Nearfest 2005

[Rick and Roll]

The bands this year were a lot better than last year. However, last year I had the time of my life. Still had a ton of fun this time. Stayed at the hotel with the bands again, and ran into many an artist. In 2006, there may not be this opportunity, so I'll have to improvise (Nearfest is booking most of the main hotel early).

Mostly with my good friends Buster and Jeff, we came close to hitting bystanders with frisbees, drinking a bit, and staying up late (although I didn't come close to the ridiculous pace of last year.

Oh yes, the music. I arrived four tunes into the Proto-Kaw set. I didn't leave until after 5 PM, Buster was caught on the DC Beltway. We eventually decided to go separately, and we stayed in constant touch. Listening to Dada and the Stone Temple Pilots loud made the ride much easier.

Jeff drove from Dayton, OH and got there early and checked in the hotel. A good thing, I didn't get to the hotel until midnight. The drive was otherwise brutal, off and on rain, a Wal-Mart truck in a ditch, rush hour traffic. When I got into the dark venue, I decided not to disturb the others in trying to find my seat (3rd row center cool: ) so I sat on the side in front of Kerry Livgren's speaker. I could see all of the band but him, but he crushed on guitar. What a talent! I'd seen Kansas twice but never him. After two more tunes I spotted Buster scurrying down the far side. He'd been driving 5 hours and was determined to make his seat. So I met him at the seat and finally relaxed.

The bass player was too much! I can't remember his name...the whole band was tight. Livgren seems very happy with this band. Skont was a great tune, and the entire Death of Mother Nature Suite and Belexes was just super. It's neat to hear those tunes with a sax...adds a lot. Lots of jamming, and I was very pleased with the show. There's another CD coming out soon.

PFM was absolutely stunning. I did not know what to expect, but the musicianship was top-shelf. Wild solos (esp the violin) were in abundance. The drummer would come out every few tunes and sing. He's a world-class ham! Such energy for a seasoned musician. Their most enjoyable tune was a bluesy tune, probably their non-proggiest (take that!). They seemed to really have fun. Between the two acts, I enjoyed it more than the Musical Box last year (to take nothing away from that!).

After briefly checking in, I hung out in the lobby. As was the case last year, a small group was in the conference room playing acoustic and singing. The highlight for me was trying to sing and remember the words to "Rendezvous 6:02". A strange dichotomy was in place...next door was Karaeoke at the bar

We ran into Matthew Parmenter, and talked for about an hour...more on that later.

Wobbler opened up the Saturday show. I've found a lot of Scandinavian bands to be mostly brooding, with lots of minor sounds...but almost always enjoyable. Wobbler had a more mature sound, although they're young. The first two tunes were 20 and 30 minutes (on a 75 minute set lol). The keys player had a very retro hammond sound.

Every year the bands from that area of the world (Flower Kings, Anekdoten, White Willow) bring their "A" game. Wobbler also did. I heard some complaints about it being a bit boring, but I was damn pleased. And the singer's got some stage presence.

Frogg Cafe was really stellar. I saw them last year at the bar at Rosfest, but I was too busy meeting vax for the first time to pay attention. They're outstanding. I didn't know much about them, but picked up on the Zappa influence right away. They closed with "Peaches"...next to "Comfortably Numb", a favorite progger cover tune. Nick Lieto is amazing. He reminds me a bit of Tom Galgano from Izz, with his vocal and keyboard wizardry. But Nick had a trumpet and flugelhorn to play too. Wow! A lot of the tunes were funky, and it was an upbeat performance.

I decided that I needed some time off, so I missed Steve Roach. I'm not an ambient fan, and after the Richard Pinhaus drudgery last year, I wasn't in the mood. Maybe someone can add on how he was.

Present was different... I had a chance to see them at Orion last week, but couldn't make it. It's a rare miss at Orion for me. I was told Cozy was there, and missed a chance to meet him. Present is not for everyone. There was a tune where Dave Kerman would occasionally yell "Didn't you hear what your mother said"! That was the tune he used the dolls to smack his symbols. I liked the soloing, but the supporting themes were very repetitive. I saw no reason for that, really. But it's a fun show. Not knowing the band, I was a bit confused about Roger Trigaux's lack of playing (he did almost nothing), but realized he has stepped back completely.

IQ was pretty good. I'm not a big fan....I have only the Wake and the Lush Attic records, and they're excellent. My big beef is the singing of Peter Nicholls. But in concert, he was good, quite Gabrielesque. I guess 20 years makes one better. I felt sorry for him, he was having a rough go of it early in the show. Not evident to those more than several rows back, he was pissed about his monitor. Every few minutes he would shoot a menacing glance back to the techs, and periodically run off the stage. Only after he remembered they were shooting a DVD did he mellow out. But it was clear he wasn't happy (at least he didn't pull a "Sherinian"). IQ needs all the coherence they can get. They don't record together, and it's a testament to their musicianship that they make the show work so well. John Jowitt and Marty Orford play together in Jadis and work well together. The new drummer is outstanding, and I was especially impressed by Mike Holmes' guitar work.

The Seventh House was a favorite, a good piece. And a lot of the lyrics were very serious, especially the macabre early tune "Widow's Peak". "The Magic Roundabout", "The Wake", and opening tune "Sacred Sound" were also excellent. The only other issue was the problems of John Jowitt. He developed nasty blisters and applied liquid glue to the hand about six times. Lo and behold, his fingers were sticking to the bass. I saw him the next morning on the elevator and he showed me his fingertips. Gruesome! He said he was "fetching skin" all night. John's a good guy, having played in Jadis and Arena at Rosfest and always looking to have fun.

Knight Area had a hard act to follow. The Sunday AM slot the past two years had Sleepytime and Hidria Spacefolk, two dynamic acts. However, they ended up being very enjoyable. Mark Smit's a great singer. I found two keyboards too much for a band like this...and two guitarists too? But that wasn't so bad cause they filled in each other nicely. The second guitarist reminded me of Gilmour. good strong neo.

The Muffins were neat. Bands like this usually work poorly at Nearfest. Also, I don't think a microphone is a useful instrument for them, they kept talking away from it. It must have been impossible to hear them speak in the back. But they were fun. They went from exciting jams to odd signatures. Billy Swann's Willem Dafoe countenance made for a scary bassist! Tom Scott played a clarinet and sax at one time and all the instruments seemed to be from WWII. But they were fun.

Matthew Parmenter played the best 40-minute set I'd ever seen. I gave up my seat to Jeff (he was in the balcony) and I moved back about six rows (another friend dislikes Discipline!..and I took his seat). I wanted Jeff to see the show up close. Matthew was riveting. Three tunes on piano, VERY absorbing. Then five more on acoustic guitar. Also, we had a great time Friday evening and at chance meetings throughout the weekend, especially at breakfast Sunday and Monday. Here's an excerpt from my post on the Yahoo group....

I ran into Matthew on five separate occasions in the hotel lobby. As is my wont with musicians, I try to talk about things other
than "how's the weather" and steer clear mostly of discussing music. Some of the subjects we talked about were slugs, lanyards, youth sports, and Barry Manilow. I can't blame this all on Matthew because I usually initated the topic.

Matthew is quite shy yet easily able to engage in fascinating
discourses when prompted. We talked quite a bit on Friday evening and ate breakfast on Sun AM. I caught him as he was leaving Monday (Monday AM at Nearfest is always the saddest day of the year) and we shared some favorite jokes.

Ryan (Parmenter, Eyestrings) is also a lot a fun to talk to, and hopefully I'll cross paths with both of them sometime. In a couple of weeks, we can have some pics up of the show (note - there are several on the groups site and they are stunning). I was in the 3rd row center, but for Matthew I moved back to the 7th row. My friend from Ohio I was rooming with had a balcony seat, and another friend did not like Discipline (wow!!!) so I moved to his seat and gave my Ohio friend the good seat. He got some great pics.

Part two in the next post.....