FLOYDFEST
I
never win anything. Or at least that’s
what I’ve always said. Part of the
reason is that I don’t really try. I
don’t buy lottery tickets, and I rarely enter raffles. As my wife likes to say, you can’t win if you
don’t play.
That
all changed in dramatic fashion a couple of months ago. I was looking through an online issue of Relix magazine (http://www.relix.com/)
when I saw a
contest for free tickets to Floydfest (http://www.floydfest.com/). That caught my attention. Floydfest is a
music festival in southwestern Virginia that I’ve heard great things
about. We’ve wanted to attend the last
couple of years, but other commitments and activities intruded. This year we had actively talked about going
for at least a day or two of the four-day festival. The lineup was stellar, featuring Alison
Krauss & Union Station, Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers, Sam Bush, Ricky
Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, and the Steep Canyon Rangers. And that was just the last day! With bands like Galactic, ALO (Animal
Liberation Orchestra), Michael Franti &
Spearhead, Drive By Truckers, and Leftover Salmon on
tap for the other 3 days, I really wanted to go.
I
entered the contest and promptly forgot about it. After we returned from vacation we resumed
discussing going to the festival. Should
we go? If so, should we go for one day,
or two, or the whole thing? Going to
whole event would be expensive - $200 for each ticket.
I
was stunned when I received an email from Relix stating
that I’d won 2 free tickets for the whole weekend. At first I didn’t believe it. I won??
How could that be? Needless to
say, we were thrilled.
We
had one critical decision to make. We
could camp at the festival for free.
However, we’d have to park a couple of miles away, and we wouldn’t have
access to our car. The other option
would be to car camp a couple of miles away.
We’d camp at our car, but we’d have to ride shuttle buses to and from the
festival. The cost was $75, which wasn’t really unreasonable for 3 nights.
Christy
requested car camping. With the car
handy, she could bring her bike, and she would have flexibility in planning her
workouts. It also meant that I could go
hiking in the mornings. We’d also have
flexibility with cooking our own meals, rather than relying on the food for
sale at the festival.
The
last challenge was simply getting there.
Christy is out of school until mid-August, so her schedule was
clear. My work schedule was more of a
dilemma. Originally I was scheduled to
work in Illinois the week prior to the festival. That meant arriving late on Friday and
missing a bunch of good bands.
Fortunately my schedule changed, and I was switched to an assignment in
Charleston. Christy came with me (since
she’s never opposed to a free trip to the beach). I finished up on Thursday afternoon, after a
miserable day spent in an office with a broken air conditioner. It was 94 degrees INSIDE when we finally
headed north. I was determined to get to
the festival in time for Galactic’s set, which was scheduled
for 11:30. Galactic (http://www.galacticfunk.com/) is one of my
favorite bands, and I was looking forward to seeing them for the first time in
years.
Fortunately
the drive was pretty smooth. Traffic was
heavy on I-26 east of Columbia, but it always is. After that we had no problems. We even stopped for dinner at Red Bowl in
northwest Charlotte before resuming the journey. We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Fancy Gap
and enjoyed a quiet, spooky drive through the forest after dark. Oddly, there was almost no traffic. In fact, we saw more deer than cars between
I-77 and the festival.
We
found our way to the Rock Church camping area and checked in. The “campground” isn’t anything fancy. In fact, it’s not a campground at all. It’s just a hilly, lumpy field bordered by
forest. By the time we arrived all of
the choice campsites along the edge of the woods were taken. We ended up in the middle of the field, but
at least our spot featured only a gradual slope. We set up camp before catching a bus to the
festival.
I
caught my first glimpse of the festival from the bus and was astonished. Floydfest is
huge! It’s particularly impressive at
night, when the whole site is fully illuminated.
We
arrived well before Galactic was scheduled to take the stage. We decided to start the evening with a
well-deserved beer. Alcohol can only be
purchased and consumed at three locations at the festival. Two of them are adjacent to the main stages,
while the third is in a lovely forested glen in the middle of the
festival. I found it amusing that the
organizers placed the beer garden in the prettiest part of the property.
We
had our IDs checked and got the obligatory wrist bands. We then purchased the mandatory steel cups
for $6. At first I was a little bit
annoyed about this. Later
though, I realized that the entire festival grounds would’ve been covered in
plastic cups if they didn’t have this policy. Considering that, the cup was well worth the
$6, and it made for a nice souvenir, too.
The beer selection was impressive, too, featuring mostly regional
breweries, as well as Sierra Nevada (which will be regional soon, once they
build their brewery in the Asheville area).
My favorite beer of the festival though was the Summer Ale by the
Breckenridge Brewing Company (Colorado).
We
made it over to the Streamline Stage at Hill Holler a few minutes before
Galactic started. There was a nice crowd
there, but we didn’t have any trouble finding a good vantage point. Galactic put on a funky, rockin’
set. They’ve had rotating singers for
the last few years, and the current tour features Corey Glover, formerly of
“Living Color”. Corey is a fantastic
addition to the band. He’s got a
tremendous stage presence, bringing even more energy to the show. Considering that Stanton Moore is regarded as
one of the finer drummers around and that their trombone player recently won a
Grammy, there was no lack of talent up on that stage.
Highlights
of the show included a couple of newer songs, “Heart of Steel” and “Hey Na Na”, along with the Living Color song, “Cult of
Personality”. A cover of the Rolling
Stones “Sympathy for the Devil” was the perfect encore to the first night of
the festival.
Here’s
a video from their set – not the highest quality, but not bad:
And
a photo: http://atwp.smugmug.com/Media/FloydFest-HighRes/2012-FF-High-Res-by-Andy/i-pcLXVS7/0/L/ACoxPhoto-7190-L.jpg
Here
are a couple of other songs that are a bit more polished (not from Floydfest):
“Heart
of Steel”: http://youtu.be/IVWDyzZCKNg
“Hey
Na Na”: http://youtu.be/Smb8ahl3A10
BANANAS, FOSTER
The
campground was reasonably quiet and the temperature was perfect, so we slept
fairly well the first night. On Friday
morning I made breakfast (egg sandwiches) and coffee. The meal was enjoyable, particularly
considering that most of the food that Christy had packed consisted of
bananas. I guess that’s one of the
hazards of being married to a woman that is mostly vegetarian.
We
headed out, determined to get some exercise before the music started that
afternoon. First, we drove over to
Buffalo Mountain. Buffalo Mountain is a
state natural area, and its rugged peak soars over the surrounding
landscape. The hike to the summit is
only about a mile. The road to the
parking area is pretty rough, and I was surprised to find the trailhead crowded
with cars when we arrived.
We
were about half way up the trail when Christy asked if I had the car keys. I didn’t, and neither did she. After a bit of head scratching, we deduced
that she’d left them in the car. She
decided to head back, while I continued to the top.
The
summit was a busy place, so I didn’t linger long. I did spend a few minutes enjoying the view
though, which stretches in virtually every direction. I thought I could see the festival from up
there, too, but later realized that it was actually the giant parking lot where
most folks left their cars before boarding the shuttle buses to the event. Unfortunately I left my camera in tent, so I
didn’t get any photos from the summit.
I
found Christy waiting in the car when I returned. From there, we drove down the mountain to the
New River Trail. Christy’s workout
schedule called for a run, but she doesn’t much care for hills. So, she talked me into a fairly long drive
down to the old railroad grade along the river.
My
plan was to park at Foster Falls, which is a major rapid on the New River. That area features convenient trail access,
with a large parking area and a bathroom.
However, I’d never approached Foster Falls from the southeast. I tried to navigate there using a combination
of the GPS, the map on my I Phone, and the state highway map. Attempting the direct approach kept leading
us to dirt roads, which didn’t seem right.
We’d been to Foster Falls several times, but had never left the pavement
previously. After one dirt road began to
look more like a driveway I gave up.
Instead we ended up over at the Shot Tower, which is adjacent to I-77. Needless to say, I hadn’t planned on driving
that far! It was nearly noon when we
finally started our run.
We
finally found our way to Foster Falls, though we had to run a couple of miles
to get there. The run was ok, but it
sure was hot down in the lowlands near the
river. What were we doing down there,
anyway?
We
had lunch and headed back. The drive
back was quicker, but our return was still much later than I’d originally anticipated. The first musician I wanted to see, Anders
Osborne, was scheduled to start at 3pm.
It was after 3 when we got back to the campground. Christy wasn’t ready to go to the festival,
so she sent me on ahead of her.
Unfortunately, there was a mysterious delay with the shuttle buses, and
it took more than 30 minutes to travel the mile or two over to the festival
site. Even worse, it started to rain
right before we arrived.
I
hurried to the main stage, which is at the far end of the festival. Anders Osborne was well into his set when I
arrived. Unfortunately, a tremendous
thunderstorm arrived at the same time.
The band abandoned the stage, and I joined a herd of people in the
adjacent beer tent.
The
storm didn’t last long, but it was enough to keep me from seeing Anders
Osborne. He was scheduled to play
another set the following night, but not until 2am. I didn’t have high hopes for making it up
that late.
Luckily
the rain passed quickly. It really
cooled things off though – in fact, it was almost chilly the rest of the
afternoon. That was a nice change after
the sweltering heat of Charleston the previous week.
Next
I joined a large crowd at the Folklore stage for an acoustic performance by
Leftover Salmon (http://leftoversalmon.com/site/). That was a nice warm up for their main show
later that evening. I found Christy
afterwards, and we had a beer before picking up some burritos for dinner.
That
evening we saw Drive By Truckers for the first
time. They had some sound problems
initially, but got them fixed quickly.
Before long they were rocking.
Unfortunately Christy was badly chilled.
She decided to go back to our campsite to get more clothes. Since I was on my own, I decided to enjoy the
rest of the Drive By Truckers set from the beer
tent. I made some new friends there, and
I was feeling pretty good by the time Christy returned. In fact, I was feeling so good that the
Leftover Salmon show was a bit of a blur.
The last thing I recall with any clarity was a friend I’d just met
handing me a bottle of something he’d smuggled in. I’m not sure what was in it, but there
certainly wasn’t much in the way of mixer!
Here’s
a Leftover Salmon video – it’s not from Floydfest,
but it is good quality:
“Gold
Hill Line” - http://youtu.be/apA1QTT9YBQ
I
passed out as soon as we got back to the tent.
That turned out to be a good thing, because apparently there was a group
of rowdy guys keeping most of the campground awake all night. Thanks to the miracle of booze, I missed out
on that annoyance!
HIKE FASTER, I HEAR BANJO MUSIC
I
didn’t feel great the next morning, but I still managed to cook breakfast and
make coffee. Christy was feeling even
worse, but she wasn’t hung over. She
seemed to have picked up a virus somewhere along the way. We hung out for a bit on Saturday, drinking
coffee and listening to our neighbors complain about the partiers that kept
them up all night. Unfortunately, they’d
left early that morning, so revenge wasn’t an option.
Later
that morning I went for a proper hike.
Christy dropped me off at the Rocky Knob Recreation Area (http://www.cnyhiking.com/BRP-RockyKnob.htm), which is just north
of the festival site. She then headed
down to the town of Floyd, intent on doing a bike ride. She ended up skipping her ride though, since
she wasn’t feeling well enough to pull it off.
Originally
I planned to hike the 10 ½ mile Rock Castle Gorge Loop. It’s a nice hike, and one I’ve done several
times over the years. However, I really
didn’t want to spend 6 or 7 hours away from the festival. In the end, I decided to do a shorter
loop. I started from the campground, and
hiked the Rocky Knob Trail to Rocky Knob and on to Grassy Knoll. Along the way I passed through forests and
pastures, with abundant views of the surrounding mountains and the Piedmont to
the south.
I
stopped at Grassy Knoll for lunch. I ran
into a group that was on an organized hike from the festival. In fact, I saw lots of festival folk during
my hike (the wrist bands were a dead giveaway).
I
actually had a good view of the festival from my lunch spot. In fact, I could even see our
campground. I enjoyed some bluegrass
music, which I could hear quite clearly, before it dawned on me that I’d rather
be down there at the festival. I looped back quickly on the Black Ridge Trail, which wasn’t
very exciting. The Picnic Area Loop was
a nicer hike than expected, and I eventually crossed the Parkway and rejoined
the trail I’d started on. I descended
back to the campground under puffy white clouds, and arrived just as Christy
pulled in.
We
returned to the campground and then caught a bus to the festival. We arrived at mid-afternoon, well before the
starting time of the first band we wanted to see. We decided to spend the afternoon
experiencing other aspects of the festival, aside from live music. First we took advantage of the free
showers. Although there was a bit of a
wait, it was well worth the chance to clean up for the first time in several
days. Surprisingly, the showers were
pretty nice, and with warm water.
Afterwards we visited the outdoor recreation tent. The festival features a mountain bike trail
(with free bikes to borrow), a disc golf course, organized group hikes, group
bike rides, and even a 5K race. Christy
was interested in getting information on the race, and I went along since I
figured that she would probably try to talk me into running it with her.
Later we stopped at some vendor tents. We visited the folks from Backpacker
magazine, and dropped in at the Osprey tent (Christy and I both carry Osprey
packs). Christy did a little shopping –
luckily she limited her purchases to a single hippy skirt. Then we watched some performers on the
trapeze before wandering over to the Vaudeville tent. There we watched a guy juggle knives while
balancing himself on a board placed on top of a barrel, all after stuffing a
live badger down his pants (I swear I’m not making most of that up).
That
evening featured two great bands. First
up was one of my new favorites, ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra). They were one of the bands I was most looking
forward to, and they didn’t disappoint.
They played some of my favorites, including “Barbeque” and “Maria”. Their set also featured the appearance of a
giant bird that was both inexplicable and indescribable. So, instead of trying to describe it, I’ll
just post a link to the video:
I
really have no idea what that was about, but I think it captures the essence of
Floydfest – weird, but fun.
And
here’s a better video in terms of music, though it isn’t from Floydfest:
“Maria”: http://youtu.be/SxdXgYVM9bw
Later
we caught Michael Franti and Spearhead. Michael put on a great, high-energy show that
featured the most beach balls I’ve ever seen.
Here’s a great photo:
There
was no shortage of visual stimulation beyond the beach balls. Somewhere on the far side of the crowd was
something emitting giant balls of fire on a regular basis. I guessed that it was a fire-breathing
dragon. Christy theorized that it might
be a fart-lighting competition, which is as plausible as anything. Later, Japanese lanterns were released into
the sky.
We
made a critical mistake though, trying to watch the show from the comfort of
our camp chairs. In hindsight, we
should’ve experienced it from the middle of the fray. We began to run out of gas before the end of
the show, but at least we hung in there long enough to hear “Sound of Sunshine”. Here’s a video, though not from Floydfest:
We
headed back to camp a few songs later.
We went straight to bed, and slept well. I did get up around 3:30 to use the
bathroom. When I emerged from the tent,
I could hear the distinct sound of music coming from the direction of the
festival. The band was Orgone, and judging from the reaction of the crowd, they
were rocking. It’s funny – even though
we attended all four days of the festival, we missed a lot. Of course we’re too old to stay up all night
listening to music. But we even managed
to miss a lot during the day! Of course,
since the festival features multiple stages, we had to pick and choose what we
wanted to see.
RAINBOW’S CADILLAC
We
got up rather early the next morning.
Somehow, Christy had talked me into running the 5K. I needed to do some kind of workout, and that
seemed like as good of a choice as any. We
were up early enough that I felt comfortable indulging in a mug of coffee with
my bagel. That was one decision of the
weekend that I really regretted.
We
caught an early shuttle to the festival, well ahead of the crowds. We arrived at the race site early and got the
details on the course. The previous
afternoon we’d been told that the race would be on area roads. That turned out to be wildly inaccurate. Actually, the race was on the mountain biking
trail. I didn’t like the sound of this –
just how hilly was this race going to be?
The
race drew an interesting assortment of athletes. There were maybe 50 runners of all ages. At first I thought I might have a shot at
doing well in my age group. That was
before I found out that I would be in the dreaded 15 to 55 age group. Oh well – good luck hanging with those
college kids.
Officially
there was also a prize for the contestant with the best costume. Only 1 ½ people wore costumes though, so that
wasn’t very dramatic. Incidentally, the
half-person was a brunette college-aged girl wearing short denim shorts. I guess she could’ve been going for the Daisy
Duke look – either that, or she just really enjoys
chaffing.
The
race course started with a big uphill through one of the camping areas. That was followed by a short stretch on a
dirt road featuring a huge downhill, followed by a monster uphill. The route then joined the mountain bike
trail, which roller-coasters through the woods back to the starting point. From there, the course repeats itself. The race then ended with virtually the same
uphill as it started with. I was
thrilled that the race organizers found a way to work that hill into the course
three times.
I
was kind of thinking about just jogging the race, but Christy shot down my
suggestion of running together. Once the
race started, I felt compelled to actually race. I quickly regretted that, but by then it was
too late to quit.
I
hung with the pack for awhile, but things got really ugly once I got on the
mountain bike trail. That part of the
course was an endless series of steep climbs and descents. My biggest problem there was simply being
able to see. Aside from the sweat
getting into my eyes, I had a tough time seeing all of the roots and rocks in
the dark, shadowy forest. I hadn’t worn
my glasses either, which added to my challenges.
The
race was most definitely NOT fun, but I got through it. By the time I made it to the final hill I was
seriously concerned that my morning coffee was going to pay me another
visit. Unfortunately there was quite a
crowd of spectators, so I had to keep up appearances. Then a 5-year old girl decided to pace me for
the last hundred yards, running directly in front of me towards the finish
line. At that point, barfing was simply
not an option. I couldn’t allow myself
to hurl all over a little girl in front of all of those people.
I
finished in just under 28 minutes, which was pretty humbling. Seriously, I can easily jog a 5K around my
neighborhood in 25 minutes. And I
thought I was pushing myself! If that
doesn’t indicate just how hard this course was, nothing does.
At
least there were plenty of runners behind me (along with a fair number that
didn’t finish). Christy did finish,
coming in some time later. She had
enjoyed the race almost as much as I had.
We
decided to celebrate finishing the race with warm showers. Afterwards we continued the celebration with
a couple of cold beverages in the beer garden.
I had a nice late-morning buzz going when we finally drifted over to
Hill Holler to catch the first band of the day.
The
Steep Canyon Rangers have become somewhat famous because Steve Martin (yes,
THAT Steve Martin) occasionally plays banjo with them. He didn’t join them at Floydfest,
but it didn’t really matter. They put on
an impressive show, highlighted by one barbershop style song as well as a cover
of “Don’t Ease Me In”.
Afterwards
we relocated to the main stage, but picked up lunch along the way. We reached the main stage in time to catch
the end of Sam Bush’s performance. Sam
Bush is one of those musicians that I’d heard a lot about, but had never really
heard. It turns out that was a considerable
oversight on my part. We arrived in time
to make me wish we’d gotten there earlier.
They finished their set with a rocking jam that really blew me away.
Another
beer or two followed before Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers came on. Although we experienced a ton of fantastic
live music over the weekend, for me Bruce really stole the show. His performance was fantastic, featuring hits
like “The Way It Is” and “Valley Road” along with some lesser-known originals
like “White Wheeled Limousine” and “The Good Life”. There was also a cover of The Bands “The
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, and Bruce was joined on stage for several
songs by Ricky Skaggs and a couple of guys from Kentucky Thunder. Bruce played a dulcimer during most of those
tunes, and I was really impressed with how well the two bands performed
together. Bruce kept Ricky up on stage
with him until a few minutes before 3pm.
I found this interesting, since Ricky and his band were scheduled to
perform at the Hill Holler stage at the other end of the festival at 3.
Aside
from the music, I was really impressed with how much fun Bruce seemed to be
having. It was clear that this
performance wasn’t just a gig – he genuinely enjoyed being there. I don’t think he stopped smiling the entire
time.
Just
when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Bruce closed with one of my all-time
favorite songs, “Rainbow’s Cadillac”. It
would’ve been an extremely fitting end to a wonderful festival, except Alison
Krauss was still to come! Here’s a video
(not from Floydfest):
“Rainbow’s
Cadillac”: http://youtu.be/Hxfgp638uI0
And
an older version, in a duet with Bonnie Raitt: http://youtu.be/iSK-i-hT6yo
I
was really impressed by Ricky Skaggs, and we debated walking down to Hill
Holler to catch part of his set before returning for Alison Krauss. It was a fairly long walk down a crowded
midway though, and it would’ve been time to head back shortly after we
arrived. Instead, we opted for another
beer while waiting for Alison Krauss and Union Station to take the stage.
We’d
enjoyed a nice vantage point about 15 rows back for Bruce Hornsby. Needless to say, the crowd was a bit thicker
for Alison Krauss. Despite this, we
still ended up fairly close to the stage.
Her set was fantastic as expected.
Jerry Douglas played steel guitar with the band, which added a lot to
the sound. Highlights included “When You
Say Nothing At All” and two songs from “Oh Brother Where Art Thou”, “Man of
Constant Sorrow’ (sung by Dan Tyminski) and the
achingly beautiful “Down to the River to Pray”.
The only thing that would’ve made her show better is a cover of Dolly
Parton’s “9 to 5”. I actually have a cd with her version of that song, but I don’t know if she
ever performs it live:
“9
to 5”: http://youtu.be/ISSgbjqdeHg
Sunday
was hot and sunny, and by the time her show ended we were ready to hit the
road. The only challenge was that we
still had to catch a bus back to our campsite.
Of course everybody else at the festival was trying to catch a bus, and
the line was huge. We were a bit lucky
though. There were separate lines for
buses bound to different parking areas, and our line only had a few people in
it. In fact, we had to wait a while
until there were enough people there to fill a bus. We were on our way pretty quickly though,
which was a relief.
I
would definitely go back to Floydfest. However, we’d probably do some things
differently. We didn’t care much for the
car camping. I think I’d prefer to camp
at the festival. Camping in the midst of
the festivities would be pretty loud.
However, the site features some remote camping areas (called “Extreme
Camping”) that you can hike in to. They
are no more than a mile from the festival entrance, so it really wouldn’t be
terribly extreme for us.
Aside
from the camping, I probably wouldn’t change anything else. Except that I definitely won’t be running any
more races there!
Some
photos from Sunday:
Ricky
Skaggs: http://atwp.smugmug.com/Media/FloydFest-HighRes/2012-FF-High-Res-by-Russ/i-z3B7ZCD/0/L/ff-2012-Sun201207294444-L.jpg
Jerry
Douglas: http://atwp.smugmug.com/Media/FloydFest-HighRes/2012-FF-High-Res-by-Russ/i-sfGxMVX/0/L/ff-2012-Sun201207294485-L.jpg
Alison
Krauss: http://atwp.smugmug.com/Media/FloydFest-HighRes/2012-FF-High-Res-by-Russ/i-fQkn9Rp/0/L/ff-2012-Sun201207294481-L.jpg
Lot’s more Floydfest photos are here: http://www.floydfest.com/fest-info/2011-photo-galleries/
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