MY GOODNESS GRACESHISH!

THE FOLLOWING IS AN UNEDITED ACCOUNT OF THEE GFF CONTRIBUTED BY FIELD REPORTER COUNT ZZ RYDER.

Now that all things have passed, we may think about the magic sources . Up until Friday 13th, 2012, we have lived in a material world.  I was talkin to my girl, tellin’ a tale I thought I knew, but didn’t bother.  I guess it was just that I had this rainbow for my halo.  O, but we both agreed that the timing was right and I knew that it was Zeke’s time too, yet I’m sure even they were skeptical of someone as bad as me booking 3000 bands!  We had learned from what we had done previously, and knew that this had to be done right. At least we knew guitar aromas would arise! It was a lot of work orchestrating everyone but eventually we had a strong lineup confirmed. The GFR Family was excitingly ready! The principle was to capture the naive joy of rock n roll that others have been too slow to spark off.  We tried making some kinda plan early on of the schedule, but it became increasingly clear we had to take things moment to moment. We made up some pretty vague flyers promising more than 20 predatorial bands of OBSESSION. We succeeded in our aim by creating the sounds that were heard over the course of the weekend. If you had a compass that told ya where to dig the Bird Dance Beat, I guarantee that we had better action in Athens this weekend than TUBE CITY. Most notably,  this new label begins, and I better tell more tale of all the groups involved if you didn’t get to meet them for yourselves…

This weekend I showed why I’m named Jumpin Jacky,  hosting the Fryday 13th, or maybe ya saw me playin drums every late night on tunes like The Girl Cant Dance down here in Athens, GA at the GFR Rodney King Jr Fest 200012. This ain’t no Blues Brothers movie, but I think I threw down some solid harmonica playin every one of those nights too. You may begin to see footage of all the lows captured from this dark horse fest. Four shows in three nights was gruelling, but I do have a penchant for the occasional sunny days we get during the winter, but the cold nights sure reminded me we were still in january. Nevertheless, GFR Fest rock n rolled for 3 days n nights, and when I say nights I reassure you they were NIGHTMARES! I loved this experience and I hope it was equally influential on everyone as it was on me. Once again, I’m eatin acid, so I’m sure my recollection of this weekend shall be forever off the rails.

The first show was seriously on Friday 13th here at Spilledge, a klassik kikkoff for these circumstances. I figured it’d be silIy not to have a bonfire since we have the pit set up in the back, so I took some time gettin down with the smokin’ boogie along with the fire posse. There were some others lookin on, not too seriously, and we loved gettin inside their souls. I hadn’t realized how bad my timing was on getting the show started when 9 pm approached. I was blown into reality back from the ballrooms of Mars on the turntable by cats rollin in off the streets lookin for trouble. Of course everyone was kinda down to make it a late night. We were in shock about how this was the most random youngins that we’ve had invading our home. I loath dragging in the college kids to shows, but we needed an audience. I just wanted this place to be open to everybody for a night, but still didn’t figure we’d get a  response that was this extraordinary. I didn’t even know Matt was gonna be here, but he and Zeke’s acoustic group The Shoal Creek Stranglers kicked out several spirited jams down by the fireside that evidently had an impact. Zeke does a solid job capturing the lyricism in the music he loves, and somehow slides perfectly around his geetar. Lord knows it’s good tunes to drink to. I believe the SCS tunes have been produced and are about ready to be released, complete with doghouse bass soundin really hot! Somethin else started goin’ on inside the house, and so I went to get face to face with El Hollin, as  Dena Zebler sent them careening through her hypnotic songs live straight off of their new album. Catch a peak of it and I’m sure you will end up givin’ it some repeat listening. And if you got lost in the hilarity at Spilledge, then you get another chance to see them play with the Humms on Sat. Jan 21st at Flickr. I’re I’ll be put back there in the crowd along with others who dare be as bad as me. Come face this high harvest with us again for another night of hailing the genius of karma and an in your face set by Grandpa EGG. Also had a cool set by Sleeping Friends, who I believe did some Talking Heads favorites. The show also saw Nuclear Spring reunite to take the “stage” briefly, which was very exciting but the police were called, or at least someone in police clothing. I’ve always been afraid of getting a noise ticket, but I thought our neighbors were championing us too much to phone the fuzz. Guess too many cocktails sent flying? O YA and OL SMOKEY RAWKED MY ASS. THATS ALL

And Saturday night at Daddyville, which I’ll go on record to say it would be Rodney King member/(21st?)bday boy Max Wang christened, “because it’s where the dames come to find themselves a daddy!” I rocked with my new band Black Moon, along with Blake on guitar playin some brand new songs for folks. Our keyboardist pal Brian mustve cheated his way into playin’ effervescent jazz rumpet, which he’s one of thee best at, for that set I think. Here’s to lovin you in hopes that it wont end in heartbreak, Barber St.! It’s shows like this that make me glad to live in this neighborhood. All you lipstick killers out there rocked along to some solid Beach Boys and Ramones hits like Cant Make It On Time. Proven again, Blake was able to hang solid enough among the epitome of transmutated punk singers at Daddyville. I remember the last band to play was Bubbly Mommy Gun, where Greg brought a church organ in to boogie down for everyone from small stuffed horses and dogs to geese and roosters. I don’t know when it’s gonna be released, but I believe they have an interesting album out soon as well with some of their best stuff to date.  Koko Beware were pretty sharp, and unruly. Also there was Street Violence, which was kinda like PINK FLAG, then I think I scrammed downtown to the Grill. I was definitely left wound up and wounded! You’ll have to excuse this review being abrupt…

Tibbetts St. had it all on Sunday including blowin’ up fireword on the tracks, which is a solid way to kick the year off around here! I don’t remember a whole lot from this show besides that it was at Wyatt’s pad at the top of the mountain, the makings of an all out classic. Wyatt was a cool cat, and in addition to hosting the show, he’s hooking it up with another radio performance on WUOG on Feb. 2! I’m  not sure who all the bands were this night, but it wasn’t funk! Tumblers rocked the house sometime after midnight and you probably caught me wearin a pink suit! Hmm…I guess we shared the bill with TSU KALU, who alot of folks were speakin about. I just remember not catchin alot because I got so cold and had to roll home for a spell.

The secret after party show brings us to our current state of rock. In doing this fest up for a few nights The Humms were feelin inspired as a gorilla rose. After a raw 2011 for us, the Sayer child prodigy returns riffier than ever, with very inspiring lyrics about death. The HUMMS have other guests join us time to time, but it’s always a pleasure to bop with Dave on bass. In addition, we had Matt up there makin’ it a special 4 piece appearance. I believe ya’ll decided to warm things up with the Death Mornin Blues, a lovely reminder of the father, son, n holy ghost. The Shoal Creek singer has still got a tripped out sound. We revisited a soul predator spirit with The Daze. Folks seemed to be feelin it that night, and I know my zen boozy friends love shows where they get to see a whole lotta go go boots.

It’s hard to believe this ungodly weekend has snowballed into tonight. We never looked back and each supergroup gave it 102%. The rocket love story known as Gypsy Farm Fest took off to the cosmos and landed successfully with some new rock n roll music. WOW There were some awful personality crises included no doubt. I’m glad it dawned on me that this is what people needed because it was most compelling indeed. It was awfully sweet of ya’ll to  come out and now I must receive treatment to recover from all the drinkin’.  And if I don’t make it through to do this again someday, let these magic words read as my wicked epitaph.

Do you find it essential to dance again sometime? Are you curious about the initial batch of releases through GFR? Do you want to know where you can buy your lover the brand new HUMMS/ICE CREAMS split 7″? Will a singular Hummsestra play the record live across 3 southern booboo barns someday soon? We dont have all the answers yet, but me, Zeke, and the other Farmerz might just want some other star circus grassmen to get involved in the action. AHH Got a feelin our first  year will change us forever!

Meanwhile, Keep on doin’ the BOOM BOOM n stay tuned out to GYPSYFARM.NET, and get on mailing list for reminders of upcoming releases like there never was before! We will never stop until our raven friends are the 2012 champeeeeooonnnzzz!

Thank you again, and now I must lean back and close my eyes from this light…I think I shall take the backroad in time to the 13th…also gotta wait til I drop a white tin teardrop for the masterpiece …
O good! I command you all to get the outtakes of Trout Mask Replica RIP Captain Beefheart is revelatory!