Hoxeyville Music Festival 2010 (8.20.2010)

Friday, August 20th

As we pulled into Hoxeyville on Friday morning, I became flooded with emotion. This would be my 2nd year at this coveted Michigan festival and the line-up itself was enough to leave me wondering how it could possibly fall short of the experience I had in 2009. Galactic, EOTO, Buddy Guy… it had been epic in every way. But now this? Now you take every single one of our favorite Michigan bands and throw them into the mix with names like Keller Williams, Great American Taxi, and Steve Kimock? My goodness. Oh, and why don’t we throw in a little taste of The Rhythm Devils while we’re at it… just for good measure? Jake Robinson, Bear Yovino and whoever else has been involved in the organization of the Hoxeyville music festival have gotten this down to a science. Not only do they exhibit the operational smoothness of a robotic assembly line, but this group of people understands Michigan music. They are fully aware of the scene, of the sounds that drive this scene, and of the vibes that create it.

A short line at the festival entrance put us inside the grounds just after the gates opened that morning. We secured our wristbands and headed for the woods. With a slightly different layout than last year, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the second main stage had moved to northeast corner of the grounds, adjacent to the woods camping. We parked our vehicle without a single complication and found the perfect spot in the loosely occupied forest just an earshot from this second stage, dubbed the “Cadillac Stage”. Our 7-person entourage would require a good amount of space so we continued to erect what we were proud to say was the finest camp we had set up to date… multiple hammocks, enough tarp to cover a small house, and food and drink to live for days. Once we were feeling secure in our new home, we sat down and let the festival begin. We made the short walk over to the Cadillac stage to catch the opening act, Detour Bluegrass. With the phenomenal fiddle player and MSU professor of Social Sciences, Dr. Peter Knupfler, rounding out the Detour sound, this conventional sextet put on an impressive display of traditional bluegrass music that had everyone in the crowd celebrating their arrival at the Hoxeyville festival.

After Detour, we headed over to catch the Cornmeal set on the main stage, aptly titled the “Hoxeyville Stage”. As a late addition to Hoxey, I was absolutely floored when I found out that this band would be joining the line-up. Cornmeal is this unbelievable jamming machine capable of redefining what it really means to play acoustical instruments. With the charismatic Allie Kral scrapping the strings off her fiddle, and the mad-scientist Kris Nowak running cosmic scales up and down his acoustic guitar, this band has an energy that is hard to come by amidst the jam circuit. Banjo wizard Dave Burlingam, bassist Chris Gangi, and drummer JP Nowak combine with Allie and Kris to form a truly explosive form of bluegrass music that dips and bends into a range of different genres that are too expansive to list here. Of course, as soon as Breathe Owl Breathe began playing about halfway through Cornmeal’s set, I was torn into half. It pained me as I waited for one of my new favorite bands to finish what had surely been one of the most exploratory jams of the evening before I sprinted over to the Cadillac stage for Breathe Owl. It had been a while since I had seen this trio, this magic, this band who I love as much as any from the mitten state. Micah Middaugh was in his usual form on stage, telling stories, soothing the crowd with his baritone vocals. Unpredictable as always, Micah sang “I wish I was swimming” with a mask and snorkel on his head, making bubble sounds while cellist player Andrea Moreno-Beals sang in beautiful contrast, her cello humming an elegant tune. At one point during the set (I believe he was having the crowd do a slow motion wave) I began to wonder whether Micah was here for our entertainment, or if we were there for his. His interaction with the crowd is unlike almost every performing act I have ever seen. With Trevor Hobbes behind the kit, Breathe Owl Breathe reminds us of the untouched beauty that is nature. They sing heartfelt and playful tunes that speak of the forest, of the plants and animals, and of the adventure. I winced every time I heard Cornmeal shredding on the other stage, but Breathe was amazing as always and only at a place like Hoxey are you forced to make such a difficult decision.

As the night wore on, the forest began to fill up with campers. The drinks were poured and before long, Steve Kimock and his band Crazy Engine took the stage and started absolutely wailing. In addition to Kimock, Melvin Seals sat perched behind his B-3 organ, adding to the complete madness of Crazy Engine. Kimock has had a rich history of Dead related projects including RatDog, Phil Lesh & Friends, and The Rhythm Devils while Seals spent an impressive 15 year stint in the Jerry Garcia Band. Talk about a couple of seasoned jam-vets. Kimock has this powerfully explosive style. His notes seem to churn and growl before gaining momentum and authority. I wish I had witnessed more of this set but at the same time, I feel lucky to have experienced what I did. Kimock and Crazy Engine know what they are doing and as a music fan, you should feel an obligation to hear this music.


With the conclusion of Crazy Engine came Ann Arbor’s favorite jazz-rock ensemble, The Macpodz. I had a lot of exposure to this talented group of Michiganders at Summer Camp Festival earlier this year. Umphrey’s McGee guitarist Jake Cinninger sat in during their Saturday set while Macpodz keyboardist Jesse Clayton returned the favor for UM’s Sunday set. They did nothing but jam at Summer Camp and Hoxeyville was no different. As the set wore one, the clouds opened up and a trickle began coming down. A trickle turned into a steady stream and before long, we were in the middle of a monsoon. The Macpodz carried on, slowly backing deeper under the cover of the stage while stagehands ran back and forth, doing what they could to keep the equipment dry. The rain was relentless and so were the Macpodz. They were blowing horns and thumping bass while rain-soaked Hoxeyvillers danced in muddy bliss. For as long as they could, the band held out but ultimately cut short what would be the final set of music that evening.

With the conclusion of the music came the beginning of a catastrophe. The corners of our main tarp had ripped out from the wind and the tension and our supplies were getting soaked. For hours, we roped, taped, and finagled our tarp back into a suitable position all the while securing our belongings and digging trenches to direct water away from our tents. First the Great Dunegrass Storm of 2010, and now this. How lucky we had been! No matter how hard it rained though, our spirits could not be drowned. A few of us headed over to check out the situation on the main stage and found the entire area under 8 inches of water. The New Deal would definitely not be playing on this night. Just then a particularly strange wookie came splashing and kicking through the water. “HAVE YOU SEEN MY PADDLE?” he was shouting. Refusing to let the weather get the best of us, we decided to head out and see what the Disc Golf course was all about. Rumor was, the entire course had been illuminated with glow sticks in preparation for nighttime disc sessions. What we found was beyond explanation… an entire extra-terrestrial glow universe reserved just for our use. The night was young, and Hoxeyville had begun.