The Great Set Up-Blottopia 11 (PART 1)

Blottopia 11- July 30th- August 1st, 2010

Well people, it's that time a year, when the sun is shining and the bands are wailing. Yes indeed, it is music fest season once again; and the Chicago hometown band Mr. Blotto just celebrated their 11th self-dedicated fest, wonderfully and ironically named Blottopia. For the next three days, if you were there, you were, whether you liked it or not, drawn in and locked into Mr. Blotto's perfect musical society.

Set not so hidden away at Vasa Park in South Elgin, Illinois, local and traveling hippie fans alike flocked to the grassy park to once again begin their three-day adventure.

It was Friday July 30th, early afternoon and nothing but the stage, crew, and bands occupied the grassy terrain. But that barren scene quickly changed as Noon hit and the hippie-mobiles came truckin' in.

The first to arrive were the VIP (early entrance) ticket holders who were already forming a line outside the gates. A VIP ticket, as Blottopia veterans know (*note this author is proudly one) is an absolute must for this fest. It gives you the privilege of taking over the grassy lot and marking your territory first before the "regulars" arrive and are let into the park.

The first priority at Blottopia is securing a safe haven or campsite; a place you will call your home for the next 72 hours. When the fest first started, there use to be designated "Quiet Zones" for the less rowdy and for the parents who brought their mini-me's along.

However, as the years have passed, the term "quiet" has become more and more obsolete. In fact, bedtime has become a stranger as well. And definitely do not let age fool you. Before you know it you will have found yourself starring face-to-face with a hyper seven-year old at one in the morning, while they try to haggle you for money for the glow sticks they've found lying on the ground throughout the show.

As the day set in and the golden sun met the top of the clear cerulean sky, the once somewhat scarce lot had become an abundance of mini colonies ready to survive the weekend. The Blotto crew made their rounds to each "intersection" and nailed in the street signs. This is a new addition that was added last year in hopes of trying to contain campsites and leave safe walkways and roadways throughout the park.

Each sign was cleverly named after great bands, their songs, and their albums such as Dark Side Ave and Senseless St. Your campsite intersection was quickly memorized because it would later be a small but reassuring sight when you've thought you've lost your way or yourself later on in the night.

The crowd draw was smaller than last year's fest, but it would have been hard to see that when driving past the park which is directly located on and off of RT. 31. To the outsiders it must have looked like complete chaos, or a rescue shelter gone terribly wrong. To the rest of us inside it, was a few more feet of extra groovin' room.

The tents were up, the R.V.'s were parked, the vendors were grillin' and sellin' and Mr. Blotto could be heard in the distance getting ready for their sound check; a sign that the fest was well on its' way down the rabbit hole...

And The Band Plays On...

Welcome back all, sorry about the break in between posts. It has been a busy past two weeks with work and two birthdays to celebrate. But I'm back and ready to go.

Tuesday held the norm for me. Work from 10 A.M. until 8 P.M., followed by the routine trip to Chicago to see the band Mr. blotto play at Reggie's Music Joint off of State Street downtown. Reggie's is the place where Mr. Blotto, a folk/rock band formed in 1991, plays every Tuesday night. Paul Bolger is the band's lead vocals as well as their guitarist; his brother Nike Bolger is the band's bass player and vocals. Mark Hague is the other lead guitarist and vocals, Alan plays the drums and Steve Ball is their keyboardist. Steve is notably but not unusually missing. His appearance is rare at their acoustic shows.

This Tuesday was much like every other has been lately; freezing cold. But the warmth of the beer, the bar and the music was comforting. I sat down near the front of the stage, a mere 5 feet from where the band will play. It has been a few weeks since I've made it out to see them, and my symptoms of Blotto-withdrawl are starting to show. Around 10:30 P.M. the members begin to make their way into the music joint slowly but surely.

The first to arrive is as usual Paul, who is donning his signature winter beard, one that rivals if not puts to shame that of Alan's from The Hangover, and is dressed in his usual jeans and some sort of logo t-shirt. As he carries in his equipment, Mark is trailing in behind, followed by Mike and Alan.

Paul gets started right away front and center with setting up his guitar and mic and gets right into his sound check while Mike and Alan are in the background doing the same and exchanging conversation. Mark on the other hand goes to his usual spot on stage, to the left of Paul, and plays away at his guitar. The same spot I once watched him pull an E string off an electric guitar that hangs on the wall in order to continue on with their performance. He makes little conversation, with the exception of the occasional smile to his band mates.

Once the sound check is done Mr. Blotto doesn’t hesitate to get right into the show by starting the set list off with “I Don’t Work On Sunday” from their album Barlow Shanghai. Much of their songs through the night come from their 2006 album, with the rest barrowing from, in my opinion, their favorite band to cover The Grateful Dead. They end the first half of their set with my personal favorite, Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece”.

After the first song ends little is needed from each other to cue into the next song. A few exchanged glances and a few slick smiles gracefully swung into the classic “Got My Mojo Working”. Written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole in 1956, this song has made its’ way back through the voices and instruments of all the greats, i.e.; Muddy Waters 1957, Elvis Presley 1970, B.B. King 1977, and up to Clapton.

Their choice of blues mixed with rock and folk ignite the crowd as usual, and the strong rapport between the band mates is quite clear. As the continue to play The Grateful Dead, myself and two others at my table have a quick thought that The Dead’s song "Deal", definitely belongs in Toy Story 2.

(SIDE BAR: This editors frame of mind may have contributed to the TS2 idea, and may have also attributed to the fact that no one at the table seemed to care that TS2 was already made, but instead fascinated by the fact that Deal was written for TS2 way before it was even written and filmed for the big screen)

The band played on with Paul’s vocals strong enough to tear the roof down. Paul’s ability to go from a soulful raspy blues voice, to a voice as soothing yet strong as Robert Plant is truly mesmerizing. His brother follows suit with the bass and adds the perfect backdrop of vocals. Their lead electric guitarist Mark hardly ever looks up from his guitar through the entire show. Not to say that he is purposely looking down to avoid audience eye contact. It’s like watching a love story unfold on stage between a man and his guitar.

To be perfectly honest, I’m pretty sure his eyes were and are closed during 90 percent of his performances. But the beauty that takes place during this is quite moving. He just jams away and moves his fingers at the speed of light to beat of Alan’s drums and the the vocals of Paul and Mike; and they play and they watch their band mate in what seems like awe, despite the 19+ years together.

The band has done it again, amazingly soothing, and not surprisingly enticing

Words of Wisdom: Twizzlers are capable of setting on fire, despite what one may think.

But Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Well, it's officially 2010! OK, so it has been 2010 for seven days now, but it still boggles my mind for it to be 2010. 2009 was an intense year for me, and one of the biggest things to happen was this girl's graduation! I finally made it through college and came out a graduate, probably to much surprise.

OK, it's not like I am a lazy person or anything, well not that people can object to that because everything I'm writing on here is true fact, and no one can object. Unless you comment. Which I would be OK with, because then that would mean someone is actually reading my educating non-sense.

OK, so my goal is to keep this blog updated with thoughts, ideas, concepts that are weird to me, people/places/persons/things/animals that annoy me, why the ostrich is the superior animal, why igloos are confusing, and anything else that comes into this pretty little head of mine.

I also want to talk about things/ideas/weird concepts that are important to "you guys" my Internet fan base (it might be too soon to be that conceded). I will definitely be talking about sports on here, a lot about music, and definitely some sprinkles of fashion and the wonderful sad world that is Hollywood.

I also want to try and do every two weeks, or every month (wow my procrastination is kicking in already) a profile on someone interesting, but someone that is an everyday Joe/Jane person. Someone that you care about, someone that you know did something amazing, or just someone you see randomly and they kind of freak you out, but you maybe want to be their friend. You know those kinds of people. So keep your suggestions flowing and send me ideas/contacts.

Here's to the New Year; may the words and ideas be ever flowing.

Words of Wisdom: Big coats make you sit closer to people than you intend to.