Splashy Fen just dropped an announcement of (some of) the confirmed bands for the next, best hippy fest (note the comma, please. unless of course you want to argue crusty creek against splashy fen? hrmm. is it worth it? is it blues without frost?)
Albert Frost Trio Ard Matthews Bongeziwe and the fridge Captain Stu Cortina Whiplash Dan Patlansky David Jenkins Die Heuwels Fantasties Fokofpolisiekar Goodluck Haggis & Bong Hog Hoggidy Hog Hot Water Jack Parow New Holland Plush Prime Circle Redhand Blues Band Shadowclub Southern Gypsey Queen Straatligkinders Syd Kitchen T.H.O.T.S. The Jack Rabbit Slims Tidal Waves Dimeshift Holly & The Woods Voodoo Child
NICE variety. and some unfamliar names. might be worth the trek, seeing as this is the year of the 'other' festivals.
A good festival brings out the animal in everyone. A great festival makes you feel like a god. A dirty, drunken, delirious god. But a brilliant festival brings sexy back. Even if it doesn’t wear the pants. By which I mean. Ramfest. February 2010. Boo!
Noja. Boo! is back. Or, at least, two thirds of it- awesome Ampi Omo and Chris Chameleon plus new drummer Riaan van Rensburg. The original monki-punk outfit with Leon Retief rocked the SA independent music scene and rolled the European and American independent music scenes until a sudden cessation in late 2004. How we howled at the last CT gig. How we screamed and boo!ed and danced as one and broke our feet while they broke our hearts. It was no use. Boo! tucked its tongue away. But not its spirit.
I’m often accused (quite rightly) of speaking in tongues, so allow me to spell something out a second. If a torrid past and a florid present have taught us anything, we’ve learnt well from our mother of a fatherland. Spirit is stronger than silence, (and from the holy streets of Hollywood and the narrow streets of Broadway we learnt that “the show must go on”. and from a Queen of sorts. Who then pegged.) Did we really think that was it when Chris went crooning off to capture new audiences? Perhaps we did. God knows we have issues with faith in this place.Suitably admonished and astonished, we’ve had no time to hang our heads in shame since the good news came, but we’re still scratching them. Who would’ve predicted Ramfest to herald the return of dandy-trashing, cross-dressing and wickedly wondrous popmosh melodies that made Boo! a subcult classic act? It’s obvious, considering Boo! and Ramfest share a penchant for passion, vision, insistence on quality and creativity. But difficult to imagine in what is perhaps a bit of a beleaguered 2009. It’s almost over, kitlings. And Summer has started…
We would have matched the two, of course, if we’d invested as much imagination in possibility as Ramfest has on manifesting your dream through blood, sweat, tequila and tears and the execution of resurrections.
The festival (the phenomenon) is raring with a daring that sets it apart on the circuit – it’s entirely independent, insists on quality line-ups, is responsive to the whims and wishes and wants of a consistently growing annual attendance. All told, Ramfest is the most fun you can have in the summer sun by a river with a tent. I promise you’ll be drowned in good sound. And there are no sharks. In the water. (negotiate the weed rate). The simple reason for this is that the Fourie Bros are hellbent on bringing you a festival that they’d want to go to. That’s their beginning, their brilliance and their bottom line.
But back to the future. One of their wily ways of ensuring this is to stir the soup of silence, and gooi mos a few choons we haven’t heard in a while. They understand recycling. They understand nostalgia and originality. They understand that there’s place for the past in a party – lots of it – and that music is timeless, too. Ironically, timing and pop culture have conspired to be on the side of the alternative festival of late. The current flux of all things bloody and vampish on big screen and flat screen makes the living dead a hot topic. Think True Blood (and watch it!), Twilight (and don’t watch it!), Let The Right One In (and let it in!12 dec. Labia on Orange). This synchronous timing is helping them make a name for themselves by raising the dead. As it were.
They’ve done it before. Of course, glytchy, tetchy cult heroes Lark hardly had a chance to bury themselves as a decomposing lullaby before they were brought back by the Ram. The result of this resurrection is that they have something to believe in and prefer to play Ramfest exclusively once a year (with a nationwide tour attached; lucky you).
And even if you’re not into timelines, actually, especially if you’re not, festivals are an amazing place to meet the music. Everyone is safe, happy and contained enough to go crazy in a neutral, shared space. Same goes for resurrections of disbanded/long-silent bands - they work wonderfully as a once-off and the exclusivity of authentic, original (in both senses) music has incredible appeal, but such treats rarely seem to signify any real return to the scene or gratify the frenzied fan. Though not everyone is a fan at a festival. In fact, we’re quite used to putting up with acts we don’t like - that’s part of party democracy. But what counts for just about anyone at a festival is the experience. In the moment, it’s less about whether a band is on sabbatical or has disbanded, and more about the fact that here is music you like (and maybe miss), madness that makes your day (and night), the chance to mosh and froth and clap and talk crap at the feet of the music makers. But at the same time, many festival fans are indeed dedicated music fans, and what counts to them is whether Boo!’s comeback will be a one night stand or the start of something beautiful (again).
For answers to this and other itchy, testy questions, read Chris Chameleon’s take on Boo!’s return, Ramfest 2010 (it’s got balls) and who wears the pants in Leopards, lizards and afterlives(and maybe a little on the side from Leon)
Like sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, it’s a lifestyle choice.
Rocking The Daisies. It will never have the impact of Oppi, the darkness and daring of Ramfest or Up The Creek’s shade of blues.AfrikaBurns has an invisible carbon footprint that kicks RTD’s ecological efforts in its VIP pass, and RTD isn’t as pretty as the hippies at Splashy. But its remains a force to be reckoned with because it understands what the music industry doesn’t – LIFESTYLE consumerism.
At RTD, you don’t get the individuality of the dusty, the husky or the crusty that the aforementioned events offer; you get it all - camping, comedy, good food, shopping, swimming and- oh yes - big sound.
Safe as houses, Darling’s other mother was wise and wide enough in its 2009 musical selection to appeal to many. From aKING to The Little Kings, it drew lots of (mostly white, middle-class) South Africans. The stage was more colourful with Gazelle’s antics and Gang Of Instrumentals energy.
The Black Hotels are diplomatic about the demographics of the Daisies- “SA is a strange country, but the great thing about it is that nothing gets forced. It’s great that fests cross the line-ups. Integration happens naturally.” 10 000+ winter-pale faces proved the Black’s point. True to its socio-geography, the success of this festival is built on colour. The colour green, to be exact.
Green with envy
The earth is dying, and we are celebrating. That sound right? No, but that is right.We’ve entered the age of environmentally aware entertainment business– a simple branding and marketing angle that other fests must be kicking themselves for missing. You want media attention? Go green. You want social kudos? Go Greener. It’s no longer good enough to pick up your litter. Greenest is the entry level.
good advice beats good intentions
Clean Green
festivals have huge negative impact on their natural settings. Aligning itself with the concerns of global consciousness or those who just like to talk about it, RTD cleverly posit(ion)s itself as SA’s greenest fest. Yet last year’s 5km, 3-hour, bumper-to-bumper traffic queue with an exhaust emission to match was a bit of a choker for the festival’s carbon footprint. This year RTD was more organised. Ticket sales were tightly controlled, rubbish was recycled, renewable energy was pre-purchased,toilets were clean. But the PR schlock about “free water” @R40 /bottle?– should we expect the same spin doctoring from Complete Event’s incomplete green audit?
Jan demonstrates the pleasures of (almost) sustainable transport
Green eyes... or,red, really
At a festival, green is not always clean; but green is always grass. Andre Pienaar [Ashtray Electric] was eloquent on the topic of illegal substances. While people tripped their bits off out in the fields, he pointed out that “Festivals definitely have a stigma of excess. It’s not enough for people to get out of Cape Town; they want to get out of reality.” And into the trying pan?
tourists
Green, but learning
The Red Bull Radar competition was cool! Giving talent a fighting chance is cool! But using a web platform that prioritises a closed community of initial voters is NOT COOL. Potential competitors gave up participating because the host wasn’t comprehensive enough because the budget wasn’t big enough; not good enough, RTD. Everyone missed out.
Mean, green money- i mean- music machine
Music finds its feet in the mainstream; or rather, when it comes to making money in music, the mainstream is a shoe-in. To please many (but not all), the line-up included unknowns (like Thieve) and overgrowns (like Just Jinjer, the current favourite festival headliner). Everyone made an effort; not everyone was up to standard. But this festival offers music incredible exposure. That’s significant in a recession halving incomes.
In all, whether you go there for comedy song and dance, to get lost in tripping in tentburbia, to eat, drink and do very little, Rocking The Daisies is one-of-a-kind in the Western Cape. Just not my kind.
And what I’d like to know is which of its tree-hugging, cardboard-recycling, bubble-blowing boys or girls stole the bespoke daisies?
From Dan to Dirty, this year is good news for Blues…
Scenario: a weekend in the country, a winding river and good music. add the cream of the dopand a dirge of dirty musicians making clean sounds, and you’re Up The Creek
It's 2009 and the river rats are on a role – it’s their twenty fifth rapid and things are more real than rough.
Jezebel chatted to a talented blues boy who’s tweaked his tent on more than one friendly fest. Pretty prodigy Dan Patlansky tells about the Creek, skinny Blues and natural disasters.
jezebel : you’re an Up The Creek regular – what’s it like?
Dan : I did Up The Creek just in 2005 just before they lost their sponsorship and now I’m back this year. Oppi Koppi is huge, and Splashy Fen is, too. This festival is far smaller, it’s nicer. Oppi is impersonal. While it’s great playing in front of so many people, there’s an intimacy at up the creek.
jezebel : at bigger fests, there’s quite a separation between media, musicians and the audience. You can hang out with fans Up The Creek
Dan: Hundred percent it’s nice to be able to do that.
jezebel : Will you stick around at the fest?
Dan : Normally we’d like to chill for the weekend, but we have a show in Durbs the Friday and then the Sunday again, so we’re flying in and out.
jezebel : How do you cope with all this commuting between countries?
Dan : When I first started touring it was different. At 21, 22 you treated every night like a party on the road, coz it’s a new thing.But the older you get, well, your body doesn’t handle that so well. So when I hit the road now, I don’t drink hard every night, and I cut back on the smokes, and try to get to bed as early as possible. If you hit it hard in the first week, that two weeks feels like two years.
jezebel : How’s this year looking for you in terms of touring?
Dan : We tour extensively, I pretty much spend the entire year in the car. I’ve got a European tourJune / July (their summer), which is going to be really cool.Before that national tours and surrounding countries- Swaziland etc..Then maybe back to the states for the last half of the year. I used to live in new Orleans in 2005 but then I was involved in hurricane Katrina, so haven’t been back and with work permits being so costly, it’s not easy.
jezebel : How did Katrina affect you, and your music?
Dan : It was a complete shock; in SA you don’t see any natural disasters. I woke up one morning and my entire city had been evacuated and I was the last to know. There was nothing happening on the streets; that for me was the most terrifying for me. A bit of an ‘I am legend’ experience. There were tumbleweeds in the road and cars lying on the side of the road, doors open, keys in the ignition. So I went through the hurricane. I went to Mobile Alabama, it’s like Boksberg. I camped out there with no electricity and baked beans to eat. A cell phone yes, but you got through for every hundred times you dialed. My family in SA had no idea if I was alive. Eventually I got out, and flew to
LA where I have family. I realized that life is a short, fragile thing.
jezebel : you tend to move between Solos and drops.
Dan: yeah, when I’m doing a solo, or writing a song, I like to write everything with an extreme dynamic to it. Like yin and yang - really soft at one point of the song, then really loud. It creates interest in a song and interest in the solos. I try to play like a conversation – animated, then whispers, - that gets attention.
jezebel: Did you start singing when you started playing?
Dan: I put my first blues band together when I was sixteen, and couldn’t find someone to sing, so I started singing.
jezebel : blues is getting bigger. Upstart rockers, The Pretty blue Guns are starting to fuse indie sounds with blues. Getting the trendies to listen to something with a bit more soul.
Dan: That’s good news for blues, and just music in general. SA is a sad place sometimes when Bump 13 is the best selling album. There are really good bands out there, whether blues or not, it’s about human beings making music, not machines.
jezebel : And if the Pretty Blue Guns bring that, it’ll help fans grow with them
Dan: I’m experiencing that with our crowds. Years ago it used to be just our established fan base, and because we’re playing student towns like Potch, there are a lot of young people at our gigs. It’s great.
* * *
Dan Patlanksy will make his guitar cry, sing and swoon at six o’ clock on Saturday 7th February @ Up The Creek fest.
rOctober opens with Rocking The Daisies - THE progressive* uBundu party. Last year’s gathering brought bands from all over SA; this year’s expand-a-band from 3rd - 5th of the month includes feel-good, soft rockers, Eagle Eye Cherry. (I'll bet an open blind they don't rock as hard as our Taxi boys.) Cloof Estate Wine Will blush and gush thousands of happy folk while band as diverse as Taxi Violence, Mama Know Nothing, Goldfish, 340ml and Fire Through The Window play to the open plains of the Kouebokkeveld. (yes, it is still cold, bring your fleece) . Comedians will make you laugh; musicians will make you dance, and if it’s the other way around, it must have something to do with beer breakfasts and champagne lunches!
Tickets Available ONLINE At Www.Rockingthedaisies.Com Outlets : Levi’s® Stores (Western Cape) , Selected Musica Stores , Hemporium , Butlers Pizza (Delivered With Any Pizza Order) , Rafikis , Noodlebosch (Neelsie). Damage : full weekend: pre-sale & online – R320, door – R370. Sat/sun: pre-sale & online – R220, door – R250. Sun: door only– R90
*newsflash get more green and save some! Half price tickets to those who cycle to the festival from Cape Town. So park your jet plane on the mountain if you’re coming from upcountry, and get on down to the best fun under the reluctant Spring Sun.
Welcome to your end of winter warm-up. hic.Rocking The Daisies might be the best thing since wood fires got boring. Let's have a lookie, then. Remember - it's daisies, not dassies.
The environmentally conscious organisers of this camping and live music weekend have ordered us not to bring glass bottles. So decant, ducklings, decant! It's about time we all hived off out of the shitty to have a beeeg party in the open. Bring your bikinis, boardshorts(no speedos allowed. sorry), your coats (spring is schizophrenic) leave your overworked, underpaid brain at the office (coffee shop, bar, chilly beach, lounge), open your heart and your ears, and prepare to be sunburnt and spoilt. Some of the yummiest in Syeeow Theffrican sound will be wiggling their whatnots for you. Although I like to think it's for me. hic.
The line-up is a bit of a Tidal Wave on Friday. Waddy's esteemed Associates will give you good Reason to Love Jones to the Max Normal while Goldfish gets a bit Rory at Mr elliot. Warning : put your Bed On Bricks (erm, bed? people camp with beds?).
Saturday gets Dirtier, with 3 Bored White Guys lifting Skirts on the Spring celebrations, supported by the eversmiling Beams (known for their South Paw) who will be swigging whiskey somewhere down 12th Avenue (might need your GPS to find it) . If you're a Shy Guevara, don't worry, Rastamie And The Warriors will prepare you for Comedy Hour. If you're a sentimental sod, you too will be catered for when the Rudimentals politely play a Cassette for the New Academic's Big Idea. if that's not enough, Taxi Violence will slaughter you all. Better be Jacsharp, or you'll lose your Nungarin.
Me, I lost it a while ago.
Sunday, day of repentance and reparation. Start on your knees (or is it on your back, wondering where the hell in heaven you are? And why your head hurts. And who that chick lying next to you is. and if it's a chick!) with the Restless Natives who wisely share the Boulevard with a 7th Son. If you're black n Blue, or you got a Flat, Stanley, stick around (erm, what choice do you have, really?) for a(nother) Comedy Hour. sjoe!
In between, there's a special tent of White, China, and a Lapse of Toby2shoes, because - hey DJ - some of us must dance all the time.
Like I said. Spoilt.
p.s. (and btw and fyi) if you kak in the bos, bury it properly. (and take your trash home with you, too, or we wont' be able to come here next year:
