Bear Creek Music & Art Festival | The Overture 2013

Apparently, I do not understand much about physics.  I was certain I would read today’s paper, confirming my suspicion that the earth had indeed swung off its axis and was hurtling toward the sun.  How could that NOT happen when 99.99% of all the funk in the world was concentrated in just one 500-acre park in north Florida the past four days?

The Bear Creek Music Festival just wrapped up four days of the most incredibly, astoundingly, amazingly delicious funk, R&B, jazz, rock, disco and you-name-it.  The music just cascaded over everyone in the park in unseasonably warm weather (given the past three years).  Every concert-goer has his or her own concert experience, of course, and with a festival of this ambition, with 63 acts (some played two different days) plus a dozen silent disco performers, the experiences are even more diverse.

But I plan to give you my take on the four days.  There is so much to say, I plan to split my ravings into four posts, one per day.  YOU CAN ALWAYS DELETE!

But I will get this piece out of the way right now.  My least favorite act was the Roots.  Set your flame-throwers to “IMMOLATE.”  Their music was great; I, 62 years into the experience, am just not a hip-hop fan.  That’s on me, not the music.  That aside, I have never heard so many outstanding performances.  I plan to fill up my hard drive with shows.

See you tomorrow.

BEAR CREEK 2013, some explanation (Part 2)

For those who may not know, the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, (off I-10 just west of I-75) is heaven.  It is heaven to music-lovers of all ilks.  They have numerous events throughout the year, with camping and vending and MUSIC!  There are country shows, bluegrass and Americana roots events, the Allman Brothers’ Wanee Festival, the new (and future?) Hulaween with String Cheese Incident, numerous Frisbee disk golf jams, the AURA jamtronica blowout, and Bear Creek, AKA, the funk fest.

This marked the 7th Bear Creek Festival, plus three previous Down on the Farm events in Quincy, so we’re counting this one as #10.  Every year I attend (this was my fifth BC), I leave thinking that Paul Levine and his magicians simply cannot pull an even better rabbit out of the hat the following year.

And every year I am wrong.

This was epic.  It was non-stop, and when you were certain that the music could not possibly take you any higher, it did.  Over and over again.  I’m not a surfer (well, not THAT kind, anyway), but I imagined catching a monster wave that simply kept growing beyond all comprehension.

Four other items before I slam into the Thursday line-up.  I am, usually, very social by nature.  I know that most Bear Creekers really enjoy time at the campsite, chatting, singing, imbibing, and appreciating each other’s company.  But at Bear Creek I am so focussed on the music that I did not make much time for the many brothers and sisters we contact regularly through various social media.  My sincere apologies (but I did look – in vain – for the red VW and Shortcut camp).  I lucked into Home Team several times, fortunately.

I obviously enjoy writing about this stuff, and about soccer, and about the Birmingham Airport, but you can always check your e-mail or Facecrack or whatevs and say, “Oh, not another Hopkins post!  DELETE!”

Having said that, let me express my sincere thanks to Mike Coe and Trevor McDannell for encouraging me to write MORE!  Those remarks were extremely kind.  And don’t blame them.  I would do this anyway, but it’s great to do it with encouragement!

Finally, if Paul Levine runs for KING, I’m volunteering for his campaign committee.  That is all (for the moment).