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Waful House - Berkfest '99 Preview
by Jeff Waful - waful@unclesammy.comThere are so many great music festivals these days that it's hard to keep track of them all. With the rising popularity of so many jam bands, multiple day camping events have become commonplace in the summer months. The Gathering of the Vibes, High Sierra, The All Good, The Ho-Down, Camp Creek, and of course Phish's annual weekend campout, are just a few of the summer's highlights.
Another festival to take note of is the Berkshire Mountain Music Festival, being held August 13 - 15 at the Butternut Basin Ski Area in Great Barrington, MA. Only in its second year, the festival is offering up a particularly diverse group of artists ranging from international acts to national acts, to regional acts. I also happen to work for the festival. This offers up another lesson in Ethics of Journalism 101. (Although it sounds like an oxymoron, I actually took a class at Emerson College by that very name). Anyone who has been following the on-going saga that is my life will know that I've been trying desperately to work full-time in the music business. A few months ago, I finally quit the well-paying, secure office job to work for Berkfest. I also manage and book Uncle Sammy. It's become increasingly difficult to write about all of the music in my life, without running into conflicts of interest. So, I figured I'd be up front with you. Now that we've established that, I will attempt to write an unbiased article...(which we all know is impossible)
Andrew Stahl and Larry Kirshon met at the University of Hartford. After graduation, Andrew went on to start Gamelan Productions, a booking agency in Boston, while Larry started a sales training company in Wellesley. Last year, the two became partners and co-promoters of the Berkshire Mountain Music Festival.
"I've been a music fan for a long, long time" says Larry. " I knew Andrew from college and when I was at the shows, he was telling me about an idea that he always had to put on a music festival. I had a strong history in the business world in advertising and sales and I saw the opportunity to combine what Andrew was looking to do with some sponsorships. So we entered into a partnership and we figured it would be a great way for us to do what we love and bring great music to cool people."
Although last year's line up featured impressive acts such as Los Lobos, String Cheese Incident, Charlie Hunter and the Funky Meters, heavy rain kept attendance low. "It rained for 3 days straight" says Andrew. "But, for the people who braved it out, they got one hell of a music experience. For me as a promoter, it was the best musical experience of my life and actually one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a lot. Coming into a place and building a little festival city is just the most incredible thing for me. Even though it rained, it was still a tremendous experience for me and that's why we're doing it again."
This year Berkfest's line up has grown to more than 50 bands playing on 5 stages. Notable acts include The Roots, Los Lobos, Soul Coughing, Strangefolk, Tony Trishka, Leftover Salmon, Deep Banana Blackout, The Disco Biscuits, Percy Hill, and The Slip. "A lot of festivals are a bit straight up in genre of sorts and I think that this festival has a really cool, colorful line up" comments Todd Walker, a booking agent for Gamelan Productions and one of the festival's organizers. "It's very diverse. Artists ranging from hip hop to pop/rock to the jam band world to the jazz region to the funk tip. I just think that it adds a lot of color to various festivals so it caters to a wider clientele."
Just added to the festival is an act being appropriately dubbed "The Berkfest Allstar Jam." The line up features Oteil Burbridge, John Scofield, Bob Moses, Karl Denson, DJ Logic and Fuzz, from Deep Banana Blackout. The way the line up was put together is quite interesting. "It just came about by kind of a freak course of events that happened when Bob Moses approached Andrew and asked him to set up a jam between him and Oteil," remarks Larry. "That was always in the back of Andrew's mind and he was trying to put together kind of a unique jam for the festival. So he got together Fuzz, from Deep Banana Blackout, John Scofield, and then Bob Moses jumped on board. Andrew was kicking around the idea of who he would have as a bass player and suddenly, within 10 feet of him, walks Oteil Burbridge."
"A couple Saturdays ago, I had Soulive at the Middle East," adds Andrew. "I was talking to my friend Patrick about this jam that was coming together and I said 'it'd be awesome, and I know this can't work, but we're trying to get Oteil, but he's got to be on tour with The 'Brothers.' And literally, less than 60 seconds after I said that, Howie (Turkenkopt, Berkfest publicist) comes walking over really fast and taps me on the shoulder and tells me that Oteil was there." As luck would have it, the festival falls on one of the Allman Brothers' only free weekends.
Oteil recalls, "Andrew asked me, 'would you be interested in playing with Bob Moses and Scofield?!' (laughs) And I was like...'Ah, yeah.' Cause I've been buying both of those guys' records since I was 14 or 15 when I first started playing bass. There was this album Bob did called Bright Size Life (also featuring Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius) which really was one of the albums that made me decide I wanted to be a musician. I've worn that thing out. He's one of my biggest heros ever in life. I still can't believe it. I'm gonna just freak out man. It's gonna be surreal. I can't wait..."
Although Oteil is currently touring with The Allman Brothers Band, he still gets off on sitting in with a slew of younger bands, most recently on the Jambands.com Tour. "It's just fun as shit," Oteil says laughing. "I played clubs for so long and I thought, Oh god, I'm just so sick of this. I hate the smoke and the whole ritual of it, you know? After playing with the Allman Brothers for a couple of years and going back in and sitting in here and there, I realized how many great times I had during those years. I realized how much I actually loved it. That's just where it's really happening. People are at their best I think, before they've become financially successful. Everybody that's out there is only going through that because they're so hungry to do it. It makes the music just so much more intense. It makes the whole experience so much more meaningful. I know what all those guys are going through to get up there and play, and it's hell. I'm so supportive of those guys and I really feel for them. I feel empathy, sympathy, the whole nine yards. You know, in a lot of ways I envy them too because it took me doing it and looking back on it to realize that those were the best years of my life."
One of the concepts of Berkfest is to not only mix genres, but also to put the less established club acts in front of the larger crowds that the national acts will attract. "We thought we could provide a platform that the industry could see as a place to recognize younger talent," says Larry. "It's an incredible opportunity for some up and coming musicians to play with some really well recognized talent and that's really what we want this thing to be. We want to showcase musicians that are coming up in the business and put them along side people who are already doing what they want to do, so that everyone can see what they're all about. It looks like a ton of bands are going to have that opportunity and that's really exciting for us to be able to do that."
With less than a month to go, Andrew is confident about this year's show. "We just keep getting more and more support from the fans, the musicians, the vendors and the media. You know, everyone's excited about this thing. We're mixing acts like the Roots with Strangefolk and Deep Banana Blackout and Soul Coughing and Los Lobs. We've got one of the greatest banjo players on the planet in Tony Trishka next to one of the best DJs on the planet next to one of the best bass players and one of the best jazz guitar players. Nobody's dong an eclectic event like this in the Northeast."
For more info: http://www.berkfest.com
Jeff Waful is a Jambands.com columnist and manages Uncle Sammy.
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