MACROCK // FRIDAY

HEY EVERYBODY, HERE TO GIVE YOU THE RUNDOWN ON MACROCK CUZ THAT'S HOW WE DOOOO.

So here's the deal: I spent all of Friday volunteering at Court Square Theatre, met some cool bands, saw some good shows, generall had a good time, although next time I venue head on MACRoCk weekend I'm most def gettin' some Dr. Scholls. FO SHO.

Consider this a broken memoir of everything that went on Friday @ CST.

David Bayard Richard

A nine piece band or so, played a pretty good set, no complaints. Nice people, I'm in a class with one of the girls in the band, actually. Spent most of the set running around worried, as we were 30 minutes behind when we opened the doors. Mostly made up of JMU students and roommates of MACRoCk committee members. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Expect to see them around Harrisonburg for a while.

Elder Brother

This band was formerly known as Wild Animal Party, I guess they changed their name to as not be confused with the local furry convention (which doesn't exist unfortunately), and to be honest I don't remember much about their set. Please note that I spent the majority of the night with absolutely no journalistic intention, but I did see a lot of bands over the 10 1/2 hours I spent at CST so it felt wrong not to write about it.

Borrowed Beams of Light

Charlottesville-based band consisting of members of the Invisible Hand. Great rock band, female member of the band is Australian and has the coolest accent ever. I'm sorry, but Australian accents are pretty sweet, and it took me so off-guard that I couldn't help but be a little foggy on what their music actually sounds like. Does that make me a horrible blogger? Maybe. But if you offered someone a bottle of water and they said "Wah-tuh? Why thanks mate!" you'd be caught by surprise too.

Prince Rama of Ayodhya

GREAT BAND and some of the nicest people I've met collectively in a long time. They made sure to stick around long after the show and hang out. I felt really bad for one of the girls in the band because I think she had a fever and had to lie down on the couch in the back of the green room for an hour or two, but they definitely filled out the "weird" part of the show, and everyone I talked to really liked them. Plus the guy had a really cool shirt that apparently he found in a dumpster in Gainesville, FL. It's got a left chest Florida Gator insignia, and the whole shirt has a gator-skin print on it. OH YEAH and no sleeves. That's crucial. Wish I had a pic. *sob*

Sore Eros

Wish I could tell you more about this band, spent most of their set on the phone trying to get Taco Bell. What I can tell you is that these are some of the most down-to-earth musicians I've had the pleasure of meeting, and they gave me a CD of theirs as they were going out the door. Haven't had the chance to listen to it yet, but I've also heard some bad things about the band. A friend of mine of the MACRoCk committee contends that this is his least favorite band that made it onto the final roster. WHATEVER THE CASE you should have a beer with them sometime. They're nice dudes.

The Extraordinaires

I have to admit, I'm a pretty big fan of these guys, and I've been able to see them pretty consistently once a year for the past few years. Saw them at MACRoCk last year when they shared the bill with Des Ark and The Bowerbirds, saw them at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar in C'ville, saw them open for Man Man in '07 (?), and I even bought their Ribbons of War DVD after missing them perform it at Live Arts in C'ville (my girlfriend-at-the-time broke up with me the day before I was going to see it, part of me still hasn't forgiven her). Anyway, they put on a great, high energy, dancy and enjoyable set. Too bad we almost had to cut the power on them due to fire code violations. Oh well. Jay still thought it was one of their best shows they've ever played, and definitely in the top 5. So yeah, it was good. Thanks for asking.

Good Old War

ANOTHER GREAT BAND, you can tell these guys really have a lot of chemistry by the way the structure their music and the way they interact with each other. First of all, the MACRoCk set was acoustic, which meant not only a reduced setup time (score!), but also that they could play an extra 10 minutes. They honestly gave what was probably the most intimate performance of the night when they just got off the mics that were set up for them and just did a purely acoustic performance. I got out into the audience for the last song, and I really thought they made the right decisions. Three part vocal harmonies and an acoustic guitar in a room as small and as great sounding as that should be encouraged whenever possible. Anyway I'd love to see them with a full array of instruments, if they're ever in the neighborhood again I'll go check them out.

Cinnamon Band

AH YES, the old story about hometown boys making good. Another band I've heard about but never had the opportunity to see, I have to admit I was expecting more than two people to be on stage by the time they were all set up, but alas, the band sounded good. For a band I've heard so many good things about, they really don't have nearly any material, yet they were booked for a 50 minute set that night. I'm pretty sure by the time that set was over, they couldn't have gone an extra five minutes. But hey, they were the last band of the night and drew a pretty good crowd, so no complaints, right? OH BUT WAIT I HAVE A COMPLAINT. My feet hurt so bad at the end of the night I could barely stand. I'm pretty sure I bitched about my feet to anyone who would listen for the last 4 hours of the showcase.

SUCCESSFUL NIGHT!

nobody died so that's considered a success in my book.

ENOUGH BLOGGING FOR TODAY. WILL UPDATE // TOMRW