Ryan Loredo
A&E Editor
Townspeople and outsiders alike all came together for a music event spanning many genres; along with listening to music, some had charity in mind. Brattstock, a Vt. area event for the charity program Project Feed the Thousands, held its fourth annual concert in the town commons on Saturday, Oct. 8. People who came found comfort in the shade or the sun for the five-hour event in which six bands took the stage, supporting themselves and their fellow performers as local artists.
Brattstock is a non-profit charity concert supporting local artists and Project Feed the Thousands, the largest food drive association in Southern Vt. Lisa McCormick, one of the original founders of Brattstock and current vice president of the event, said, “Brattstock started four years ago just out of the desire of the people who put it together were local musicians and we were really proud of the Brattleboro music scene and we invited a lot of local musicians to come play,” she said. “It’s a benefit for Project Feed the Thousands which fills the food shelf and so it’s become a really important event as well on an annual basis.”
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Boxes were set up on the two corners of the entrance way of the gazebo serving as the stage for the concert. The boxes were for canned foods and money donations to Project Feed the Thousands. After general introductions were given the first band, Flabberghaster, took the stage and began to play its original music. With guitar effects such as Wah-Wah and Flanger, the scene quickly had people behaving in a counterculture fashion. People moved and grooved with the energy the band provided and with the energy of its main guitarist the band quickly gained new fans and followers. The attendees gathered around the gazebo to cheer on the band; at one point the band had people clap in rhythm to the smooth bassline of their bassist Elliot New.
Guitarist, and possibly the most energetic member of the band, Tucker Corry, commented on the band’s performance, “I thought it went great. I mean we couldn’t ask for better weather.”
He also talked about why Brattstock was important to the community, “Everyone is going through a hard time right now. People need food, people need something to do on a Saturday, from all angles it’s just a great thing. It brings people together and it’s for a good cause.” After Flabberghaster departed the stage people went around, checking out the local vendors.
This was the first year vendors sold their goods during the Brattstock event. The reason for this, according to McCormick was “because in the past if you forgot to bring your own picnic or something like that you were kind of going hungry. So, we wanted people to be comfortable spending the day having other things to do.” One vendor who sold his items close to the stage and provided entertainment other than music was hula-hoop salesperson for Keene Hoops Mathew Coleman.
“This is feel free to learn how to hula-hoop. I have hula-hoops for your using, if you want to decorate, customizing, sizing, weighting, color options right at the spot. “ After set-up was complete the second band took the stage, Smiley Bob Inc. Their music was a mellower blend of sounds but they still had a groovy rock attitude exuded in their style. Their inspiration, according to front man Dave Roundtree, is “life, trees, water, rivers mainly, and rocks.” He went on to talk about why his band played at Brattstock, “If you’re standing here you’d be looking around at the beautiful autumn foliage and the lawn and the happy people hanging and the amazing music. It’s just a great day to play music.”
After Smiley Bob Inc. left the stage the next performer, Peter Siegel, continued Brattstock in a more philosophical direction.
His music was less effects-heavy and more about his message about what is going on in our world currently in the media. Peter Siegel had one song that was controversial; he commented on the song’s inspiration, “Everything that’s going on in the world right now and what’s going on down in Wall Street and in Brattleboro right now with people in their twenties participating and saying what needs to be said.”
During several band performances acrobats were on the side of the venue performing tricks and feats of strength and flexibility.
Some were on stilts while some used foreign props to entertain those listening to music. The group was from the intensive program of the New England Center for Circus Arts. One member using a Chinese diablo christy taft described her act and said, “This is called a Diablo, it’s a Chinese form of juggling, it’s two sticks, a string and a gyroscope, and in ancient times it was once used to kill pigeons but now a more innocent use is just juggling.”
The fourth band to play was a more reggae style group called Mo Ambesa. Their music was much more relaxing to the point where some people lost track of time and just listened to song after song of reggae. Tenor sax along with certain bass lines accompanied each other to produce more of a jazz feel to the reggae sound.
“Life and trying to make a positive change in how we are as humans and how we treat this world,” was the inspiration for the band according to drummer and vocalist Ben Carr.
After Mo Ambesa left the gazebo stage the next performer to take it was founder Lisa McCormick. McCormick played several mellow ballads on her guitar and invited a guest singer from the next band scheduled to perform. Her acoustic guitar, along with her soft sounding vocals, provided great entertainment and brought people from the audience to dance and even hula-hoop to her music.
The final band after McCormick was the largest band of the show. With a world genre and several foreign exotic instruments, the band Fenibo was possibly the best band to end Brattstock. With the band’s high energy it ended the five-hour music event with songs fueled with happiness and excitement. One performer, Linda Simoneaux, described her instrument, the Shaker Egg, saying, “It’s a gourd and it has a net on the outside of it, this one has glass beads but sometimes they’re plastic or seeds. It’s an African instrument but it’s also a Cuban instrument; you find it in a lot of different cultures.” The front man of Fenibo was a man named Fenibo, which means “Born on a Happy Day” according to the vocalist. “We love Brattleboro, we want to support Brattleboro. We love everything that Brattstock stands for,” said Fenibo, commenting on his band’s performance. “The original idea for the band was a vehicle for dance music and celebration but also enough of thinking that was not too intellectual but just enough to let you know it’s not a party, this ain’t no disco. We are dancing with celebration but we are also well aware there are serious issues affecting us all as well.”
The end of Brattstock IV was one celebrated for the great entertainment it provided. McCormick commented on the growth of Brattstock, “It’s really taken off on a life of its own. The first one was good but small and this has become a community event that everybody can’t wait to come out to and it’s grown a lot and won’t go away.”
Ryan Loredo can be contacted at rloredo@keene-equinox.com