Saturday's greatest miracle was that it didn't rain. Minor miracles included throwing Caribbean rock, blues, country and dance music into the same lineup and having it work or drawing a decent-sized crowd of both community members and college students to downtown Bloomington to watch. But, according to HoosierFest music booker Dave Kubiak, his greatest relief was when the sky lightened at about 3 p.m.\nHoosierFest attendees roamed freely within the orange mesh fencing surrounding Kirkwood Avenue to the sound of music, grabbing some "Un-Naked" popcorn or getting a henna tattoo. Hoosierfest opened with local pure country band Crooked County, who took the stage on Kirkwood in all of its makeshift splendor. The Dynamics followed. \nNext, Bahama Llama tossed it's hula skirt to the wind and gave a rousing Caribbean rock performance with Bloomington High School South Assistant Principal Eric Ban bearing his funky soul through a blue Hawaiian shirt. Sophomore Heidi Marshall also shook the world with her thick, potent voice. \nThe Llamas, after making at least one Llama-flavored remark, put together a solid set of original music and a couple of covers. The sun-loving group did pull off a great rendition of Rusted Root's "Send Me on My Way," interestingly filling the missing flute parts with J. Wesley Smith on keys. The rhythm section of Jeff Heapback on bass and Ed Gaus on drums (Marshall added auxiliary percussion) held together the feel good dance beat. After the set, Ban was mobbed by several young children, no doubt in response to the music's Llamarificness. \nHattiesburg, Mississippi's King Konga took the stage next with a mellow rock sound fueled by rhythm -- especially that of percussionist Tony Lymon. With an electric xylophone of some sort, he wielded four mallets mercilessly yet delicately, pushing his sound through with the swaying of his shoulders. Lymon and set drummer Skeeto Valdez went on to perform one very enlivening drum solo that made the band percussion personified. With Dan Hannon on vocals and guitar and Steve Cook on bass, King Konga's set swung through with a steady climb in momentum.\nUndoubtedly baring the most soul of the evening was Robert Bradley of Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise -- a funky blues type outfit hailing out of Detroit. One fan, bobbing up and down the entire show while hanging over the gate in front of the stage, said it all: "You guys are AWESOME, man!!" Said fan proceeded to repeat the same phrase over again 20 times, while hopping around for autographs backstage after the show. His enthusiasm was catching and convincing. With much the same enthusiastic attitude onstage and Bradley's soul to the world songwriting, the Blackwater Surprise threw down an awesome performance before leaving to continue 15 days of touring. \nEnding the evening was DJ Logic and Project Logic, who also stopped by at the Bluebird early this past June. With a pulsating energy driving Stephen Roberson to rabbit skip over his drumheads, rhythm was key to Logic and the Project's performance. Sporadic dancing was going on everywhere, and the band tossed beats and melodies down Kirkwood that fused to create a fast paced entrancement. Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" and Medeski Martin and Wood's "Bubblehouse" were perfect additions to the group's intense original work.\nHoosierFest did what Kubiak said he wanted it to do -- bring together many different music styles successfully. \nThe rain missed a great show.\n
For more information, visit the following sites:
Crooked County official site
King Konga official site
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise official site
Bahama Llama official site
