Well...it's been much longer than I thought it would take me to post a blog about my experience at the City Skies Electronic Music Festival in Atlanta, but better late than never, so here goes...
First of all, I have to say how much fun it was to be there. Kavarna is a lovely smoke free venue, open to all ages, with a good menu and nice beer and wine choices. The audience was friendly, attentive, and they came to listen...what a treat! It was nice to meet and talk with folks after the set. I made new friends, got to catch up with some dear old friends, and even met new-age space music celeb, Jonn Serrie!
Set-up was laid-back and humorous as the performers maneuvered to set-up five stage rigs around the relatively tiny stage. Since there would not be enough time between sets to set-up and tear down, the solution was a subtractive kind of thing, where we took off gear gradually as each set passed. It was a tight fit...at one point during soundcheck, we found ourselves having to crawl underneath keyboards and such in order to make our way off stage. It was a team-building activity filled with laughter, camaraderie, and vague memories of “Twister”!
The sound system, with Jim Combs behind the board, was top notch. Jim is not only an amazing composer, musician, producer, and promoter, but also the founding father of CitySkies. His patient and efficient trouble-shooting skills at sound-check were most appreciated and impressive.
As well, we greatly enjoyed the video app (G-Force for Mac) which was employed to project a continuously changing light show in response to any music or sounds that it detected. (I have some great pics to prove it!).
Most importantly though, getting to hear the other musicians and meet and chat with them afterwards was simply wonderful! I recommend it highly. Connecting in real life after being online friends is so much more...hmm...what's that word...real?!
My set was well received, and despite certain aspects of it (“should have” practiced more on the talking points, a dead air spot or two...ouch!, and the infamous “Oh No!” segment (double ouch!) I was thrilled to have been there. It was live, AND alive with happy "accidents". What a magical evening!
So...this is my small take on CitySkies '09. Can you tell I enjoyed it?
To listen to the unedited 45 minute set click here: http://www.cityskies.com/mp3s/May09/KathyRaimey090508mix.mp3
