Today we ventured into "the Valley" (as Californians call it) for a performance at Encino's Folk Music Festival! Bryan, Maz, Yuri, Liz, Andrew, and myself were attendance and with high spirits as we were prepared to play a somewhat longer set than we had lately been playing.
We arrived amidst the hustle and bustle of a booming festival, complete with jester-like entertainers and line-dancing. There was even a standing taiko that anyone was free to jam on!
After dropping off our fearless navigator, Maz, to find the unloading entrance for performers, we finally circled around the block and found the correct entrance. Unloading was a breeze, as the cheery staff was eager to help. As we got to the stage and started to lay out our equipment, the Polynesian Paradise group of Tahitian dancers were getting ready to perform. We were really feeling their groovy beats, and we could tell by the hip-shaking shuffle of some of the audience members, that they were too. After the Tahitian dancers cleared off, it was our time.
We set up on what was a surprisingly small stage, and crossed our fingers that we would not hit the awning directly over our heads, or each other. The set went pretty well and based on the positive feedback we received afterward, we could tell many of the Long Beach patrons in attendance were intrigued by the announcement that we were moving to Long Beach soon (if you haven't already checked out the promo video below, be sure to do so!). Like I said earlier, we played a longer set than usual - about 7(?) songs - so we were thoroughly juiced by the end of it.
The entire volunteer staff at the festival was very welcoming, encouraging, and extremely helpful! They made the unloading and loading process very easy, which was good since we were all pretty tired!
As we finished packing up our gear, we knew that while our stay at the gathering was over for the day, the festival would go on......for about another 2 hours.
And with that, I leave you with some pictures from the festival in 2003 (b/c we didn't bring a camera)
Yay Encino Folk Music Festival!
-Kevin
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