Confederacy of a Dunce - Tapestry Goes West music review

Thursday, August 04, 2005

After a bicycle detour it's time to return to the West and the Tapestry Goes West festival; today I'll write a little about my impressions of the music (I've copied most of the artists' links from blogjam who has already taken the time to look them up). Here they are in the order in which they appeared (artists I missed aren't listed).

Friday night: We spent most of our time in lawless Silver City, trying to avoid looking high-strung outlaws in the eye. Who wants to be pumped full of lead on the first night of a festival?

Archie Bronson: A good loud rock band with a strong 1970s feel. Entertaining and energetic.

Rod Stern: Solo acoustic guitar stuff. Good, catchy songs, it's a shame about the lame spoken-word stuff. Hmmm where did I hear the same sort of thing before? Yawn, I'm soooooo shocked.

Swearing at Motorists: Playing on Friday in place of the Beat Up who, I guess, didn't show. Oh well. By far the best act I saw at the festival, see my previous entry for more.

Leaf Hound: Talk about 1970s rock, these guys had it in spades. I guess because they're a revived act from the late 60s/early 70s. One song sounded almost exactly like Black Sabbath, the next, Deep Purple, then there was a ZZ Top-ish one and so on. They were good at it but it's not exactly my thing.

Tokyo Dragons: Another act on the nostalgia parade, this time a hard rock sound from a little later in the 70s before all the spandex, glitter and makeup took over. It was all a bit much after Leaf Hound, I can take only so much of the 70s sound before I collapse into the fetal position (the 1970s, though my formative years, were not my best period). There was a lot of talk about whether the Dragons are serious or ironic (c.f. The Darkness) but really, who cares. A lot of people were really into them, and that matters more.

Misty's Big Adventure: We only saw their last couple of songs (in the rain, and the only real time we spent in Fort Smith on Friday) but it was a true spectacle. Goofy Zappa-ish something-or-another but mainly a lot like an insane cartoon soundtrack (their website gives a good impression of this). I can't really give justice to the dancing jester (of sorts) but I wish I'd seen more. There's a video for "Hey Man" on their Myspace blog (go to "view all blog entries").

And that was the music for Friday night. Saturday instead we spent nearly all of the day in Fort Smith (or at least that part of the day when the music was on).

Peter Bruntnell played the first Saturday set in Fort Smith. I've seen him quite a few times, some good acoustic songs (some of which are a little too catchy), but not many people braved the mist for his set.

Salty Dogs (didn't find a link): Some average bluegrass and old-timey standards (Beverly Hillbillies theme, Dueling Banjos, you get the idea), introduced in a slightly over-theatrical manner (a bit too Hee Haw for my liking) and played in a rather workmanlike fashion.

Swearing at Motorists played again after that; we were right down front and it was even better than the previous night, perhaps due to Dave's freakish control over the weather, stopping the rain for just long enough for their set.

We then headed over to Silver City for Circulus. A lot of people really hate them, as they manage to bring together several potential targets of hate into a convenient target: (1) They wear medieval costumes (c.f. renaissance faiyres). (2) They (mostly) play medieval instruments ("There's a reason people don't play those instruments any more"). (3) Their medieval music is fused with prog-rock of the most egregious sort (and it's not hard to find prog-haters). It's sort of like what might happen if a tour bus containing Yes and ELO crashed into the Minstrel's Tent at the Society for Creative Anachronism. But I think they're good fun (live); I'm a bit hesitant about their recorded material, however.

Unfortunately we returned too late to see the Rosinators who are fantastic. I've seen them many times and, I hope, many more. But it was raining fairly hard at this point so I chickened out and joined some of the masses inside the snack bar/bar/meeting hall where a lone (electric) pianist (the piano was electric not the pianist) was playing a little of this and a little of that.

And finally it was Alan Tyler to close the festival with some rocking country songs in the driving rain (or at least heavily blowing mist). Alan hosts the weekly club we attend on a not-quite-so-weekly basis at the moment. If only he'd update that website.

So that was it for the live music. Loads of people braved the rain and mud for the Sin City/Heavy Load nightclub in the campground but not us. We flopped into the tent and were dead to the world until morning. Or at least I was.

Other reviews of the festival can be found at Wendywire and blogjam (in case you're interested in reading reports that are untainted by my biased opinions).

music

Thursday, August 04, 2005 11:49:58 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)