Dude, How was LEAF?

The Lake Eden Arts Festival called 6 months ago to book The Primate Fiasco for a kids performance. Asheville North Carolina is about 14 hours away so I asked them for a grown ups show as well. They were nice enough to grant us a late night set in something called the "Barn". We have to assume that the kids stage is the usual board of plywood with a 50 watt sound system. We also have to assume that this barn thing is hidden in the woods and probably at the same time as the headliner. Otherwise, why would they give a sweet time slot to a band that no one there has ever heard of? We ended up with two kids shows, a late night barn, and a parade. Four shows in 2 days. We decided to do it because it was a good starting point down south for our spring tour. We had no idea what we were getting into.

We rolled in at 3am. We didn't really have the option of showing up during check in hours so we just sort of snuck in, parked where we knew we shouldn't be, and set up camp where we shouldn't be. We'll sort it all out in the morning. When we woke, we found ourselves beside a beautiful lake, high up in the smokey mountains. The lake was peppered with zip lines, canoes, and one of those giant inflatable things that catapults you as someone else jumps onto it from the diving board. It was a giant playground of summeryness. There were adorable little stone and wood buildings all around. Tents were set up around the water and up to the tips of peninsulas. Basically, it was already the sweetest layout I have ever seen for a festival. Like summer camp, but with monster musical acts.

At first, I was baffled that so many of the staff and fans knew who I was because they kept making eye contact and saying hello. Then I realized that they make eye contact with everyone around here and it had nothing to do with who we were. It felt voyeuristic to me at first, to check out someone's condition and expect a confirming nod back. But after the first few hours it felt really safe and welcoming.

KIDS VILLAGE

Our first job was to play the closing show at the kids stage on Friday. Scratch that whole thing about the tiny little kid stage with the 50 watt system. This festival takes their kids music seriously. Finally, a fest who understands that kids are ON THE LEVEL!!! I think I'm qualified to testify about this. Kids throw down. When they like it, they tear up the dance floor and when it bores them, they leave. They could care less how hip, classic, underground, legendary, or how many degrees from The Grateful Dead something is. They like what they like. This festival knows that. The stage was actually a little bit hipper, more capable, and even more tripped out than many adult side stages that I've seen. It was a circus tent (hand made) with a serious PA system, subs and all. So the tuba is not just a shiny object to look at, it's also going to waste a few diapers. Surrounding the kid stage is a whole village that honesty could exist by itself without the rest of the festival. It would be worth taking a family to the village for a weekend without leaving it. A mini carnival. Trapeze, jugglers. Two stages (seriously, the kids area had a side stage?). And an instrument petting zoo where kids could try out everything from trumpets to mandolins. And the real kind of face painting. Ya know.. by artists.

Our Friday set coincided with a thunder storm. A few families figured out that it would be better to be in the circus tent than in their own tent so there was a decent turn out. I thought it was cool that people without kids also showed up just to check out the band. How did they know that The Primate Fiasco might be hipper than a folk singing clown who sings about bunnies? Because they know better at this festival. Every one of the acts on the kids stage was world class. Literally. Saturday was even better. We played earlier in the day to kick off the parade. All in all, probably our best kids show to date.

Later, from the side stage, we heard a guy leading a Beatles sing along for at least an hour. It was like church.

FRIDAY NIGHT

After the kids set, I had to park the van somewhere very very far away. I ended up lost but got to explore other parts of the campground. For instance, I finally found my way to the artist lounge where they were giving me food, beer, and massages for free. All on a ledge that overlooked the downtown part of the festival from high above. I'm used to knowing the people in the greenroom when closer to home. The usual Kung Fu, Max Creek, Hot Day, Alchemystics, Zack, Rubblebucket, crew wasn't there this time. They were all strangers. I met a guy named Josh Phillips who seemed like a really good soul.

Josh mentioned that he had a late night set at the barn. It was the same time and place as our barn set, but a day before. I figured I should check out the barn. I couldn't get in because they were at capacity. I asked someone if it was always like that and they said no. Josh is a local boy who grew up as a LEAFer. That's why it's packed. The band sounded killer from outside. I imagine that's also why. I was a little concerned about people not making it up the hill to hear us when it was our turn. Thus far, the only ones who heard us were kids and parents who keep the same sleeping hours as their kids. Tomorrow would be a day for the old tricks.

FOOD

Normally, this is a boring topic to review, but I have to say that the scheduled meals for performers and crew were amazing. The problem was that we were playing so often, we were having a hard time being there when it was served. A staff member named Paul jumped through hoops to make sure we got fed in time for our set. One trick I've learned about any fest, job, etc is that you should always make friends with someone on kitchen staff. Here, I didn't have to. Paul hooked us up with royal treatment without ever asking who we were. Much love Paul!

PARADE

Parades are like junk drawers. Everyone has one and there's no good way to organize it. At most festivals, we struggle to figure out where and when we are supposed to do what. At this one, it was hard not to know. There was an incredibly talented stilt dancer with an African drumming group who, even behind a mask, had no trouble communicating to the herd about which way they were going and when. There was a marching band of very young musicians from a school (that I wish I knew the name of). These kids were sick. They got a kick out of Chris's mobile drum rig and all took turns trying it.

SATURDAY RENEGADE SET

After the parade, we had about 4 hours to kill before our barn set which may or may not be attended by LEAFers. Around 7pm, we went out to the main stage field during the down time between acts. We jammed out on the lawn and gathered a main stage size audience. We had a sign on the sousaphone that said "BARN 10:30". We only played 3 songs and ended it with NIN's "closer", just so they understood that we weren't only a kids band.

VENDING

BBQ sundays, The Breakfast Thing (omelette in a tortilla), and endless awesomeness. I met a painter named Wendy Kowalski who had some brilliant work and was drawing people for tips. At one point, I watched her paint while dancing to the stage music. The music, paint, odors of vending treats, and her funky soul blended together into something of a performance piece. As Wendy would say, it's in the paint. We became good friends immediately.

THE BARN

As I was trying to MacGyver our camcorder to the barn wall (just incase anyone showed up), I expected the sound guy to get annoyed with me like they sometimes do when you are caught scaling walls above expensive equipment. Notoriously at festivals, the sound crew has been working 50 hours strait and have a short fuse, understandably. He saw me looking for an outlet and free'd up a plug from the soundboard while advising me about a potential lighting issue. Southern Hospitality.

Our set started on time. There was no one there. Just kidding, the place was jammed against the stage. As I looked around the room, it was like a scene in a movie where all the characters pan across the frame shortly before the story's climax. Actually, it wasn't "like" that. It WAS that. While we were walking out on stage, I saw Denisa, the woman who originally found us and booked us for the kids stage; Mary Ellen, a merch booth staff (and musician) who was one of the firsts to welcome us; Billy Jack, a big cheese who I had been corresponding with for months; Wendy, the painter; kitchen staff, the people who danced at our renegade set, The exec producer of the fest who helped me call a friend in my time of desperate sleep deprivation with no cell service; and even a few kids who were up way past their bed time. I could see the curious excitement on their faces. It was clear that they were wishing the best for us. So many people had run the extra mile for us all weekend and our job in the moment was to make all of their efforts worth it.

In moments like that, it's no longer a job. It's not even something we do for fun or even artistic expression. It becomes our place in the universe and our reason for being.

The barn architecture swayed with the beat throughout the set. They were a warm and energetic crowd. I handed a tambourine to a little girl who was front and center. She couldn't have been more that 7 but had the rhythm of a New Orleans street performer. Earlier that weekend, we over heard that the barn was once a refugee safe-house for Jews during the holocaust so Havah Negila found it's way into our set and damn near broke the dance floor. For the encore, we brought the little girl (Lauren) to the stage where she helped us close the set to The Muppet Show. For the second encore, we walked off the stage and jammed out on the dance floor with our new friends.

SATURDAY LATENIGHT

After the barn set, we cleared the barn and went back down the hill to hear Spam Allstars in Eden Hall. Eden hall is where the food was served all weekend. There was a stage in there which housed a lot of alternative, folky, mellow, family friendly stuff all weekend. When I walked in, I didn't recognize it. The tables were all pushed to the sides and the room was full of the demographic that would still be awake at 2am. Finally, here are all the people our age. Everyone in the room (maybe 500) were all moving together. And I don't mean to the same beat. I mean we all danced with each other. When you walk through the room, you groove out with each person that you pass. All of that eye contact that we've been experiencing all weekend found it's funk and it was beautiful. People were dancing on the tables and in the hallways. Outside was the beach where people could still enjoy the music and also some conversation.

I hung out with some really nice Asheville girls, Katherine, Brook, and Emily, who were at the barn set and then ran into Josh Phillips on my way back. He invited me up to the drum circle which I was unaware of. On our way up, I found out that he was playing the staff party on Sunday night and a girl mention that she wanted some New Orleans songs. I had to ask, "ya need any horns?" It looked like we would be staying another night.

DRUM CIRCLE

I had a white knuckle golf cart ride to the esoterically located bonfire. I overheard a bunch about the drum circle. Typical of drum circles, there are drummers and there are non drummers who join in. As a djembe player, I can appreciate that it can be a fine tuned craft. But I also respect that a circle is open to everyone, including novice drummers and I like that. Unusual time signatures can be a lot to ask for since most people are going to be banging in 4/4 regardless. I witnessed the struggle between attempted African polyrhythms and drunken funk pounding. It was hard to know where to play. I joined in with the 9 beat rhythm when I could hear it but since the non drummers had the louder drums, I was definitely not bummed out when the skilled drummers submitted to the acoustic hip hop. It's just more welcoming and communal when everyone can play together without 6 months of training in West Africa. But the drummers that were there were great. I would love the chance to sit in a smaller circle with them some day. I drummed until I started seeing the blue return to the sky and suddenly I realized how tired I was.

STAFFTER PARTY

I guess its a tradition that on sunday night, after everyone goes home, the staff has a catered party up at the barn. We were there because Josh invited us as his horn section. And it's a good thing too because they found out a little too late that there was no sound system still standing in the barn. The Primate Fiasco gear came out of the van and Josh put on an amazing show. His band was tight and he himself is just a funky soulful bro. We got to party with all of the staff that had taken such good care of us and really iced the cake of a great weekend. A really delicious cake. A delicious, healthy, and filling cake.

AFTERMATH

Our gig in Asheville the next night was well attended. Brook and Katherine brought a bunch of people down and many more passers by came in and danced. Wendy (painter) was stranded in town for an extra night as well and so we got to hang out with her some more. It was probably one of the hippest Monday nights we've ever had. Tuesday night we crashed an open jam at a different bar across town and saw more of our new friends again.

Asheville is no longer a curiosity. Its much the way Vermont or Connecticut is for us. I feel like we could play there any time and always have people to dance and put us up for the night. If Northampton ever kicked me out, I would move there.

Spawning from a Facebook request to play Washington DC from our new friend Emily, we ended up crashing on her floor and street jamming in our nations capital. I like this idea of booking the tour as we go. We also made a lot of friends at LEAF who live in Athens, Charleston, Charolette, DC, and Wilmington. Apparently, a major radio DJ who broadcasts to these places named us his favorite new musical discovery. Looks like it's time to book the next southern tour.

I recommend LEAF to people in the north. It seems like a long drive and it is. But really, you'll return every year and then so will your children and their children.

-Dave Del

Banjo/vocals/harmonica