Review: W.E. Fest 2007 - Monday
MONDAY
By Monday both Jim and I were tired and kinda burned out (too much of a good thing, W.E. Fest is), so we spent much of the day resting.
We ate dinner that night at the restaurant attached to our hotel, which we were both surprised at how good it was. The place is kind of the equivalent of a diner, with lots of different types of food to choose from, although it was obvious their specialty was southern cooking. That's why I was shocked at how good their eggplant parm was (one of only two Italian dishes on their menu).
Having completed dinner, we headed back to the Soapbox for the final night of W.E. Fest.
Now anyone that knows me, knows I love hockey, and come playoff time I watch even more hockey than usual. So one would think I would have been more disappointed about missing game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals to be at the last night of W.E. Fest, but with the fun I've had and the friends I had made over the last few days, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.
Highlights from Monday night:
Carmen Sclafani of Wiser Time: What do you get when you take the catchiest songs from the Black Crowes, without all those moody songs that they tend to dwell on? New Jersey's own, Wiser Time. Lead singer/songwriter Carmen came to W.E. Fest without the rest of his band to play on Organic Entertainment's showcase stage, and what I caught of his set was some fun stripped down versions of songs from Wiser Time's CD, "there and back again". Seriously, if you like the first couple of albums by the Black Crowes, check out Wiser Time.
Mook - On Sunday night Jim turned to me and said, "that kid over there, doesn't he look like the teen boy from Little Miss Sunshine?" Having not yet seen the film (believe me, I want to, I just haven't gotten around to it yet), all I could say was he looked like the guy in the ads. Well it turns out it was Paul Dano and he fronts a band based out of New York City called, Mook. Due to some cancellations on Monday, they wound up playing two sets, the first of which I caught. They started off their set with a lot of mellow tunes that weren't bad, but didn't blow me away. Then they played a song called, "Statues", that was mellow, but had this interesting old timey, slightly more upbeat chorus, that just sucked me in. After that, their music seemed to get infinitely more interesting. All in all, I'd love the opportunity to see them live again.
Lara Ewen - I've been playing Lara's CD, "ghosts and gasoline" for several months now, and even interviewed her on Lazlo's Den, but live her music sounded even better. The songs, stripped to the basics of acoustic guitar and vocal, seemed more compelling, both musically and lyrically.
The Commons - Another New Jersey band???? Jeez, I think I'm going to start a W.E. Fest north just so I can get to hear a bunch of North Carolina bands LOL! I've seen the Commons many times over the years, so it was quite surprising that it wasn't until this particular show that I realized lead singer Keith Monacchio's singing voice sounded a bit like Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies. Another person commented to me during their set, "They're good. Great musicians. Must be because they're old." I know the person meant that as a compliment, and it is...hey, I'm old too.
T.H. White: Interesting, apparently Mr. White writes music with vocals, but on this night he was choosing to play them as instrumentals. Accompanying his guitar work, was Second Dan's drummer, Sonny Ratcliff, and a loop/beat machine. The music was quite interesting background music, and made me harken back to when I used to do spoken word. I was thinking, yeah, if I still did spoken word, I could come up with some good stuff to go over this. Of course, T.H. White already has vocals for all of these songs. Guess I'll have to wait until his new CD comes out to hear them, but I'm certainly intrigued.
Ben Godwin: Another previous guest on Lazlo's Den, and a CD that gets a lot of play, is Ben Godwin's, "skin & bone".
A funny side note, a guy comes up to me Sunday night as I'm watching a band, and tries to introduce himself to me. "Hey, are you Lazlo?" - "yeah" - "Hi, I'm Ben (garbled through the sound of the rock band playing)" - "I'm sorry?" - "Hi, I'm Ben (garbled again through the sound of the rock band playing)" - "Hey, Hi Ben!" Of course I'm thinking at this point who is this guy. Well, when I saw Ben Godwin tuning up his acoustic guitar for his set on Monday I realized who Ben was and immediately went over and explained the other night and apologized.
Now, I wasn't sure what to expect from his solo live performance, seeing him with an acoustic guitar, when his CD was very piano heavy, but his songs work just as well with an acoustic guitar, as so much rests in the strength of Ben's voice.
Since Jim & I wanted to hit the road to head back to New Jersey at 5am on Tuesday, we called it a night after Ben's set, but what a great set to end a great long weekend on.
Coming to W.E. Fest, I learned it's about more than just the music, films, comics, zines, and art. It's about seeing old friends and making new ones. Rarely at a festival do you see the bands hanging out talking to other bands and people, not just on the day they were performing, but on subsequent days also. This was not a play your set, pack up and go type of show, this was a play your set and then hang out and have fun.
While New Jersey will always be my home, I had such a great time in Wilmington, North Carolina, that I suspect when I go back to W.E. Fest next year, it will feel like home too,. That's how it felt while I was there, and that's the fondness with which I remember it almost two weeks later as I write these words.
MONDAY
By Monday both Jim and I were tired and kinda burned out (too much of a good thing, W.E. Fest is), so we spent much of the day resting.
We ate dinner that night at the restaurant attached to our hotel, which we were both surprised at how good it was. The place is kind of the equivalent of a diner, with lots of different types of food to choose from, although it was obvious their specialty was southern cooking. That's why I was shocked at how good their eggplant parm was (one of only two Italian dishes on their menu).
Having completed dinner, we headed back to the Soapbox for the final night of W.E. Fest.
Now anyone that knows me, knows I love hockey, and come playoff time I watch even more hockey than usual. So one would think I would have been more disappointed about missing game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals to be at the last night of W.E. Fest, but with the fun I've had and the friends I had made over the last few days, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.
Highlights from Monday night:
Carmen Sclafani of Wiser Time: What do you get when you take the catchiest songs from the Black Crowes, without all those moody songs that they tend to dwell on? New Jersey's own, Wiser Time. Lead singer/songwriter Carmen came to W.E. Fest without the rest of his band to play on Organic Entertainment's showcase stage, and what I caught of his set was some fun stripped down versions of songs from Wiser Time's CD, "there and back again". Seriously, if you like the first couple of albums by the Black Crowes, check out Wiser Time.
Mook - On Sunday night Jim turned to me and said, "that kid over there, doesn't he look like the teen boy from Little Miss Sunshine?" Having not yet seen the film (believe me, I want to, I just haven't gotten around to it yet), all I could say was he looked like the guy in the ads. Well it turns out it was Paul Dano and he fronts a band based out of New York City called, Mook. Due to some cancellations on Monday, they wound up playing two sets, the first of which I caught. They started off their set with a lot of mellow tunes that weren't bad, but didn't blow me away. Then they played a song called, "Statues", that was mellow, but had this interesting old timey, slightly more upbeat chorus, that just sucked me in. After that, their music seemed to get infinitely more interesting. All in all, I'd love the opportunity to see them live again.
Lara Ewen - I've been playing Lara's CD, "ghosts and gasoline" for several months now, and even interviewed her on Lazlo's Den, but live her music sounded even better. The songs, stripped to the basics of acoustic guitar and vocal, seemed more compelling, both musically and lyrically.
The Commons - Another New Jersey band???? Jeez, I think I'm going to start a W.E. Fest north just so I can get to hear a bunch of North Carolina bands LOL! I've seen the Commons many times over the years, so it was quite surprising that it wasn't until this particular show that I realized lead singer Keith Monacchio's singing voice sounded a bit like Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies. Another person commented to me during their set, "They're good. Great musicians. Must be because they're old." I know the person meant that as a compliment, and it is...hey, I'm old too.
T.H. White: Interesting, apparently Mr. White writes music with vocals, but on this night he was choosing to play them as instrumentals. Accompanying his guitar work, was Second Dan's drummer, Sonny Ratcliff, and a loop/beat machine. The music was quite interesting background music, and made me harken back to when I used to do spoken word. I was thinking, yeah, if I still did spoken word, I could come up with some good stuff to go over this. Of course, T.H. White already has vocals for all of these songs. Guess I'll have to wait until his new CD comes out to hear them, but I'm certainly intrigued.
Ben Godwin: Another previous guest on Lazlo's Den, and a CD that gets a lot of play, is Ben Godwin's, "skin & bone".
A funny side note, a guy comes up to me Sunday night as I'm watching a band, and tries to introduce himself to me. "Hey, are you Lazlo?" - "yeah" - "Hi, I'm Ben (garbled through the sound of the rock band playing)" - "I'm sorry?" - "Hi, I'm Ben (garbled again through the sound of the rock band playing)" - "Hey, Hi Ben!" Of course I'm thinking at this point who is this guy. Well, when I saw Ben Godwin tuning up his acoustic guitar for his set on Monday I realized who Ben was and immediately went over and explained the other night and apologized.
Now, I wasn't sure what to expect from his solo live performance, seeing him with an acoustic guitar, when his CD was very piano heavy, but his songs work just as well with an acoustic guitar, as so much rests in the strength of Ben's voice.
Since Jim & I wanted to hit the road to head back to New Jersey at 5am on Tuesday, we called it a night after Ben's set, but what a great set to end a great long weekend on.
Coming to W.E. Fest, I learned it's about more than just the music, films, comics, zines, and art. It's about seeing old friends and making new ones. Rarely at a festival do you see the bands hanging out talking to other bands and people, not just on the day they were performing, but on subsequent days also. This was not a play your set, pack up and go type of show, this was a play your set and then hang out and have fun.
While New Jersey will always be my home, I had such a great time in Wilmington, North Carolina, that I suspect when I go back to W.E. Fest next year, it will feel like home too,. That's how it felt while I was there, and that's the fondness with which I remember it almost two weeks later as I write these words.