Saturday at the Missing Reggae Music Fest - By N.L. Belardes
Sunday I took the day off from writing. Normally I spend a good portion of the weekend fiddling with articles and dabbling in novels. But Sunday I decided to be brainless. I turned on Half-Life 2 and began the scarefest. I hadn’t played any video games in about six months. It was time for a day of brainless monster blasting… but now it’s back to the article on Reggae Fest… I was working on this article and eating some orange chicken but took a break when Kenny Mount just stopped by on his new crotch rocket Kawasaki. He told me about some girl who got dumped into a pool at a party… oh man, lucky I wasn’t there to blog such poolside drama! Now back to the story:
(images coming soon)
Driving through the parking lot outside of Stramler Park on Saturday I heard Lost Ocean performing Douse the Choir. They’re a bunch of great musicians who I enjoy giving a hard time to. We all sat and talked music strategies, Christian rock labels, youth of today, and BBQs, all while bands jammed on the main stage at The Rockin’ Reggae Fest. I think Lost Ocean enjoyed their free sack lunches so much they didn’t mind when I said the school bus was leaving soon…
I ran into Matt Munoz of Mento Buru and had one of the day’s best conversations. He had just solved some drama backstage but was kind enough to come out and talk to me about some of the history of Ska music in Bakersfield. What little did I know that Cesareo had played for Mento, that Mento’s old lead singer died of cancer years ago, and that Mento was one of three signed California Ska bands at one time. Did you know we’re planning a big Honky Tonk tour to find all the missing country music in Bakersfield? I heard there was a Rockabilly show at the Crystal Palace last week. I was out taking pictures of Norfolk, so missed it. I think the Dusk Devils were in the house though…
Mento Buru played one of the best sets of the day, although Liars and Thieves kidnapped much of the audience for their set over at the small second stage. I was content seeing how Mento had transformed from the last time I saw them which was nearly ten years ago. Their music, now with more of a Latin influence and sound was remarkable. Such incredible talent… a one-of-a-kind band for Bakersfield. Matt on drums, on the sax, singing… The only band close, other than the Majestics, would be Manifest Satori, a Latin rhythm fusion band I saw practice one night over in the Oleander Arts Collective... Even JR was swinging his elbows in Ska-influenced delight. Go! Go! Go!
I tried to tackle Nick/Tyler a few times. He’s the drummer in Liars and Thieves who socially floats around, works at the Spotlight, and is a rock star… Sal yelled, “Belardes!!” when he saw I wasn’t budging to go watch his show. And I do love Liars and Thieves; but this was a Mento Buru moment… so I wasn’t going anywhere.
I met Simon from Myndsick earlier. They had one of the coolest booths with CDs and T-shirts in a killer green-and-black theme. Simon gave me a CD which I will be writing a kick ass review to help promote the work they’ve put into their music. During their set I really liked their hardcore mix. Some of the bands during the day had horrible sound, and not just because mics went out. But not Myndsick. They were loud; they were riotous. They got the audience fired up by throwing T-shirts into the crowd… I plan on talking to Simon more about a project I’m working on. I do admit, they draw a crowd… You’ll be hearing more about them…
One of the best bands of the day was Rocky Nash. Yes there were technical difficulties with the hired sound system. But so what? Part of being in a band is overcoming technical difficulties of every kind. And Rocky did. I loved Preston Nash on the guitar with Cesareo on the drums. These guys really know how to transition from song to song flawlessly. Preston is one of these incredible musicians like Pablo from Diary and Norfolk who can play any instrument with ease all while harmonizing and looking incredibly cool while doing it. While Rocky was sexy as hell in her plaid pants, combat boots and sparkling blue eyeshadow, Preston was quite commanding of the stage in his cut-off skeleton head shirt and Bud bandana. While Rocky belted out the songs, I saw a mad rush to the stage to see this blonde vixen of riotous Bakersfield rock. So I rushed too. Why the heck not? She sang some killer songs and looks great while singing. I have a CD, so I’m going to be acquainting myself with her tunes… She even did a hard-rocking cover of a Tori Amos song… Silent all these years.
Of course I already wrote about Karmahitlist. You can read more from Matildakay’s blog, or my previous entry. But did I mention I almost won an old bass from Ridikule right before Karmahitlist’s big set? I was so disappointed. Ridikule’s awesome song, Punk Rock Square Dance just finished up when they raffled off an old bass. I lost by one lousy number. Oh well, I got to hear one of my favorite Bakersfield bands. Jason even came out of his working life to sing with the band... now that rocked!
Tiger Army was a pretty cool Psychobilly band who headlined and gave the NightCrawlers a shout out. How cool is that? I met the dudes from the NightCrawlers earlier in the day and watched a few songs from their set. I couldn’t hear the bass, but I still think they’re a cool group of young musicians. They’re on the move to keep creating an awesome blend of creepy psychobilly songs in Bakersfield. They should have been at the Crystal Palace with the rockabilly crowd for sure… I hope they and Myndsick join a little charity project I have going on. They gave me a demo too. I plan on bringing all of the CDs to work tomorrow to start checking out. All in all, what a great day for music, although the reggae was missing from the equation.... There’s so much more I’m forgetting. But I can’t write about it all. I think I’m going to go play Half-Life 2 again before I head for bed…
Oh and one brief mention of Rosamber, Terra and Darcie. We had a great conversatoin about defining bohemians, art movements and more... Where would bands be without great fans who truly enjoy the scene and give an incredible amount of energy back to the musicians...
(images coming soon)
Driving through the parking lot outside of Stramler Park on Saturday I heard Lost Ocean performing Douse the Choir. They’re a bunch of great musicians who I enjoy giving a hard time to. We all sat and talked music strategies, Christian rock labels, youth of today, and BBQs, all while bands jammed on the main stage at The Rockin’ Reggae Fest. I think Lost Ocean enjoyed their free sack lunches so much they didn’t mind when I said the school bus was leaving soon…
I ran into Matt Munoz of Mento Buru and had one of the day’s best conversations. He had just solved some drama backstage but was kind enough to come out and talk to me about some of the history of Ska music in Bakersfield. What little did I know that Cesareo had played for Mento, that Mento’s old lead singer died of cancer years ago, and that Mento was one of three signed California Ska bands at one time. Did you know we’re planning a big Honky Tonk tour to find all the missing country music in Bakersfield? I heard there was a Rockabilly show at the Crystal Palace last week. I was out taking pictures of Norfolk, so missed it. I think the Dusk Devils were in the house though…
Mento Buru played one of the best sets of the day, although Liars and Thieves kidnapped much of the audience for their set over at the small second stage. I was content seeing how Mento had transformed from the last time I saw them which was nearly ten years ago. Their music, now with more of a Latin influence and sound was remarkable. Such incredible talent… a one-of-a-kind band for Bakersfield. Matt on drums, on the sax, singing… The only band close, other than the Majestics, would be Manifest Satori, a Latin rhythm fusion band I saw practice one night over in the Oleander Arts Collective... Even JR was swinging his elbows in Ska-influenced delight. Go! Go! Go!
I tried to tackle Nick/Tyler a few times. He’s the drummer in Liars and Thieves who socially floats around, works at the Spotlight, and is a rock star… Sal yelled, “Belardes!!” when he saw I wasn’t budging to go watch his show. And I do love Liars and Thieves; but this was a Mento Buru moment… so I wasn’t going anywhere.
I met Simon from Myndsick earlier. They had one of the coolest booths with CDs and T-shirts in a killer green-and-black theme. Simon gave me a CD which I will be writing a kick ass review to help promote the work they’ve put into their music. During their set I really liked their hardcore mix. Some of the bands during the day had horrible sound, and not just because mics went out. But not Myndsick. They were loud; they were riotous. They got the audience fired up by throwing T-shirts into the crowd… I plan on talking to Simon more about a project I’m working on. I do admit, they draw a crowd… You’ll be hearing more about them…
One of the best bands of the day was Rocky Nash. Yes there were technical difficulties with the hired sound system. But so what? Part of being in a band is overcoming technical difficulties of every kind. And Rocky did. I loved Preston Nash on the guitar with Cesareo on the drums. These guys really know how to transition from song to song flawlessly. Preston is one of these incredible musicians like Pablo from Diary and Norfolk who can play any instrument with ease all while harmonizing and looking incredibly cool while doing it. While Rocky was sexy as hell in her plaid pants, combat boots and sparkling blue eyeshadow, Preston was quite commanding of the stage in his cut-off skeleton head shirt and Bud bandana. While Rocky belted out the songs, I saw a mad rush to the stage to see this blonde vixen of riotous Bakersfield rock. So I rushed too. Why the heck not? She sang some killer songs and looks great while singing. I have a CD, so I’m going to be acquainting myself with her tunes… She even did a hard-rocking cover of a Tori Amos song… Silent all these years.
Of course I already wrote about Karmahitlist. You can read more from Matildakay’s blog, or my previous entry. But did I mention I almost won an old bass from Ridikule right before Karmahitlist’s big set? I was so disappointed. Ridikule’s awesome song, Punk Rock Square Dance just finished up when they raffled off an old bass. I lost by one lousy number. Oh well, I got to hear one of my favorite Bakersfield bands. Jason even came out of his working life to sing with the band... now that rocked!
Tiger Army was a pretty cool Psychobilly band who headlined and gave the NightCrawlers a shout out. How cool is that? I met the dudes from the NightCrawlers earlier in the day and watched a few songs from their set. I couldn’t hear the bass, but I still think they’re a cool group of young musicians. They’re on the move to keep creating an awesome blend of creepy psychobilly songs in Bakersfield. They should have been at the Crystal Palace with the rockabilly crowd for sure… I hope they and Myndsick join a little charity project I have going on. They gave me a demo too. I plan on bringing all of the CDs to work tomorrow to start checking out. All in all, what a great day for music, although the reggae was missing from the equation.... There’s so much more I’m forgetting. But I can’t write about it all. I think I’m going to go play Half-Life 2 again before I head for bed…
Oh and one brief mention of Rosamber, Terra and Darcie. We had a great conversatoin about defining bohemians, art movements and more... Where would bands be without great fans who truly enjoy the scene and give an incredible amount of energy back to the musicians...
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Monday, June 06, 2005.
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