The Rock & Roll Resort kicked off the NY festival season in Kerhonkson, NY on April 1, 2011. It was my birthday weekend and I raged my face off. I covered this fun-filled weekend for Music Marauders. If you want the in-depth overview you can read about the music filled weekend here!
I found a few other reviews along the way as well:
- The Examiner, author Melissa Esposito
- Headstash, author Nick Fitanides
I also covered the sets for Royal Family Records to include Lettuce, Sam Kininger Band, Break Science, Chapter 2 and The Nigel Hall Band. For an in-depth overview of each of these acts, please check out my article for The Royal Family Records website.
I actually met the creator of Music Marauders at Rock The Resort around the same time last year. We clicked immediately and I have supported his site ever since. If you haven’t checked out Music Marauders, just go ahead right now and do it! There is so much info about music from our scene being pumped continuously through the site.
What separates Music Marauders from other music news websites is that they don’t place restrictions on their writers. We are allowed to write in our own voice, evoke emotions and be as opinionated as we like. The backbone of Music Marauders lies on true music fans who run it out of love and passion for the scene. They want nothing more then to bring our scene to you, in all it’s music-saturated glory. They expose the good, the bad and the groovy and it’s a pleasure working with them.
Event though I wrote an overview for Music Marauders, there is some more information that I want to blast out to yall that would have just made the MM article too long. This isn’t so much an article as a collection of media from the weekend for your enjoyment and perusal.
Who: Rock & Roll Resort
What: Billed on their website as “the ultimate, high-end music destination event.”
When: April 1st – 3rd 2011
Where: Hudson Valley Resort and Spa in Kerhonkson, NY.
Ran By: Team NorthEast and Wicked Cool Productions
Line Up: Lettuce • Deep Banana Blackout • The New Riders of the Purple Sage (2 Sets) • Max Creek (2 Sets) • G.F.E. (Granola Funk Express) • Eric Krasno & Chapter 2 • Rubblebucket • Spiritual Rez • The Pimps of Joytime • The Nigel Hall Band • The Breakfast • Break Science • Caravan of Thieves • Sam Kininger Band • Kung Fu • Jeff Bujak • Mark Mercier Project • Nephrok! Allstars • The Alchemystics • Nutritious • Sauce • Holy Water Undertoe • Darian Cunning Band • Domino Theory • The Rev Tor Band • The Tony Lee Thomas Band • Fever Train • The Primate Fiasco • Lespecial • The Problemaddicts • Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds • Sophistafunk • Coppertonic • KONG • Nardy Boy • I Anbassa • Sushi Grade Panda • The Kings • Kevin Crane & Co. • DJ Theory • Michael Greenberg •
This is the piece Josh purchased on site for my birthday present!! Heart, Soul and Sauce: Painted live to Sauce at the Rock N Roll Resort on 04/0/211 in Kerhonkson, New York by Jonathon "CrazyRedBeard" Blake
One of the greatest elements of our scene are the tapers. Name another scene that has free trade in music the way our Jam Band community does!! A taper by the name Corey (The Groundhog) was good enough to tape a good number of the best sets that took place over the weekend. Enjoy!!
DOWNLOADABLE SETS
Friday 4/01:
- Caravan of Thieves Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Max Creek Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Sam Kininger Band Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- The Nephrok Allstars Live at Rock & Roll Resort
Saturday 4/02:
- New Riders of The Purple Sage Brunch Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- The Breakfast Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Domino Theory Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Mark Mercier Project feat. Domino Theory Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Kung Fu Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- The Primate Fiasco Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- The Pimps of Joytime Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- The Nigel Hall Band Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Deep Banana Blackout Live at Rock & Roll Resort
Sunday 4/03:
- Rubblebucket Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- The Alchemystics Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- The Primate Fiasco Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Lettuce Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Chapter 2 Live at Rock & Roll Resort
- Spiritual Rez Live at Rock & Roll Resort
Lettuce: Painted live to Lettuce and the Super Jam at the Rock N Roll Resort on 04/02/11 in Kerhonkson, New York by Jonathon "CrazyRedBeard" Blake
Throughout this media bundle you are seeing wonderful paintings by Jonathon “CrazyRedBeard” Blake. During music performances, Jonathon sets up his canvas on sides of stages and proceeds to paint what he feels as the musical reaches through him. Over the course of the Rock & Roll Resort weekend, Jonathon painted numerous canvases with images derived from the feelings evoked from the music he encountered. He is available for hire for weddings as well as all events that might spark creativity through music, love or spirituality. I most certainly will have him at my wedding when the day finally comes.
Kinds Suds Soap is a product that I first learned about while on Jam Cruise. Cruisers received them in our gift bags and I have been a fan ever since. Upon entering R&R, laid out across the check-in table was a colorful pile of soap offered to festival goers as a free gift. The psychedelic wrapper draws the eye immediately and the smell and quality of the product are just as stimulating! I encourage you all to grab a few bars off their website.
Visual stimulation performed by Oh My Goddess Entertainment
Music is not the only form of entertainment found at these wonderful festivals. Those of us who embrace our musical culture know that visual stimulation is just as important as what stimulates our ears. The lights, the projection screens and the other elements that go into supplementing these musical sets are just as important as the music itself.
For Rock & Roll Resort, Oh My Goddess Entertainment was hired to provide outstanding visual performances through dance to enhance the environment and the stages. I was able to sit and speak with Michelle Sarah, owner and head choreographer of Oh My Goddess Entertainment, during a brief meal over the weekend. This kind spirit is also the lead singer of CopperTonic which I will speak of later in this article.
Visual Stimulation!
Over the weekend, Oh My Goddess Entertainers performed fire dancing outside in the court yard, two aerial silks artists, Kate Brown and Sarah Kaye, performed with Break Science (as seen in the picture above) and…
“…in case that wasn’t enough sexy for the stage, the guys had me bring on my burlesque performer, Donell Wicklund, to do that cabaret style Ohh La La-ness you hopefully didn’t miss 😉 ~ Michelle Sarah “
All The King's Horses: Painted live to the New Riders of the Purple Sage at the Rock N Roll Resort on 04/02/11 for the NRPS Brunch by Jonathon "CrazyRedBeard" Blake
Strangers Helping Strangers
Strangers Helping Strangersis a non-profit organization based in Massachusetts and operating throughout the country conducting food drives at concerts and music festivals, and delivering the items collected to a local food bank near the point of collection. It’s another amazing way of giving back to the communities where these concerts and music festivals take place.
The Theory of Relativity: Painted live to Kung Fu, Deep Banana Blackout and Break Science at the Rock N Roll Resort on 04/02/11 in Kerhonkson, New York by Jonathon "CrazyRedBeard" Blake
Last Fair Deal glassblowers was on sight as well. The Last Fair Deal is an artisan vending co-operative. Some of the finest glass artists in New England team up to demonstrate their skills with live glassblowing performances at events over the summer! Setting up shop in the outside courtyard, glass blowing artisans could be seen through the windows as we made our way between the stages. There was something very cool about this set-up and you were able to purchase things blow only a few hours later once it was dry. I ended up purchasing numerous pairs of earrings from their booth later in the weekend, greeted warmly and had a fantastic time checking out their intricate pipes and jewelry.
Moving the Elephant: Painted live to Max Creek at the Rock and Roll Resort by Jonathon "CrazyRedBeard" Blake
And finally, I leave you with an excerpt from the Music Marauders Overview. One of the beautiful things about these smaller, regional musical events, is the ability for up and coming musical acts to be recognized, realized and, by music lovers like myself, dissected. There are a few new acts that need some special recognition.
Caravan of Thieves
Caravan of Thieves: Fuzz Fuzzman (Deep Banana Blackout), his wife Carrie Sangiovanni and their band mates kicked off the festival Friday afternoon bringing the unique sound of Django Reinhardt to the ears of our community. No one in our scene has even attempted to modernize acoustic gypsy swing, let alone sound so great doing it. This group is an absolute gem and is delivering this antique sound to our scene with a twist as they cover modern songs amongst their new compositions.
Coppertonic
Copper Tonic: Looks like we have another female voice to start paying attention to ladies and gentlemen. For a jamming scene cluttered with male musicians and rough voices, this group of musicians fires on all cylinders and is led by vocalist Michelle Sarah, the owner/head choreographers of Oh My Goddess Entertainment. Her soulful range drew to mind SusanTedeschi and Grace Potter but her dance moves and connection with the audience made her more accessible. The guitarist, Andy Mowatt, was on fire and was easily my favorite new guitarist who hooked many over the weekend with his talent.
Jeff Bujak!
Jeff Bujak: Having first experienced Jeff Bujak at last year’s resort, I have watched him closely over the year and grown more fond of him with every performance. This classically trained keyboardist/producer/composer has no boundaries for his act and is invested in every aspect of it. From creating and maintaining his own beats, manipulating multiple contraptions with his hands on top of playing, working the lights and smoke effects with his feet and using every inch of his body to create a one-man full on solid electronic performance, Bujak is someone who is going to go far in our scene and is creating something our scene hasn’t seen before. He is the kind of artist that people find themselves stopping in their dancing tracks to watch perform. As my fellow Jam Cruise buddy said “I’ve never been interested in watching someone perform electronica, with this guy, I am entranced”
Nephrox! Allstars: With a wild lead singer named Nephtaliem McCrary at the helm, this vocal heavy Funk band is a real treat. Comprised of some of Boston’s most well-known musicians, such as Aaron Bellamy on bass and renown legend Jeff Lockhart on guitar, they touch on multiple genres always falling back on James Brown for guidance. And with Amy Bowells (The Sam Kinninger Band) on keyboards, all is right with the world.
Dixie FUNK!
Primate Fiasco: I was checking out a handmade beaded purse in the lobby when my ear was caught by what sounded like a New Orleans second line with it’s instruments dipped in Texas. Psychedelic Dixieland or Dixie Funk. Which ever way you slice it, this was my favorite new act of the weekend. The could be seen jumping on and off stages throughout the weekend in second line form with a tuba, clarinet, trumpet, and drums all being led by a banjo! Excellent collection of instruments being played by a very happy group of musicians.
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds
Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds: The only thing about Arleigh Kincheloe that is small is her figure. Her powerful, seductive vocals, backed by an even better band has placed this group in the forefront of soul/funk bands to be recognized. Housing a powerhouse horn section, rocking harmonica and shredding guitar, The Dirty Birds are a tight Brooklyn-based group that is plowing it’s way through our scene.
Thank you Hudson Valley Resort and Spa as well as A Wicked Cool Productions for taking a broken musical streak and fixing it. Thank you for listening to your guests and taking the time to support their concerns and helping grow this musical event for us to enjoy. You will most certainly be seeing this eager music fan again next year!
Musical Musings of a Tiny Rager 