Arts and Culture ‘ Geace WAnpdELL Good Times at the Robson Valley - Music Festival GRACE VVADDELL CONTRIBUTER We packed the wood panelled station wagon with our supplies - a 17x17 foot white canvas pyramid tent, one iffy flashlight, some interesting clothing and enough coco puffs to last for five days - and headed east. Our destination was the Robson Valley Music Festi- val, an event held for the past three years in the small community of Dunster, BC. After many hours of driv- ing and frequent rest stops along the way, we arrived at the Dunster Picnic Grounds and set up our camp. As we were a day early, the scene was quiet except for a few car stereos that played the music of Mamaguroove and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It didn’t take much time to adjust to a life with no indoor plumbing and very cold nights. One of my com- panions was delighted to discover hand sanitizer in the outhouses. At least our hands were clean. As people who were used to showering frequently, it was quite a shock to be dirty and not be able to do anything about it. The venue [ithdront lawn of Mamaguroove’s Seth and Shara McDonald0 was complete with merchandise and incredible vegan food. Various workshops took place during the festival ranging from warrior dancing for women to yoga to classes put on by different artists. Of course, that was only a bonus to what we trav- eled 250km to experience. The music was incredible. We discovered many new favorites and enjoyed a few old ones. One artist who was quite enjoyable was Rae Spoon, a proud Albertan. His songs had a folk/country sound and had simple, pleasant lyrics. During his per- formance he often made comments and interrupted to tell stories along the way. When he announced his most popular song “Boxcar,” the audience responded with cheering and applause. To that he commented modestly, “TJ didn’t say I was bringing sexy back.” Another stand-out set was that of Jeff Andrews of Vancouver. He had a haunting voice and sang of dark themes such as the Highway of Tears. His song “Truck Stop Wall” was very moving and sinister. It is narrated through the eyes of the ghost of a young female hitch- hiker, and through the eyes of her killer. When Don Alder began his set, the audience was transfixed. His guitar technique was extraordinary and very deeply tex- tured. He has won many competitions in his home city of Vancouver and worldwide. Some local favorites were showcased in the Prince George All-Stars set. This set featured Bunny Hoo- ver, Don Routley and The Arbitrarys. While most of the bands at the festival were from BC, two traveled from Toronto. Random Order had a very energetic set and rocked the festival with their punk-ish sound and political messages. They did many original songs and a few classics such as Foxy Lady and Fol- som Prison Blues. The latter of the two featured the vocal stylings of Roi Yalte, of Bunny Hoover. The second Toronto band that performed was Juno-nom- inated Mr. Something Something. They had a strong afro-beat that had the crowd dancing and the audi- ence sang along to their protest song “Bomb.” Of course, the highlight of the festival was Mama- guroove. On the first night of the festival they played an extremely energetic set that lasted from midnight to 2:30 am. They presented many songs from their new album and some older songs such as “Bad Day” and “Mamaguru.” The second night, Seth and Shara McDonald performed a small acoustic set which featured a small number of their new songs. As the finale to their festival, Mamaguroove played a few songs with help from the members of various other bands who had participated in the festival. The high point of their final set was “The River,” which the band used to address their concern about the current threat to the sacred headwaters of the Dass, Sitkine, and Skeena Rivers. After the festival had ended there were feelings of woe throughout our group. Fortunately, the party wasn’t over yet. One of the best parts of the festi- val happened on the last night when most people had gone home. Only a few friends and musicians remained. Everyone stayed awake all night to jam around the campfire. The morning after the festival ended, we packed up our things and headed home- ward. Getting back to civilization was difficult; we didn’t realize how horribly dirty we were until we stopped for lunch in McBride. Despite the dirt and sleeping on the ground, the Robson Valley Music Festival was an awesome experience that many people, including us, will most definitely repeat next summer. ANDREW KuRJATA FEATURES AND OPINIONS Epiror If you don’t follow the Prince George indie music scene landyou really should, it’s far better than it has any right to beLithen you haven’t heard of the Arbitrarys -- yet. An acoustic duo based in the singer-songwriter folk-rock style, they manage to break the the quote/ unquote “local band” barrier by cre- ating their own unique style while still maintaining a sound that has a mainstream appeal. We’re talking mainstream in a Nick Drake-meets-Stars sort of way, the former comparison because of the catchy/haunting melodies that manage to make audiences sit down and shut up in the middle of a heavy metal show, and the latter because of the vocal interplay between the male and female vocalists Josh Sandu and Naomi Kavka. As a matter of fact, these two are the entire band, with both taking on the duties of guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and, in the case of Kavka, celloist. Having only two musicians doesn’t make the recording sound September 12-26, 2007 OVER THE EDGE sparse, though. To start with, Kavka and Sandu -are polished performers with strong backgrounds in other local acts, and they manage to project more charis- ma into these tunes than your aver- age seven-piece supergroup. They complement this power with very tasteful vocal layering, adding new elements to their tunes without detracting from the EP’s intimate atmosphere. This should come as no surprise to anyone who’s ever visted the band’s MySpace page ( wwwmyspace. com/teharbitrarys) mce most of these songs have made a previous appearance here. However, there can be nothing wrong with having them all in one place, and the ability to hear them through a soundsystem other than your computer’s tinny speakers is definitely worth $10. And if you’ve never heard the group before, pick this one up ( Mew Records downtown is prob- ably the best place) -- it’s a good way to get in on the ground level before they become the Next Big Thing, or at least before they release their first full-length. Tomorrow’s Professionals Apply Today! Apply On-line! 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