I met up with Corey and Dave at the Bunker around one o’clock. We took down the P.A. and packed up all of our instruments, amps and mic stands.  There was a 90% chance of rain in the state of Minnesota.  It was drizzling when we went out to load the vehicles.

 

The drive to Dexter was much of the same with the occasional downpour, but the clouds would try to break apart and the sun would try to peak through. The view was mainly cornfields and cattle all along highway 52, once one of the deadliest in the country.  A lot has changed.  We knew we were getting close when we reached Rochester and just south came the windmills.  These were the giant windmills with huge blades.  Dave and I started talking about a supposed sound that the windmills produce and how it affects the people who are constantly around it. In that moment, and as we were talking, we were pulling into a windmill vortex and missed our exit.  We circled around and righted our course.

 

When we arrived in Dexter, Beau was already there and it wasn’t raining at all. Our reliable weather app said 0% chance of rain till 10:00 pm.  So when Shane arrived, we pushed our luck and set up our gear under a large and very nice, but in essence inadequate, deck umbrella.  We had the stage set up and everything was powered and plugged in and we had just finished eating when it began to rain.  There were a couple of gigantic tarps and we tossed one over the deck umbrella and stretched it to fit most of the stage.  We grabbed another tarp and threw it over Beau’s drums and synched it down.  We had nothing else to do, so we hung out under our stage tarp, which with the help of a small child (eating cheese puffs) became a fort, and we waited for the rain to pass.  We were really hoping the rain would pass.  And when it finally did, some of the party goers and the band set up a 10×20 tent structure.  We slid off the large tarp, uncovered Beau’s drums and moved the tent onto the stage.  It was going to work, if it didn’t rain too hard.

 

We didn’t waste any time after the tent was staked and secured before we started playing. We jumped right into the first set and worked on the mix on the fly.  It was an experiment for us.  We weren’t sure how the P.A. would sound outdoors and we had a couple new pieces that we didn’t quite know the full potential of.  The set was fun and a little nerve racking with the damp and the clouds looming.  But we played well and adjusted as best we could.  The vocal level was low.  We discovered this after the first set when everyone said, “Turn up the vocals.”  So we made some adjustments and, under a crescent moon, we kicked into our second set.  The mix was much better and the people let us know.

 

We, and everyone there, made the best of the unpredictable weather. We’re grateful for the opportunity.

 

We learned a few things from this experience. First, Fireball chased with Dr. McGillicuddy’s/Monster is a kind and potent gesture among friends.  Second, and most practically, we learned you must always be ready to act quickly in the outdoors.  And lastly, we have come to the conclusion, as a band, that Dolly Parton is in our wheelhouse.  Many times, to come to this conclusion you must learn the first lesson above.  It’s a hard lesson.

 

Enjoy your long labor day weekend.

 

If you want to book King Fish Crow for a house party or backyard get together, send us a message at kingfishcrow@gmail.com.

 

Support Local Music

 

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”     – Dolly Parton

 

August is flying by. It’ll be snowing before you know it.  We’re trying to make the most of the daylight before summer’s gone.

 

We’ve picked up our original Liz Murphy llama t-shirts from Rebel Ink and we couldn’t be happier with how they turned out. The shirts come in four colors, all very limited.  We have a blue, a vibrant blue, and army green shirts all with golden yellow print and we have white shirts with blue print (size small only).  So choose your favorite and show your friends what you know about cool.  And don’t forget, we still have the original black and white King Fish Crow shirts to make your decision even harder.

 This coming weekend we’ll be in Dexter, MN playing a private party, a house party, should be one for the books. We’re hoping for beautiful weather.  From what I’m told, we’ll be transforming a deck into a stage.  We’ll be bringing our amps, a P.A. and maybe a little light show or some fog.  And we will have an R.V. as a green room.  I’m looking forward to playing all night long, seeing the stars and maybe spotting a couple satellites whipping around our planet.

 

In September, we’re playing the Pour House on the 20^th with traveling band, Scubadiver.  It’s an early show so, despite it being a Wednesday, you’ll be able to get back home before mom and dad even know you went anywhere and had the time of your life.

 

We, also, just confirmed a show with our friends, Loons In the Attic. We’ll be playing Friday September 22^nd with them and Peddler.  This show will be a late show.  We’re slated to go on at midnight.  So come on out to greet Saturday morning with us.  Your parents are going to know you snuck out for this one.  Make the most of it.  Super cool venue.  Great local bands.  Totally worth getting grounded.

 

So come out Wednesday, September 20^th for the early show and witness one of the cooler bills we’ve been on in a while and take to the Nomad World Pub on Friday September 22^nd for the late show, where we will share the stage with our friends and a couple great local bands. In short, mark your calendar for fun.  Double down in September and we’ll see you there.

 

As you can see, we are in good spirits. Corey just moved; Shane is in the process.  Dave and I both had family vacations.  We ventured to Ludlow’s Island on Lake Vermillion and Governor Knowles State Forest respectively.  Beau still has more snakes than you and Liz is working on her art, commissioned and otherwise.

 

Keep Reaching

 

“Friends …they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.”     – Henry David Thoreau

It’s been busy in the Bunker. King Fish Crow has a few things on the horizon.  Theo has been making us some rad shelves.  So this thing, Bunker 2.0, is happening.  Reorganizing.  Reenergizing.  Rebunkering.  Maybe we should have an open house.  Show you the digs.

 

Also, as a little hmmm… moment. The Bunker is turning 10 next year.  Should there be a celebration?  Reunion Shows?  If you have ever been a part of the Bunker, let me know what your thoughts are on some sort of 2018 festivities.  In honor of you.  In recognition of the space.  A lot of people have made the Bunker possible through the years.  And the music has been pretty alright as well.

 

T-shirts are in the hands of Rebel Ink and we should be getting them back in the next couple weeks. These shirts are going to look great and we only have limited amount.  Who wants one?

 

We’re getting a double set ready for the private party in Dexter. I may play an electric guitar, which would be my first time playing electric in King Fish Crow.  Is that a big deal?  Right now we’re working on a few covers to throw into the mix.  We’ve been playing the Prince song, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man, since he passed away last year.  You may also hear us reel off a Velvet Underground song or two.  That’s usually about the extent of it for us.  We’re focused on our original material.  That’s what King Fish Crow is all about.  But for this show, we’re adding a few more to the short list.

 

Our next show in the Cities is on September 20^th.  We’ll be at the Pour House with Scubadiver and Omission Republic.  We’ll be joining Scubadiver , who hail from  Houston, Texas, on the Minneapolis stop of their Where Am I?? Tour.  We are thrilled to be on this bill and hope to see you there!  It’s sure to be a great night with tons of surprises and a good time.

 “I often write about nonreligious people, and I try to find situations where their sense of humanity is restored or discovered. I think you can be a good person in many ways.  And I think you often have to be careful that prayer can seem superficial, because it’s a very complicated thing to love your neighbor as yourself.”     – Horton Foote

We have a few new photos from Lily Springs Farm, courtesy of Eat for Equity, we’d like to share with you and will we finally reveal our T-Shirt design?

 

We can’t say enough about Wild Spring 2017. It was so great to spend the weekend on the farm with everyone.  And the lights, Dan, were fantastic.

 

Here it is.  Liz has drawn a one of a kind llama. We are working towards getting them made right now.  In the past, I’ve said that we would make them ourselves, but I’m not sure.  I think we may go to a local screen printing shop.  If you would like to get into a King Fish Crow T-shirt, get a hold of us either here or any other way you know how.

 

Our Friends in Loons in the Attic, or LITA, have just released the first half of an experimental double album called Future Man (+).  It’s an eight song album that is full of great guitar tones and melodies.  Take a moment to listen to this lively and thought provoking collection of songs and support local music at the same time.  These guys are talented and just getting rolling.  We are always happy to share a bill with them.

 

Coming up, we are playing a private party in Dexter, MN at the end of August and we will be at the Pour House with Scubadiver (Houston, TX) in September. Then in October, we will be playing a Save the Boundary Waters benefit show with our friends the Wailing Loons.  So catch us out and about and say hello.  We’d love to see ya.

 

“Writing means sharing. It’s part of the human condition to want to share things – thoughts, ideas, opinions.”     – Paulo  Coelho

 

Dave, Corey and his girlfriend, Leah, and I left the Bunker around nine on Friday night. We headed east on 36 to New Richmond, Wisconsin.

 

Drew was waiting for us in a Subway parking lot on the main drag.  We met up and made the final journey to Osceola.  When we arrived at Lily Springs Farm, they were expecting us and we unloaded our musical gear in the green room/granary barn and then drove our cars back to the lake campsite and set up our tents by our headlights.  We were pretty close to where we were last year.  There were already five or six tents by the lake shore.  So we snuggled our tents together.  When we had finished setting up tents for everyone, and one for Liz who would arrive the next day, we drove our cars across the street to the parking lot.  The stars were intense.  The center of our tent city was a magnificent screened room.  We set up rope lights on the ceiling of our temporary headquarters and soon after Beau and Caitlin arrived and began to set up their sleeping quarters.  We congregated in the screened room and conversed late into the black night as steam rose off the surface of the lake.

 

The next morning we woke up and drove into town and ate at the Watershed Café. The place had amazing food and the coffee we desperately needed.  We sat on the patio next to a rushing brook that raced away into the woods and down a gorge.  After lunch, we missed breakfast hours, we headed back to the farm and soon after Shane and Liz arrived on the grounds.  They unloaded their gear and we waited for the drum kit to arrive.  The drums arrived a little before two o’clock and we set up all of our gear on the main stage and walked back to our screen fortress.  We wouldn’t play until six thirty and had plenty of time to chat and relax as our camp was right next to the Lake stage.  Gretta and Olivia provided plenty of entertainment during the down time.

 

I scribbled out the set list with a sharpie Drew brought as we listened to Ben Weaver kick off the festival.  Ben’s been on tour biking around the Midwest and his lyrics are raw and organic.  There is the spirit of the wilderness in his music and he is supremely professional.  He was accompanied by a fiddle and his voice and songs were perfect with the lake as a backdrop.  There were even paddle boarders listening from behind the stage.  I set my sites on the lake.  I wasn’t missing out this year.

 

As Ben Weaver wrapped up his set, we were over at the Granery Stage making final preparations to our gear. We sound checked with Deciduous and rolled into our set.  It was a sunny, beautiful day and we had the shade of the granary barn to rock out in.  The crowd was hanging out all over the grounds.  They were excited and awaiting dinner.  We rocked through six songs and took a break for the dinner announcement.  We then rolled right back into our set and finished with Sweet Desperation.

 

It’s a magnificent stage to play, facing the barn and the farm house of Lily Springs. It’s the heart of the homestead.  The crowd was gathered on the boulder walls and on the hay bales placed out in front of the stage.  The magic was in the sharing of the moment on a perfect evening with everyone who was there.

 

We happily opened the main stage and as we tore down our gear, the Wailing Loons began to set up their guitar, banjo and upright bass. The Loons can put on a show.  They are seasoned festival veterans, playing multiple shows at Bonnaroo the last two years. (Not to mention a write up in National Geographic.)  Liz and I met Dan and Emily years ago at an open mic at the Chatterbox in South Minneapolis.  They know how to get the people to dance.  They bring tight groves and a genuine love of life to their performances.  And as the sun was going down they sang their hearts out and got the crowd moving.

 

After the Loons set, I went back to camp and put on my swim trunks and headed to the dock with Corey and Beau and Caitlin. We jumped in as the Red Daughters were starting their set.  We swam through the relatively warm water and watched the light show in the trees and off of the barn.  It was the perfect cool down to a hot day and a great way to listen to a band rock the Granary Stage at Lily Springs Farm.  And the Red Daughters boomed over the lake.

 

The next bands were supposed to switch to the Barn Stage, but it was too beautiful of an evening to bring the party inside the barn. So Chill Witch sang into the cooling evening, into the shimmering trees.  She was energetic and eccentric and she was followed by the blues bad asses, Flatwater Mississippi.  This band takes the stage and controls it with a swampy power.  Led by a lead singer/bass player who howls with a passion that dwarfs her frame and top notch guitar players, the band is solid and technical and so much fun to watch.  They range from heavy blues to surf rock and were a perfect end to evening festivities.  Their set ended at 12:15 and that was it for the first day of music.  Two campfires were ablaze and people walked around and mingled until the early hours of the morning.

 

Sunday morning started with coffee and orange juice, a fantastic breakfast spread and Good Morning Bedlam, who laid down a laid back mix of gypsy folk. With ukulele, upright bass, banjo and a fantastic female singer, they were an ideal closer for the blue skies of Lily Springs Farm.

 

We packed up our tents and waited to grab our gear from the green room. When the gravel drive was clear, we drove our cars onto the grounds and loaded camping and then musical gear.  We said our goodbyes and thanked those who allowed us to be a part of such a special weekend.

 

Looking back, I want to tell you how fantastic the farm to table food was and how worthwhile the ticket really is. If you have the chance, go next year.  It is everything you wanted a festival to be.

 

At three on Saturday, when the festival began, they put out a spread of fresh vegetables, including purple carrots and roasted cauliflower with three different kinds of hummus. They were the freshest snacks.  Dinner was no different and they spared no expense with fantastic vegetarian and chicken sandwiches and black bean salad.  After dinner, and after we had gotten off stage, there were volunteers walking around with pies for everyone to try.  I tried the vegan Mexican chocolate pie and it was superb.  Later in the evening, Wild Earth Wood Fired was pulling sourdough crust pizzas out of their brick oven and people were genuinely feasting on all the food and music and community that was created at Lily Springs farm.

 

If I say anything, I say thank you to Eat for Equity and Sky Water Studios and all the volunteers that made the weekend possible and I say, I hope I see you there next year.

 

“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.”     – Wanda Sykes