesome surprises.
Catch ya later!
Love, hugs, and thugs,
-Mo
Is it Summer Camp yet?!
I feel like I’m a kid again waiting and waiting for Christmas morning to come. haha.
The main topic to be talking about is, HAVE YA LOOKED AT THE WEATHER?! It’s going to be amazing! During the day it’s supposed to be in the 80’s and 90’s, and in the evening it’s supposed to be in the 60’s. That looks like some pretty spectacular festival weather to me. Just don’t forget to keep yourself hydrated while dancin’ your booty off with me!
Now I’m sure you’re in the middle of packing like I am, and if you drive a tiny car like myself, you’re probably having a lot of difficulty fitting everything in your car. Here is one trick that I’m using to get myself and my belongings to Scamp. Open up you’re wheel well and pack as many items as you can around your spare tire. Seriously, this will help. Here’s what my car looked like before I thought of packing items in my wheel well.
And here’s how much room I have after I packed my wheel well…….
and here’s a closer look of the items packed in the wheel well…..
It’s crazy how much room it gives you in your car!
Also, if you’re into cookin’ at your camp and love vegetables like I do, another good tip is to cut up all of your vegetables and put them in foil packets beforehand like this…..
(And don’t forget to add your seasoning and butter/margarine/smart balance/earth balance/Irish butter as well!) So when you’re tired from dancin’ and ragin’ you can just come back to camp and start up the grill.
I also forgot to mention that I’m excited to see the Food Patriots and Henhouse Prowlers in the Soulshine tent on Saturday at 1:30pm. The Food Patriots will be showing their documentary about their movement to open people’s eyes about the food that their eating. Their goal with this documentary in their own words is to “start a conversation about food that inspires audiences to make a 10% change in how they buy, eat, and talk about food”. I am most excited in this since it’s something I strongly believe in. I’m studying dietetics/nutrition with one more semester remaining, and with my future career, I hope to help others live a healthier and more active life through their food choices.
Again, don’t forget to come dance with me and have a good-ol’-gypsy-punk time at Gogol Bordello! As well at all the other artist’s sets! See ya in roughly 24 hours fellow Scampers!
P.S. “Pac That” Yellow Team!!
Love, hugs, and thugs,
-Mo