Archive for July 2006

Monsoon

July 27th 2006 by E..

As I mentioned before, this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday made up WXPN’s annual All About The Music Festival…this year’s was the second one under that name (previously it was called the “Singer-Songwriter Weekend”, but that was changed three years ago in hopes to expand the styles of the performers)…Friday night kicked off the Festival, with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the Yonder Mountain String Band, Danielia Cotton and the New York Dolls (yes, the New York Dolls) making their appearances on the main stage…we the interns had the task of escorting artists to various places (to and from the green room area, stage and meet and greet area, though not always in that order), and we were always on call for odd jobs that had to be taken care of…Friday started out with us in a bit of a tizzy, but that all passed once we got settled in (the event is held at Wiggins Park on the Camden Waterfront, which is between the aquarium and the Tweeter Center)…we helped guests find things and answered assorted questions during the times we weren’t dealing with rock stars, and it really was rather relaxing…a good break from sitting in front of a computer all day (though I would never be one to turn down formatting a script or sending a DACS unless there was a damn good reason for it)…

Before I go on, if it’s pictures you’re looking for, you won’t find them here…you will, however, find them here, so there…

After Friday was done, we all went home for very little sleep before we had to be back in Camden for what turned out to be an experience to remember…Saturday kicked off with local act Slo-Mo featuring Mic Wrecka…you may remember that I saw them at World Café Live this past New Years Eve…Slo-Mo is actually Philadelphia musician Mike Brenner, who mixes his steel-guitar mastery with hip-hop beats…for his new album, My Buzz Comes Back, he teamed up with local rapper Mic Wrecka to create a damn cool record if I ever heard one…anyway, I helped Mike get settled in, and brought his merchandise up to the artist merch booth for him…I talked a bit with him, too, and he was just as nice on Saturday as he was on New Years…here’s something cool: Matt Frederick, who works off and on at Pep Boys (with my dad) used to be in a band called Napalm Sunday, whose lead singer was Gerry McGoldrick…Gerry was on an album called No Electric Guitars, which featured several Philadelphia musicians, including Mike Brenner…I told Mike about this connection on New Years, and he was happy to hear that Gerry’s former bandmate is doing well…on Saturday, I informed him that Napalm Sunday is getting back together, which served not only to tell him about an old friend, but to subtly remind him as to who I was (seriously, how many people my age does he talk with about Napalm Sunday?)…so that was that…

After Slo-Mo performed (and after I bought a Slo-Mo shirt), it started to drizzle…then it got really windy, and before we knew what was going on, about twenty of us, interns, on-air hosts and other staff alike, were not only seeking shelter in the tent set up around the broadcast booth (XPN was broadcasting the whole festival live on the air), but holdng the tent from being blown away in the wind and rain…we got all of the techlology and equipment safely stowed away, and all of the people who were too short to help hold the poles of the tent we asked to run to the green room area (the green room was actually a room in one of the wings of the aquarium)…it was kind of scary how fast the winds were blowing, and the thunder and lightning was not to friendly-sounding either…eventually, the rain did ease up for a bit, and the festival was cancelled for the rest of the day, with some of the acts scheduled to perform at World Café Live later that night (Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3, Josh Ritter and Willy Mason, to be precise)…all of the programming interns that were there (me, Lynn, Anna, Melanie and Jack) all went to Jack’s car for a pretty entertaining trip back to XPN…I was dropped off at 30th Street and went home, since not everyone was needed to come that night…so I did go home and rested, rested, rested…

Come Sunday and everyone was tired and a little on-edge…what would the crowd be like today?…tickets and stubs from Saturday were good for Sunday, too, so would there be uncontrollable tons of people?…well, there were a lot of people, but everything was under control…highlights from the day included seeing the IV Thieves (that’s “Four”, not “I. V.”, as I learned so many times), who used to be called Nic Armstrong and the Thieves, as well as seeing the headliner, Allen Toussaint…it was a lot of fun to meet him, since he is a true gentleman…by the end of the Festival, we were (and many of us still are) very tired, but we all had a great time…am I looking forward to next year?…well, I’ll let you know when I hear the line up, and after I get myself a rain slicker, just in case…

More work tomorrow, but what else?
E.

Lyric of the Time:
And when it rains, you’re shining down for me
And I just can’t get enough, I just can’t get enough
Just like a rainbow you know you set me free
And I just can’t get enough, I just can’t get enough

You’re like an angel and you give me your love
And I just can’t seem to get enough

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