Now that the Fun Fest Americana Showcase is behind us, time to review the days activities and provide the untold story of all the gossip and review of various performers for the special event held on Wednesday night, July 20th, 2005. Two words can best sum up this years Homegrown Americana Showcase at Fun Fest….”Hot…Hot.” I first considered the old Kiss song…’Hotter than Hell’ but opted for the two adjectives to describe both the heat and the talent.
At 12 noon, I remember walking across the grass in front of Dobyns-Bennet High School. The morning traffic was passing by just like it was any other day. The grass would surely dry before the show at 5, but no way! The humidity had to be over 90% and the grass was freshly cut so the soggy knoll where the stage was set was like a shallow summer swamp.
Sure it was hot, but the sound guys from Cate’s Music were busy raising an incredible rig of JBL speakers 20 feet in the sky. Jeff Cates is not a relative, but we’ve known each other for some time. There’s no argument about his effort. You would imagine that a business owner would leave the dirty work to the hired hands, but he was in the thick of it all day along with Alan Prince and Drake Walsh.
Robert Pickle was supposed to run sound, but for some reason that is still unknown he got dangerously ill. He still says it wasn’t the heat, but early own, he mentioned he was light headed and before long he was bent over in his truck hanging on to his senses. He gradually got worse and had to leave.
As usual, things ran behind. The city did not close the street down till 3.00 and 3.30 for each side of Fort Henry Drive. This hampered Cate’s Music from setting up the sound booth on the southbound lane. The first band was supposed to go off at 5.00 and we were unable to get things rigged until abour 5.40.
My only stress was the RV. Kingsport Motors was running behind too and that messed up our other plans. We were trying to time a keg of beer, ice shrimp and other eats for the hospitality RV next to the stage. He didn’t show up till close to 4.00 and we had very little time to prepare that area (although Steph and Abbi did the best they could). The electricity didn’t make the RV till about 5.30, so it took a while to cool down.
Nevertheless, the show began with Scott Melton. Because of the delays with the PA, we decided to put Scotty up front since he was playing solo. He did a great job and Scotty is an amazing songwriter that’s hard to ignore. He got the brunt of the setting sun during his set, but he seemed to have not trouble performing with his music and a white bandana wrapped around his head. This was my first time to hear Scotty and we talked a bit and exchanged emails after his set.
While Scotty performed, I had the chance to meet the beautiful singer/songwriter Jill Allen from The everybodyfields. She has a sincerity and charm about her that is hard to forget. She was barefooted on stage as John NAME was tuning up on the stage. Later in the RV, she gave me a copy of the new CD and it’s rare that I find something that deserves to be played over and over again, but this new CD takes the top rank of anything new that I’ve heard this summer from any band. It’s my hope that we get to meet again and I’m thinking about a PodCast with the band as well as Keith Smith at Mighty Spike studios, so we’ll see how that works out.
It was still hot and humid by the time we got to get the Reagan Boggs band ready for the stage. I asked John with Bristol Rhythm and Roots to introduce Reagan and I rushed to get the old Leslie 147 cabinet ready that KD had sold me some time ago. With six members in the band, we’re slow enough so by the time Alan got the other guys in the band together, I just forgot about the old Leslie.
Reagan did a great job and intimidated as with a new song that we had only played once called ‘Share them with you.’ It turned out pretty good and we really sounded like we played a tight set. Alan, Greg, Jason and Kevin are always fun to play music with and I like looking across and smiling at them while we’re having fun.
Playing the stage and hosting the show is tough. My mind was racing between the schedule, the performers, the friends and Fun Fest personal, the sound guys…you get the idea. I tried my best to pay attention to everyone during the night and keep things together. Many friends were hanging out at the RV and my hopes are that I wasn’t too distant as we tried to stay focus. I am very thankful for the keg of Coors Light that we bought for the RV and the great job Stephanie and Abbi did to play hostess to our entourage.
I’ve met Mic Harrison three times now. He opened for Reagan at The Down Home back in the Spring and we saw each other in Saltville a couple of weeks ago. It was great to see him again and I enjoy talking to him. He’s a humble guy who writes some great songs and the guys in his band were really cool. They performed a great set too and were probably one of the more rockin’ acts of the night and I can’t wait to hear him again.
During Mic’s set, Bobby Starnes was talking to me about a new music/restaurant idea he has for downtown Kingsport. Sounds interesting and we’ll have lunch soon to explore the idea even more.
Chris Knight seemed like a nice guy. We didn’t talk that much but he reminded me of a young Kris Kristoferson. I introduced myself to him and that was about it, but his band were as haughty as any group of players around. It could have been they were uncomfortable, but they never made eye contact with anyone and walked around like they were on a world tour.
The audience had thinned out alot after the Taste of the Tri-Cities closed at 10.00. By the time Knight got on stage it was probably 10.30. They were performing an incredible set and the videographers were getting some great work. Lucy Fleming, the director of Fun Fest came to me around 11pm and seemed very upset. She was telling me that she was pissed at Malone because she wanted the show to stop because of Kingsport’s “noise ordinance.’ Now she seemed upset, but I felt like we could work something out.
I found Jeff Malone and he was pissed too and as we were talking, Lucy came with three Kingsport police officers. She grabbed his arm and pulled him through the thin crowd and the officers and Lucy forced him to get Knight’s attention to stop the show.
Wow. What a way to treat the promoters and performers. The folks at Fun Fest did not make a big deal about the 11.00 shutoff time. They never mentioned it, but when the clock struck 11.00 pm, they wanted the stage to shut down and there was zero negotiation.
Sure. There’s a lesson to learn, but it wouldn’t hurt for someone to deliver an apology. There was no reason to treat one of the promoters like that. I know for a fact there was no discussion and the actions seemed a little over the top for the festival organizers.
Nevertheless, the show was a success. Our sponsors with Dr Enuf, Dashboard Audio, Northeast State, Pet Partners and Hardees were elated. They gave away lots of samples, coupons and enjoyed the visibility. A lot of folks helped with this promotion this year and I would like to thank them individually. We look forward to planning more events in the future.
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Thanks to;
Jeff Malone- The Verge
Stephanie Czadzeck- Sales and Hospitality
Dan Strickler- Moving equipment, keg and food
Alan Prince- Sound engineer
Robert Pickle- Get Well Soon
Rhonda Givens- RV Assistance
Abbi Strickler- Hospitality and Signage
Alan Gamble- Drum Set
Kevin Light- Bass Rig