The 5000 Strings of the Sun Festival
St. Lawrence Church in Portland, ME 8-15-03

Finally, the summer show I've been looking forward to...the "5000 Strings of the Sun" Festival in Portland, Maine Sunday August 17th, 2003, put on by the good folks (or is it just folk?) over at Time Lag Records. The show was to take place at the St. Lawrence Church in Portland, a cool place with great sound (and Guinness's in the fridge!). The lineup looked interesting, with some of the best underground psychedelic bands playing from 4PM until Midnight. Well, went a little longer than that actually, but a SUPER time! An extremely friendly crowd, and the bands were all very down to earth and cool. I went with two friends who were not necessarily into the more extreme psychedelic type music, and even they had a wonderful time.

The pictures were taken with my cheapo digital camera, so some are pretty clear (i.e. the ones where I stopped being lazy and got down front for pix), and some are a bit abstract. But, that's kind of how the whole experience was, so what the heck!
 

First band of the night was Portland's own "Friars of the Atonement ". They put on a very interesting set...pure improvisation that was very out there. As usual with improvisation, most probably doesn't work, but the stuff that does is incredible, and they hit some very fine mental ceilings. A fun set that sort of scared the two friends who came with me! They were very adventurous, and reminded me of some of the improv bands I used to watch in DC back in the 80's like "New Carrollton" (I know, seriously obscure!). The last third of the set was coming right from the stratosphere...

Dredd Foole

Next up (I think!) was Dredd Foole, who played solo for awhile and then had MV & EE of the MV & EE Medicine Show join him on stage for the last couple of pieces. Good set that was the closest to traditional folk (albeit very different lyrics) of the night. I enjoyed his set very much, especially when MV & EE joined him and weirded things up a bit.
 

Double Leopards

I was unfamiliar with the last band before the break,  the "Double Leopards". I REALLY enjoyed their set...once again, very improv sounding, with the members creating some extreme sounds out of their noisemakers. When improv works, there's nothing like it, and this band really left the planet during their set!  The guitar player had her guitar lying on the floor and was just yanking the sounds out of it...same for the keyboard (??) player. The singer had her voice going through an interesting effects box, and there was also a bass player...they created a very heavy psychedelic sound that I dug very much...A great set, that my friends also enjoyed (with one of my friends telling me she thought that the whole set had an intense sexual vibe to it...I kind of missed that, but then I guess we all get what we want out of a nice wall of sound!). I ended up getting their new album and a CDR from the band, so check out future episodes of Perky Pat Radio to hear the Double Leopards!
 

Then, a well timed dinner break...we took off and went down to the old port, and ended up getting stout & munchies at the Sebago Brewing Company. Yum! Miss not having a real brew pub up in Waterville where I live.

The Ponys (Acoustic)

OK, munchies have been attacked...now back to the show, where Portland's own "Ponys" were just starting up. I had seen them just two weeks ago at the ST37 show, but this time they were playing 'acoustic' (sort of). A solid and spacey set, that went over great with the crowd (Personally, I think the more acoustic sound works better for their music...at least for me!). My friends thought the "Pony's" were the best of the night. 

Espers

Next, were a truly wonderful band, "Espers". Three string players played a beautiful acoustic set, with Greg Weeks adding bizarre sounds and vocals, and a percussionist hitting some exotic sound makers. They created a hypnotizing sound that tranced my little group out a lot. All of us enjoyed their psychedelic folk sounds ...I was disappointed they didn't have any CD's or (preferred!!) records for sale, but I was informed they have something coming out in January (probably on Time-Lag). Trance-folk...a new genre? I hope so!!!

MV & EE Medicine Show w/Willie Lane

The MV & EE Medicine Show with Maine's own Willie Lane were next. The only word I can use to describe this set is 'cracked'. Very trippy folk music with otherworldly sounds going on, and the sound feeling like it's going to completely fall apart at any moment, but it doesn't, and keeps getting weirder. Holy cow! I had seen MV & EE a few months ago in Portland, but this show was much further out there...Willie Lane added some very acidic blues sounds to the proceedings...Reminded me (almost) of the more cracked Holy Modal Rounders stuff (and I hope that's a complement...it was meant that way!!!). I think my friends were a bit weirded out by this set, ( the band was exploring mental sounds that were pretty frightening to contemplate!) but I loved it!
 

Fursaxa

Finally (for me) was the wonderful "Fursaxa". I saw her here at the St. Lawrence Church back in April, and she completely blew me away, and she certainly didn't disappoint this show! Her first piece was a delay laden Native American-trance track that was amazing...she
kept layering sounds upon sounds until this incredible trance groove was working...absolutely transcendent! "Fursaxa" then did some guitar, vocal pieces that were so beautiful...our little group were all very happy campers...she then ended up with one more trance piece that finished my night off nicely. What a spectacular way to end the evening! (There was a final group that just plain started too late for me...show was supposed to be over at midnight and " Fursaxa" got over at 1AM, so with a 90 minute drive ahead, that was it for us!).

So, a very mentally crunchy, but FUN FUN show!!! Special thanks to Nemo of Time-Lag Records for going through what I am sure is a lot of hell to put something like this on...All of the bands were very cool to talk to (no egos that I saw!), and the vibes were just plain excellent all evening. Thanks to all the bands for playing some exciting sounds that will be with me for a long time!!!

Originally Published 08-18-03