ACOUSTICFEST 2001
Grandaddy / The Stabone & Demar Rock Group / Panty Lions
American Holidays / Pine Marten / Built Like Alaska
Acousticfest Photos
Lauren's Barn, Valley Home, California
April 1, 2001

So what started out as a joke, "One of these days, we're just gonna wind up in Modesto" sort of came true the other day. We'd be horrified...if we hadn't had such a damn fine time.

We'd heard from people in a couple of different bands about a few shows going down in Oakdale and environs, but this, the Acoustic Jam, was one that we just couldn't pass up. How often do you get a chance to sit around a barn and listen to a members of a few of your favorite bands? And drink all day? And BBQ? And hang out with normal, down-to-earth people who aren't out to impress anyone on a fine Sunday afternoon? Wait, did we mention the drinking? All told, this was a chance to see assorted members of at least ten bands, in various configurations. There were folks from Fiver, Earlimart, Built Like Alaska, and of course, (wait for it) Grandaddy. So it was Daz, Squid, Brad and Jeff, all off on a roadtrip. There's nothing like that deep breath you take when the 580 curves around past Castro Valley and you see...green hills. Sure, there's auto malls too, but you get what we mean.

Out-of towners that we were, there's no way we'll be able to completely reconstruct the days events. It was all about big groups of friends who've known each other forever. We'll try and sort out the high points, at least from our perspective. This review would be tragically inaccurate without mention of the dynamic, sexy, underappreciated "Stabone and DeMar Rock Group", featuring Sean and Zach from Fiver plus Dan, who, well, used to be in Fiver. Exciting stuff. Be sure and check out the photos we managed to take before they trashed their instruments and performed a sacrificial goat slaying. Right ON. Ashod and Ariana from Earlimart performed some songs from their solo project, Panty Lions. Jeff and Dennis from Joaquina played with Jason Lytle sitting in on drums. There was a comment made about the three of them just having come out of the studio, which can only be good news. We watched David from BLA make himself the world's largest Bloody Mary using a pitcher as if it were a shot glass. In between were lots of people taking the stage in various combinations of twos and threes, throwing out a few songs and then quickly stepping down for the next bunch. (Kudos to co-organizer Chris from Fiver who manned the soundboard the entire time.) Jesus, did we mention the Cadaver Puppet Show? We'd also like to reiterate how cool it was to be around non-pretentious, genuinely kind people with nothing to prove and beer to share. Sitting in the back yard at the Bottom of the Hill for Sunday BBQ should be one-tenth this friendly. Seriously.

The 'daddys went on sorta early in the evening. After all the (justified and well deserved) hype they've received, and the high-profile Warfield slots and the endless European touring, it was a pretty refreshing change of venue. Just picture the inside of this corrugated barn with stacks of hay to the ceiling on one side and a tiny stage draped in Xmas lights and giant cardboard animals on the other. Throw in an audience of fifty happily drunk people milling about. Squid honestly hasn't listened to them that much lately, so it was cool to be reminded of her love for songs like "Our Dying Brains" or "Levitz". Acoustic guitars made everything sound just that much more cozy. They only did five songs, which was appropriate given the set length of all the previous performers.

Then it was time to drink more and wander around in the dark outside. And not to blather on like idiot city dwellers, but there are a fuck of a lot of stars to be seen when you escape the sodium lights. As Squid got more hammered and less quiet, she found herself accosting natives and involving them in dramatic rhetoric:

Squid: "Why did I ever move to the city? Why?"
Aaron: laughing "Uh, I don't know...opportunity? Cool shows?"

By the time we got back in, our co-hosts Lauren and Chris were up on stage with two other friends. Squid vaguely remembers trying to balance a cigarette, a Murphy's, a Sierra Nevada and a camera while she sang along to their cover of the Pixies' "Gigantic". (Thanks to Aram for the Murphy's. We are big fans of the Widget.) Daz was happy as a beer-swigging clam, perched atop the hay, snapping photos with her digicam, and playing with the cats. She remembers hearing someone cover Neil Young’s “Out On the Weekend”, but sadly she doesn’t know who it was. In the end, it was "suggested" to us by Brad and Jeff that we all had to work in the morning, and that we needed to get the hell out of there.

And they were more correct than they knew, coz Squid walked into to work the next day to find that 20% of her company was being laid off. Funny thing is, it's almost worst to be spared. To watch people you've worked with day in and day out packing their photos in boxes and walking out forever. In this one case, it was far better to be hungover and sleep-deprived. It lent the whole thing a hazy numbness. The lone sense of solace there was to be had came from memories of sun and grass and music and stars. If you can still see the stars, you can see past anything.

Tremendous thanks to Ashod, Dave Fiver, and Built Like David for getting us there in one piece.