Playing an outdoor festival in McMinnville in the shadow of Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" on a Labor Day weekend. That line sounds like a song idea. But since the band hasn't written any original songs yet, we'll just file that away for later.
Beadhead at noon at a wine festival. That's a time when the caffeine is starting to wear off and the prospect of sampling a local pinot noir is starting to tempt the senses of the adventurous wine taster. So to inspire them, we pumped a steady stream of margarita tinged, bourbon influenced, beer soaked tropical rock/zydeco tunes. We were the wine crews' twelve-noon wake up call. They had been at it for three days. This outdoor gig in the trees was the "Woodstock" of wine aficionados in Yamhill county. Beadhead was one of about ten bands that performed throughout the weekend. It took a while to get the crowds' motor running, but as we finished our one hour set there were lots of toe-tapping, chardonnay-clutching smiling faces. Brian Walker shot some video so we may have our own "Spruced Goosed" documentary of the show on line in the near future.
As we were clearing our gear off the stage making way for the next band "Reggie Houston's Box of Chocolates", Reggie Houston told me he really enjoyed our "Zydeco Boogaloo". It reminded him of the music of his home town, New Orleans. I asked him if he had ever heard of Terrance Simien, the song's author and the inspiration for the band and the name "Beadhead". Reggie answered, "Yeah, I played on some of Terrance's recordings." He had also played with The Neville Bros. and Peter Gabriel--to name just a few. Small world. Big talent in McMinnville.
Special thanks to Beadhead fan, Jane Tan for turning us on to this gig and to Lynda Wiegan, events coordinator at the Evergreen Aviation Museum for treating us like V.I.P.s.
We hope to return next year--maybe play a time slot closer to "Happy Hour". Whatever time, we had a good time.
