Tag Archive music festivals

ByGD

Ok Village

My family has been incredibly fortunate during the pandemic. Unlike so many other people, we haven’t suffered any significant material losses. All we can complain about is missed traditions, like my daughter’s final Village Day at her elementary school. But complaining about those seems wrong in the midst of everything that’s going on.

This photo shows my youngest daughter’s ear protection and wristband from Doe Bay Fest 9. We’ve gone to almost every Doe Bay Festival since we discovered it in year 6. This year would have been lucky 13. How ironic.

The wristband says

Ok village, raise me

It’s a reflection of the DBF spirit of community that makes parents feel safe letting their kids run around the festival unsupervised. They can’t get lost because on that weekend the whole resort is packed with hundreds of people. And at Doe Bay, you know that those people are all keeping an eye on whatever kids are within visual range. If a kids falls off a rock or out of a tree or gets a bee sting – someone will notice and they won’t hesitate to help.

I’m not a particularly social person, so for the most part the whole quarantine experience has relieved more stress than it has caused me. But I’m sad there is no DBF this year and really hope it’s back on next summer. Because at least once a year, almost as much as the music, I miss the village.

ByGD

Music I Like – Live Performances

Last weekend was intense. On Friday night I saw the final program of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s season, Themes & Variations. On Saturday night I saw the Barboza lineup of Northwest Terrorfest. I intend to write about the ballet and the festival in more detail later, so I won’t say too much here, but naturally, I heard a lot of music I like.

Barret Anspach

There is alwasy good music at the ballet, but one piece in particular really grabbed me last Friday. Barret Anspach is a local-to-me composer. The double violin concerto VVLD was inspired by Vivaldi and written for the ballet Signature. I could not find an embed of the music, but it is worth clicking through to hear it on his webpage. http://barretanspach.com/#/music/vvld

And if you really can’t be bothered, here’s some of his older work.

Shrine of the Serpent

I saw five great bands at NW Terrorfest on Saturday, but of course I had my favorites. As often happens with me, I was most interested (and then impressed) by the opening band. Shrine of the Serpent from Portland were crushingly heavy. I recently read an article about Henry VIII and their set reminded me of his habit of executing people by “pressing.” But unlike most ridiculously heavy bands, Shrine of the Serpent have loads of melody.

Immortal Bird

I love the name Immortal Bird, which reminds me of Thao Nguyen’s feminist rage in “Meticulous Bird.” But the music is much different. This Chicago trio is more like the prize box at the dentist. Yeah, you had to let someone drill holes in your mouth bones, but look at all the fun goodies you can pick from!

If that sounds like a backhanded compliment to you, just ask yourself if you’ve ever seen a kid who wasn’t stoked to dig through the dentist’s prize box? (Plus, if you bought tickets to NW Terrorfest, you probably kind of like the sound of the dentist’s drill.)

Pelican

No, I did not see Pelican live last weekend, but since when have I ever been able to stick to a theme for an entire Music I Like post? The first time I ever heard Pelican, I realized there had been a seabird-shaped hole in my life up to that point. So when I found out this weekend that they are releasing a new album, Nighttime Stories, next week, you can bet I listened to the available tracks and loved them. I’ll probably like them again in next week’s post.

ByGD

Music I Liked – Pickathon 2019 Lineup

When the 2019 Pickathon lineup came out, there were a couple artists I was excited about, and a whole lot more I’d never heard of. More research was needed and here are the preliminary results. I haven’t worked through the whole line-up yet, but I’ve already got too many interesting bands to fit in one post.

Read More
ByGD

Pickathon Preview


Pickathon 2019 poster


Since I live so close to the Seattle Center, nothing will ever replace pre-AEG Bumbershoot as my ultimate family-friendly summer music festival. But since that festival doesn’t exist anymore, Pickathon is a close second.

The logistics are obviously a lot more complicated for a Seattle family, but there is a payoff in the resulting experience. And the lineup? While obviously not as huge, and with a genre bias skewed toward bluegrass and Americana, the lineup still comes close to Bumbershoot for its breadth and eclectic variety. Last night Pickathon announced their lineup for 2019.




Read More
ByGD

A Nine-Year-Old Reviews Pickathon

Pickathon Mt Hood StageI’ve written a bit here and on Three Imaginary Girls about my family’s first experience of of the Pickathon music festival this summer. I also made my 14-year-old write a teenager’s review. But Pickathon is truly a festival for the whole family, so I made my 9-year-old do a write up, too. I think you’ll find it helpful.

I made only very slight edits for spelling and punctuation (and added headers) to the following review, which was written without supervision or adult input.

Read More