4Peaks 2024 - Music Report

I mentioned in the 4Peaks 2024 Road and Festival Report that I would post about the bands. This year we were able to see or at least very clearly hear every band. So, this is fairly exhaustive. I will follow a similar pattern to what I did in 2021 (See 4Peaks 2021 Music Report).

Stages

TEB closing Friday

4Peaks has always had at least 2 stages. Some years, there was a third stage in Kidlandia for quieter acoustic singer-songwriter sets. This stage was not there in 2021 (no Kidlandia either) nor this year. Perhaps, that stage was an experiment that will return. The main stage appeared to be the same stage that has been used in prior years. It featured large Ryan Kerrigan side tapestries and a large sheer fabric across the back of the stage with a big floating 4Peaks logo in the center. Across the top, of course, was "4Peaks Music Festival", there were many speakers suspended on either side and across the front, lights, fog machine, etc.

The smaller (Lava Rock) stage was not an enclosed tent as had been prior years, nor was it the small platform used in 2021. Instead, the house space looked like an inverted taco and felt like a large concert shell, creating a shaded, but open space. Boo and I really liked the open air. The lack of sides allowed breezes to pass through and allowed the music to flow out more clearly out into the larger event space. We hope they repeat this set up in future years. The stage itself was nearly as wide as the usable part of the main stage, but lower to the ground (but not by much) so the artists who appeared on this stage felt closer, more intimate. Unlike prior years, the shorter Thursday evening of bands played on the main stage. This was by design from the outset, but it was not clear why. Sunday was as-usual with the 2 bands playing this (Lava Rock  / smaller) stage. The morning yoga classes were also held at the Lava Rock stage.

Music

In the past, I would describe the band's sound and then explain whether I would go see them again. This usually takes the form of "I would stay at my bar if they showed up" or something like that. Copying what I did in 2021, I will shorten those statements into a number 1-5:

1 - if (artist) arrived to perform at a place I was all set up for the night, I would leave

2 - if (artist) showed up to play, I would pay my bill and prepare to leave but look for improvement

3 - if (artist) showed up, that's fine, but I'm not looking for them

4 - I will pay attention to when they are playing in town and go if I can

5 - I will look for this artist, add them to my instagram and jambase feeds, etc

Magnolia Boulevard

Overall, the bands were good. It seems like we are finally out of the "Age of the Banjo" and entering the "Age of the Keyboard". Years ago, when Mumford and Sons were all over the radio, it seemed like every new band with more than 2 people in it had a banjo and too many of their songs featured banjo solos. I called it "Death by Banjo". More like a slow death, as it was making me leery of festivals. As years passed, banjo solos diminished and in their place bands had bridged that gap with guitar solos. Now, it feels like we are seeing more keyboards, and with them the considerable variety of sounds produced. From organ to electric piano to some crazy (or dirty) Moog synth, I absolutely welcome the re-emergence of the keyboard. Few sounds with snap your spine quite like some funky keyboard.

Thursday

Billy and the Box-Kid: (2) bluesy, but pitchy kinda rock-ish 5-piece with 2 electric guitars, 1 acoustic guitar, a bass and a cajon (plus noisemakers like cymbals, etc). Fun local Bend band.

The Pickpockets: (3) 5-piece bluegrass with really nice intertwining instrumentals. Good vocals.

TEB: (4) These guys are kinda new-age jazz meets jam / prog-rock band. Very skilled, super clean tone. 6-piece including a guest additional lead guitarist with absolutely slammin keys. With 3 lead instruments, they tossed the solos back and forth, from keys to guest (on a LesPaul) to lead singer (on a Strat/Telecaster). The grooves were super fun and these guys were very dance-able bringing different rhythms from song to song. Overall they are a really good band, but the bass player, a fellow lefty, was visually (and sometimes musically) distracting.

Friday

Wolfchild: (2) I was really not excited about Wolfchild and would only check him out at a coffee shop or similar where I can tuck in for a full show of slow story-based singer-songwriter material. He was way too low key for a festival, especially one geared towards grooving jams and/or power vocals. Wolfchild would probably fit better into a folk festival.

GreenNeck DareDevils: (2) Good instrumentalists; tight band with strong solos and decent backup vocals. So why a 2? The vocalist tries too hard, over-singing the melodies. Between every song he hit us with "Let's go" crap like, seriously, the whole time, every time. Not to over-grind it, but he had a professional announcer voice (like a DJ or voice-overs for advertisements) that made all of it feel less sincere. If not for the band around him, it would be a 1. Yeah, I know that's harsh. My blog, my thoughts.

Miko Marks: (5) Holy crap. I mean, like, wow. Miko's vocals are amazing, pulling tones like early Tina Turner, Mavis Staples or Aretha with a full-on hard-bangin band. Soul, Gospel, R&B, this 4-piece started playing to a crowd of maybe 50 of us and by the time they were done there were well over 200 people, pulled from their respective camps. Guitarist also played harmonica that killed. Keyboards were clean electric piano toned (coulda been louder in the mix, mr soundman) and the bass player was arguably the best fit-for-style of the whole festival. He created a pocket and we all danced in it. Definitely the most solid dancing bass of the festival. Miko Marks are legit, we will definitely see them again.

Ural Thomas and the Pain: (3) Chicago blues / MoTown. Baritone sax, multiple percussionists, keys. Very professional outfit, but lacked the special something that inspires. The musicians around Ural had periods when they looked bored so the energy from the stage was not very powerful. Perhaps, they suffered from following Miko Marks' so their perceived disinterest was really just because Miko Marks had just thrown down so hard.

ALO: (3) Jerry Garcia electric guitar tone, noodle band. ALO has appeared at this festival a few times, and we left the concert area during Ural Thomas, so we heard ALO from the campground. Their rating might have suffered from Ural Thomas, so let's call it 3.5.

Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country: (5) These guys could play a straight Nashville country set, a bluegrass set or go full jam-band. They do all 3 styles incredibly well. Take those three things and throw them in a blender and that's how their set went: show us some country... show us some bluegrass... maybe a little jam.. and then start moving from one to the other. Shazam. Mind blown. For such a big stage and overflowing crowd, it felt very intimate with Daniel somehow bridging to the crowd such that we felt like he was playing to and for us, and not just putting on a show. Such a great vibe, and a fun band. They are an incredibly skilled 4-piece (guitar/singer, keys, drums, upright/electric bass), with perhaps the most complex electric bass work of the festival.

Broken Compass Bluegrass: we mostly missed them (they started at 10PM), but knew they would be on the big stage on Saturday. Great female vocal and they sounded like a lot of strings, but there were only 4 members and one of them was a bass, so that left a mandolin, violin/fiddle and a guitar. They made those sound like way more than 3 people. I mean that in a good way.

Saturday

Hasbens: (2) These guys had amateurish lyrics / vocals / stage banter like they were not really playing to a festival. More like they were playing around with some of their friends in their backyard. Cool they can get so comfortable, but their good jams were diminished by that professionalism gap. We were not at the stage, so maybe there was like a group of, like, 10 people so it felt to them like it was a backyard bbq. The mains were so strong, though, that the bands could be heard clearly over 500 feet away, sending it 100 meters into the camping zone, reaching lots of folks.

Bon Bon Vivant: (3) New Orleans horns, speakeasy-jazz with female vocals. They were really good at what they do, but it's not really my thing. Rating suffers accordingly.

Broken Compass Bluegrass: (3) Solid bluegrass 4-piece. Great lead and backup vocals. Just as good as the night before, but the day mix by the sound guy was even fuller/better. They played a knockout "Jack Straw" with multi-part harmonies.

Magnolia Boulevard: (4) Kentucky-based rockers with a strong female lead vocal. It seemed like the band was more supporting her, unlike Miko Marks' band which vibed more like a democratic band. Good jams on the keys, but lead guitar wasn't very inspired. Very generic solos from him, but he didn't take as many as the keyboardist. Maybe he was tired or something. The overall EQ of the band was too boomy, lacking punching clarity and the keys were buried in the mix which is too bad since they were the lead-instrument highlight.

Southern Avenue: (3) Very Portland Blues Festival. Strong female vocal with piano and a super clean guitar. They threw down a very clean, produced blues show with little raw or unexpected. As a jam-band fan, that is not a good thing; I would rather hear some edges, some risks even a mistake if it is in the interest of raising it up. On the other hand, this band would be a hit at the blues festival.

Diggin Dirt: (5) They had a Sly and the Family Stone or James Brown vibe meets mid-70's power. With a super strong male lead vocal and bangin horns backed by an early disco / 70's funk rhythm section these guys threw down HARD. They are out of northern California and we will definitely see them again. They threw down a Mississippi Queen that just crushed. Highlight of the day.

Neal Francis: (4) These guys are total pro's with great keys and a bumpin' rhythm. At the time, I described them to Boo as "walk like an ape music", like you just can't not dance. Your brain may say "but I'm in a crowd at a subway stop during morning rush hour" but your hips, listening through your headphones don't care. Must... Dance. Really great jams.

Pixie and the Partygrass Boys: (3) Bluegrass, of course. I suppose any band with the word "grass" in it must by definition be a bluegrass band? This group had played 2 days earlier at the Sawtooth Valley Gathering in Stanley Idaho, making the long trek to 4Peaks in between. That didn't appear to take any energy off their performance, though. Good fiddle work and mandolin, but, I think, simply comparing them to Broken Compass, bluegrass-to-bluegrass, I liked Broken Compass more.

Sunday

Hasbens plays Phish: (4) This was very unexpected. After an unimpressive opening on Saturday, they came out on Sunday and jammed Phish so hard. I don't know Phish tunes as well as some other artists, but they sounded amazing and the crowd ate it up. The few songs I recognized were done incredibly well. Sunday shows are generally not very well attended as folks pack up and leave in large numbers and very early. Still, they filled the shaded area of the bowl, and crushed. They have inspired both me and Boo to listen to more Phish. In fact, we created a new Pandora channel to facilitate.

Garcia Birthday Band: (2) They are a Grateful Dead cover band from Portland I've seen a few times. They are pretty much the same as they have been for years. Maybe I have unreasonable expectations of improvement, but this show wasn't the best I've seen from them. Regardless, they played an odd set, placing songs together in a kinda patch-quilt way that didn't fit together. But, it included a St Stephen and an Eleven (though the solo/jam part was in 4/4 not 11/8). The leads were okay, but just okay. Their vocals are pitchy with a not-so-great tone. In the end, there's a reason I (confessed DeadHead) don't go out to see these guys when they are basically the hometown Dead cover band and it's not just because my ex-wife goes to all their shows: they just really aren't that good.

---

Well, that's the band run-down. Boo and I left during the Garcia Birthday Band's execution of the Eleven, knowing we had a 4+ hours long drive home. We had not yet tried to start Hapy, so we also knew there was a possibility that the starter would need and R&R before we could leave the camp zone. As I mentioned in the prior 4Peaks 2024 post, Hapy was a great runner this trip, and started right up. As to the bands, we look forward to seeing Miko Marks, Diggin Dirt, Magnolia Boulevard, Neal Francis and Cosmic Country again. That's 5 new gotta-see-them-agains from one 4Peaks. That might be a 4Peaks best. Thanks again Stacey and your team.

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along-

4Peaks 2024 - Road and Festival report

It's that wonderful time of year again when Boo and I trek over the Cascades in Hapy the Wonderbus to take in whatever Stacey has cooked up for 4Peaks. After taking a couple of years off, she and her staff put together a fantastic return. Some years, I have spread my love of 4Peaks across 3 posts, covering our travels, the festival and the music as separate posts. Since we had very little in terms of adventures getting to and from, I will only have 2 posts this year, with the other one dedicated to the bands.

Backdrop

4Peak sunset

After replacing Hapy's starter and then doing the seals on the injection pump (see Diesel Dumping Discontinued, we still experience sporadic issues with Hapy starting. Once he starts, he runs like a champ. For example, the weekend before 4Peaks, I had driven Hapy, laden with gear, to a show and then over to the after-party. He was not interested in driving home. So, he came home on a flatbed and after removing and re-installing the starter, he would start again. A 1972 microbus should not behave like Windows 95, requiring a shut-down/restart sequence pretty much anytime the temperature changes.

I am also seeing diesel fuel drips on the bottom edge of the oil pan. Overnight, there will be a small wet spot underneath. While we are all fairly well aware that VW's like to mark their spot (it's usually oil), I think the Injection Pump reseal may not have 100% solved the problem. In fact, I think the failure-to-start issue has nothing at all to do with the starter and everything to do with the pump losing some of it's prime overnight. With starting concerns in my head, we spent the day before 4Peaks locating and packing our gear. I say locating because with the move and all the construction, our gear had moved around a bit. We used what we call "the Boot" to carry lawn chairs, the folding table, a just-in-case personal porta-potty, and a few other larger items. This makes for a much easier vagabond, and much better visibility.

There and Back Again

sporting a 2019 cup

With thoughts of no-start in our heads, we followed the philosophy we had years ago when we left town for ChinookFest (see ChinookFest 2017 Road Report) to go one stop at a time. Each time we stopped, we would park on an incline and well out of the way in case we needed to roll-start or R&R the starter again. Luck was on our side as we did not suffer a no-start, but luck favors the wise, and we did not shut off the engine unless we absolutely had to. For example, we had to shut off the engine for the fill-up on our way out of town, but we chose to try to get all the way home without re-filling (that's almost 350 miles round trip, which is especially dicey with a fuel leak). We also did not turn off the engine at the rest stop on the US-22 or any other time until we parked for the night at WinCo in Bend.

The route to and from 4Peaks is well worn by now: US-217 to I-5 South to US-22 East to US-20 East. We left before dark, but it was still almost 8PM. Traffic was light all the way to mile post 72 on OR-22 where we hit a night-time paving operation. Again, we chose to not turn off the engine while we sat for at least 15 minutes. Once we were through the construction, the traffic pressure behind us was downright scary. Apparently, many others who travel at night believe the speed limits and other safety expectations (like not tailgating, not cutting people off and not trying to run others off the road) expire at sunset. 7 or 8 vehicles of the possibly 30 which were in the construction queue passed us before we reached Sisters. Of those, the first 2 were perhaps the most dangerous I've had the displeasure of sharing a road. One was in a lifted truck who was following so close I could not consistently see his high-beams, but they were so bright they illuminated the road around us. Recall, we had the Boot, so the rear of the bus was a full meter further back than the bumper usually was. I now wonder whether a person could have walked between our vehicles, he was so close, and we were going 55-60 mph on curvy mountain roads.

 

When we arrived at the first passing lane, I immediately moved to the furthest right edge of the lane an eased my speed down to 55. He blew past and then I discovered he had a lane-filling double-axled utility trailer attached. If I had made a sudden stop to avoid wildlife, debris or a broken down car, his mass would have plowed through us. But he wasn't the scariest. The truck immediately behind him was worse: He tried to pass after the passing lane had ended and practically skimmed my mirror off as he passed. That road menace was also hauling a double-axled trailer, but his was a camper and twice as long as the utility trailer. I nearly hit the gravel on the far side of the right shoulder before he passed and I could aright Hapy. The others passed during dotted yellow lines or regular passing lanes and mostly did not create too much excitement.

restival

We vagabonded (slept in Hapy without putting the top up) in the WinCo parking lot, parking around back where the employees park, but also where the ground has a slight downgrade towards the exit. We hit the bathrooms and bought ourselves some dinner from the service deli, scarfed and went to sleep. The following morning, we returned to WinCo for bathrooms and breakfast. We were 20 minutes from the gates and had all morning so we hit the shops, collecting the things we were unable to find before leaving town (camp shower, an extra yoga mat, some bath towels, etc), and, of course, the coffee cart for a couple Americanos.

The drive home was less eventful and once Hapy started we didn't shut him off until we got home. We were very appreciative of all of our friends at 4Peaks sending "he will start" vibes our way. There were multiple stretches of road where the traffic was bad enough for us to clutch in and out of 1st gear: heading into Sisters from the East on US-20 and heading North on I-5 between Donald and Wilsonville. These are both common slow traffic areas, but I felt that clutch pedal in my left butt cheek the next morning. Otherwise the roads were clear, the traffic non-threatening and the weather was a comfortable 25*C (77*F).

4Peaks - The Festival

Sonny and Hapy

Boo and I have been going to 4Peaks since 2015 (see the first 1..2..3..4Peaks). The festival had been growing through 2019 and then CoViD hit. Stacey cancelled 2020 for CoViD, did a mini-Peaks for 2021, but then skipped the next 2 years to rethink/retool/refocus (and get married! Congrats Stacey!). I thought, perhaps, 4Peaks was not coming back. Needless to say, we are glad it did. 2024 was smaller, maybe even smaller than it was in 2015 at the old location. It was the same groovy, with art by Ryan Kerrigan, great local food vendors and our emerging favorite: yoga with Nicole. Boo and I hit Nicole's class all 3 days it was offered, and fell all the more in love with her approach. So holistic, and full of explanations of why we're doing certain things. Afterwards, we feel physically great, emotionally centered and a little smarter. Thanks Nicole!

We arrived about an hour after the gates opened, so we were able to set up near the entrance to the festival grounds. This meant that, like mini-Peaks, we would have incredible sound quality at our camping spot. Boo suffered with sinus pressure on Saturday so we heard most of the bands from "home", rather than in-venue, unlike Friday when we spent considerable time inside. The sound was amazing, and when she had stretches of feeling good, we danced in the grass. An additional benefit of where we camped was our proximity to the 4Peaks Founders' camp (Stacey and her closest friends, basically). So, while we had seen most of them over the years at various spots within the festival, we hadn't really met them, had drinks, swapped stories, etc. They're lovely people and massive Phish-heads, so we got on great. Michael, one of their friends, arrived late in a yellow-orange late Bay named Sonny, and set up alongside our camp. Michael farms cherries, and just completed his harvest... causing him to arrive so late. Griffin was in a golden tent and worked at a camp outside Sisters, and Pete drove down from Montana and slept in the bed of his truck. Further up the fire lane, a 1978 VW Westy driven by Natalie (2nd owner!) and her husband camped. She had a sign-sign on the side of her bus encouraging attendees to write a positive note and sign in exchange for a 4Peaks sticker she had made. Of course we participated and that sticker will appear on Hapy shortly. Over the course of the weekend, we re-connected with many of our old friends (Mike and Suzie, now living in Central OR, eg) as well. Obviously, we made a bunch of new ones. There are few things like a couple of old VW's to bring the curious, and we are more than Hapy to chat up whoever drops by.

Main Stage from behind Hapy

The last morning always comes too soon, and like every other year, we left before the final band (Garcia Birthday Band) had completed their set. We were not alone. It is actually fairly common for most of the festival goers to be gone before the final band finishes, and we were not in the 1st half of those who left. We had tried every food vendor, explored every product vendor, visited Kidlandia, played on the swings, walked the entire camping zone, danced and laughed all weekend. We will be watching our email for early-bird ticket announcements for 4Peaks 2025; we are 4Peaks lifer's now.

---

That's it for today. I'll post about the bands next time. Thanks, as always, for following along-

temp tattoo from the Founders

Cascade Equinox Festival 2023 - Report

In the past, I have created 3 separate posts for a festival: the road, the bands and then the festival itself. When the road trip brought perils, this made sense. Lately, though, Hapy has been driving so well, I don't really have much to say in the the road report. So, the road gets a subheading. We did not see much of the music this time either, so there's no point for a separate post there either. So, one big post.

There and Back Again

We had not taken a trip in Hapy since LeisureFest, but we had our gear relatively well organized. Unlike our usual night-time exit, we were unable to dodge out of work early. So, we did like everyone else and loaded up in the morning instead. We had some typical delays, like cleaning things and getting Tuukka to Aunt Linda's. We left home around 3, got some B20 at the usual corner station with a couple bags of ice and hit OR217 South. Cascade Equinox Festival is held in Redmond (due east of Sisters), so the route is fairly familiar: OR217 to I-5 to OR22 to OR20 into Sisters. From there, it's OR126 to Redmond. We have done the route as far as Sisters for 4Peaks, so we know the landmarks. We had not been through the Detroit Lake area since the wildfires a couple of years ago, so seeing both the devastation and the start of the regrowth was breathtaking. Hapy ran like a champ, and after the heavy traffic on I-5 lightened up south of Wilsonville, he purred the rest of the way.

We determined that the Vanagon rear-heater that I installed as a means of producing some heat in the bus is simply not up for the task. Since this heater capacity was designed as an auxillary heater for the back seat in a Vanagon, this should surprise no one, including me. To wit, we had virtually no heat on the drive out and only suggestions of heat on the way back. We remedied with lap-blankets, but I will need to do something more significant eventually. On the way out, we stopped only once at a rest area along OR20. On the way back we stopped at the iconic Sno-Cap in Sisters for lunch. We love Sno-Cap; the shakes are great and the service is small-town warm. The drive home was colored with a steady rain, which Hapy absolutely loved. His temp barely reached 185* most of the time, and with the help of a super-slow driver behind us holding back the heavy Sunday afternoon traffic through the mountains, we had OR22 to ourselves most of the way to Salem. We continue to consistently around 30mpg, even when loaded with gear. This trip was no different; when I finally filled up (after driving to the festival and back plus some around town driving) he got over 300 miles and about 30mpg.

Festival Upsides

installation art

Since one of the organizers for Cascade Equinox is the organizer for 4Peaks, Boo and I had an idea of what Cascade Equinox was going to be like. We were mistaken, but that wasn't all bad. There were 4 large installation art pieces being created over the course of the weekend. It was fun to watch the artists work, and see their pieces evolve. There were 6 music locations within the secured area, with up to 5 of them going at once. This created many options for what to see/hear when. The vendor area was significantly larger than 4Peaks, offering a wide array of products. I bought, and then lost, a ring, but otherwise our back-to-school shopping was limited. We sampled a few of the food vendors, and they were both good and popular. In terms of services, there were free showers and there was never a queue for a porta-potty.

Camping in Hapy, we discovered some upsides as well. We had not really used the side-walls of the BusDepot canopy before, but we did this time. They were incredibly easy to put up and take down, held firm in the gusty winds and the biggest surprise was how well they held in the heat from a Little Buddy heater. We slept very well and the sound-killer that I installed held the seemingly constant subwoofer to the background. We camped on flat, soft grass and had ample space for the bus and our canopy. We were able to collect solar to boost our luxury battery on Saturday. We had enough water from home so we did not need to source more, we brought plenty of simple food so we only cooked what and when we needed to. As far as a camping experience, it was great. Boo even got to read some of her book.

Festival Downsides

Unfortunately, there were quite a few things that did not go well. Some of these could be chalked up to a first-time event, but since both of the organizers have done events before, the oversights are worth noting.

Ticketing

the elusive map

When I first learned of this festival, I got super-early bird tickets the day they went on sale. At the time, they had not figured out camping nor even the schedule of things, just that it was equinox weekend. At some point, I was contacted about a car-camping ticket, so I added one. We discovered upon arrival that the terms of the festival attendance tickets changed / were refined after we bought them and that "early entry" was now an add-on. So, at the gate at 9:PM I had to pay another $145US or park outside and drive in / set up the next morning. We were cold so we paid, leaving us that much less to spend on vendors. In retrospect, perhaps we could have gone in in the morning. Anyway, once through the gates, we were led to the car-camping zone. 

Camping

Some of the biggest misses were around how they managed campers. First, the area was mapped out in very long (100 meters?) lines where cars were parked with one set of tires on the lines (see in top picture) and between the lines of parked cars alternated camps and fire-lane. On paper, this makes sense for maximum density. Because every car was hood-to-trunk with the car on either side, there were no cut-thru's for people to just walk by, so no one did. Accessing services meant walking all the way to the end of the fire-lane and then finding services. Which leads to the next 2 misses: porta-potties and water.

Drinking Water

When spending multiple days in the desert, it is highly advised to drink lots of water. In fact, from the stage at 4Peaks, we are often reminded to drink water. In light of this, the lack of access to drinking water for a large swath of the car-camping area was especially noticeable. Fortunately, Boo and I brought our usual 5 gallon water jug and I filled it before we left simply because our water here tastes very good, and water elsewhere often does not. Bringing our own is a luxury item, unless we find ourselves in a place which does not provide and suddenly it is a very precious resource. We discovered that there was a single source of water on the other side of the festival grounds (but within the camping ring around the festival grounds), had we walked that far. The return walk with a full 5-gallon would not have been fun.

Porta-Potties

Okay, all porta-potties are gross. That's just a given. In the camping zone, they were clumped in large groups, but very far apart. Once you made your way there, they were not serviced often, leaving you to bring-your-own-supplies. The first cleaning took place mid-afternoon Saturday, so for those who arrived when the gates opened on Thursday, that's a long go. Beyond that, the porta-potties themselves were especially disgusting. Even after they were cleaned, there was black mold on the walls and inexplicable yuck on the floor. Fortunately, once the gates opened, there were better services inside: actual bathrooms which appeared to have been cleaned before the festival started but not afterwards. So, it was bring-your-own-supplies even then. Had security been more thorough, it would have made for interesting conversations.

Gate Entry

sidewalls hold in heat!

Because of staffing or staff-allocation of security, the entry gate from the camping area into the "secured" festival area did not open until almost noon every day. On Friday, they didn't open until 2:30. Since the stages started at 10:AM, and most of the folks who would have been inside were camping, the early artists did not enjoy much of an audience. For campers who did not bring food, water or coffee with them (we see this a lot at festivals), they needed to trek to the other side of the festival grounds to gain entry thru the main gate for breakfast.

Security

Since this was the first year, Boo and I could forgive the marked lack of volunteers. What was surprising, though, was the large number of security people. Once the camper gate was staffed, there were at least 6 security people there, though it was usually 8 or 10. Only one person got through at a time, with one security person checking a bag and another patting people down. I don't know what the other 4-6 people were doing beside appearing as a show of force. Even still, it was evident that many of the security people were on their first assignment as Boo and I watched them get verbal training one morning prior to opening the gate. Even still, I am not sure what they actually stopped from entering. On the last day, I had forgotten that I had a pocketknife in my pocket; they didn't find it and I didn't volunteer it. They never found my bathroom supply in my cargo-pant pocket.

Maps / Directionals / Signs

camper entry

Once through the gate, there was very little to help you gain your bearings. There wasn't a map posted in physical form anywhere. On Friday afternoon, I found the map above buried on the website. Inside the festival grounds, however, there were no guideposts and very few signs. At one point on Friday, we asked a vendor what stage we were next to, and they didn't know either. With the map above, we figured out later that it was Harvest.

Use of Space

I wasn't sure where else to put these. First, there were carnival rides in the middle of product and food vending. This seemed like a strange place to put them, and, frankly, they appeared to be little used when we walked past. I understand that having a Ferris Wheel at a festival has become an expectation, but I honestly don't know why though I can see the appeal of combining psychedelics and carnival rides to a much younger version of myself. It still seemed strange to have them in the middle of vending. Second, there were 2 stages near one another (Equinox and Harvest) which created a sonic cacophony in between while a third indoor stage (Gravity) that wasn't used all day. Unfortunately for the vendors in the zone between Harvest and Equinox, this area was fairly clear of attendees whenever both stages were going. What made this such an odd decision was that the Harvest stage had artists who could have otherwise been in the "Gravity" stage/room, in terms of space. Gravity was a great room, easily larger than the tented "small stage" at 4Peaks, but it was empty until after Harvest closed for the night, at which point it opened. In our humble opinion, the Harvest stage could be eliminated, using that space for more vendor/food/hangout space. Maybe that's where the Ferris Wheel goes? Regardless, staging those Harvest-artists in Gravity where they are not competing with Equinox for sound-space would have enabled the attendees to really hear what they're doing... and maybe hang out for whoever is next. Considering how cold it was, simply being inside could have increased the audiences for the Harvest staged artists.

Impressions

"follow your dreams"

We did see some of the bands and were very impressed with how much Yak Attack has grown since we saw them years ago. They pulled a huge crowd into the Harvest stage area, getting a couple hundred people groovin. DirtWire, and Phantogram also stood out to us.

Unfortunately, our festival experience was colored by 2 independent health challenges. First, I appear to suffer some form of altitude-sensitive anemia so it takes me a couple of days to adjust to the higher altitude of central Oregon (2k  feet above sea level). I had a similar super-low-energy experience at 4Peaks in 2017(?), and recognize that I need to supplement with iron prior to going -or- arrive a couple of days early if I want to avoid that. Second, we had a fried rice dish from one of the vendors and triggered Boo's sensitivity to MSG. We ate and she almost immediately fell asleep, missing Friday night's artists. Last, it was cold and windy the entire time. The overnight temperatures were below 4*C (40*F) and daytime highs barely touched 20*C (68*F). Once the wind chill is added in, temperature was a near-constant challenge.

Totally unrelated, but I feel compelled to at least comment on it: do you see that sign in the "camper entry" picture? First Interstate Bank. First Interstate suffered a hostile takeover by Wells Fargo over 25 years ago, yet there are multiple First Interstate Bank signs around the fairgrounds, and they are in amazing shape. Clearly, the operators of the venue take care of the space if 25+ year old signs can look that good after sitting outdoors the entire time.

As we look back on this festival, I don't think we will be returning. The vibe of the festival seemed to be very "stick-with-your-tribe" oriented. From how the camping area was set up to tables near food vending to hang-out zones, none of the design appeared to support creating chance encounters or accidental conversations with people you didn't know. Quite the contrary, it seemed designed to support small groups staying connected to each other, but disconnected from everyone else. Even a queue for the porta-potties or restrooms creates that kind of 1:1 shared experience. The last picture, however, illustrates how the attendees were looking for that greater connection as this came from a "take something leave something" table that someone had set out in the fire-lane near their car. We left a fist-full of tea bags which had been picked up by someone else shortly thereafter. Clearly, there was a pulse there that the organizers failed to tap. Anyway, we wish them luck, but we will probably be celebrating the autumnal equinox in other ways in the future.

That's it for now. Back to the furnace next week-

Pickathon 2022 Pop-in

My brother Rob set me up with a one-day ticket to the 20 year tradition music festival on Portland's east side this past weekend. So, rather than spend the day sanding, I ran with the bulls at Pendarvis Farm. Today's post is a collection of observations. Like any cultural anthropologist, I bring with my observations a bias from prior experiences (Black Sheep, 4Peaks, NW String Summit, Horning's Hootenanny, and ChinookFest). I can't ignore all that, so understand that my opinions stem from what I saw at those other festivals.

Parking

Margo Cilker

Obviously any festival starts with getting there and back. With the significant increase in housing development around Pendarvis Farm, the festival site seems to be contracting. This year, there were significant issues with parking, and some persons who bought weekend parking passes found themselves parking either within the housing developments or at a shuttle-served lot a few miles away. We were fortunate in that we were able to find a spot in the blackberry bush strewn overflow parking complex Saturday morning. I say complex because it was a hilly area with mixed bushes, trees, and ravines, making the "lot" a labyrinth. Lotyrinth? Finding the car in the dark after many more cars appeared was especially challenging. For the beverage consumers, this would have been a very effective sobriety test.

Get In to Get Lost

Once parked, the entrance, and pretty much the entire festival, was effectively unmarked. You knew you were at the entrance simply because that was where some folks were walking in, but it was a 1-person wide breach in the fence marked by a guy sitting in a folding chair. The wristband tent was well run (though, again, the signage was virtually absent), and once strapped, Rob and I headed uphill on the gravel driveway towards the crowd. Our passage was interrupted by what would become a very familiar pair of catering tables on either side of the walkway, with a 8" x 10" sign reading "Bag Check". Here, they confirmed you did not have any alcohol from whence you came.

Cherry Hill stage

The "Bag Check" sign was the only consistent sign I recall seeing. The stages were unlabeled. The trails were unlabeled, so were the barns, leaving you subject to finding maps, which were posted in a few spots around the festival grounds. Unfortunately, they did not include a "you are here" marker, so the maps really only served to taunt you with seeing where you wanted to be, without actually delivering what a map usually delivers: a route to take to get there. Any time we were walking around, I really had no idea where I was or how to get where we were going. "Rob, you're driving," was a familiar refrain. He had been to Pickathon a bunch of times and had been at this event for the prior 2 days... and even he had to check himself on where we were and how to get where we wanted to be. It was a rolling navigational pop-quiz. Frankly, something as simple as a single central post with arrows pointing in the general direction of the stages would have helped.

Beyond the lack of signage and having to pass through security twice every time we went to the Woods stage (or to the barns) and back, Pickathon did a great deal of crowd management through frustrating clear paths with fences or other obstacles. A route would look clear and then you would get to the end of the path, terminating with a small "artists only" or "staff only" sign and a security person. My last complaint / observation is the dust cloud. Rob and I both wore masks most of the time for CoViD reasons initially, but found them to be critical in keeping the dust out of our lungs. I still had considerable brown junk in my nose after wearing the mask all day because the event staff were not watering the trails we were allowed to use. At other festivals I have gone to, this is standard fare: those 4-wheel golf carts would run water sprayers on the main trails to cut down on the dust. Even in festivals based on the desert (4Peaks, eg) would do this, and the water in Bend ain't cheap. The dust management, when combined with the forced-crowd routing, was a major miss.

Vending

After all that complaining about logistics, the vendors were fantastic. There were probably 25 different food options, including beer and pizza offerings at the remote stages. The lines were fairly long all evening, and they did not move terribly quickly, but the prices were reasonable ($16 for a burrito, eg). 

Because Pickathon is a waste-free event, you need to buy or rent a plate or utensils for food and buy a cup for drinks. I had not seen a waste-free festival before, and now, in retrospect, this was admirable. There wasn't any garbage anywhere; no litter, no overflowing garbage cans, etc. The location between the food vendors and the merch tent where one could purchase these items had no line at any point that I can remember, even during the heavy dinner food rush. If you did not want to buy, and wanted to rent, the exchange took place there, with a return (no cash back, you got a food/drink chip) after you visited a washing station that was kinda far away. I got a burrito and skipped the whole commemorative plate thing, but the concept and execution were impressive. Other festivals could learn from this.

The merch tent was efficient and had lots of swag for both the festival and the artists. Of all the festivals I've been to, I think this merch tent was the best supplied. Considering how many artists appeared, having shirts and recordings for what seemed like every artist was no easy feat. I grabbed a poster, rather than a T-shirt (I can see the poster every day, the T-shirt comes up in the rotation, like, once every 6 weeks).

Camping

Bella White

Neither Rob nor I camped, but some of Rob's friends were in the car-camping area closest to the festival grounds. So, we visited long enough to get a sense of the scene. The car-camping zones were set up on slightly sloped, open field about 10 meters wide by, maybe 100 meters long with a fire lane along one side and a fence along the other. Cars were parked two or three deep against the fence with canopies and tents intermixed in between. Everything was close together for sure, but Rob's friends had a large rectangular canopy under which they spent the majority of their awake-but-not-at-music time. They seemed quite comfortable.

The tent camping seemed to be pretty much everywhere, at least in the treed areas; the open ground around and between most of the stages hadn't any campers. Once in the forest, however, it almost seemed like if there wasn't a trail or a tree, there was a tent. Of course, we did not hike into the deeper areas, but we met a friend who was camped at the furthest end and she indicated that when she arrived (early-ish Thursday) the best, flatter spots at the outer edges had already been taken. She had to clear her own spot with clippers. We joked about bringing a machete next year.

Unlike the other festivals I had been to, it seemed like the camping spots were really just used for sleeping, and no one was hanging out there. The only exception to that, other than a handful of close-in car-campers, was the hammocks. Those who brought hammocks had them strung between trees and appeared to spend most of their time lounging in them. At least, that is how it appeared, as they were there whenever we padded between stages. Even the RV zone appeared empty during the day.

Music

Garcia Peoples

Of course, the main reason for going to a music festival is the music. When Rob invited me to go on Saturday, there were 2 acts I really wanted to see: Built to Spill and Quantic. I had never heard anything by Built to Spill, but numerous people in my past have raved about them. Quantic, on the other hand, I had listened to here and there since the late 90's, and I really liked his original material. Rob had a few more on his "really want to see" list, and then had a bunch circled for otherwise open time slots. Below, I'll list who we saw in the order in which we saw them.

Jake Xerxes Fussel - Afterwards, Rob described him as a "white Taj Mahal". I thought that was generous. Jake's vocal range is much more narrow than Taj, and his guitar work was nowhere near Taj. After 3 songs we felt like we had seen everything he had to share and we left for the Woods stage to see Margo. Jake was an otherwise open spot on the schedule for us.

Margo Cilker - from Rob's "really want to see" list. They were amazing. Her lyrics have genuine word-smithing that far surpassed pretty much everyone else we saw. Margo was joined with backing harmonies by her sister, and there are few things as tonally perfect as sibling harmonies. When Boo and her sister sing together, it is magical. Add to that the lyrics, the melody lines and a tight performance group, and they really stole the festival for us. Her stage banter was approachable and created understanding for the next piece well. Seriously, for a first artist of the day, she could have been, and, arguably, should have been much later in the day. Still, the Woods stage represented, and gave her the love deserved.

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - We stayed to the very end of Margo's set and then had to navigate the bag check between the Woods stage and the others. By the time we got to the Grove, Frankie and co were deep into it. What we saw was punk, basically, complete with crowd surfing by some of the younger set. We were fairly far back, so the sound quality was not very good, so we didn't stay. Rob's friends said they were great, and they were in front of the sound board.

The Feels - We caught the tail end of the Feels set after tasting Frankie and the Witch Fingers. They were tight with a hard edge. Apparently, Pickathon was their last series of shows, so I'm glad we saw what little we did. The musicians look fairly young, so this isn't a case of retirement. More likely, some artists are heading into different directions. It will be interesting to see where these folks go.

Quantic

Rachel Briman - From Nashville, Rachel was chosen because we had an open time slot, we hadn't been to this stage except for one song by the Feels and it was surrounded by trees. Rachel is a multi-instrumentalist, appearing with a banjo, guitar and violin during her set. Unfortunately, the soundcheck appeared to have not gone well, as it was still ongoing when her set was supposed to start. The sound system was definitely not ready: we did not hear the guitarist at all for the first few numbers and of all things the drums weren't loud enough. Most unfortunate, though, the entire main was not loud enough. So, neighbors having a conversation at normal conversation volume were louder than the stage, and when Rachel was talking, we couldn't make out what she was saying. By the middle of the set, the mix was better balanced, though still way too quiet, but we could tell that she and her unit were good instrumentalists. The sound guy earned an F; total fail, go back to school.

Bella White - I don't remember where Bella was from or how we came upon her set. We were fortunate to get standing room directly behind the soundboard, though. As flat-awful as the sound guy was for Rachel, this guy was great. At the start of each song, he would jump on the sliders and make the mix spot-on perfect. As her set was starting the DJ at the stage behind us, unfortunately, did not get the memo that his set was over, so for Bella's introduction and first song, we had to strain to hear through a later Phil Collins recording. Yes, that's right; Phil Collins from a DJ. Wow, seen that now. Bella appeared with a violinist to her right and a standup bass to her left. They were really good, putting them in my top 3 for the day. Bella brought a charisma to the stage that no others did that day, drawing you in with vulnerability, wanting to hear more of her stories. Great harmonies, really sweet violin. Like Margo, we stayed to the very end, and also like Margo, we were sad her set was only an hour long.

Cherry Hill at night

Garcia Peoples - We headed down to the Galaxy Barn after Bella. We had an opening in the 5PM timeslot and we hadn't been inside a barn for a performance yet. The Galaxy barn is cool (quite literally. it is air conditioned), and fits probably 60 people. When it is at capacity, the air conditioning doesn't do much, but it feels very intimate. These guys were loud; like the Who loud. They were so loud that I pulled out the decibel reader on my phone to see how loud, and they were over 102dB during a quieter part of their 2nd song. I tapped Rob on the shoulder, showed him the reading and pointed my thumb at the door. He agreed and we hit the door. As to the show, their musicianship was really good. Their bassman was clever and laid down interesting lines while their lead guitarist shreded. They reminded us of Iron Butterfly or another late 60's riff-rock band, but their vocals were very disappointing, and the drumming was crude, like very early Black Sabbath (blacka-blacka-blacka) simple. We sat in the grass under a tree, where the outdoor speakers played to the "overflow" space for the balance of the set.

Quantic - We returned to the Woods stage (bag check again) after Garcia Peoples. We had an open hour, but the security lines were getting slower and we did not want to miss the start of the set. I have enjoyed Quantic's original material for literally 20+ years, but I had never seen him live. He rolled a "festival set" of danceable music that showed his roots (Afro-Cuban underbeat with some deep bass), but there was little of his original music in there. Still, he was awesome and the Woods stage crowd loved it. Of the entire festival, this was the only performance where the entire audience was standing if not dancing. Until this point, every other performance was witnessed by a 75% (or more) sitting crowd, with the standers usually along the outer edges, standing because there was no longer room to sit. No judging, just noticing.

Built to Spill - As the afternoon shifted to evening, the smaller stages shut down, but the security bag check lines were unrelenting. We intended to catch some of GZA, but working through the crowds really prevented that plan. We did catch a little bit, but then decided that scoring a spot for Built to Spill was a better use of a our time between. We set up right in front of the video camera tripod adjacent to the sound board. The vocal was low in the mix at the start, but that was resolved by the end of the first song. They rocked, and played past the end of the hour by almost 15 minutes. Oops. Such a good bass player, and the lead solos/jams were fantastic. How they could produce so much sound with so few players, I don't know, but Built to Spill were great.

Because of the different genre's, it's hard to say who was "the best" or my favorite. I think the festival day winner was Quantic simply because he got an entire crowd on their feet and dancing for over 30 minutes. Near the end of his set, I shot the imbedded video posted above. Having said that, my favorite was Margo. With Quantic second and then Bella, followed by Built to Spill. Everyone has an opinion; that was mine.

In the end, we really had a great time and I think the company I was keeping (brother Rob) was what made it so. Like Boo, he approached with a list of wanna-sees, but an openness to take what came, and change it up if what we encountered wasn't what we needed. I was worn out by the time I got home. A warm shower with a cold beer set me up for a long sleep. If you've never had a cold beer in the shower after a long hot dusty day, I strongly recommend it.

That's it. I intend to get back to Zed later this week / weekend. I'll post an update when I have one. Thanks, as always, for following along-

4Peaks 2021 Music Report

I would have collapsed my thoughts on the music into my prior post about the festival itself, but it got super-long. So, here's the music "review".

Stages

The small stage was smaller than prior years. It wasn't even really a stage as much as a 10x10 canopy set up next to the main stage, but behind the bicycle barriers. Unless you were way up front, you could not really see. In prior years, the small stage was set up inside a large tent, so folks had a place in the shade. No public shade this year.

The main stage, however, was a fancied-up semi-trailer flatbed. It was probably the same stage they had used in prior years. In 2019, 4Peaks commissioned artist Ryan Kerrigan to create the side tapestries, and they were reused. We talked with Ryan a bit and he figures they will probably use them for years. The backdrop was the familiar sheer with the 4Peaks logo in the center. The main speakers for the main stage ran along the bottom of the stage, pushing some solid mix all weekend.

In the past, I would describe the band's sound and then explain whether I would go see them again. This usually takes the form of "I would stay at my bar if they showed up" or something like that. To abbreviate the post, because it got really long, I will shorten those statements into a number 1-5:

1 - if (artist) arrived to perform at a place I was all set up for the night, I would leave

2 - if (artist) showed up to play, I would pay my bill and prepare to leave to monitor improvement

3 - if (artist) showed up, that's fine, but I'm not looking for them

4 - I will pay attention to when they are playing in town and go if I can

5 - I will look for this artist, add them to my instagram and jambase feeds, etc

Thursday

The music started late afternoon on Thursday, leveraging only the small stage. 

Blackstrap Bluegrass - basic bluegrass from Bend with pitchy vocals. 3

Scott Pemberton Band

Maxwell Friedman Group - great, solid R&B with hat-tips to jazz. Covered Herby Hancock and nailed it. Definitely work seeing Max Friedman with his group or sitting in with another group. We've seen him sit in with lots of artists over the years and while he is only 17, his growth has been incredible. 5

Elektrapod - wow. simply wow. Max Friedman sat in on keyboards and his solo's were just incredible. I think even he got swept up into it, getting lost in the groove and just pounding us. They introduced their new vocalist (Sara Clark) and she was just amazing, taking them to another level. This closer was our festival highlight, and, obviously, we would see Elektrapod again. 5

Friday

Friday and Saturday, the music shifted from main stage to small stage back to main stage, starting on the main stage. Boo concluded that the started on the main stage Friday morning so they could work out the kinks and set the levels with the first band so the rest of the day went smoothly. Since the alternative would have been to work out the kinks during the second act of the day, her logic seems pretty solid.

Stillhouse Junkies - first band on the main stage, and they were good. Solid fiddle, versatile, playing lots of uncommon songs in a bluegrass style. For example, they closed their set with "Heat of the Moment" by Asia. We heard this band while cleaning up morning dishes. 3

Fair Trade Boogie Band - really really good local Bend product that absolutely did not sound like they had only been working together for months. This band started what I called "the day of the bassman" where practically every band had a bass player who laid down grooves, forcing hips to dance. 4

Scott Pemberton Band - these guys were on my want to see live list. They were slotted in the early afternoon, so the bowl was pretty empty when they started. It wasn't by the time they were done. These guys rocked. They rocked hard. Great guitar and bass work. Scott doesn't use a guitar strap for what looks like a Gibson (read: heavy guitar) so he can wield it like a traditional guitar or lay it down on a bench and play it like a dulcimer or slide/steel guitar. I had high expectations for these guys and they delivered. 4

Western Centuries - Country mostly, and sorry-to-say, kind of forgettable. Fairly good, but nothing jumped out as special. We were getting lunch at the bus while they played, so it could have just been bad timing. 2

TK and the Holy
Know-Nothings

TK and the Holy Know-Nothings - Like Scott Pemberton, these guys were on my see-them-live list and high-expectations list. They were basically the happy-hour act, so the crowd was fairly sizeable. Boo and I found a spot where we were surrounded by abandoned low-back chairs so we were CoViD-safe, yet we were straight-on the stage. These guys are pro's, and should be touring beyond the Pacific Northwest. The lyrics tell stories, and are delivered with passion. The musicians are all multi-instrumentalists, providing whatever instrument the song calls for, even if that means the lead guitarist plays bass while the bassist and keyboardist create a horn section. These guys are so good, they are an absolute must-see and I will definitely follow them. 5

Ron Artiss II - Mellow R&B / blues with some tasty guitar that reminded me of Robert Cray. Boo and I were walking the perimeter of the festival during this set, so we didn't hear much of it with any focus. 3

Hot Buttered Rum - The Friday night closer, these guys were a mashup of Greensky Bluegrass and Little Feat. They are very skilled musicians, and the zydeco rhythms against traditional bluegrass instrumentation was really fun.... and complicated. 3

Saturday

Saturday, the music shifted from main to side to main stages again, starting with Stephanie Anne Johnson and the Hidogs on the main stage.

Stephanie Anne Johnson and the Hidogs - 3-piece including the vocalist (Stephanie) playing rhythm guitar, which meant any instrumental solo's were on the bass. He nailed it, though. Stephanie has a great voice that is clear and powerful through her range. She writes their material, so it is catered to her. The songs are short, but have good stories within them. Given the right lead guitarist, this group could be amazing; they are already really good. 4

Band of Comerados - these guys played at the unofficial GoWesty stage in 2019, and we watched the video filming from about 20 feet away. While the instrumentation might imply bluegrass, they are not a bluegrass band. They are more of a singer-songwriter vibe with finger-picking solos. 3

Sweet Lilies - there were nice harmonies, when they happened. Unfortunately, this group was all over the place genre-wise, doing rap tunes (Insane in the Membrane cover?), but not doing them terribly well. Other than odd rap covers, they mixed in slow ballads. They are either changing musical direction or just confused. As an audience member, I was the latter. 1

Todd Sheaffer - One of the original members of Rail Road Earth, there were some expectations about how he would appear on a bill that just had his name on it. He did not pull a Jerry Garcia and appear with a band. Instead, he played a series of slow, mellow songs on an acoustic guitar. He's good, but he put us all to sleep. Maybe it was the mid-afternoon sun, but I think it was the music. 2

Proxima Parada

Proxima Parada - From San Luis Obispo, these guys are all about the vibe. They lay down a pretty good groove, and create this mid-CA coast mellow that reminded me of My Morning Jacket. They got a little metaphysical odd, doing a long experimental space jam about "resilience" and another about "vulnerability". I think if they focused on the love-groovy they started with, they would have been the surprise of the festival as Stacy expected them to be. 2

Coral Creek String Band - Did you guess bluegrass from the name? Winner, but they were more country (no banjo nor mandolin). They did a version of Pink Floyd's "Breathe" that was pretty amazing. 3

New Monsoon - This was the final band on my wanna-see-them-live list for 4Peaks, and they were the last band to play the main stage. Unfortunately, New Monsoon was on everyone's wanna-see-them-live list, so the concert bowl was packed. Boo and I got as far as the space between 2 vendors and realized there was nowhere that was 2 meters from others. So, we listened in the greenspace between the venue and the camping. These guys were as good as billed. Definitely professionals laying down some classic jam-band vibe with some Rail Road Earth jammy bluegrass mixed in. They closed their set with a cover of The Who's Eminence Front that was really really good. 4

That's it for the "mini" 4Peaks Music Festival reports. We had a great time. We got more rest than folks really should get at a music festival, but that's how we fest... we don't call them "restivals" for nothing. Anyway, thanks, as always, for following along. I realize that my taste in music is just that and there are other audience members who have vastly different feelings about some of these artists. That's great, and that is what makes 4Peaks so right. There really is something in the performance music space for most people there.

As always, thanks for following along, and more next time-

4Peaks 2021 Festival Report

In my last post, I described the adventure of getting to and from 4Peaks 2021. Today's post is about the festival itself. I had intended to also include my thoughts on the bands, but this got super-long, so I will post on that later on.

CoViD Fears

My first reaction to learning that 4Peaks Music Festival was going to happen was probably very similar to your reaction when you read that. I went: "WHAAATT?!?!" or "that sounds like a super-spreader event to me". In the days leading up to the opening day, I hit the CDC website multiple times a day to see what the delta-variant growth curves looked like, and then the Oregon Health Authority to see if there were any new county or state level mandates. As the country slowly turned red on the CDC map indicating community transmission was very high, no new state nor county mandates came out after the indoor mask requirement released on 13-August. We were prepared to abort our trip as we were leaving town, considering places we could camp instead if the festival was cancelled upon our arrival. Boo and I expected to spend most of our 4Peaks time at the bus, avoiding sharing any close space with others.

Pandemic Influenced 4Peaks

rare pic of me

We were very curious about how 4Peaks would change their set up to keep things safe. I should probably start with how they referred to the festival as "Mini Peaks", and the steps they took reflect that different thinking. First, they radically reduced the number of tickets made available. Most years, there are a few thousand people. This year, they sold 500 tickets and not all of the tickets were presented at the gate. As of Friday morning, you could get a ticket for free through FB. In prior years, there was a "Kidlandia" space for the kids to have a 4Peaks day-camp kind of thing with art, activities and performance artists. This year, there was no kid-specific program; in fact, there were very few kids at all. They omitted the "silent disco" at night, the tent for the smaller stage, all indoor vendor space and even the overhead sails. As a result, there were no public shaded spaces. They also shortened the festival by a day, removing all programs from Sunday. Last, there was no grand entrance for the concert bowl, making the entire ranch "the venue". While this could have lead to rowdy behavior throughout, I found the opposite to be true: the camping area was more mellow than prior years. Boo and I did not really experience the food and drink vendors, but I understand that they would not refill cups out of CoViD safety.

For our part, Boo and I approached even the more-safe festival in a reserved way. I previewed all of the bands, and selected 4 that we would try to see in person and another 4 on a slighlty lower tier that would be on an alternate / depends-on-safety list. Then, when the schedule was released, we adjusted plans to avoid opportunities to be in a large crowd. For example, we caught the early bands of the day on Friday and Saturday when no one else was in the concert bowl: super safe, and included one band from each of the 2 lists: Stephanie Anne Johnson/HiDogs and the Fair Trade Boogie Band, respectively. Two of the bands on the first list played opening (Thursday) night. Opening night is always light at the stage, so we could see Maxwell Friedman Group and Elektrapod within the bowl without being within 2 meters of others. In contrast, the biggest names closed the large stage on Friday and Saturday: Hot Buttered Rum and New Monsoon respectively. For those acts, we did not go near the concert bowl: way too crowded, too intoxicated and too unmasked.

Yoga

Boo and Hapy

In more contrast to prior years, this year Boo and I did the 1-hour under-the-open-sky yoga on Friday and Saturday morning. It was really good, helping to work out the kinks from sleeping in the bus in 7*C (mid-40*F) overnight temps. There were probably about 50 fellow yogi's both days (some different, some of the same faces). I was one of probably 5 men, which was totally fine, but does make me think that for a single person seeking a female companion, s/he could probably not find a better place than a yoga class to find a centered female who is taking their emotional, spiritual and physical health seriously. Boo and I both found the overall festival very therapeutic and I believe that started with the yoga. In an aside, I started doing yoga for exercise when CoViD19 closed my gym, and even now, after my gym is open and charging me every month, I would rather do yoga at home (GymRa.com) than push weights in a public, enclosed gym. I am in the best shape, my most limber, of my life and that is from almost-daily yoga. Could not recommend adopting this practice more.

Camping

Regardless of which bands we went to go see, our camping spot was 50 feet from the main entrance to the concert bowl / vendor area, and almost straight-from-stage. As a result of our location, we could clearly hear the low end, and most of the high end coming from the stage. We could understand the announcements from the stage, and even make out the vocals from bands who had a clean sound. Some of the mid-range was lost, but that was a small price to pay for being safer.

The location for 4Peaks was the same as the last few years, but the venue was oriented very differently. The stages were in an area which was usually blocked off, and the usual camping area was blocked off this time. Instead of camping on angled desert scrub, many of us were on mostly flat, soft green grass. Hapy was set up near the RV's (where we were directed), on a corner next to one of the water stations so there were many passersby.

We laid out the large carpet, set up the lot couch, the kitchen, the canopy, the solar collector and Boo's shower (See Camp Shower). Of all the things that drew attention, it was the shower that drew folks over to learn the what's and how's: from the dollar store, get one kiddie pool, one hula-hoop, 2 shower curtains and 2 sets of curtain rings: $6US and you have a shower stall. Add a solar water heater (a black bag with a shower hose and nozzle attached to it) and you have a shower.

The Zamp solar collector connection to the luxury battery worked flawlessly, keeping our cabin and under-canopy lights running at night and all of our devices charged all weekend. We were able to offer charging service to folks, and play our stereo before the stages got going in the morning.. and by late morning the battery was fully charged again. Love that desert sun. I was unable to get the furnace to fire up, however. The initial draw for the glow-plug is just too high for a deep-cycle battery to support. I will have to integrate a typical car battery and figure out a switchable in-series path so I can add that battery just for the initial startup of the furnace. Something to let the back of my mind work on.

Meeting People

We have always made new friends at 4Peaks, and this year was no different. As I indicated above, our designated camping spot was right next to the area water supply. So, anytime someone in the general area needed water, there was an opportunity for a "hey neighbor" connection. Since we spent so much time away from the crowd in the bowl, we met and got to know a lot of our neighbors, like "the Brothers" (Glenn and Jimmy L-to-R) pictured here who had the camping spot behind us.

"the brothers"

We met many people who had also been going to 4Peaks for years, meeting only one person for whom this 4Peaks experience was their first. I imagine those who made it were the folks who were paying attention (since tickets sold out so fast) and who made 4Peaks a priority over the years. As a result, the folks we connected with were pretty special. Often, our connections started the same way: with how we are all trying to avoid crowd contact, followed by a CoVax information exchange and then talking about whatever... the bands, camping, vendors, outfits, etc. After the first few statements, it was like any other festival exchange, except for the 2 meters of grass between us.

Unlike prior years, we were not doing shots, swigging wine with folks, or hanging out in each other's camping spaces. I imagine some attendees did that, but neither Boo and I nor any of our immediate neighbors were hosting folks within their canopies. 

Thanks Stacy

Hapy in lower left

Ultimately, Stacy and her staff did an amazing job of holding a (Mini) 4Peaks that resonated like the early years. It was stripped down. No Kidlandia, no silent disco, no national touring acts. It was a regional reflection of a festival while not feeling like it was in the middle of a pandemic.

Boo and I love 4Peaks, but there's no way to truly express it. Driving in through the gates, I felt tears of joy welling up. I watched someone fall into tears, and then into another's arms at the end of the second yoga session, moved by the words of gratitude expressed by the instructor: thanks simply for us all to have a forum, a place, for a few days to re-center, and remember how we choose to be. I will be watching for the pre-sale notice for 2022, ready to go again already. Hope to see you there with us.

That's it for now. Next weekend is Hapy's 50th Birthday; I'll post on that later on. Thanks, as always, for following along-