Hillside 2011

To my elders,

Hillside. A Folk Festival. Full of Hippies and vegetarian food and camping (which I hate. Like hate. but deal with for Hillside) and volunteering and using porta potties, and did I mention the camping? in a acre square with over a THOUSAND other volunteers? Yup. Its that kind of festival. And Its The Hillside Way.

Hillside volunteering started, for me, as a way of going for the weekend after the passes were sold out because my friend and I were, well, semi-stalking The Acorn. aka went to every show within driving distance. For like, a year. So when they announced they were playing Hillside, what did we do? Volunteer. For a festival neither of us had been to, on an island in a town over an hour away from where we lived. But then we went and it frickin rocked, and we went back. 2 more times together, bringing another of our friends with us, and then, this year, when both friends were on different continents, I dragged E with me. And when I say dragged, I mean it went something like:

me: hey E, wanna come to Hillside with me? my friends ar-

E: Heck Yes. Iwill double check with work. But Definitely.

I had a lot of convincing to do, obviously. O.o

And about an hour into our first day volunteering E decided to come back next year with me. And my friends. Because we need to find out if our 6 person tent can actually fit 6 people.

Hillside is always an interesting festival. The band line ups and weird and random and Amazing, and somehow they are like a haven for the random. Hence Graveyard Train. (hehe horror-country) I once went to a workshop with Owen Pallett (back when he was in his last summer of going by Final Fantasy), some random blue grass band and Buffy St. Marie. And Owen Pallett covered a Buffy St. Marie song from the 70s and she sang the backup on her own song. Craziness.

But workshops were apparently the theme of the weekend. And OMG they were particularly good this year. Like, jamming together smoothly and bands who had never heard or heard of one another, discovering it along with the audience with many a "uh... this song is in G. So, ya, play... you know, whatever you can." Or in the Karkwa-Graveyard Train spirit "Its just G, A, and D for most of the song..." "Its ok, we'll pick it up, just play." Which sounds rude written down, but was actually said in a very "Don't worry dude, it will be Epic" sort of way. And it was.

And I think E said everything that needs to be said about Graveyard Train. But I want to add that they are a Man Band. (read: must be said in a falsely low voice while making a clenched fist to emphasize the point)

Relive our experience via the surprisingly good quality videos taken by E's camera. Yes, there is one where you can hear E say "This is Awesome!"

-K