Day 2 - Friday, July 7

I woke up Friday morning with a bad headache and decided to take some pills and sleep it off. I missed all the day shows but ended up being there for evening shows.

By the time I arrived after 5 P.M., there were slim pickings for places to sit on the left side of the stage, but I found a spot. I left my chair and bag full of water and snacks to buy some music. I walked back to the car to put the discs in the trunk and by the time I arrived at my chair, there were people tucked in tightly around me. They were uncomfortably close. I sat there for a few minutes and decided to leave for the back, far away from the stage.

I found a spot with some shade and decided to hang out there while keeping an eye on the Firefly Palace tent that housed the "alternative" folk festival. At 10:45 that night, the celebrated slo-core group Low was scheduled to play and I wanted to get a good spot to see them. Although that was more than two hours away, I kept on seeing people walking towards the Firefly Palace tent and sitting out, waiting. I decided to head to the tent to see what was up.

They had DJ Brace playing with some people up and dancing. After he left, That One Guy took the stage. He's a performer from San Francisco who created his own instrument called the Magic Pipe, which looks like this:

That One Guy (Mike Silverman) at Firefly Palace

"All down the length of the pipe are sensors that release drum-and-bass samples when Silverman plucks out everything from rock solos to jazz basslines. While beat-boxing. By strumming, plucking, slapping and looping his pipe, Silverman creates a multilayered soundscape, complemented by his electrified cowboy boots and drum machines."

He was mesmerizing. He created interesting beats and soundscapes and received the most applause when the music suddenly turned on a dime and became techno. There was also a ton of applause when he managed to play Black Sabbath's Iron Man. At one point he plugged a cable into one of his cowboy boots and began to play it like a mini-washboard.

I have never seen anything quite like this performer. I decided not to buy the CD, though, because the real magic is in watching him make the music, rather than the music itself. People were definitely bopping away to his tunes. The video playing on the screen was a highly creative and funny assembly of clips from films and television shows, especially the Hilarious House of Frightenstein. The crowd loved it, especially when the music synched up accidentally but appropriately with the video.

Two Hours of Traffic followed, playing with a screen showing video footage shot by local artist Danishka Esterhazy. They were a fun power-pop band from PEI. Their new material, which comes out in the fall, was especially good. These guys could be as big as...The Barenaked Ladies, or any number of Canadian bands, if only they had enough exposure through the radio and TV. Just like for That One Guy, it was interesting to watch crowds of people wade their way in as the music drew louder and louder applause.