I had posted a couple weeks ago asking if anyone knew anything about the 10th annual "Some Kind of Jam" festival happening near Reading, PA. Didn't get any responses, but figured it was worth a shot to go to - $75 for 30 bands over a three day weekend sounded like a pretty good deal.
I'm glad I went - there were a ton of good bands playing all sorts of music - rock, folk, jazz, bluegrass, country, prog, funk, hip-hop, even a stand-up comedian and an old-time jug band. Most of the bands didn't stick to one category but kind of mixed, matched and blended genres.
The down side was that this was an outdoor festival in the hills of central PA in April, and unfortunately it got bone-chillingly cold especially at night. Most attendees camp out at the site, and overnight it was below freezing every night. I literally got borderline frostbite on my fingers - several of them are cracked and look pretty nasty. Oddly, I got sunburn on my nose and face during the day - it's not often you can get frostbite and sunburn in the same weekend.
I wrote up a lengthy review web page with lots of photos:
http://home.comcast.net/~eichler2/Ji...ndOfJam10.html
Quick summary for prog fans - two bands that had previously played ProgDay were there: Consider the Source and Out of the Beardspace. CtS tore up the main stage just before the headliners on Friday, and had probably the biggest and most enthusiastic audience for any band outside the two headliners (The Motet and Particle). I only caught a song or two of Beardspace's set because it conflicted with another band I wanted to see (there were four stages, often with multiple bands playing at the same time, with many bands playing more than one set over the course of the weekend).
New discovery that I really liked was the band Carbon Mirage out of New York. Three young guys on guitar, bass and drums that played improvisational rock that had hints of ambient music, surf rock, punk - all over the map. The program listed a couple of their major influences as Miles Davis and Sun Ra. They were the very first band on Friday, just after I arrived, and I had promised myself I wouldn't immediately start buying CDs, but I had to get both the discs they were selling as soon as their set was over. Later in the day they hosted an improv workshop, and I got to "jam" with them for a while on various percussion instruments, even though I don't have a musical bone in my body. I'd love to see them play ProgDay - I think both the music and the improv workshop concept would go over huge.
Ironically, the other new discovery band that I liked was the very last one to perform on Sunday afternoon, the Emilio Teubal Quartet. Jazz fusion band with a couple members from Argentina, so they had a world music thing going on that reminded me of Weather Report. Really good.
Some prog fans might like the Saturday night headliners, Particle. Probably too dance-music like for most, but they had tons of keyboards (even a Moog) and the guitarist could shred.
A guy named Mateo Monk held a "looping" workshop where he showed how to build up songs using various instruments and a looping pedal. It was geared towards musicians, but I found it interesting.
The venue is a beautiul place - it's an old fairgrounds in the wooded hills near Schuylkill Haven, PA. Main stage was a big, beautiful wooden ampitheater. The other stages were all kind of improvised in existing buildings, with one in a tent out in the camping area. There was one indoor stage in a warehouse-type building where they held the workshops during the day and then did late-night shows (starting at midnight and, from what I've heard, going until dawn each night - I didn't make it to the end of any of the late night shows). There are nature trails, yoga classes, dogs running around, people playing with hula-hoops, food vendors, fire dancers at night and even a parade in the middle of Saturday. Very scenic and very relaxed atmosphere.
Overall it was a really good time, despite the fact that I was over the median age of the crowd by at least 20 years and was one of the very few people who weren't stoned the entire weekend. I'd definitely go again, but next time maybe I'll get a hotel room or commute from home (since it's only a 45 minute drive), because freezing my butt off in a tent was NOT fun. I almost bought a ticket to the "Madsummer Meltdown" festival they're hosting in June, but then I remembered that I'm supposed to be taking my family to Disney World that week. Gah.
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Originally Posted by Ground and Sky's Ghost
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