It's been a number of years since Marty Kellogg and I first started reaching out to each other about performing at the Olalla Americana Music Festival. After a few missed opportunities, our first scheduled appearance was this past Saturday. We were not the headliners, (that would be the fabulous Sister Speak, who I'll talk about in a bit) but we were the last performing set at 8:05 in the evening. This is a small (practically a “word of mouth”) festival that has a sweet spot for all types of roots music, having a wide enough definition of Americana to include our electric/eclectic “blues” act.
I was feeling great as I pulled in around 4pm in the afternoon. I felt a bit bad about being late to see Bryan James Was Here, but I had just seen a full set by them two weeks earlier at the Rainier Music Fest (I still owe everyone a story from that fest, but I digress) and got to see them in the band area and say hello. The last pair of songs by Reid Jamieson were being performed, which included a unique cover of “Take on Me” which included absolutely vocally nailing one of the widest vocal range in a pop song... it's a two and a half octave chorus.
Between that and the next set, I found Rob and Jon, discussed logistics, etc. for our setup and set; I met Marty in person for the first time; and had a complimentary BBQ pork sandwich meal in the band area. The next act was Johnny Franco & His Real Brother Dom, who were hilarious and fantastic. He didn't need to tell stories about busking in Portland for me to understand that he and his brother have spent a lot of time as street performers, there just is a certain vibe of someone who knows how to do unusual things to get people's attention in that type of space and then hold them with good musicianship, but it was just a little more fun for me knowing the locations he was talking about. Another little “wow” factor happened at the end. He introduced his brother on the other guitar, the sax player, the percussionist and then... he turns to the drummer who hadn't missed a start or stop and just looked like he'd been working with them for years and says off mic “what's your last name?” Then turns to the audience on mic, “Danny... Danny on the drums.” I dug James and Dom, but I really respect Danny.
At the next changeover Sister Speak took the stage for their set. And I went to my car to load my gear behind the stage and prep for our turn. I have a new roller cart since losing my old flat cart in the wreck and fire from December. I can often get everything I need for my act stacked up for one trip... but this was the first time I attempted a trip entirely over gravel and dirt and down a few slopes into a ballfield rather than over pavement or a floor. The wheels are big enough, but it still was enough of a struggle over the terrain to alarm more than one of the volunteers into offering to help me.
In getting behind the stage, I just decided to hang out there. Carrie-Ann and Sister Speak are great performers, but the thing that really stood out to me was solid, elegant songwriting. It was intelligent and elegant music, but not so much it went outside of being pop music with a folk undercurrent... I dunno, smart without trying to be smart or important. It was a new discovery that I really enjoyed in a genre I don't often turn to.
As it got close to our set time I just started to hear some concerns about a thunderstorm moving in. Moments like those you just hope fate will keep things like that away until your set is finished. We had a twenty minute turn over (band leaving take no more than ten minutes to strike, band taking the stage expect no more than ten minutes to set up.) Sister Speak were professional and struck quickly, I put things up on the side of the stage. When I got up there, one of the first things I did was knock my pedalboard off the side of the stage, about a five foot drop. Oh &^%! OK, run off the stage, grab the board, re-assemble and re-wire a few of the components and pu it back on the stage, say a few magical chants to the spirits of alternating current and signal paths. I make a comment off-hand to the MC about an inauspicious start, but he's looking nervously to the south and I'm hearing a few more booms. I'm also noticing that a crowd of 600 or so people has quickly reduced to dozens. Everything still worked and we started right at 8:05. At 8:06 the rain started on the field. The sun had already set and we had stage lighting in our faces, so at that point I had little idea how many people were left, but there was still applause. The rain was coming in sideways around the third song “World's Gone Crazy.” At song four I do an instrument transition during the Intro of Kevin Sutton's “Adeline.”
Another sign of the weather happening: all through the day, there is an arch of brightly colored helium balloons over the length of the stage. Right in the middle of the song was when either the lower barometric pressure, or the slow seep of helium from the balloons, or a combination of the two occurred; that's when they started... descending... in front of us. At one point the wind carried the huge string of circus joy right at us and I took a playful bat at it just like I would a wayward beachball or other occasional outdoor festival distraction that might happen. It popped and all of the rain dropped onto me and onto my pedalboard with the flashing lights and electricity. After a few tense moments some volunteers of just concert goers managed to cut the cord on both sides and remove the ballon string from the audiences line of sight to us.
We still hear people clapping despite the rain and the thunderclaps. We made certain to let the folks who were still there how much we appreciated their supoport. The next song was “I Wouldn't Treat a Dog the Way You Treated Me” made famous by Bobby Blue Bland. As I'm doing it, I skip the solo and try to get through it quickly as I realize perhaps the perfect song to play in that moment: we would normally never do “Couldn't Stand the Weather” for a festival set. It's a fantastic tune to sell beer by, and fun to play, but for festivals it can be “just a cover.” But in that moment, with the real weather nearly exactly like the music video from the eighties (which, btw, included SRV putting on goggles while getting hit full force with rain in his face) it seemed like the perfect opportunity...
But that was the moment when the amps and PA went dead.
I guess we really just couldn't stand the weather...
I shouted out, “sorry, looks like that's it” and had a few people come up and let us know they were here for us. Amazing. The stage crew was also being both apologetic and explaining the situation as to why they called it. I let them know I both understood and appreciated them. They were also urgently telling us to get of fthe stage as quickly as we could. Naturally, being the geniuses we were and being an electric band, we had the most gear to set up and strike of the entire day from what I saw. Plus, while they were kind to move our cases, etc. undercover from the back of the stage when the rain started, it made for both us wondering where things were and added challenges to our striking things quickly... but we were given a lot of assistance by staff and volunteers. I also had the briefest moment to say hi to Carrie-Ann, and that I dug her band's set, and she let me know the status of our merch... but I was too focused on the near chaos of packing away our gear and how much I hate getting rained on.
I did get a chance to send a message to her later, but still was worried in the immediate aftermath of not making a good first impression with a fellow artist I had just become aware of and respected. Slowly I got everything into my cases and bags. I was handed a mostly dry check for five songs.. four and three quarters songs... I did not even want to contemplate loading up that cart again back up the hill in the rain and growing mud. I noticed the vendors vehicles all loading up form inside the field, and I told Rob that I'd just bring the car around and load up here.
The problem was... I didn't know where the entrance to the field was. I knew that it was opposite to the area that band parking was assigned. My best guess was another entry from the access road, but by the time I found out there wasn't another entry, I was down a road with no easy place to turn around. I finally got back into the park, drove around the other side, went through an are that defintitely wasn't the real route and probably wasn't meant to be a place to drive at all... but finally got in the park to load up my gear.
I've had outdoor shows cancelled for weather, even a few where we played a bit but had to stop, but nothing that spectacular. I remember seeing an Untapped Blues Festival where Sammy Eubanks battled some high winds and thunderstorms and kept playing until the crew said “no mas” but this was the first time this band has experienced something this spectacular.
Of course, we have an outdoor show scheduled this weekend, and there is some speculation about the possibility of a freak snowstorm coming. I wonder if we should warn the good folks putting on the Ebey Island Freedom Fest and the Kitsap Blues Fest coming up soon to be on the lookout for falling frogs or blood at this point.