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Artist / Heroes, News,
Life is Good for Source Audio
Monday, September 20, 2010
Posted by: Will Cady | Posted in: Artist / Heroes, News,
In the spirit of supporting our local festival, Source Audio hit the road for a pleasantly short drive south of Boston to the Blue Hills Reservation to set ourselves up at the 2010 Life is Good Festival. With full backstage access, we had the chance to catch some of the top-notch artists between performances and have them take our pedals for a spin.
Among the artists performing for the weekend were: Ben Harper, Jason Mraz, Guster, Ziggy Marley, Ozomatli, Dr. Dog, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Brett Dennen, Donovan Frankenreiter, Corrinne Bailey Rae, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave, Galactic, OK Go, Mavis Staples, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, They Might Be Giants, Dan Zanes, Will Dailey & The Rivals, Eli "Paperboy" Reed and The Sippy Cups.
Local boys Eli "Paperboy Reed" & The True Loves kicked off the main stage on Day 1 with a neo-soul set that reached back through time for the sounds of the great Otis Redding. Their set proved to be the perfect warm up for Mavis Staples who brought the soul nostalgia home with the great Staples Singers classic "I'll Take You There".
As the show was moving on, Jeff and I were working it backstage at the Source Audio booth hanging out with Wil-Dog Abers, bassist of latin/hip-hop outfit Ozomatli. Wil-Dog stopped in to check out the Soundblox Multiwave Bass Distortion and the Soundblox Bass Envelope Filter. After dialing through just about every setting, we put the instruments down and talked about his experiences touring the Eastern world with Ozomatli as cultural ambassadors with the U.S. State Department. As I began to meet the other members of Ozomatli, I was struck by how much positivity they injected into their every interaction. The optimistic feelings erupted as they took the stage and catapulted the energy of the festival about five notches with their blend of latin, hip-hop and rock.
As the afternoon hit, we caught the smooth-as-Loggins set of Donovan Frankenreiter and his band who had also been hanging and feeling out the pedals. The set included some great pocket and embellishments from bassist Matt Grundy (pictured below) and a tender, memorable moment as Frankenreiter descended from the stage to hand the microphone off to a seven-year-old girl to take the chorus of "It Don't Matter". After their set, Frankenreiter and the band came back to the Source Audio tent to dig deeper into the line of Soundblox pedals Jeff and I had on display.
After hanging with the guys in Donovan's band, we mosied on down to catch a captivating set from Ziggy Marley who, backed by an incredibly tight band, seemed the true continuation of the Marley spirit and tradition. It made me wonder about his children and the children of his brothers...will every generation have their connection to the Marley message? I certainly hope so.
After their set, Ziggy Marley, his band and his entourage walked around with a sense of purpose. I let this be evidence for my theory that to them, they are not just a band and reggae is not just music. What they are is closer to missionaries, traveling the world and using the power of live performance to impart a message of peace and love. I would have loved to have discussed my theories with bassist Pablo Stennett and guitarist Beezy Coleman when they stopped by the booth to take a close look at the Source Audio pedals, but my instincts told me that would be wholly inappropriate.
Getting to jam with Beezy was awesome. His sense of pocket is deep and strong. I think he was a little skeptical of me at first...this little white American boy trying to hop in on some reggae groove...but a couple of seconds into it, it seemed like he felt I wasn't going to ruin the vibe. My only regret is that I didn't know the Bob Marley song he was playing. After having it stuck in my head for about a weeks time, I found it. The song is a relative rarity called "Crisis".
See the next post for Day 2
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