Gathering of the Vibes, Sunday Report. August 12, 2007

Gathering of the Vibes, Sunday Report. August 12, 2007

Hey, I've got to level with you. After 2 very active days dancing and running around at Gathering of the Vibes in beatiful hot weather and cold rainy weather, I was ready for a chill day. And since I can listen to the show in the comfort of my home on community radio station WPKN, that's where I'm hearing it today. (By the way, WPKN.org is where you can make a donation to this very excellent grassroots radio station that is supported by its listeners, and has no ads.)

So, I'm not there now... you're not there now, we'll reconstruct the experience throught the music. I'm paying a lot more attention to the music for a sustained period of time than I would if I were there.

Kevin Hays & Friends Jazz Session opened the musical day with smoothness, to go with a Sunday morning cup of joe. The World Peace Prayer Society lead their annual peace prayer at noon. The audience held flags and repeated the list of all the countries in the world. See this touching moment as it appeared at last year's GOTV here: scroll down on http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/Articles/vibes06.htm

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band brought modern old fashioned New Orleans brassy funk to Bridgeport.

Martin Sexton is an all around multi-talented musician. My local radio station of choice, WFUV, Fordham University in the Bronx, plays his songs, but the ones they play are all kind of the same downbeat strumming. But in concert, this guy can be downright rowdy. And we love it.
Like Picasso, you don't realize his true artistic genius until you see what wide range of mastery he has.

In concert at Gathering of the Vibes, Martin Sexton and his band all showed their stuff. Along with the Sexton standards, they did a Johnny Cash cover, and a wild version of that Billy Preston song "Will it Go Around in a Circle." It launched into a jam, keyboard player and saxophonist from Deep Banana Blackout were in on it and funking it up righteously.

Jah-Jah and Jah-la. The Wailers gave us are old favorites like "Them Belly Full", "Lively Up Yourself," "Exodus," and "Get Up Stand Up" and they kept the arrangements fresh and new. There was a sing along on "No Woman No Cry." Rahstafari-Bless, until we meet again.

After the Wailer's breathtaking set, Wavy Gravy popped onto stage to announce that he had been "Rastah-fied" and was feeling fine, and would meet us over at the other stage for Buddy Guy. He just left the mike, and we heard dead air on the radio until WPKN chimed in from the studio.

We waited and waited, and heard a lot of other music on the radio, but not Buddy Guy. Where was he? Turns out his show was not broadcast on air, a licensing issue that we feared might also affect the Les Claypool and Ratdog shows, but in the end only affected Buddy Guy's.

Los Lobos covered the board in musical style-ations bouncing from Latin, to Zydeco to blues, and making the audience crazy along the way. As headline closing act they finished the Gathering of the Vibes on a high note that just makes us count the days until we can come back for another magical weekend of music and fun.

Props to Ken Hays, Jonathan, Terrapin, The Gathering of the Vibes Family, Radio Vibes, WPKN, and everybody else who made the magic happen.
the magic happen at the 12th Annual Gathering of the Vibes.