Mountain Jam 2010

Mountain Jam Festival VI
Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge
Catskills, NY
Google map
Festival schedule

After our successful adventure to last year's Mountain Jam V, Steve and I were pumped to see what Warren had in store for 2010. The line-up this year was looking stellar. Aside from the usual two nights of Gov't Mule (as if six hours of Warren jamming with occasional guests wasn't enough) the highlights for me were the Drive-By Truckers, Derek Trucks, Grace Potter, Les Claypool, Michael Franti, Lettuce, Jackie Greene, Jay Farrar (Son Volt) and of course the grand finale birthday special with Levon Helm et al. including Donald Fagen and Steve Earle.

Once again knowing sleep would not come easy, we hit road early Thursday evening and heading due south for the Catskills via our favorite Walmart sleepover stop in Cobleskill, NY.



Joining us on the mountain this year was our old high school buddy Glenn (Eskimo). While Steve and I were leisurely driving down from Ottawa, Glenn was flying from London, England crossing British Airways' picket lines and holding his breath through the deadly volcanic ash. Despite the obstacles Glenn arrived right on time and only managed to miss the setting up of the tent in our VIP camping area.

And then the music started...


Equally entertaining as the musicians on stages are the folks that gather around the mountain side and camp out in the hills. Here's just a small flavor...





As per usual Warren Haynes shared the stage with many of the other artists performing at Hunter Mountain - Grace Potter, Les Claypool, Derek Trucks, Patterson Hood, Ray LaMontagne, Jackie Greene, Dave Mason, Matisyahu, Lettuce, and of course the grand finale with Levon Helm and all his special guests (Steve Earle, Donald Fagen, Allison Moorer, and Sam Bush). A right musical marathon guitar god, Warren is one of a kind.

Of note, Grace Potter was a definite highlight of the weekend. The icing on the cake was when she stepped up to join Gov't Mule on Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman". Grace and Warren belted out an incredibly soulful version of a Stevie Nicks classic. Grace's sensuality was pouring over the edge of the stage. Warren's... um, not so much. Here's a youtube clip from the 2008 Jammys - good but not nearly as perfected as it was that night on Hunter Mountain.





A three hour birthday party for Levon Helm wrapped up the weekend. Levon was in top form playing drums and occasionally singing lead vocals on what was mainly a long list of classic songs from The Band. He as all smiles and showed his appreciation at the end of each song to each and every person that dropped by to pay their respects.

Here's a tidbit for you - Levon grew up on an Arkansas cotton farm in a tiny hamlet called Turkey Scratch. Seriously.

Anyhow the weekend was another huge success all around. Great weather, great company, and a great selection of bands. Again VIP was the way to go. Hands down. And the slight adjustments and tweaks to the VIP package did not go unnoticed. Awesome job guys.

Finally a massive thank you Warren and Gov't Mule.
Left to right... Warren Haynes, Matt Abts, Jorgen Carlsson, Danny Louis.

MTN Jam boots

GOV'T MULE: Warren Haynes, MULE with John Medeski, Mule with Karl Denson
It doesn't take long before the tapers throw up their shows for the world to download. Here are the GOV'T MULE shows from Friday and Saturday nights - a total of 6 hours of music. Enjoy.

Gov't Mule May 29, 2009 Mountain Jam V Hunter Mountain Ski Area Hunter, NY Official May 29, 2009 recording available for purchase from mule.net. Or the free bittorrent taped/transfered by Rob Clarke available here. disc 1 (set 1): 01. Kind Of Bird 02. Game Face 03. I Believe To My Soul 04. Banks Of The Deep End 05. I Think You Know What I Mean> 06. When The Levee Breaks> 07. I Think You Know What I Mean 08. Slackjaw Jezebel 09. Thorazine Shuffle disc 2 (set 2): 01. Lucky 02. Trane>3rd Stone Jam>Eternity's Breath Jam> 03. St. Stephen Jam> 04. Larger Than Life> 05. If 6 Were 9> 06. Larger Than Life> 07. Empty Pages> 08. Drums> 09. Drums/Bass >3rd Stone Jam * disc 3 (set 2 cont>): 01. Brighter Days> 02. Like Flies 03. Mule>Who Do You Love>Superstitious>Mule 04. crowd/tuning 05. Cortez The Killer # * w/George Porter Jr. # w/Josh and Clark from Tea Leaf Green

Gov't Mule May 30, 2009 Mountain Jam V Hunter Mountain Ski Area Hunter, NY Official May 30, 2009 recording available for purchase from mule.net. Or the free bittorrent taped/transfered by Rob Clarke available here. disc 1 (set 1): 01. Bad Little Doggie > 02. Brand New Angel 03. About To Rage > 04. Streamline Woman 05. When Doves Cry >Beautifully Broken >WDC >BB 06. Patchwork Quilt 07. Have Mercy On The Criminal 08. Scomule * 09. Goin' Out West > 10. Bang A Gong > 11. Goin' Out West disc 2 (set 2): 01. Morning Dew 02. When The Music's Over 03. All Along The Watchtower > # 04. Devil Likes It Slow > # disc 3 (set 2 cont.): 01. Drum Solo > 02. I'm A Ram > 03. Blindman In The Dark > # & 04. crowd/Warren Banter 05. Long As I Can See The Light * With John Medeski On Keyboard # With Karl Denson On Saxaphone & contains Ain't No Sunshine, Whole Lotta Love teases

Other Mountain Jam V recordings available for download...
Umphrey's McGee
Gomez
The Derek Trucks Band
Jackie Greene
Tea Leaf Green
...and many more

Cheers to all the bootleggers and tapers out there! Living way up here in Canada these boots are often the closest we can get to "being" there.

Mountain Jam Festival V

Mountain Jam Festival V
Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge
Catskills, NY
Google map
Festival schedule

This year my buddy Steve and I decided to check out a spring time music festival. Our options were, Summer Camp, Bonnaroo, or Mountain Jam, and after looking at locations and line-ups we settled on Mountain Jam hands down. Located only 6 1/2 hours from Ottawa in the heart of the Catskills it was by far the nearest to home and with the addition of a 3rd night of music to help celebrate The Allman Brothers Band 40th anniversary it was a done deal.

Included in this year's 30 band line-up for Mountain Jam was Umphrey's McGee, The Derek Trucks Band, Gomez, Gene Ween Band, Tea Leaf Green, Richie Havens, John Medeski, Marco Benevento Trio, Alberta Cross, and Michael Franti & Spearhead. And of course the hosts of the event, Gov't Mule, would be playing two shows at 3 hours a night.

Our trip started Thursday night as we figured we'd be too pumped to sleep a few hours as originally planned. We wolfed down a couple of slices of Panormous pizza with my family and then packed up and left. By 7:30 we'd crossed the border and were greeted by a slow moving beaver as it made its way across the highway. (And I thought all beavers were Canadian, eh.)

We made it as far as Utica before deciding to jump off the toll road and catch the end of the band opening up the Saranac Thursday concert series. As luck would have it though the gig had just ended so we stretched legs while I had a pint with the local university kids. Back on the road we took a more direct route to our evening's destination - the Cobleskill Wal-Mart Superstore. Yep, you heard right. Tonight we would be sleeping in the glow of a Wal-Mart parking lot.

The next morning we were rested (but still pumped) as we loaded up with food and beverages before driving the last hour to Hunter, NY. The sun was out (it poured on and off our entire trip so far) and the scenery was breathtaking. Welcome to the Catskills.

Zoom zoom zoom we were through the gates to the Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge and parking up in our VIP section. Ahhh, VIP. Our decision to purchase VIP tickets was definitely the right call (cheers to Mic on that one). We had prime parking, an excellent camping area, VIP only showers, loads of free food, cheap beer, our own lounge area on the concert hillside, and best of all our own front row center stage viewing area. Sweet.

Though we'd both packed for rain, the weekend weather proved to be stupendous - sunny and warm during the day and cool at nights. Overall the event itself was extremely well set up. Security was present at all times (including some troopers), people were happy and friendly, plenty of food options, and the location was... well in the Catskills. All that said, I've only ever been to one other weekend music festival, moe.down, and in comparison moe.down was definitely more rustic. Add showers and flush toilets and any camping festival scene starts to feel like a 5-star.

Here are a few of the photos from Mountain Jam.

[Left to Right: Alberta Cross, Porter, Baptiste, Stoltz, Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule), Gomez, The Gene Ween Band, Richie Havens, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Derek Trucks, Gregg Allman, Umphrey's McGee, Jake Cinninger and Warren Haynes, The Allman Brothers Band (Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks), Haynes and Trucks, Warren Haynes]



The last photo deserves a short story... Friday night between Gov't Mule sets Steve and I got separated. Not a problem. Later that evening around 3am Steve came back to the tent and woke me with some crazy story about stumbling across Warren Haynes on a golf cart, stopping the cart, and getting a picture of himself with Warren. I nearly burnt my retina out staring at the pic in a foggy stuper. It was true and I missed the whole encounter. Damn.

The next night Steve packed it in early and I wandered the grounds checking out the late shows. Around 2:30am I was making my way back to the tent when I spotted this guy walking alone up the stairs from the lodge. Sure enough it was Warren and there was no way he was getting past me without a photo. As a side note, I was so surprised by the chance meeting that I started rambling like a freakin' school girl. I think I used the word "awesome" about 20 times.


And yes, when I got back to the tent I immediately woke Steve to show off my new pic. Awesome.