2006-01-04 - 10:48 a.m.
Falcon Ridge to me is like going home. My wife and I have been going for 8 years and I’ve been in the house band for 5. The house band is a unique feature of the festival. Basically it’s me, Mark Dann and Radoslav Lorkovich barging on stage with whoever will have us. I got Andy involved last year. It’s a blast and as a result I’ve had the honor of backing up some great artists including Guy Clark, Greg Brown, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Chris Hillman, John Gorka and Holly Near. Anne and Howard, the promoters, are great folks and they’ve nurtured a beautiful family up in the Berkshire Mountains of New York.
This year Andy and I were kept pretty busy as our other band, the Blue Sparks From Hell were doing 2 sets as well as Railroad Earth’s 2 sets and our House Band duties. It’s all fun when you have a great job!
Nearly all my family was there! My sister and 2 of her three daughters; three of my 4 brothers and their wives. I set up a big Carbone compound with a huge sitting area in a screen house. As happens every Falcon Ridge, there was huge rain storm. The wind was scary. Martha and I were backstage in the hospitality tent and we all had to pitch in to hold the tent down. Our screen tent blew away but a kind Irish gentleman retrieved it and threw some weight on it to save it from eternity.
The Blue Sparks set in the dance tent was fun as shit! The Sparks are essentially a jump swing band and the dance tent was full of experienced swing dancers! It was great to see!
Railroad Earth did a workshop with a great band from Australia called Fruit. There was some great cross pollination. It was a good topper for a really fun Falcon Ridge.
