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Go Yellow Team
Hey Scampers!
Here’s a little recap of my Saturday at Summer Camp. I began my day in the Soulshine tent checking out the Food Patriots and the Henhouse Prowlers. The Food Patriots are a movement who are encouraging others to purchase at least 10% of their food from local farmers, or to purchase organic or natural foods. I was able to speak with and interview Jennifer who helped start the Food Patriots movement. She even asked me to walk around while they spoke in the Soulshine tent and ask people if they wanted to sign up for updates and to join the movement. Here’s a glimpse of Jennifer and her partner speaking in Soulshine.
Then I ran over to the field day events and joined up with my fellow Yellow teamers. I watched us get beaten in tug-of-war. Then participated in some dodge ball, Yellow Team won the first round. But in the second round, I was the only Yellow teamer left standing and had to face 5 guys who were looking at me like a piece of meat. It was frightening, but eventually one of the guys caught a ball that I threw, and it was over. Next, we participated in arm wrestling; I was the Yellow Team’s female participant and lost very quickly to the Red team. Here is a great picture of my match and facial expression against the Red Team.
My main squeeze Adam was the Yellow Team’s male participant in arm wrestling, and he was able to give us the only win out of all of the events. Lastly, was the pizza eating contest. At first the purple team was in the lead, but then Blue Team pulled through for the win of the pizza eating contest. After all the events were over, the Purple Team ended up with the final win.
After field day was over, I took a much needed break, rehydrated myself and caught some Rebelution, and Common.
Then I grabbed some food and got ready for a long but amazing night of G. Love (who played songs like My Baby’s Got Sauce and Cold Beverage), Old Shoe, Gov’t Mule, moe., Midwest Hype, Umphrey’s McGee, more moe., and Brain Damaged Eggmen in the Redbarn (who did amazing covers of the Beatles and Pink Floyd). Overall, it was an amazing day with some blues music and LOTS of jam.
Love, hugs, and thugs,
-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
Hey Scampers, one week till Scamp time! Yesss!
I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to attend Summer Camp 2012 as your Counselor in Training. It truly is an honor and a dream come true. I’m going to tell ya a little bit about myself so you can get to know your CIT a little better, and then I’m going to tell you what I’m most excited for at SC.
Since 2005 I’ve been attending 1-2 music festivals each year, and they have more or less turned into my home away from home each summer. I always choose which festival I attend each summer based on who has the best lineup for my tastes. And this year it was a no brainer, Summer Camp 2012 all the way! (I must admit though that I do have a soft spot in my heart for Wakarusa and the Harvest festival with their spectacular scenery up on Mulberry Mountain. Just check out this breath taking aerial shot!) In St. Louis, I’m always attending shows. Especially the shows of Aaron Kamm and the One Drops (check them out!). One thing that’s great about my city is that there’s always free shows going on year round, which is a great way to get into and support local bands. I usually attend shows at small venues such as the Firebird, Broadway Oyster Bar, the Old Rock House, Lemmon’s, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Schlafly Tap Room, and the Schllafly Bottleworks. As for the larger shows, I usually go to the Pageant or Pop’s.
As for SC, I’m most excited to see some Gogol Bordello. I’ve seen these accordion playin-fiddlin’ strummin’-wine splashin’-gypsy punks several times, and their energy is enough to blow your face off! If you need a quick energy boost to get ya through the rest of Friday night, make sure you check out this band. (Just don’t forget to find me during their set and dance with me in the front!) I also can’t wait to see some Umphrey’s, I’ve been seeing these guys 2-3 times a year since 2005, and like everyone knows, every show is always different and better than the last! Now let’s just hope that we can all make it to every one of their 5 of their sets in 3 days at SC. And I can’t wait for some Primus, especially since I haven’t seen them since they put out their new album Green Naugahyde. It’ll be quite a set with some new tunes in rotation. Plus, you can never go wrong with the lovely bass playin’ of Les Claypool, side project or not, he always puts on a spectacular show. I also can’t wait to get on my dancin’ shoes and hit up some Rubblebucket! This will be a first for me, but just the sound of Kalmia Traver‘s sultry voice puts me in a romantic daze. I’m also excited for some Keller Williams, Galactic, The New Orleans Suspects, The Infamous Stringdusters, Gov’t Mule, Michael Franti, G. Love, Common, Jane’s Addiction, Wooten, Zoogma and many more!
Once I first found out that I made it to the top 6, the planning and packing began. Well, mostly because I had a horrible nightmare that I showed up to SC with only my tent and the clothes on my back. That was frightening. But anyway, my festival essentials include my eno hammock, lots clean under drawers, costumes, sunscreen, baby powder, apples, and my blow up mattress. I’m always lookin’ out for the Scamper, so I purchased some goodies to give away to my fellow Scampers such as hundreds of glowsticks (for glowstick wars), glow paint, and fuzzy pink moustaches. I am also apart of the Umphrey’s street team, so you can expect some sweet Umphrey’s goodies from me as well! As your CIT, of course I will give you a personal perspective of my SC experience through technology, but I’m all about you, the Scamper. I can’t wait to get to know you and make lifetime friends in the process. I’m going to be running around in costumes half of the weekend, so if you’re dressed in a costume too, I wanna meet ya and award you with a fuzzy pink moustache! And as promised, I will be bringin’ those apples! So if you’re a fan of the apple, be ready to catch one headed in your direction. Also, I’m coming to SC with my main squeeze Adam. If you watched my contest video, he was the dude that was trying to “rob” me. One of our favorite things to do together is swing dance, so you’ll probably see us bustin’ some swing moves during sets and especially at Gogol Bordello. I’ll also be hangin’ with my friend Joe (who I met some years ago through my best girl E-Flat) and his friends who are SC veterans.
I am excited and proud to say that this is going to be my first Summer Camp! And I can’t wait to spend it with you. So if you see me out and about, don’t be shy, come say “hi”! I’d love to chat it up with you or dance our booties off together to some tasty tunes. So let’s make it the best one yet! (Not only because my birthday is on Thursday of SC, but especially since I heard some crazy rumor that the world is supposed to end sometime late this year…it’s probably a buncha psssh, but let’s do it up anyway!)
Love, hugs, and thugs,
Mo
Recently, The String Cheese Incident announced they’d be playing 3 days a Red Rocks this summer. A true treat for Cheese fans and Coloradans alike. With the other recent announcement of a band like Yonder coming to Summer Camp, I could’t help but pull this little slice of blue grass heaven out to show you all.
Earlier this winter, the Emmitt Nershi Band played at the Bluebird Theater in Denver. What a rip roaring good time that was! I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the show and it was packed in there. So many good vibes, so many good people. I love seeing all the people come together at the same time during the culmination of a song, just dancing away and yelling at the top of their lungs. And that is pretty much what we got at the Blue Bird Theater.
Honestly, it took me a while to come around to bluegrass, but now that I am I really love a good boot stompin. Billy Nershi was just going to town on his guitar, and he had a huge smile on his face the while night. It looked like he was having so much fun up there, I was envious. Drew Emmitt on the other hand switched back and forth between his mandolin and several electric guitars making them all sing sweet, sweet songs.
The night was wonderful, the show was great, and here is a little snippet of the show:
Hey Campers,
Last year, the Red team came up with some pretty amazing tshirt designs on their own. So this year, to make sure EVERYONE can support their team, we’re excited to announce that we are currently accepting submissions for each team’s Summer Camp Field Day shirt. There will be 1 winning design for each team (red, yellow, blue and purple). All 4 winning designs will be printed in their respective Field Day colors, so they must be a single color design. Designs can have no gradient or shading, and must all be original artwork. All submissions MUST include Field Day, 2012 and the name of your team somewhere on the piece. Other than that, creativity is encouraged, so have fun!
To enter, sign up for a CrowdTogether account and upload your design. All designs must be submitted by midnight on April 20th. Then, fans will have an additional week to vote for their favorites. The designs with the most votes for each of the four teams at midnight on April 27th will all be named winners and each receive a pair of 3-day passes and VIP upgrades to the 2012 Summer Camp Music Festival.
Entries that do not follow the rules will not be considered, and may be eliminated from the entries by the Contest Director at their discretion.
For questions about the contest, please email contests@summercampfestival.com.
So get designing!
Yours truly,
The Summer Camp Director
For those of you who don’t know, the foundation of any good music event is the street team. If you are on one, you understand what I mean. If it wasn’t for the people on the street, spreading the word, how would anyone find out about that concert? Now imagine putting together a festival…how many concerts are there? There’s got to be at least 50. And since that’s 50 times the size of one show, well we need 50 times the street team. So I implore you Summer Campers, get your street team act together. Go out to your community and tell them about summer camp.
Recently, I made a video for the Umphrey’s show that came through Denver. Check it out here and put something together of your own for Summer Camp.
Hey Campers,
Umphrey’s McGee will be playing at The Canopy Club in Urbana, IL on February 19th….the weekend after Valentine’s Day! So we thought, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, to bring a Booth Love Photo Booth to the event for charity.
At the Summer Camp Field Day table you will be able to buy raffle tickets to win passes to Summer Camp, merchandise and more. Each raffle ticket will give you 1 photo in the Booth Love photo booth. The $5 from each raffle ticket will go to benefit the Champaign County Humane Society in Urbana. Fans will have from 8pm-12am to enter and snap their Booth Love photos. Winners will be notified by text message by the end of the show and can come collect their prize at the Field Day table after the concert.
For another chance to win, after the concert, the Summer Camp Facebook page will post an album of the photos taken throughout the night. Tag yourself for a chance to win one of 3 Thursday Pre-Party Passes!
This is a Summer Camp Field Day event so every raffle ticket purchased will count for points for the Red, Yellow, Blue and Purple Team. The team that raises the most money for the Champaign County Humane Society will win the Booth Love event!
The Champaign County Humane Society is funded entirely by donations from generous animals lovers. They need our help to continue the high standard of care they offer to homeless animals. Your donations will make a difference in the life of a dog or cat, puppy or kitten, rabbit or guinea pig.
Hope to see you at the Canopy Club and remember to buy a raffle ticket to support the Champaign County Humane Society at the show!
Yours Truly,
The Summer Camp Director
p.s. Have you seen the Booth Love video yet? It’s pretty badass….
What a way to start the New Years Run…Normally I see 1 band for 3 nights for New Years, but this one was gonna be different. Instead I’d be seeing 4 bands over 3 nights. One of those bands and one of those nights was one of the best New Year’s Eve that has ever taken place anywhere in the world, but more about that in a later post 
What I am here to talk to you about to day is a certain Mr. Troy Andrews, or as you may know him, Trombone Shorty. I am not super familiar with the brass band jam scene, but all I know is Trombone Shorty is the BEST trombone player I have ever seen in my life. On Wednesday and Thursday December 28th and 29th Trombone Shorty and his band, Orleans Avenue absolutely obliterated the Bluebird Theater in Denver.
I was lucky enough to know each of the 2 opening bands. The first night, Kinetix. The second night, the Fox Street Allstars. Wednesday night Kinetix was amazing, and to be honest, I was shocked. These guys were working with a new drummer and we all know that if the drums aren’t working, nothing is going to be working…to my surprise though, George, the new guy, not only learned the music perfectly (minus one hitch in the night…but hey, no one is perfect) but he CRUSHED IT!!! They sounded so good, they looked so good, one of the best Kinetix shows I can remember, and I’ve seen these guys about 150 times. Check out this sweet picture compliments of Kit Chalberg and Listen Up Denver, a great local music blog, check them out at www.listenupdenver.com
The second night was the Fox Street All Stars turn. Just another installation of a local band wreaking sonic havoc upon the souls of the unknowing…I know, that was little out there, but basically they played a heck of a show. Things are starting to come together for those guys…they are regular touring partners with the New Mastersounds, they continue to play great supporting slots at local venues, and they are about to get back in the studio to put another album together. Their new songs are awesome. Take it or Leave it is probably my favorite. It’s a super funky upbeat tune and the first lyrics are “I know you like to think your shit ain’t stinky, but it’s smellin’ pretty bad,” so you get the gist of what the tune is about. This show was phenomenal and their sound was a great fit for the Trombone Shorty crowd, so if you like him, check these dudes out. Here’s a couple more pictures, this time from Tim Dwenger at Listen Up…
Moving onto the star of both shows, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue. Man, they were amazing. I would love to see these guys get a set a Summer Camp this year. So much energy so many influences. Sure it’s a brass band but they are influenced by jazz, hip hop, and they even do some light yamming. Even if you aren’t into this genre, you need to see these guys perform. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Thanks again to Tim Dwenger at Listen Up for some great shots!
Hey all,
Just a week after I got to see Roster and Kyle Hollingsworth, coming into town is Strange Arrangement. These guys are from Chicago and have played Summer Camp before. They played an awesome show at Cervantes Other Side and they were even recording for a DVD…I managed to get a copy of one of the song on there…Check it out here: Strange Arrangement – Sweet Love
Unfortunately I couldn’t sit down with them, but I did get to ask them some questions over email, check out their answers below:
THE INTERVIEW:
Jeff – Where are you from, individually and as a band?
Strange Arrangement – We are all from the South West suburbs of Chicago. Jim Conry is from Willow Springs, IL. Kevin Barry from Hinsdale, Joe Hettinga from La Grange, IL and Steve Sinde is from Burbank, IL.
J – Where did your band name come from, it’s usually a good story, no?
SA – Haha! We used to play together in High School and the name came from a very quirky friend Mitch Manz that thought the words just sounded hilarious. He also played Harmonica and percussion in the band and when we were trying to name the band all he kept saying was “No way!!!! Strange ArrANGEment!!! Plus, the name definitely fits the music. We reformed in 2007 and thought about a ton of different names but SA just stuck with us…
J – How long have you been playing together?
SA – Jim, Kevin and I (Joe) have been playing together since 1997. But went separate ways from 2000 until 2007 when SA was reformed in Chicago in 2007.
J – What festivals have you played before?
SA – We’ve played at The Big Up, Bear Creek, North Coast, Summer Camp, Hoxeyville, Rootwire, Shoe Fest and a lot of smaller regional festivals in IL, WI, IN, OH and MI.
J – What would you say your biggest show has been so far?
SA – Our biggest shows have been Bear Creek, Rootwire, Hoxeyville, Summer Camp and opening for Umphrey’s at the Canopy club and UM After show on the new years run last year at Kinetic in chicago. Also, the House of Blues in Chicago on the main stage.
J - I know it’s a rather vague question, but tell us a little about where you are at in your career as this band and what kinds of initiatives you are taking to continue moving forward…
SA – We are currently changing from a regional touring band into a national touring band. We recently have gone to Northeast, Southeast and Southwest markets and plan on returning to each of these regularly. We’ve recently expanded the production of our shows to include a light rig and will soon be releasing our live shows for download so wherever you are, you can get some Strange live!
J – Are you trying to get into Summer Camp? If so, what is that process like?
SA – Of course we want to play at Summer Camp! We love that festival! We keep playing heavily in the Midwest to keep spreading the gospel of Strange Arrangement
J - Anything you’d like to add to tell the fans of SC music festival?
SA – We are playing a Jam Productions show in Chicago at Park West on Friday Jan 27. It’s a CO-Bill with Strange Arrangement and Greensky Bluegrass and Chicago Farmer opening! Definitely not to be missed! Our website is the best place to keep up to date on new announcements and show listings. www.strangement.com Our winter tour will be at least 25 shows so stay tuned and hope to see you there!!
Also, don’t forget to like us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strange-Arrangement/164640530689