Pickin' Workship With Allie Kral,
The Henhouse Prowlers and More
The SCamp Kids Area
Mud Shots
ChiILin' in Chillicothe with ChiIL Live Shows: Sunday of Memorial Day weekend dawned drizzly. It was the last music filled day of SCamp 2013. Our encampment of 5 tents of friends got up and made communal egg sandwiches and French press coffee. Just because you sleep in the woods doesn't mean you can't brunch like royalty. Here's our gorgeous, camping spot.
Most of our group went to see yet another Umphrey's McGhee set (I believe they played something like 9 hours total over the course of the 4 day fest.) I opted for the intimate, warm & dry "church space" Pickin' Workshop with Allie Kral, The Henhouse Prowlers and More. It was a stellar decision.
We've covered Chi-town's own Henhouse Prowlers and Allie for years. I had a chance to casually chat with Allie after the workshop. Summer Camp marked her final sets with Cornmeal after a decade with the band. She'll be sitting in with several San Francisco bands including Hot Buttered Rum, subbing for a new mama fiddle player this summer. Click here to see where to follow her adventures.
Allie said Summer Camp Music Fest is always like a reunion or a homecoming, since she gets to sit in with so many friends she doesn't get to play with otherwise. That was evident during the rockin' workshop. Here a some of our playful, heat signature shots from the SCamp pickin' jams. There was some serious heat, lots of laughter, and playful jammin' of the best sort!
If you follow ChiIL Live Show, you know I shoot shoes. It's fascinating to me to see where performers get grounded & where they connect to the earth. I love to see what shoes say about a person, and try to match them later. Many performers go barefoot or use shoes as an extension of their "stage persona" or costume.
Some of my favorite shots from SCamp13 are the muddy shoes of the Pickin' performers! Check 'em out. If a picture's worth 1,000 words, they have tales to tell... How many can you match to the musicians?
SCamp Family Style
After our morning pickin' jam, we made our annual visit to the Kids' Area. SCamp is family friendly, too, with a rockin' free play area that includes arts, active fun, and awesome staff that returns year after year.
There's even a designated substance free/quiet zone camping area families can choose to stay in. The past few years I've had press credentials and come out sans kids so I could work the photo pits and cover late night shows. Before that, though, we brought the kids to SCamp a number of years and they loved it and are clamoring to come back for 2014.
This year they added a bounce house!
The adults could learn from the kids when it comes to inevitables like the weather. Mud was a non issue for them, as it just made SCamp into a giant playground. Their parents just bagged up their feet so they wouldn't be cold and wet and let 'em play. I was seriously tempted to kick off my shoes and join them and would have if I didn't have a lap top and expensive camera gear to protect.
Mud Shots
We had planned to see an array of excellent bands all day, culminating with Trey Anastasio & Moe, but severe storms were forecast The grounds were already a swamp and I didn't want to have to pack up in a downpour Monday morning and schlep all my gear out in more severe mud. The "parking lot" gets marshy, too, and I didn't want to risk getting stuck. I heard later that many people had to be towed out of the mud Monday at $60 a pop. Even with 4 wheel drive I didn't want to wait hours behind all the others getting dragged outta the muck.
It was a hard call since I missed some major favs like Everyone Orchestra, Avett Brothers, Ragbirds, North Mississippi Allstars, Van Ghost, Taj Mahal Trio, Lettuce, the above mentioned Trey & Moe, This Must Be the Band, and a late night set of Henhouse Prowlers slated to close the fest at 4am.
This Mama came without her young daughter, Mia, and missed her, so she made her name in glo sticks and took a photo to send her. I happened by and loved the visual. I chose to strike camp during a break in the downpours and get on the road, back to my own kiddos, who were missed, too. It was the best decision I've made in a long time. The rains came down with a vengeance, hours earlier than forecast and got so severe they cut Trey's sets short and cancelled the rest of the evening's shows including Moe's final set.
It was a wet & wild ride, but SCamp13 was still full of jammin' tunes, amazing mash ups, fun times with friends, exclusive band interviews, fabulous photo ops, and intimate workshops.
Check back with ChiIL Live Shows/ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chi, IL... early and often. We still have more video band interviews and video footage of the workshops yet to come.
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