It’s about that time of year when Binge Media visits its home away from home in Columbia, Missouri (Visit Columbia, MO) to cover the Roots N Blues N BBQ festival. The festival has changed ownership and while that may have provoked some questions regarding talent acquisition and the efficiency of how the festival runs, I’m happy to say that festival, as always, went off without a hitch. Except for the rain. You can’t do much about the rain.
As always I’m joined by Chris Prunckle, my old buddy from Wannabe The Comic, in recapping each day of this year’s festivities and highlighting some of our favorite artists.
In what has become a yearly tradition, Binge Media was invited to Columbia, Missouri (Visit Columbia, MO) to cover the Roots N Blues N BBQ festival. The festival has quickly become one of my favorites. From the amazing food, to the amazing bands and musicians, to that good ol’ Midwestern hospitality, RNBNBBQ is the chillest festival I’ve ever been to.
Chris Prunckle, my old buddy from Wannabe The Comic, joins me in recapping each day of this year’s festivities, including our highlights and who we thought won this year’s festival.
The Roots N Blues N BBQ festival in Columbia, Missouri (Visit Columbia, MO) came to a resounding close on Sunday and the natural high of seeing many of my favorite musicians and living legends still has me buzzing. As we did last year, Chris Prunckle from Wannabe The Comic joins me in recapping the three day festival, highlighting who we think won the day and what our favorite moments of the day were. We both had amazing access to see the artists up close but given Chris’ access to the photo pit, he provides unique insight into being even closer to the action.
Here are some other highlights:
Biggest Surprise
My favorite thing about music is discovering something new to listen to. Even if it’s an artist that has been around, old becomes new for me. Last year at the Roots N Blues Fest, my biggest surprises were discovering Southern Culture on the Skids and Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, two groups I follow religiously now. This year, two stood out for me.
I was only able to catch a couple of songs from The Suffers but I was immediately hooked by the power, passion and range in frontwoman Kam Franklin’s vocals. I’ve been listening to their full length, self-titled debut and dancing regularly ever since.
I was introduced to Nikki Lane by a coworker who plays a haunting rendition of “You Can’t Talk to Me Like That” at open mic nights at my bar. And though that song was my intro, and it’s of course a great song, once I delved into Highway Queen, I soon realized why she deserves the moniker “Hurricane Lane”. Her performance was outstanding, her band rocking, and the banter in between songs is what I expected from someone who says “it’s always the right time to do the wrong thing”.
Best Moment
Though we discuss our favorite moments in this show, I have to underscore that by far the single best moment for me was listening to John Prine play “Sam Stone”. The crowd was so respectful, hanging onto every lyric, and when Prine played that final note, there wasn’t a dry eye in the venue. Niagara Falls, Frankie Angel.
Best Stage Setup
Not that I expect a huge, dramatic and elaborate stage setup for roots and Americana artists, but it’s hard not to pick pick Ryan Adams stage as the best. Unfortunately, Adams, who delivered above and beyond what I expected, suffers from Meniere’s Disease, so no flash photography was allowed. This is the best pic I have of his TV stage set up. In this podcast, Chris and I detail just how cool it was to see. Also, tons of smoke.
Best Food
Goddamit. We never got a pic of our favorite food from the year, which was a pulled pork sandwich on a glazed doughnut bun. Sound gross? You’re wrong, it was delicious.
Best Performance
I hate this category considering I had my face blown off by so many amazing performances. Lee Fields & the Expressions was like going to church. Booker T’s Stax Revue played Green Onions and it blew everyone away. Ryan Adams was intensely great. Band of Horses showed up with so much positive energy I still get goosebumps thinking of it. Pokey Lafarge had the crowd in the palm of his hand and treated them well. Leon Bridges made everyone dance. And John Prine made me immediately want to pick up a guitar and learn every single song he’s ever written.
However, no one blew my face off like Gary Clark Jr. While I won’t say it wasn’t a close race, Gary just added that certain “kill” factor that only the greatest live performers can deliver. He attacked the stage. He was cool. He was composed. And his guitar work was unparalleled. Not to mention his superb backup band, notably his other guitarist who Gary let take solos at times too. The man was all class, tearing it up, coming back for an encore and bowing like the Southern gentleman he is.
This past weekend I was asked by a good friend of mine to tag along for a music fest in Columbia, Missouri. My first thought was, Columbia, Missouri? Really? After looking at the lineup, I shot off a “yes!” reply without even checking if I was available. Thing was, due to the lineup, I was going to make myself available. There were at least a handful of bands that I definitely wanted to see, and a couple of others that I wouldn’t mind seeing. No biggie, right?
By the time we arrived on site, I was given press credentials. A total surprise. I’ve attended a ton of music and film festivals, working as either press or spectator. Whatever the case, I was going to write about this on Binge or for my own personal journals. The addition of the press pass gave us access to a sectioned off VIP section at the front of the stage and way in the back of the festival grounds. Back there, you had hay stacks and chairs and sofas to sit on with a pretty unobstructive view of the stage. Not to mention the food that came with it. Make no mistake, Columbia, Missouri gets down on food.
But the VIP section, immediately behind the photog pit, was only about 15 feet from the stage. And that’s the kind of thing that makes you question your objectivity. Because you’re so close to the action, does that make you forgive a bad set? Does it make you love the set more solely because you’re that close?
Well, that’s what we get into on this day by day snapshot of the Roots N Blues N BBQ Fest. There were of course some highs and lows but for the most part, the festival delivered in many different ways. But ultimately, it delivered in the way of a goddamn chicken biscuit sandwich with a fried egg smothered in southern gravy. Now THAT is where I become biased.
Chris Prunckle from the Wannabe Music Blog (http://www.wannabethecomic.com/) and I discuss each day, each performance that we saw and fight on the things that we don’t agree on (not many).
Hope you guys enjoy.
*Thanks to The Reverend Peyton Big Damn Band, Southern Culture on the Skids and Shovels and Rope for the use of their music.
Through a glass eye your throne Is the one danger zone Take me to the pilot for control Take me to the pilot of your soul
The Binge MusicCast is back with an album review of another classic artist and this time around, it’s Elton John.
This is one of my personal favorite MusicCasts that we’ve done so far. Not because I’m a huge fan of Elton John (although now I consider myself to be) but because I got my ass thoroughly schooled in this episode. And you can thank my co-hosts MovieFreak and Professor Rob (from The Beatles Episode) for that.
For me, I was pretty much only familiar with Elton’s hits: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Your Song, Rocket Man. But doing homework for this podcast revealed a whole wealth of 70s gold (a decade I’m a sucker for). From singer/songwriter, folksy ditties to broader more elaborate showmanship/entertainer productions, the evolution of Elton John in the 70s is pretty interesting. I mention this in the podcast but for some reason I associated Elton with the late 70s/early 80s and it was pretty eye opening to know that he had done his best work by 1975 and never recovered. Incredible to me.
I gotta thank MovieFreak and Professor Rob for, in all honesty, doing the majority of the heavy lifting in this show. Although I listened to the albums for homework (Elton Johnthrough Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy), their extensive knowledge and breakdown of albums, their themes and tracking the trajectory of Elton John is something I wouldn’t have provided.
Though we didn’t use a typical “top songs/albums” format for this show, what did you think?
See the animal in his cage that you built Are you sure what side you’re on? Better not look him too closely in the eye Are you sure what side of the glass you are on?
The other night Supka, TM and myself got together to drink a lot of buzz and talk about one of our favorite bands of all time: Nine Inch Nails. This is a podcast, like our Nirvana, Beatlesand Oasisepisodes, that I’ve been dying to do for a long time since we changed MusicCast formats.
Nails has easily been in my top 5 favorite bands of all time. Now that I have the venue to discuss the band ad nauseum, and not just to strangers in bars, I eagerly anticipated this opportunity. To be joined by two drunk assholes who feel the same I do about this band, even better.
We track through each studio album, discussing the themes and concepts of each while picking out highlights of every record. By the drunken end, we rank our favorite studio albums and talk about the next phase of our epic Nails relistens.
Yes. We will be doing more NIN podcasts. We decided that in order to go over their catalog, we’d have to break shit down in phases: Phase 1 – Studio albums. Phase 2 – EPs and Remixes. Phase 3 – Soundtracks and our Top 10 songs.
Somewhere I have heard this before In a dream my memory has stored As defense I’m neutered and spayed What the hell am I trying to say?
After very successful episodes of Monday Morning Moreno’s Musical Mayhem (not a thing) with TM (Radiohead Ok Computer album review) and Oh Hai Denny Luis (Epic Oasis Album Review), Supka and I decided to use the format for the Binge MusicCast. It burns us out sometimes to listen to a bunch of new shit and talk about it every two weeks. A gestation period is required to properly absorb all of the nuances of a new record.
That’s why we’re going to focus on either a single artist or album per episode. This allows us to talk in depth about a subject without having to feel we need to keep moving the show forward. It’s more relaxing, shut up. Sorry for yelling.
Both Supka and I are pretty big Nirvana fans (it’s my second favorite band of all time), but we both were exposed to Nirvana and came to love Nirvana in different ways. We discuss this in the episode.
And for the OCD Nirvana fan, yes we refer to Sappy as Verse Chorus Verse, which is a different (and far inferior) song. This is because the No Alternative compilation that was released in the early 90s incorrectly listed the song as Verse Chorus Verse. I grew up calling it Verse Chorus Verse and it’s hard to break that habit. Also, I didn’t have the fucking internet in 93 to verify the goddamn song title so give me a break. Not sorry for yelling this time.
Enjoy!
Moreno’s Top 10 Nirvana Songs:
1. Drain You – Nevermind 2. On a Plain – Nevermind 3. Been a Son – Incesticide 4. Polly – Nevermind 5. Blew – Bleach 6. Serve the Servants – In Utero 7. Sliver – Incesticide 8. Verse Chorus Verse/Sappy/Sad – B-Side 9. Pennyroyal Tea – In Utero 10. Very Ape – In Utero
Supka’s Top 10 Nirvana Songs:
1. Son of a Gun – Incesticide 2. Negative Creep – Bleach 3. Been a Son – Incesticide 4. Molly’s Lips – Incesticide 5. School – Bleach 6. Sliver – Incesticide 7. Territorial Pissings – Nevermind 8. Scentless Apprentice – In Utero 9. Stay Away – Nevermind 10. Pennyroyal Tea – In Utero
Kupka and I are back with the first Binge Music Cast of the year! I wanna shoot you so bad, my dick’s hard. If you don’t get that New Jack City reference then we can’t be friends.
We’re pretty excited and optimistic about the year in music. There have been quite a few offerings that we’ve dug in the first quarter, half of which we didn’t even feature here. Saul Goodman, we’re still finding our Music Cast footing. Shut up and enjoy!
Artists featured this week:
Kendrick Lamar
Houndmouth
Songhoy Blues
Benjamin Booker (again)
Olivia Jean
Here’s the opening song, of which I am making a bluegrass cover.
Kupka and I are on a roll with these here music podcasts, and we’re excited to bring you another installment of the Binge Music Cast. This week, we have a pretty eclectic mix of bands ranging from blues to rock to hippy shit. What do we like? What do we love? What do we despise? The answers are all within. As always, if you have any suggestions for us, send us an email at admin@bingemedia.net. Do dis!
Artists featured this week:
Biffy Clyro
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Buddy Guy w/Kid Rock
The Night Marchers
The Neighbourhood
Twenty One Pilots
Any suggestions? Send them to admin@bingemedia.net.