Sunday, May 22, 2005

Orange Blossom Music Festival


Orange Blossom Music Festival
Originally uploaded by dreadmon.
We bring the rain! Doesn't matter if we're playing the middle of the desert, it's guaranteed to rain if we're playing an outdoor show, and the OBMF was no exception. Started off as a beautiful, hot and sunny day - turned into a typhoon early in the afternoon, maybe not that bad. Bad enough to scare people off of making the drive to rural Deland where the festival was being held on private property.

There had already been massive drama involving the organizers, nearby neighbors, law enforcement and whatnot - it looked like the event would be cancelled, but thankfully everything fell into place by Friday. Still, the uncertainty combined with your typical month-of-May wetness made for a sparse crowd, not that anyone in the band seemed to notice. When things like this happen, we just keep smiling and partying; no exception in this case.

By the time we went on, there was a slim huddle of hardcore music fans gathered under the sound tarp. The rain, blowing sideways, began coating my amplifier pedalboard with water, which led to some small concern about electrocution, but we'd been in a number of wet situations, even involving crazy-ass lightning, but nothing shocking had ever happened. So, with a look around the stage at everyone, I carried us into the brief set, standing at the edge of the stage with torrents of water pouring down upon Halycon. I almost slipped and busted my ass on the slick stage surface a couple of times, but didn't go down, nor did I stop dancing about. Treat every show like it might be your last, that's my motto.

The small group loved us, we got much respect from some of the other bands that were around, snackdaddy, Verloren, The Goldminers, there were more musicians in the audience than anyone else, but musicians are people too, right?

I feel sorry for Phil and Dana, everyone who got behind the event, only to have Murphy's Law run a textbook version of a Day In The Life. They worked very hard to pull this thing off, and for all intents and purposes, they did just that - though the turnout was lower than they had hoped for.

It was still a swell party - Jae brought plenty of eats and drink, portable chairs, etc. The property was amazing, with all kinds of lakes, barn areas, trailways, orange groves and old buildings well-suited for band pictures. We got a bunch of really good ones that'll be used for our promo shots and also for the two records. We're looking forward to the Hernando Arts Fest, last year saw 20,000 people, or so someone told us - it still sounds like it'll be the first big festival of the season for Mohave!

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