Fire In The Canyon: An Insider Diary
Jon Ragel from one-man band Boy Eats Drum Machine explores the bucolic Horning’s Hideout and beat-heavy new music fest Fire In The Canyon.
Posted by: Jon Ragel on Aug 08, 2011 at 03:00PM
4 Comments
Me and Cars & Trains filmed an episode of “Jackass” on the back of a golf cart.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Horning’s Hideout: There was a rich, green pond and peacocks roamed the hills.
View Slideshow » Illustration:The beautiful stage 2 tent and lights took on an other-worldly quality.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Roaming folk MC, Ceschi used the massive stage as a gorgeous backdrop for a righteous house party.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Ceschi got down in the dirt and folked the party up old school.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Busdriver got wacky and lyrical on the ones and twos.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Delta Brave were chunky and singable.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Eddie Vallant tipped their cups to the sweet people of Fire In The Canyon. Also pictured: delicious ale from Two Kilts Brewing.
View Slideshow » Illustration:School of Rock pumped up the jam, playing every 90’s dance anthem but Pump Up The Jam.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Sexbot: any questions?
View Slideshow » Illustration:Witch Mountain’s singer broke a few hearts, and may have stolen the drummers shirt to boot.
Horning’s Hideout: Luscious woods. Serene pond. Roaming peacocks.
But last Saturday was no bible camp, dudes; it was Fire In The Canyon, a hiphop-heavy, family-friendly music festival. For the smallish crowd that assembled, the scenic setting brought an air of discovery, which was quickly filled with the boom of underground hip hop. Eddie Vallant brought the beat via a live band, while several solo MC’s used a combo of recorded mix/live vox. Sapient and Half Man Half worked their lyrical wiles over laptop beats and DJ scratches, Busdriver spazzed the stage, wowed the crowd, and outrageously twisted the knobs on his music console, and Connecticut’s Ceschi got down in the dirt in front of the main stage and worked the circle of onlookers into a folked-up frenzy:
Have you heard the one about the one-man band?
The one-man band?
The one-man band?
Have you heard the one about the one-man band?
I heard he cried like a baby when he hung.
The current incarnation of Portland’s School Of Rock played what I like to think of as their ‘pump up the jam’ set, energetically recreating funky pop classics like “Groove Is In The Heart” and “Bust A Move”, all the while changing instruments and making yours truly feel that his childhood between the ages of eight and eighteen was not nearly rad enough.
Meanwhile, an update from the local metal front: Witch Mountain’s drummer doesn’t take his shirt off—he doesn’t even bother putting one on in the first place. His band’s glorious riff attack doesn’t even need a minute to get from 0-60. I can respect that. Delta Brave filled the grounds surrounding the main stage with chunks of fun, singable pop, and I barely caught a glimpse of Cooked & the Raw’s jangly, drinkable-sounding tunes, and Sexbot’s the-name-pretty-much-says-it-all music lingerie show. Dang, they both seemed really nice—but there’s always next year.
The event also featured some great masters of ceremony between acts. Fogatron’s world-class beat-boxing warmed my heart, while the hilarious Vera Mysteria staggered and slinked around stage in a heavily permed wig, little white socks, big cat-print slippers, and a pink fifth-trimester mumu. Meanwhile, the second stage’s FM-morning-guy-style MC promoted Mercy Corps raffle tickets thusly: “you can show your beautiful girlfriend you care about starving children in Africa, and sh*t.” Nice.
I also ate a good sandwich, played a set on the main stage, drank several excellent pale ales courtesy of Portland’s new Two Kilts Brewery, posed with my homie Cars & Trains for a ‘Myface’ profile pic (above), then co-piloted a golf cart filled to the brim with my music gear over the hills, between the peacocks, and far away.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jon Ragel has modestly glossed over his own contributions to the fest, but they probably looked a little something like this:
Rock on, Mr. Ragel.
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Jon thank you so much for doing this piece. You were awesome as always. Thank you so much for coming out and being a part of such a special weekend.
Hey Jon! Thanks for the kind words of two of my groups, Eddie Valiant and Cooked & the Raw! You were awesome up there. And I know the guy mc’n before Cooked went on was calling us “Crooked & the Raw” which is hilarious to see it in print, but that being only our 2nd show, I am not going to complain in the least bit. Cheers!
The beauty of the web is that you can submit corrections post-publication.
So, David, Your band name is fixed! Consider the day saved.
Hooray! Thank god for binary editing ability