The multi-day indie party again brings me therapy. May 24 – 28, 2007
The Drive Down
On the drive down to Wilmington the thought occurred to me that every year I find myself at some life-altering crossroads just as WE Fest begins. Last year was career issues, this year my personal life fell to shit. I normally look at this trip as therapeutic but decided this year I’m sick of the therapy. I don’t wanna do anything but have fun. This was not an easy decision. Most of the drive found me trying to convince myself to turn around, go home and sleep for a week.
Even after getting into my hotel room, it took all the strength in me to get my ass to the Soapbox for the first night of bands. On top of my personal stress, I didn’t wanna stress about which bands to see, what pictures to take, what girl will (or will not) give me the time of day and so on. Nor did I want to sit in my hotel room or on the beach contemplating the future or pining over the past. I drew strength from a simple concept which was that this year I’m going to be ‘zenning’ WE Fest and whatever should happen, would simply happen.
Day 1: The Shows
So I got to the Soapbox just in time to catch the last half of a bombastic set by The Majestic Twelve on the top floor fo the club. Lead singer and WE Fest guru Kenyata Sullivan was screaming his heart out despite being sick and the band was on fire. I pulled out my camera and the first shot I took was shaky and outta focus. At this point I decided all shots would be ‘artistic’ rather than struggling to find that ‘perfect’ portrait. Another way to reduce my stress levels.
Soon after I was back on the ground floor and caught a couple of songs by The Never from Chapel Hill, NC. Their uniqueness comes from the ability to tell a story. In fact, their CD ‘Antarctica’ is meant to accompany a fully illustrated storybook by guitarist Noah Smith. A few more feats of photographic experimentation and I was back upstairs. I was in the back bar where WE Fest veteran Lee Buffuloe was telling me about the new additions of art and comedy to the festival. I confessed to being nervous at first with this being the first year that had so many things happening simultaneously.
My fear was that it would be too confusing and difficult to catch everything. Then I realized that the point was not to try and see everything. The point was to give folks a choice this year. This set up actually attracted—and retained—more people to opening night than I’d noticed in years. Why? Simple. If you didn’t like what was happening in one room, you had two and sometimes three other places to be. And that’s what everyone was doing; jumping around but staying in the venue making the bar very happy. And the people were certainly happy to be getting such a bang for their buck. Literally. The cover was a purposely ridiculous low price of $1.00 per night.
Coincidence Brings Happiness
In keeping with my ‘zen’ concept of WE Fest came what I think will go down as one of the best WE Fest tales ever (and there are a lot of those after so many years). Ziggy Nix—who is also a WE Fest veteran—now lives in Asheville, NC. On Wednesday night he caught an act called One Hand Loves the Other from Atlanta and was completely taken by them. They had a gig coming up on Friday in DC and asked Ziggy if there were any openings he knew of along the way for a gig on Thursday. Ziggy immediately called Kenyata and set the wheels in motion for their WE Fest appearance.
Coincidentally, Ready Made Breakup from NJ had to cancel their Thursday set and a local Wilmington band that was slated to fill in also canceled last minute. So One Hand Loves the Other was in. As we waited at the bar, Ziggy gushed about the band. As they were getting ready to play, he literally grabbed me by the collar and walked me to the stage. I watched as they set up their keyboard, cello and an arsenal of computers, wires and electronic gadgets. Then they started to play. Classical, electronica, atmospheric and haunting. I was blown away.
