Ed of H gigs; 2018

[David Houck]

Nice T-shirt!

[edwardofhuncote]

Nice T-shirt!

I agree, Dave; The Darkness t-shirt has a subtle, but classy vibe. It brings me luck too. My Mom likes the fresh haircut best.   


So last Winter, Harwell-Grice Band auditioned for this big music festival, FloydFest. http://floydfest.com/

I've played it before, some years ago (in 2002?) with Acoustic Endeavors (actually, I think that may have been my last job with them as a full-time member...) but it's grown into a somewhat huge thing anymore. I wasn't overly excited about having to audition for anything at this point in my life, but the guys were gung-ho to do it so I wasn't about to buck the system. Seriously... I love my gig with those fellas and I'm there for 'em, no matter what, so we go all in... and got the gig. Not quite sure what we're in for other than two sets, one on Saturday afternoon, and another longer one on Sunday. The guys put together two very good sets, packed with our strongest stuff... a nice mix of originals and rock tunes newgrassed up jam-band style. Some of it is chance-y... lots of opportunity to really mess up, but those guys live on that. They love that seat-of-the-pants approach. It could just as easily be our finest hour. With a scary surgery bearing down on me, this is likely to be the last big stage I'll see for a good long while. I'd very much like to not make a total hash of it myself. We shall see. . I'll have at least two Alembics there to carry the low end.

My buddy John over at Bluegrass Today wrote up a story on the particular venue where we'll be staged. https://bluegrasstoday.com/floydfest-adds-a-bluegrass-stage-for-2018/ I think he's got people covering the event too, so maybe some more press afterwards.

Stay tuned...

[David Houck]

Congrats!!!

[growlypants]

Looking forward to hearing (and seeing!) more about it.

[edwardofhuncote]

Well, I survived Round 1 okay. 

FloydFest is a lot bigger than it was when I was here back in 2002. There are several stages going at once, with a fair amount of distance between them. I had a lot of down-time to mosey around and see the different venues. The Dreamin' Creek Main Stage is a massive structure, and a very well thought-out one too. There is another one mirror image, but slightly smaller scaled at the opposite end of the field, so two fairly large acts can be staged at once, with zero setup and tear down time between. Everybody in the audience just turns around the other way, or moves down range. It's brilliant really.   

We were at a smaller venue yesterday called 'The Throwdown'. Huge PA setup everywhere, and top-notch pros running it too. We had a whole stage crew assigned to us... Danielle, the Stage Boss was awesome. She and her crew took good care of us and our stuff all day.

I got a couple pictures of the guys here and there too... we had a great day yesterday. Weather was cooperative. Set went good too, but for one little hiccup, it would have been close to perfect. Can you really go wrong with an Alembic bass and a Jeannie over your shoulder?! 

One down, one to go. Check-in is at 2:00 today, load-in is shortly thereafter, soundcheck is at 3:15, downbeat is 3:45.

[growlypants]

VERY cool, man!!  (That fretless is a mind-blower...). Gorgeous stages, and that FOH mixing board...are you kidding me??!!

[David Houck]

Great pics; thanks!

[rv_bass]

Nice venue and event!  Looks like you guys are having some fun!

[edwardofhuncote]

VERY cool, man!!  (That fretless is a mind-blower...). Gorgeous stages, and that FOH mixing board...are you kidding me??!!

Great pics; thanks!

Nice venue and event!  Looks like you guys are having some fun!

I had a blast... waaay more fun than I thought. I knew going in, we were really in the third tier of entertainment at this festival, and I had adjusted my expectations as such, but I have to hand it to the FloydFest Staff, they treated us great. Every single person we interacted with from the check-in desk to the stage crews were absolutely professional. I'll have some more pictures and a write-up from yesterday's events later on, but yes indeed... what a rush! 


Here's a couple teasers... I stopped on the way in and snapped these pictures at an overlook a couple miles North of the entrance to FloydFest at Milepost 170 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just so you guys can get a feel for the incredible setting where all this is happening. They were supposed to be panoramic, but didn't quite match to a line. The other is just a cool sign I saw on a tree at the venue we were staged at yesterday. I took it as a good sign. 

[edwardofhuncote]

Just to finish out the post... yesterday we were staged at the 'Pink Floyd Garden Stage', a nice wooded area surrounded by tents of all the region's finest craft brewers, most of which we've played at their breweries' venues at one time or another. The rustic wooden stage itself, it turns out was built from the salvaged timbers of a kinda' famous old wooden roller-coaster that I rode as a kid... now how cool is that?!   

Once again, from check-in to downbeat, the FloydFest Staff was right on-the-spot, helping us all the way. Our crew this time had to tear down a nine-piece band called The Hills & The Rivers, (by the way, that had to be the most bizarre, yet coolest sound I ever heard! Sample:

) and then set us up, then be ready to tear us down and set up another band with a full drum kit and amp backline. Can't say enough good stuff about our Stage Crew, Andrew and Troi... those guys were T-U-F-F. Also hats off to George our emcee, Tom on the FOH board, and Leo on the monitors. Totally. Cool. Dudes. All.

And we had a couple special guests come up during the set too... Fiddler, Jerry Wood of the ecclectic band Blue Mule, http://bluemulemusic.blogspot.com/?m=1 and Jay Starling of Love Canon http://www.lovecanonmusic.com/ joined us on dobro. That made for an awesome jam, to say the least! Man, those guys can play... just left me shaking my head. I'm told some video exists, but no clue how to resize the files to something usable yet. Rumor has it, my little hat-tip to Robert Johnson's, "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" complete with bass solo and Jay's blistering dobro on the heels of it is among the footage. Fingers crossed they find a way to post it. I seem to remember it felt pretty good.

Anyway, FloydFest 2018 is in the books. Harwell-Grice Band played well, and I hope they see fit to bring us back again. We all had a blast.   

[David Houck]

Great picture of you guys in front of the crowd!

I just checked the youtube, but couldn't find any video of your show.

[edwardofhuncote]

Harwell-Grice Band is playing a live radio show this evening in nearby Pulaski, Virginia. From what I gather, it's kind of a local take-off on Prairie Home Companion... a variety/comedy show, and we're today's featured guest band. Sounds fun, and since every weekend could be my last gig for a long while, I'm soaking up all the fun available.

https://pulaskitheatre.com/event/8-25-the-pulaski-radio-show/

Now, the real question... which Alembic is #1, and which one 'rides shotgun' today? 

[David Houck]

That sounds like an adventure.

[edwardofhuncote]

It sure was, Dave.

We had a great time doing this show... the crew and cast were complete pros! I was personally astounded at how well put-together the script was, and how well executed it was with zero rehearsal. They just rip it in one take, fourth Saturday night of every month. Pulaski, Virginia, like most other small towns, had a theater. A few of the ones that survived are now being restored and becoming venues for things like this, and other events. Another plus; it sounds fantastic in there. Some modern sound equipment in a building already designed for audiences anyway... it's a perfect match. 

Unfortunately, we were short a band member last night, so that added an extra element of uncertainty to the mix, but Gabe is a very qualified lead guitarist, and just threw in a few extra solos to cover the holes. We did our part, and they definitely want us back on the Pulaski Radio Show again.

I've been really enjoying playing fretless Distillate "Doc" this week, so he went on first. I didn't know how dark it would be on this stage, so I had the fretted Distillate on stand-by. Since there was a good 10-minute lag in between songs in the program, and "Please, Please, Baby" was coming next up, and I had time, I switched over until intermission. You don't really play a lot of music on these shows, maybe 10 or 12 songs in an hour and a half, but you have to be ready to play exactly on cue, which means somebody absolutely has to be paying attention to the show and watching the script. It really is a fun challenge.

[growlypants]

That is so cool that you got to do that!