Lucid

Man‚ I love Upstate New York. Especially during the end of summer/beginning of autumn mix. The exhilaration of heading north coursed through my body as I rode I-87 towards Peru. Upon departing the Northway‚ we found what we were looking for tucked away right off the exit. We passed through a beautiful apple orchard and arrived at the festival. There‚ staff was pleasant and helpful while they politely searched arriving vehicles. There were no problems with any overzealous egos‚ nor did I see any patrons with attitudes. It felt as if everyone was there to enjoy themselves‚ and shared in the excitement for things to come.
Getting there and setting up camp was very easy‚ the grounds left many options. If you wanted to camp within view and decent listening distance of the stage you were able to‚ further out there were wooded camp sites‚ and further lay the "quiet" camping that some took advantage of as well. The pond seemed a little low‚ and compared to other years it was a "puddle" one attendee relayed to me. All in all‚ I was very impressed by the setup and organization of such a small event -- everything felt just right. Here are some of the highlights:
-Shameless Strangers started things off for the weekend -- the Plattsburgh locals were a fun loving rock band that reminded me a bit of Ween. Listen to "Handsome Man" or "Aliens" to catch my drift on that.
-The rock/electronic fusion of Sinecure was next up‚ and I was pleased to see that right off the bat there was such diversity of the sounds to come. These guys have a cool spaced out take on how live electronic should be played where it's not just four to the floor the whole time. That balance is lacking with most groups.
-Lucid played a very good funked out set. These local heroes got everyone going within the first few minutes of playing. There was an obvious reason people were here to see them. Their bouncing basslines and saxophone runs reminded me of everything I loved about ska music‚ and the harmonica hit me with so much soul. When their set was over you could tell people wanted more‚ and they would get that on day two‚ but we'll get to that soon enough! I started drinking Ouzo.
-Twiddle had some "Phans" going nuts during their cover of "Harry Hood" (with "Divided Sky" teases).
-I haven't seen them in ages it seems‚ and John Brown's Body is still great to see. Although I did cringe at the lyrics about smoking pot‚ I'm a square when it comes to lyrics like that I guess. It just comes off as a gimmick‚ even for a live reggae band. It's 2010.
-The late night act billed was Brothers Past‚ with "Dankfest" being canceled (what a name!) the Philadelphians were added to the roster. They didn't go on until about 1:45-2 AM‚ and the crowd was eagerly waiting. They played with a blinding ferocity. The re-worked "Dressed Up Worn Down" into "Too Late To Call" was brilliant (as most jams into T.L.T.C. usually are). "Dead Clowns" and "One Day I'll Disappear>One Rabbit Race" had some people going out of their minds. What a fantastic way to end day one at this festival‚ let me tell you! During this I ran out of Ouzo.
Day Two
-I woke up to Capital Zen. As I played a mildly sun-drenched game of bocce with some comrades‚ we heard these guys absolutely DESTROY Rush's "YYZ." We ended the game and caught the rest of their energetic set. Their guitarist was impressive. They reminded me a little bit like The Breakfast‚ a group who has performed at the past couple Pondfests but was not on this year's bill.
-Mr. Charlie & Blues For Breakfast came next‚ with the impressive playing of Yacavone on guitar and Adam King on keys. They were a Grateful Dead cover band that was actually enjoyable to listen to!
-Hot Day at the Zoo was fun‚ although their cover of "Foxy Lady" annoyed the hell out of me. Thank god for that standup bass player. Lucid's Jamie Armstrong sat in on their set adding the perfect accompaniment of brass to the bluegrass outfit.
-Garaj Mahal. JESUS CHRIST. They played one of the better sets of music I've seen in a very long time. Each person in this band excels at their instrument‚ and come together in perfect union. Their energy was relentless and I was floored by their musicianship. Keyboardist Eric Levy sent us out into space at times. Kai Eckhardt is so smooth and plays bass with every inch of his body and soul. Fareed Haque is one of the most amazing guitarists I've ever seen. It was nice to hear a drummer sing lead so well all while thrashing away at the kit. Kai had some ladies asking him to strip during the set‚ he showed them his nipple‚ they screamed. Incredible set -- can not wait to see them again. This group's creative fusion is like no other.
-When Chali 2na first took the stage I admit it didn't seem like it was going to work out for him. Within the first couple of songs he performed though‚ people began to drift towards the stage from the shadows and bonfire. As he grew more comfortable on stage‚ the crowd grew more comfortable with him. His performances of Jurassic 5's "Quality Control" and "What's Golden" with a band behind him were a thrill to hear.
-Lucid's second set was also the final set of the festival. These Plattsburgh rockers had the place bursting at the seams with energy. This band loves making music together‚ and this performance without a doubt overshadowed the one a day prior. Guitarist Kevin Sabourin shredded the stage down‚ it must have been me but I did not notice him playing like this the first night. And Jamie Armstrong can play the hell out of that sax! Andy Deller is methodic in his playing‚ layering organ and jazz sounds over the band's music perfectly. Lowell Wurster the percussionist/harp player has an amazing‚ throaty voice‚ and a tremendous knack for adding sounds to the music at perfect time. Chris Shacklett‚ jumping around like a punk rocker surprised me in the greatest way possible when he stood up to the microphone to cover the Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer." I have heard other groups play this song plenty of times‚ but this version was so fresh and original‚ he nailed it with ease. Drummer Ryan Trumbull looks like he was in the same punk band as Shacklett and played with an equally entertaining metal attitude that serves the band well. Chali 2na joined them on stage and flowed a bit over a couple jams. He seemed stunned with how they played with such speed/energy. You could see it on his face.
By the end of the set I was swollen from the onslaught of (heartfelt) music I had just witnessed. This band has so many flavors that work when combined it's not even funny. It is very understandable the draw they have and why everyone had their eyes and ears on them for so long. I will admit that after Garaj Mahal's set I wondered how they were going to pull it off‚ but they did and then some. Again‚ they know how to throw a party. Wurster and Trumbull are the brains behind the operation and they did it without putting themselves completely in the spotlight -- which I loved. Most groups when doing something like this would make it their festival. But they shared the stage with other artists rather then "letting" others perform. These guys have something going for them‚ something righteously Adirondack‚ and they wouldn't have it any other way. - State of Mind Music dot com

Published September 06, 2007 05:45 am - Late, lamented music festival reborn with Backwoods Pondfest.

Return to the Pond
Sisters revive two-day music festival in Peru

By STEVE OUELLETTE
Features Editor

PERU -- Katie and Liz Bazzano grew up with the wild and wonderful multi-day musicfest Pondstock literally in their backyard.

Five years after the last cascade of sound echoed through the forest at Twin Ponds Campsite, the two sisters have helped -- almost accidentally -- bring the music back in a new, and hopefully improved, version.

Backwoods Pondfest will begin Friday afternoon and provide nearly 26 hours of music from 13 bands into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

"We were sitting up one night, talking about throwing a big party, with three or four bands, just for all our friends," said Katie Bazzano, 23. "We weren't thinking about anything like this "¦ but it kept progressing and progressing and suddenly it was a two-day music festival.

"Now we're really excited to do it; I hope we can be doing it for the next 10, 15 years."

Pondstock was started by Katie and Liz's mom, Sandy Bazzano, owner of the campground.

"I think when Mom started out, they had maybe 400 people," said Liz Bazzano.

"She did it for about 8, 10 years and then didn't want to do it anymore," said Katie. "Then a production company took over for a while until they didn't want to do it either. Nobody was up to the challenge."

The final year featured 21 bands, including nationally-renowned Pink Floyd tribute band The Machine.

The show brought in about 3,000 people for the weekend, said Liz, but it was a financial disaster.

With a new focus, the Bazzano sisters hope the Backwoods Pondfest will prove to be a more lasting success.

The Plattsburgh-based band Lucid had a huge hand in making arrangements and convincing the Bazzanos that the time was ripe for a revival.

"Everyone has memories from Pondstock," said Lucid's Lowell Wurster, who worked for SWM Productions when it ran the festival. "It was a big loss for the area; not for the guys putting it on though. They lost their shirts."

The weekend's lineup features regional bands from New York, New England and Canada.

"It used to be a lot of cover bands, but now we're doing all original music," said Katie.

Day 1 of the festival has a Plattsburgh tinge, with local favorites like Slow Natives, the Mike Pedersen Band, Shameless Strangers and Lucid appearing.

On day 2, acts include Montreal's New Groove Orchestra, New Hampshire jam band Roots of Creation and popular touring band Rolla, featuring Fuzz of Deep Banana Blackout.

Tickets cost $25 in advance and $28 at the gate, which includes two days of music and two nights of tent camping. Considering that campsites usually go for $15 a night -- sans music -- it's quite a deal.

Also, $1 of each ticket goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

"Most of the bands are doing this for free, or for discount prices," said Wurster. "So many people wanted to do this "¦ they were calling to volunteer, said they didn't even care what time they got on stage."

Though security will be ever-present at the festival, the Bazzano sisters expect a well-behaved crowd, and urge everyone to follow the rules posted on their Web site (www.backwoodspondfest.com).

These include no glass, no weapons, no illegal substances, no underage drinking, no violence and above all, no swimming in the pond.

"Yeah, there are snapping turtles and leeches," admitted Liz. "You definitely don't want to go swimming in there."

With all the music going on, there's really no good time to take a swimming break anyway.

"I hope this is kind of a revival of music in the area," said Wurster. "There aren't a lot of things like this happening here "¦ it's like a different world when you go to a music festival, and that's what we're trying to create." - Press Republican

Published August 09, 2007 10:30 pm - It'll take people and ideas to maintain the momentum created this summer in bringing visitors downtown.

EDITORIAL: Plattsburgh Downtown Association can build on summer successes



It appears the Plattsburgh Downtown Association is becoming more of an active player in its efforts to attract people to the inner city instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to happen. We like it.

On the heels of its successful Gumbo and Jambalaya Challenge last month "" we say successful in that around 60 people showed up on a largely lousy day weather-wise and paid five bucks to sample different recipes and vote for their favorites "" are plans to further expand the group's offerings.

Another cook-off is planned to coincide with the Wal-Mart BFL fishing tournament Sept. 22 and 23. This time it'll be a chowderfest. The food-themed events appear to be popular around here, and with the bass fishermen in town, success is almost guaranteed.

Association President Chris Dominianni tells us the group is looking to build on its successes this summer. In fact, it's looking for an events manager, someone who could put in a couple hours a week to organize fundraising, membership drives and plan events. He or she would be compensated on a commission basis for their work.

That tells us the association is serious about its mission.

The Summer Arts Series has been a real plus. Performances by local musicians like Lucid and the Blind Pig Blues Band attracted almost 200 people to the Westelcom State on Durkee Street on a recent Saturday. One hundred and twenty five people or so attended the Reggae Fest the next day.

A precedent-setting event this summer was the Country Music Jamboree, emceed by Eagle 97.5, a country-music radio station from Vermont. The association will attempt to build on that event to entice other radio stations in the region to participate in events next year.

Building on prior successes and improving on them is just the thing that will bring people downtown, whatever the season. And we're talking about locals and visitors alike.

Local residents, exposed to events like the specialty-food cook-offs and the Summer Arts Series, will support the association's endeavors as long as they're exciting, innovative and fun. And if they're family oriented, all the better.

The association's efforts, though, take time and energy "" sometimes lots of both. And it's imperative that downtown's businesspeople jump in with both feet in order to sustain the inner city's ability to transform itself into a destination point.

Downtown appears to have the momentum on its side. It's important that it maintain that and build on it.

It takes people and ideas. And the North Country region has plenty of both.

To find out more about the association, its goals and to offer input, we suggest you go to the group's Web site: www.plattsburghdowntown.com.

Get involved. - Press Republican

Published August 08, 2007 11:31 pm - Lucid, mp3, Shameless Strangers and Slow Natives rock Fantastic $4 Band Night 9 p.m. Wednesday at Higher Ground, 1214 Williston Rd. South Burlington. (802) 652-0777

Four Plattsburgh bands at Higher Ground
'We do our best to make our lyrics as funny as possible and still have something serious to say"

By ROBIN CAUDELL
Staff Writer

SOUTH BURLINGTON "" Rock with Lucid, mp3, Shameless Strangers and Slow Natives at Fantastic $4 Band Night Wednesday at Higher Ground.

The Plattsburgh bands' invasion of Burlington was the idea of Mike Pedersen of mp3, the Mike Pedersen Trio. After a successful five-week residency with the other bands at Nectar's, he wanted to amp up their exposure at Higher Ground.

"It was really fun to get Plattsburgh bands in Burlington," Pedersen said. "It went over really well."

The trio, featuring George Facteau (bass) and Bill Bougill (drums), is a jam, rock, blues band performing Pedersen's originals.

"I bring them to the band, and we orchestrate them accordingly," he said. "The band started out with just George and I jamming in the basement of Chi-Booms. It was completely improvisational, experimenting with sounds and such.

"Our philosophy has been there are no wrong notes. Make a wrong note sound great, play it again. Sometimes it sounds awful and sometimes you go in completely different directions. You work with what you got. We try to incorporate that in our music."

Pedersen asked the other bands to gig at Higher Ground because he respects them musically and they're friends.

"We're excited. This is a professional space. This is a real deal."

Will Scheifley of Shameless Strangers agrees.

"It feels like a pretty good achievement," Scheifley said. "It feels really good to go with these guys over there and show them what we can do."

He co-founded the band with Mike Dashnaw (guitar), and it includes Cody Reid (bass), Bougill (drums) and Dan Gallagher (keys).

"We do our best to make it funny, to make our lyrics as funny as possible and still have something serious to say," Scheifley said. "It's really hard to explain. It's kind of rock Â?n' roll type stuff. We take a lot of all the bands we like and throw it into our band."

Slow Natives "" Shawn Paul (lead guitar and effects), Adrienne (keys), Krit (percussion), James Ward (bass) and Ricarte (drums and flavor) "" fire reggae, dub and techno grooves.

Lucid streams rock, fusion and blues. For Kevin Sabourin (guitar and lead vocals), Nick Sauvie (bass), Jamie Armstrong (sax), Andy Deller (keys, Rhodes), Ryan Trumbull (drums) and Lowell Wurster (percussion and harp), it's a return to Higher Ground, where they played a Christmas party.

"All the bands involved are all my friends," Wurster said. "I know in some music scenes, people are really competitive. Everyone who likes our band will like these bands and vice-versa. For all of them, it's a great mix of original music.

"All these bands, we have a cover or two, but we all put our effort and thought into these songs. To be able to bring the best of what Plattsburgh offers, and there are other good bands, it's awesome. It's all different kinds of music. It's a wonderful thing."

- Press Republican

Published July 11, 2007 10:45 pm - Lowell and George Wurster bring their bands to the opening of 2007 Summer Art Series.

Father, son musical tradition to rock Art Series
'They were real receptive to music; they grasped it, embraced it and still do"

By STEVE OUELLETTE
Features Editor

PLATTSBURGH -- There is much that fathers can hand down to their sons. Wise sayings. Financial advice. Fishing tips.

For the Wurster clan, however, a legacy of music is the most important parental gift.

"Music is very powerful," said George Wurster, lead singer and harmonica player for the Blind Pigs Blues Band. "It can do a lot of things for a lot of people. It can soothe you, it can excite you, it can make you feel better ... it sounds corny, but it can bring people together."

Music will bring George and his son, Lowell, together again Friday night as their respective bands kick off the Summer Art Series at the Westelcom Stage in downtown Plattsburgh.

Lowell provides drums, percussion, harmonica and vocals for one of the area's most popular young progressive bands, Lucid, which will take the stage first at 7 p.m.

George's band will follow, but there's likely to be a lot of intermingling between the two bands.

"It's not going to take long to change the set because we're all going to leave our instruments out there," said Lowell. "We all want to play with the those guys."

It certainly won't be the first time the two Wursters took the stage together.

"When I was six or seven he'd bring me up on stage and I'd bang around the tambourine," said Lowell. "Growing up we were constantly surrounded by music. Not always the blues, it was a huge, wide gamut of music.

"I think (my parents) went over to the Bob Marley concert when I was in the womb. That was my first concert. I looked it up on the Internet and my mom had to be seven months pregnant with me."

George admits that his children showed an early aptitude for music -- daughter Catie is in the underground thrash band Ota Benga -- but said he never pushed them to follow his path.

"Our theory, my wife and I, was to expose them to as much as possible, musically, socially, culturally, and never pressure them to go in any specific direction," he said. "But they were real receptive to music; they grasped it, embraced it and still do."

The two diverse bands first shared a stage together at a "Help Feed Your Neighbor" fundraiser at Olive Ridley's in Plattsburgh in January. It was the Blind Pig Blues Band's first show after a long hiatus and the room was packed.

"It was our first time back in the spotlight and it was just humbling the number of people who came out," said George.

The Blind Pig Blues Band ended up jamming with several members of Lucid and other bands in attendance in a joyous convergence of sound.

Since that time, George has attended several Lucid shows, and is invariably invited up on stage by his son.

"If there's one person I don't mind being shown up by, it's my dad," said Lowell.

"It's been interesting seeing him play with a band that isn't very structured. At first he was a little uncomfortable, I could tell, but when he got into the whole free-form jam thing -- that's what we do, we'll play our songs a hundred different ways -- he got really good at it."

"They keep me on my toes," said George, with a shrug. "We play the same song on different nights and they come at them in a completely different way ... but it's fun to play with the young guys."

Friday night's performance kicks off a month-long series of shows.

Saturday is the Reggae Fest, featuring Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad and Slow Natives.

Saturday, July 21 is Gospel Night, followed by the Country Music Jamboree on July 28 and, on the first weekend of August, performances of "Seussical Jr." by the Adirondack Regional Theatre.

- Press Republican

Published June 27, 2007 11:15 pm - The Mountain Music Meltdown 2007 features 15-plus bands Saturday and Sunday at the North Country Community College Soccer Field in Saranac Lake.

The beat goes on at the Mountain Music Meltdown
Deck

By ROBIN CAUDELL
Staff Writer

SARANAC LAKE -- Beat the heat at the Mountain Music Meltdown Saturday and Sunday in Saranac Lake.

If you're going to sweat, do it while rocking at the two-day Lazar Bear Productions music fest at the North Country Community College Soccer Field.

Les Hershhorn moved to the North Country a year ago, bringing his '60s honed concert promotion expertise to Saranac Lake. To date, his Lazar Bear Productions have brought Leon Russell and Johnny Winter to town.

"I've been doing festivals in Hawaii for many years and other cities on the mainland," Hershhorn said. "I wanted to bring something to Saranac Lake. It has a very good potential of being an arts and music center in the North Country. I decided to put this thing together."

This "thing" is a fast and furious wash of bluegrass, folk, country, rock, blues, world and jam on two stages.

Saranac Lake's own Sven Curth is first up on the Main Stage Saturday, with a roster that includes Plattsburgh's popular Lucid. Concurrently, the Second Stage features Will Scheifly of Shameless Strangers, the Rebecca Sutter Duo and the George Bailey Trio.

At 4 p.m., all ears will be attuned to the Gibson Brothers. Some may be intimidated to take the stage after a Gibson-powered bluegrass set but not a legend like Doc Watson. He's been in the entertainment business so long that he's forgotten more than most of Saturday's performers have lived.

Every bit of music in Watson he learned by ear growing up in a musical family near Deep Gap, N.C. His father, General Dixon Watson, sang in the Baptist Church and played banjo. His mother, Annie, sang hymns around the house.

When he was 5, Watson blew harmonica. At 11, he plucked a homemade banjo. At the North Carolina School for the Blind, a friend taught him a few guitar chords. His delighted father purchased a $12 Stella for him. Then, Watson and his older brother, Linny, became a duet.

A 1960 gig in Union Grove, N.C. with Tom "Clarence" Ashley, Clinton Howard and Fred Price was a right-place-right-time happening. Ashley introduced Watson to folklorist Ralph Rinzler.

"He was the finest musicologist in the land," Watson said. "He convinced me I had something to offer in the area of entertainment in the folk revival."

Though Watson had broad musical interests including blues, country and gospel, Rinzler told him to stick with the old, traditional music until he got his foot in the door. His love of music and lack of vocation were the two reasons why Watson got into the business.

"My family comes first. Â?He that provided not for his own house is worse than an infidel.' That's what the old book said. I'm a home boy. I'm country. The music, thank God, I loved it and that I could stick with it."

Music has always been a love but his first love is his sweet wife, Rosalee, daughter of fiddler Gaither Carlton. In the early years when Watson was struggling, Rosalee's homegrown and canned produce fed their two children, Eddy Merle and Nancy Ellen. Watson's fortune changed forever after his legendary set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963.

"The music succeeded. It was a long, hard pull. Merle started working with me. Without Merle, I couldn't have made it, and his little mama back home to keep the home fires going."

It was Rosalee, who taught a teen-aged Merle his first guitar chords. In June of 1964, he performed with his father at San Francisco and Berkley concerts. Five months later, they recorded their first album, "Doc Watson and Son."

They recorded 19 more, winning four Grammys along the way, before Merle died in a tractor accident in 1985.

"It hurts me worse than it did then. It was such a shock. I was numb. I couldn't figure out why, why, why? For Rosalee, the tragedy all but killed her. She had a severe heart condition. She had I don't know how many surgeries over a period of 13 months. The doctors said she had a broken heart. It was not her diet and lifestyle. She had lost Merle. She loves our children."

Rosalee is recovering from a back surgery that's left her not as strong as she was. This bothers Watson a lot.

"I'm 84 years old. I got health most people my age wish they had. I wish I could divide some of my health with Rosalee and take her pain."

Watson credits the good Lord's guidance for his success. He was never about flash but good music. Now, he's joined on-stage by his grandson.

"Richard, Merle's son, is playing some beautiful blues guitar. He learned a few licks from his father before he died. He's on the road with me now. It's really good to have him out there. Sometimes I forget and call him Merle."

After Watson, the guitar-and-percussion driven Tcheka, a Cape Verde jam band, takes the stage.

Sunday, the beat goes on with the hot blues of the Chaz De Paolo Blues Band followed by Ana Popovic, a Yugoslavian blues-guitar slinger, and Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen.

Rotation on the Second Stage includes Russ Bailey and Steve Feinbloom, a stellar North Country acoustic duo followed by Monster Buck, Sabbatical and Raisin Head, based in Jay, Canton and Albany, respectively.

New Riders of the Purple Sage will close the fest on the Main Stage.

"New Riders have a jam audience and baby-boomer audience," Hershhorn said. "They capture two audiences, which is common with Little Feat, another band that came out of that era."

- Press Republican

Fall festival season is in full swing, and with it, a whole livelihood of festivities. The weekend of Sept. 11-12 celebrated the third annual Backwoods Pondfest, a smallish music festival located about a half hour north of Burlington in Peru, N.Y.

With the total turnout around 1,200 including attendees, bands, and guests, Backwoods Pondfest brought in an even larger crowd than in past years, filling Twin Ponds Campsite with love and music
once again.

Tents and campsites rallied around a pond to the right of the main stage and extended into the open green fields to the left, a quarter mile to the edge of the woods. Contained campfires were totally acceptable - a rare treat on the festival scene, but one vastly enjoyed by all.

Lucid, the weekend's host band worked tirelessly and showed hospitality the way it should be; music for all, and for all a good time. From the moment of our arrival on Friday afternoon, until our departure early Sunday morning, the music didn't miss a beat.

A lineup of 15 bands played throughout the weekend. The music included a psychedelic and stimulating variety of soul, reggae, funk, electronic, folk, jam, jazz, rock, and blues. It was nothing short of energetic and raved until the wee hours of morning two nights in a row.

Bands included the Ryan Montbleau Band, U-Melt, Spiritual Rez, Shameless Strangers and The Grift to name a few. Paul Caraher on acoustic played between sets.

A mass of excitement arose from the crowd when fan-favorite and disbanded talent, the South Catherine Jug Street band made a reunion appearance late Friday night - a true Backwoods specialty. Their performance was followed by The Breakfast, which kept the fire burning until the a.m.

Elephant Bear, a band from the Queen city, got crowds moving early on Saturday morning with a spot-on rendition of "Character Zero," along with some lively originals.

Saturday brought a mid-day treat for the head and feet from Hot Day at the Zoo, a string band with a swell of passion, based out of the Massachusettes-New Hampshire area. With a self-described genre of "Zoo-grass" - an intent blend of "ragtime, jazz, blues, rock and roll, and rap" - when it comes to inspiration, nothing is off limits.

The quartet sat down for an interview post-show, cross-legged in a circle on the grass in the band camping area, with the upbeat music of Greyspoke swirling in the background.

They described their closeness, their always-democratic dealings with and respect for the band, and their own personal blend of "Zoo-ified" tunes.

Hot Day members spoke fondly of their tour van, which keeps the music moving and the band in close quarters, playfully debating whether the van named "The Bone Wagon" was a "he" or "she." They shared their excitement for the night's upcoming Ryan Montbleau Band, Twiddle and Lucid shows.

Along with groovy music, art was in the air too. A duo of artists set up camp in the center of the field, laying out a white banner on the grass for passers-by to make a pit stop and play with some paint markers. A number of neon black-light paint covered canvases surrounded the base of their car - an inspiration for those hesitant to just let go and draw.

"We set this up once people started waking up and getting out. It took awhile to get people to start drawing on it cause it was all white, people were like "ahhh, I don't know what to do, I'm not creative."

"But, it was like, who gives a fuck, draw some lines!" said Kyle Port an artist from Burlington, and one of the two who had set up the spot.

By 6 p.m. Saturday, the formerly white banner in center field was almost
completely filled with a colorful mix of trippy treasures, lines, and designs. Around the banner sat a slew of festies, eager to get into the art.

"I really love you guys," one of the girls said, smiling wholeheartedly as she stood up to spread hugs around the circle.

The Saturday sun set slowly in shades of pink and orange; the breezy trees silhouetted perfectly by the dim light.

Twiddle, a wildly entertaining musical talent, pulled in an astounding crowd with their 10:30 p.m. Saturday performance. The crowd flocked almost immediately to the front of the stage as the first note of Twiddle floated through the atmosphere. The lights were spectacular and inseparable from the heart-pounding, body-moving, soul-building music they so carefully synched. As Twiddle finished their set, they passed their high-on-life fans onto the night's next act and spice of life, Lucid.

Lucid sizzled the crowd into the early hours of morning with their frenzied four-hour set. They raged on until close to 5 a.m., completely clearing the once-cloudy skies with their second and final performance of the weekend. Their set chugged on with a beer-drinking challenge instigated by Jamie (the saxophonist) as well as a nudie free-for all when Chris (the guest bassist) shed the thread and let it all hang out - literally.

Nothing short of pleasure, punch, and personality, Lucid indulged their guests with a four-course meal of energy and soul-moving grooves. As the end of their set neared, the clouds cleared revealing a stunningly crystal-clear night sky, silver moon and all.

The weekend's good vibes stemmed from the very center of the action, with a hardworking team of staff and volunteers who tirelessly kept at it. Chris Boire, one of the co-owners of the festival and Backwoods Promotion, Inc., expressed his gratitude of the event's turnout.

"The amount of people actually watching the bands increased," said Boire, "The one thing about our venue layout is you can hear or even see the bands from anywhere you camp, so lots of people set-up camp and never leave their seats. So, it was good to see more people come up to the stage."

He commented on the excellent quality of the lighting and praised Atomic sound for their grade-A support, acknowledging all of the help their team received to make the weekend a success.

"We have many wonderful friends and family volunteering to make this all happen," Boire said.

In the true spirit of music festivals, Backwoods Pondfest kept the energy alive and rocking for over 48 hours with 360 degrees of live entertainment. With beautiful weather, little sleep, and a lot of love, the third annual Backwoods Pondfest is one for the books. - The Castleton Spartan

Lucid
Interview with Andy Deller (keyboardist)

Contributing Writer : Garret K. Woodward

www.myspace.com/rulucid

www.youtube.com/rulucid

It’s all about the nitty gritty.

Lucid, the hardest working band in the North Country (Upstate NY and VT), careens across the musical spectrum as a V8 blend of genres emerge, from jazz to rock, honky-tonk blues to reggae. Formed in 2003, their latest album, “Dewdmanwah”, was released this past fall to regional acclaim in the northeast.

The group consists of Kevin Sabourin (guitar/vocals), Jamie Armstrong (saxophone/vocals), Lowell Wurster (percussion/vocals), Andy Deller (keyboards/vocals), Chris Shacklett (bass/vocals), and Ryan Trumbull (drums).

Though the melodies entice arms to flail and legs to gyrate, a keen sense of live improvisation remains at the core, ready to strike at any moment.

And with 2010 aimed at being their breakthrough year, Deller looks forward to gracing the country with a healthy dose of Adirondack soul and passion.

Garret K. Woodward: What is Lucid?

Andy Deller: We are six guys trying to entertain, inspire, and party with as many people in as many places as we possibly can. The more we get people dancing, singing, and letting loose, the better. We’re a brotherhood of musicians, artists, intellectuals and psychedelic soul searchers.

GKW: How would you describe the sound? Who are the influences?

AD: Our sound is catchy yet eclectic. Our songs get stuck in your head, and there is a very distinct tone, but our influences, and the styles we play are wide ranging. Notorious BIG, Johnny Cash, Weather Report, Bob Marley, R.L. Burnside, etcetera, the list is long and varied. Always at the center of it all is thick thread of rock tying everything together. The music has a little something for everybody.

GKW: What does improvisational music mean to you? How does it affect your approach to the band?

AD: A tight-knit form of sonic communication within the band, improvisation is an attempt to dig deep, completely immerse yourself in the moment, and then let your soul shine out into the universe. It is an attempt to bring along all of your friends, and anybody else who happens to be standing nearby. To allow for improvisation, our approach in the band is walking along a fine line between preparations and flying by the seat of our pants. Some parts of songs we define pretty rigidly, and others we vaguely set out a rough idea to allow them to breathe. While we work on song structure, and perform material in ways people can recognize from performance to performance, any member is allowed to add a new layer or reinterpret a defined section at any time. And we always leave wide swaths of space to allow us all to completely fly off the handle. It is a very risky thing to do, and it can lead to brainfarts, and train wrecks, and other awkward moments on stage, and it leaves a performer completely vulnerable and exposed. But the risk pays off with magic when everyone is just there, in the moment, dancing and playing and moving together as one with no thoughts but the sound. It’s the best drug ever. And then you’re out of the moment again, and your looking around smiling and asking, “did that just happen?” and then you’re demanding, “let’s do that again!”

GKW: How did you guys come about? When? Where? Why?

AD: The answer to “how” can get quite longwinded depending on how deep we get into the evolution of the band’s name, and the names of members coming and going as the band congealed. And that crap is boring. When, is early 2003. Where, is Plattsburgh, New York. Why? Six guys simply found each other in Plattsburgh with an instant brotherly camaraderie and complimentary tastes and skills in music, and end up deciding to become a band. In short, we were lucky.

GKW: What are you thoughts on the current music industry? How do you want Lucid to be different, or contribute to the evolution?

AD: We are living in an amazing time when anyone with a little capital and an idea can produce, publish, and deliver their works of art to the world at large. You would think this would have destroyed the music industry, and the concept of the pop icon, but, sadly, this is not the case. The time is coming though, record execs be warned! But the point is things have changed so drastically none of the old rules apply. It’s not necessary for a band to fit into a mold. It’s not necessary for a band to follow instructions from some investor who wants the next big hit based on the last big hit. In the old industry there were few bands that could pull this off. Rush was able to do so through the 80s and 90s, but few others. It required a lot of work swimming against the stream. Now anyone can do it, a band can just be themselves. Another part of the evolution is that people are exposed to so much different music. They literally have the world of music to choose from. This was not always so. Now a band has to be similarly worldly, and embrace and recreate all kinds of styles. Listeners looking for novelty demand this of their bands. You have to widen your scope and recreate yourself all of the time. How many songs will you sell online if each one sounds like the first one? The answer is one. What will never change is the need for live performance. Nothing can replace it. Perhaps its importance diminishes as a delivery mechanism, and an advertising campaign, but there’s nothing like a good concert, or a great jam in a backwoods biker bar. Finding our place in this changing landscape is a daily challenge for Lucid. The old formulas for success are nearly obsolete, so we’re basically writing a new book as we go. Performance is a large part of that book. The web is another large part, continuing to create new material, and rearrange old material, staying fresh. Another part of a new approach to the industry is coupling our efforts with likeminded musicians and artists. The scene is muddled with music, and getting out there to new markets, venues and areas is tough. We’ve found that investing in other bands we like who have similar musical philosophies, teaming up with them, mutually expands our coverage and has been advantageous. Our contribution to the evolution is to stay a part of it.

GKW: How receptive have audiences been to your creation onstage?

AD: Our audiences are extremely receptive. Luckily, we’ve had the opportunity to play a wide array of venues, and to play for a wide array of people. We’ve developed the ability to tailor our sets to our surroundings, whether we’re playing an outdoor festival, or a coffee-shop acoustic gig, or full on rock and roll throw down. But hey, we’ve had our share of bad gigs. Every starting band has to know the sting of outnumbering the crowd in some dive where your sound is simply not appreciated. We’ve paid our dues. But now audiences all over are very appreciative. We get applause, we get hooting and hollering, and sometimes we get nakedness. They’re always dancing.

GKW: Why do you like playing in the Plattsburgh (NY)? What’s your dream venue to play?

AD: Audiences in Plattsburgh are simply the most receptive, appreciative, interactive audiences anywhere. These guys scream and dance and party like nowhere else. It is a perfect birthplace for a band. Our dream venue is some combination of the Monopole (Plattsburgh), 20 Main Bar (Ausable Forks, NY), a local coffee house and Higher Ground (Burlington, VT), someplace old and steady, filled with friends having a good time, and readymade for a six-piece band to rock socks off.

GKW: Why do you like playing in the Adirondacks?

AD: It’s our home. The summers might be short, but they’re unbeatable. The winters might be long, but they keep us busy enough. We’ve got mountains and lakes to enjoy all year long. Good friends and good beer. What else do you need? And the people are an unbeatable combination of small-town ideals with new-world open-mindedness. Everyone knows the value of family and friends and good times, yet they’re always ready for something new. And they are not afraid to dance, something that sets them apart from a lot of other places we’ve played. No matter how far we go on the road, the Adirondacks will always be home.

GKW: What do you want the listener to ultimately witness or walk away with when they see you perform?

AD: We just want people to go away thinking, “that was a good time!” And maybe for the next week or two they can’t get that one song out of their heads, but it’s a good thing, like burping four hours after a meal, and saying, “oh yeah, that lasagna WAS good!”

GKW: What’s on the horizon for the band? One year from now? Five years?

AD: We’re going to step up our web presence. We’re also stepping up our physical presence, keeping busy on the home front, revisiting established venues in places we have already traveled to, and branching out even further around the northeast. A year from now we want to be self-sustaining, where every member only works another job because they love it, and otherwise can afford to be devoted to the band full time. Five years from now we want to be fending off zombie hordes, and holding down our paramilitary compound nestled in the Adirondacks, turret guns mounted on the tour bus, just a few more doomed survivors of the apocalypse.

GKW: Thoughts on your next performance?

AD: We’re going to face it like every other performance, and do our best to entertain, inspire, and party with as many people as we can.

www.therfw.com - Roving Festival Writer

Backwoods Pondfest

Music fest in Peru resumes after four years of silence

Story by Tats Kasama

Drinking and dancing with good music in the great outdoors is one of the best activities in summer. In the North Country, Backwoods Pondfest - held at Twin Ponds Resort Campsite in Peru, New York, on September 7 and 8 - might have been the last chance to enjoy the opportunity before arrival of cold fall and winter months.


A yellow school bus was used as a makeshift backstage - and not just for the band School Bus Yellow.

Though the first week of September this year was a bit chilly, the weather gods seemed to celebrate the resumption of the music fest, which had not been held for four years. The fest started in 1995 and was held annually until 2002, according to Sandy Bazzano, the owner of the campsite and former fest organizer. "She stopped doing it because she got tired of doing it," according to her daughter Katie. Katie and her sister Liz, however, resumed the fest this year.

Upon entering the campsite, I was surprised to see a sparse audience around the stage despite the fact that local newspaper The Press Republican had placed a feature article about the fest in the paper a day earlier, and many ads had been placed around Plattsburgh. I was worried the event would not be popular, but my concern disappeared when many more people arrived at nightfall.


Some people were surrounding a campfire after midnight.

Green woods surround the campsite which has a pond at the center. The stage, about twenty feet wide, is beneath a big tent roof, and next to it is a yellow school bus that was used for a backstage. Some people who got hot, including myself, wanted to jump into the pond, but nobody did because the organizers announced that leeches, as well as turtles, live there. In addition to many campers’ tents, a few tents were set up to sell hot dogs. Unfortunately, beer wasn't offered for sale at the campsite, which made me wish I had brought beer instead of whiskey.

Sipping whiskey, I saw some local bands: Slow Natives, Mike Pedersen Band, and Shameless Strangers on the first day, and School Bus Yellow and Lucid on the second day. All of them seemed to truly enjoy playing music. I felt their love for the music. Katie Bazzano said she also thought that. "They seem to be more about the music than they are about the fame. That hit my heart a lot this weekend."


Lucid, and other bands as well, crazed the Pondfest audience .

The highlight of the whole two-day fest was Lucid, which showed up on the stage around 1:30 a.m. They play mostly their original blues-based rock tunes. Sometimes they effectively take some parts from classic masterpieces, but they do it their own way. Despite the fact that they were the last band to play, their performance was more energetic than any earlier bands.

Like many other musicians in the region - an area that is home to well-known jam band Phish - their jam performance is never exactly the same. Among many of their shows I have attended, this performance was one of the most exciting. The audience had already been warmed up enough by the earlier bands, and then Lucid heated the audience. They rocked the audience hard. The audience responded. They rocked harder. They played music freely depending on what the audience wanted - and what the audience wanted seemed to be more heat and craze. Their music made me want to shout, “Keep going, never stop whatever happens!” With the audience going crazy, dancing madly and kissing each other — the fest reached its climax.

After the fest, Katie's husky voice showed both exhaustion and satisfaction. “I am kind of relieved that we made it through our first year doing it,” Katie said, refering to herself and her sister, Liz. “Definitely, we will be holding it again next year with a few minor changes.” Katie explained she plans to set another stage and invite some bigger bands. No matter what minor changes next year will bring, I am sure it is going to be an amazing event.


The fest reached its climax around 3 a.m.

The accessibility of the campsite might be a shortcoming. In the backwoods of Peru, the campsite is hard to find. With better accessibility, more people are likely to come. After all, the audience is one of the important elements to cheer up events. An audience of seven hundred and sixty people for a 26-hour event is not many.

Because of this accessibility, however, my experience at Pondfest made me happy. I had to thumb a ride back to Plattsburgh in the darkness of 4 a.m. After several cars passed me by, one car stopped, and the driver picked me up. The driver was the guy who had played the blues harp with Lucid as a guest musician - George Wurster, the father of the percussionist Lowell. I appreciated the kindness of a guy who has enjoyed playing music locally for decades. Could I have taken a ride with a stranger if it had been on another occasion? Perhaps musicians have a special kindness for those with the same interest - the love of music.

Which music fests have you attended in the North Country?



Make-A-Wish

Backwoods Pondfest was held as an official Make-A-Wish Foundation® event, and a dollar of each ticket sold was donated to the foundation. Sandy Bazzano works for the foundation, so her daughters, as the Pondfest organizers, decided to go with it. “I love what the organization does, and hopefully, we can be a benefit for them in years to come,” Katie says.

Since its beginning 27 years ago, Make-A-Wish Foundation® has grown big with more than 25,000 volunteers to serve children with life-threatening medical conditions, according to the foundation’s Web site. Its beginning was after the wish — to be a policeman — of 7-year-old Chris Greicius, who would die for leukemia soon, in 1980. His acquainted officers Tommy Austin and Ron Cox planned a day to swear Chris as the first honorary Arizona Department of Public Safety officer. Seeing his happy smile, the adults found that they can make children’s dreams come true, even they are in serious medical conditions.

Copyright © 2001 - 2007 All Points North. All Rights Reserved
- All Points North

By Garret K. Woodward

Saturday – Feb. 13

The next morning proved an arduous task as lifeless bodies rolled out of warm sheets. It was the final showdown of this 10-day test of courage, dehydration, alcohol tolerance, and town pride.

Coffee? Nope. Orange Juice? Only if it involves vodka. Bloody Mary’s? Well, why didn’t you say that earlier?

Leaving the “Bel” around 12:30 p.m., throngs sauntered downtown for the parade. Culminating the entire experience, thousands lined the street, hung from balconies or watched from the confines of warm buildings. Numerous tractor-trailer floats, choreographed dance routines by the Lawn Chair Ladies (local women who gyrate with a piece of summer furniture), dozens of colorful costumes handing out beads and candy.

Drinks were held high and spirits soared even higher.

As soon as the streets cleared, it was a quick jaunt to the post-parade house party with regional sensation Lucid.

The hardest working band in the North Country (Upstate NY and VT), the sextet careens across the gamut of genres with a unique mixture of jazz, rock, honky-tonk blues, and reggae. The melodies entice arms to flail and legs to shake with a reckless abandon. The floorboards seemed to shuffle beneath anxious feet of those lost in moment during “Backwoods” or merely trying to track down the infamous keg downstairs.

It was a forgotten trek back downtown, but eventually a beacon of light, the Waterhole, soon guided us in the right direction for another dose of Lucid at 10 p.m., only to be followed by jam gurus Raisinhead.

That was all I literally remembered, the names of who was playing that night.

I know I had a smile on my face. I know I was among friends and family. I know I had a drink in my hand. I know I had another great year being embraced by the loving arms of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.

And after all, isn’t that was matters most?

www.therfw.com - The Roving Festival Writer

Lucid's stylin' smooth at Sidelines

PICTURE PROVIDED

Plattsburgh based rock sextet Lucid will be grooving down at Sidelines on Friday. Lowell Wurster is pictured far right standing.

By Jennifer Bill Staff Writer - Published: April 9, 2009

Lucid really knows how to make an entrance.

By now the six-member Plattsburgh, N.Y., band is used to the catcalls and curious shouts they receive upon pulling into town to play.

They have Lucy to thank.

Lucid's wild-looking tour bus — a multicolored converted school bus they named Lucy — rumbles through the streets, grabbing attention as it goes and automatically posting a "Fun to be had here" sign when they park outside their destination venue.

Percussionist Lowell Wurster, who shares lead vocals and songwriting duties, says Lucy is widely considered the seventh member of their band.

"You can't miss her," Wurster laughs. "The bus is a huge asset. It's like an attraction. I mean, we roll into a city on that bus and everyone is honking at us. It gets a huge response wherever we go."

Watch for that bus downtown Friday evening, as Lucid pulls into Sidelines to shake out their rock 'n' roll on Rutland for their fifth show there.

Lucid, which has been together for five years, plays toe-tapping, danceable rock that is laced with a heavy influence of the blues. Throw in a warm saxophone, driving harmonica, congas and other Latin percussion and a Zydeco rub board (a washboard-type instrument) — as well as two lead singers and two more harmonizing — and there is a layered and frenzied spectacle of sound that definitely gets more than a little funky.

"What really adds to the flavor of our songs is all our different influences," said Wurster, who has been playing hand percussion since he was 5, harmonica since 13, and picked up the rub board a few years ago. "It's everyone's creative input. A (freshly written) song is not even close until everybody puts their part in."

The six members, who range in age from mid-20s to 40, have been steadily touring New England and New York City, fueled most by the "excitement of spreading your sound to people who have never heard it before and getting our music out to more people."

"We want to build our fan base and get people to listen to our message," said Wurster, who works by day at a traumatic brain injury center as an independent living skills trainer. "We like having people hear what we have to say."

And luckily, constantly being on the road is not too bad in Lucy's company.

Wurster, 28, said they decided to go the more economical bus route about two and a half years ago over a van. Their friend Gabe painted away for five days. Wurster said Gabe lives in a monastery, so the theme of the design, while predominately tie-dyed and colorful with eye-catching drawings, has underlying detail that incorporates Sanskrit's feel-good mantras.

While singing the praises of their Lucy, Wurster, who at 6 feet 3 inches tall knows a thing or two about traveling in leg-room-challenged cars, calls her "home away from home."

"She's great. You are never cramped, you can stand up and walk around. We have couches and recliners on there. It makes traveling wicked easy."

Lucid recorded their first album, "Miles Deep," a few years ago in Vermont at Chuck Eller Studios — which has a lengthy roster including Phish, Gordon Stone, The Grift, Taj Mahal, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Bonnie Raitt, and Dr. John. Lucid's second album is set for release this summer.

The band went through a spell of transition recently, when they switched up bass players — a page in Lucid's story they look upon favorably.

"He's brought a whole new dimension to us," said Wurster of bassist Chris Shacklet, who has played with a couple of Lucid members along the years. "He's brought us new life, after five years of being in a band, you start to take things for granted. Chris just gets us all excited again."

Lucid has even made Plattsburgh mayor Don Kasprzak's playlist. Wurster said they have been invited a fourth time to play the annual Mayor's Cup, a huge town event. "The mayor loves our music, he always gives us a prime slot on the big stage," Wurster said.

This summer, Lucid returns for the third annual Backwoods Pondfest, a music festival the band hosts Sept. 11 and 12 at TwinPonds Campground in Peru, N.Y. Wurster, who also has a background in festival production, runs Backwoods Pondfest with a few partners, and says this year's roster is top-notch. Check out who Lucid shares headlining duties with at backwoodspondfest.com.

Sidelines opens its doors at 9 p.m. Friday. Cover charge is $5. Check Lucid out at www.myspace.com/rulucid.

jennifer.bill@rutlandherald.com - The Rutland Herald