hillside

Mixed bag

Niocle Visschedyk

Mixed bag

Tight cut-offs for men are also hot for performers, often paired with the previously mentioned suspenders.

Mystery Guest: Someone just told me U2 would appear on Stuart McLean. I think this is highly unlikely if for no other reason than Hillside doesn’t have a helicopter landing pad.

In talking to organizers I often get the feeling Hillside is a perfect utopia. But last night a three-year-old girl fell on a broken bottle that someone had left around and she required stitches.

Saturday night Backstage: As the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir left stage and The Islands, the headliners for Saturday, prepared to go on backstage was surprising quiet.

A group of public school age kids wrestled around on the ground and a few rockers milled around with drinks.

There were no scantily clad groupies, nor where there hordes of fans willing to sell their soul to get backstage.

Baby's white balloon

Nicole Visschedyk

The mysterious white balloon

A mysterious large balloon about the size of a dumpster floats over the Main stage. In asking around many have said it’s for decoration, designed to look like the full moon.

Others say it’s some sort of weather balloon.

In fact, the balloon is an attempt at stop action photography.

Organizers were hoping to photograph the entire festival over the length of the weekend.

But because the balloon has been buffeted by the wind the camera was taken down.

Someone commented that attaching a camera to a balloon in the wind is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

Sunday Gospel Hour

Nicole Visschedyk

Sunday Gospel Hour

This gospel hour converted everyone to the church of Hillside.

Dave Wall’s vocals seemed effortless. He led the group in a number of gospel and bluegrass songs.

The amalgamation of musicians from different bands had the audience singing along to each number. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better another song would give you goose bumps.

The organ in the background rocked the set.

The chain mail man

Niocle Visschedyk

The chain mail man

For festival goers wanting to take home a souvenir the options are endless. There are t-shirts, jewelry, buttons, bags and chain mail.

For $500 you can purchase an elegant evening gown made entirely of small chain links.

Jerry Penner, the man behind the metal has been making things from chain mail for the past twelve years.

The New Hamburg resident creates jewelry, purses and bikinis out of the small metal loops he bends by hand.

“I was out of work and out of money,” he said. When he saw a dress Tina Turner wore on television. “I can do that,” he thought.

Penner taught himself the craft.

“I found some wire in the basement made some chain and waited until a pattern popped out,” he said.

A full gown takes eight to 12 weeks, partly because he can only work two hours a day.

“Repetitive strain injury is a big problem with making chain mail,” he said although he has learned some tricks to prevent injury.

The dresses don’t have to be custom made.

“I can make it big enough to fit two people but it shrinks down,” he said.

Penner said chain mail against naked skill takes a while to warm up.

Islands

Islands

It took Islands about 20 minutes to make it onstage.

The  Montreal band started with slower more Indyish tunes-- an I hate the world kind of feel. The lyrics were indistinguishable and dancing to the songs was impossible.

Metal chains created a creepy Halloween feel for th e first few sets.

But the use of classical string instruments like the violin was amazing.

The crowd got into the band as the show picked up the rhythm.

The real drama came at midnight at the end of the set when organizers told the group the show was over.

On stage, Islands countered,  saying Hillside volunteers had damaged a violin and because of the delay in getting on stage they deserved a set that went past midnight.

The MC tried to be polite, explaining the festival had to respect Guelph Lake neighbours, but the group wouldn't’t get off the stage. In the end the microphones were turned off.

He still managed to get the crowd going, calling for, “one more song.”

Lead singer, Nick Thornburn, left the stage but not before saying he was friendly towards Hillside.

Thornburn was also feeling less than friendly to reporters as I found out when I went backstage to talk to him.

The Burning Hell

Nicole Visschedyk

The Burning Hell

The number and players in this band change. But the keyboardist for their Saturday show deserves the award for weirdest outfit.

He rocked out in pink shorts, no shirt and an army helmet with cellophane flames spitting out the top.

Ukulele player Mathias Kom has a deep rich voice that sounds a lot like Leonard Cohen.

Definite Klezmer overtones -- The horn and xylophone make this band a big bag of fun and the audience seemed to agree, dancing and yelling away with their silly lyrics. (Including: Love is like a trailer park, ugly but functional.)

They also sang about their love of Guelph.

The crowd went wild when Burning Hell covered “Pop goes the world” by Men Without Hats.

Improv for the whole family

Nicole Visschedyk

Improv for the whole family

Amazing. This group of high school students got a crowd from 6 to 60 doing all kinds of crazy things. From mimicking choking on a Twinkie to pretending they are a couch; they had everyone involved and laughing their heads off. Best of all they didn’t they’re center anybody out in a hurtful way.

Read more in Monday's Mercury.

The Magic

Nicole Visschedyk

The Magic

These are guys are magical and sexy. The Guelph group does old school rock-and-roll perfectly. Elements of their Bar mitzvah Brothers roots can still be found in their unique use of the accordion and keyboard.

All wearing black pants, white shirts and suspenders they rocked the house a la Buddy Holly. Two of the talented six are sons of James Gordon.

Miscellaneous

Nicole Visschedyk

Miscellaneous

Suspenders are hot this year, almost as hot as partial or complete nudity.

People of all shapes and sizes seem content to shed clothes. It’s nice to see people of all body types feeling comfortable.

It’s almost as if there has been an invisible bubble around Hillside. While downtown got drenched the island stayed dry. (Although there were some ominous looking clouds and an Environment Canada storm warning.)

Mosquitoes

The bugs were thankfully almost non-existent although for everyone walking around in bare feet there was the odd ant bite.

Weather

Friday’s weather was beautiful with a stunning orange and pink sunset .Saturday the storm clouds rolled right over leaving a clear night.

Waiting

There are a lot of lines around Hillside. You wait a long time to get your wristband. You wait for food and the washroom, parking and getting to parking.

In defense of Hillside most people at the festival are not working to a deadline.

Rumour

Avi Lewis and his wife Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, are Hillsiding it up this weekend.

Sarah Slean

Sarah Slean

Her light rock had everybody relaxed. She mined the late afternoon vibe and have everybody with an I enjoy life smile on their face.

Born Ruffians

Born Ruffians

With their simple but infectious lyrics these rockers lifted the roof right off the tent. Lots of air drums and air guitar in the crowd as a young crowd grooved to the music.

The Toronto band left the stage to cheers of “Born again Ruffians.”

The Sadies:

The Sadies:

The rockabilly band dressed the part with full leather and embroidery. At one point one of the band members mom came on stage to join the group.

The sound could have been from the movie “Oh Brother Where Art Thou.” They played their instruments with panache and at one point an audience member close to me, Frasier Thomson, screamed, “The Sadies Rule.”

Mixed bag

Posted by: Nicole Visschedyk

Miscellaneous notes:

For a festival so well choreographed that no disposable dishes are needed, the complete lack of toilet paper seems like a fairly serious oversight.

People seem to love or hate CBC’s Stuart McLean and his adjective stringing antics.  I took an informal pole and learned that often one member of a family will love his story telling while the others think he’s just way too wholesome.

It was announced that Environment Canada has issued a serious storm warning. It didn’t seem to faze the crowd at all.

Before the circus starts:

Posted by: Nicole Visschedyk

I’m an early riser and earlier if I’m worried about writing a blog. Last night I slept on the Island (which is really a peninsula). It was really interesting to watch the festival wake up.

Music could be heard into the early morning last night.

Jam session continued well past 4 a.m. only letting up when people were told to sleep.

At 6:30 a.m. all was quiet on the western front. By eight the volunteers were up and about grabbing breakfast and going for an early, and chilly, dip. The number of skinny dippers was startling. At every turn there was yet another naked behind.

At nine volenteer shifts started in earnest and site clean-up crews and dishwashers were buzzing like garbage bees collecting recycling, dirty dishes and compost.

Despite the chill and the drizzle of rain there is a tangible excitement in the air. Hillside is on in full force.

The Most Serene Republic

Posted by: Nicole Visschedyk

The Most Serene Republic

From every pore this crowd exuded hipness.

With a plethora of plaid and side parts at every turn these fans looked like hard core music junkies. They were a little too cool for dancing but a lot of complicated clapping along took place. I feel this is the type of audience that combined owns enough vinyl to crush a bus.

Hawksley Workman

Posted by: Nicole Visschedyk

Hawksley Workman

The second Workman stepped on stage the crowd was on its feet. His karate like guitar antics had everyone grooving along with him. In a move that seemed to have  him channeling Madonna he grabbed his breast s.

The derby-wearing singer played a surprising number of covers saving his own soulful tunes for the end of the set.

Cowboy Junkies show review

Posted by: Nicole Visschedyk

Cowboy Junkies:

Despite the Junkies big sound the crowd was surprisingly stoic. A sea of blank faces stared back at the band.  It was almost as if the crowd had to shake off the stress of the week before they could loosen-up enough to get into the Hillside grove. By the last set heads were swaying slightly, but most seemed to enjoy letting the songs flow over them.

Margo Timmins has an incredibly powerful and beautiful voice. Her performance seems effortless. She also has an odd stage presence.  She seemed preoccupied with a vase of flowers onstage, constantly caressing the petals.

Hillside a boon to Guelph Lake

Leaving without a trace

Over the last 25 years, the marriage between the Guelph Lake Conservation Area and the Hillside Festival has resulted in lasting improvements to the park.

Read more at:

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/359599

Rumour

Posted by: Nicole Visschedyk

According to a reliable rumour the super secret Hillside performer will be Juno award winning singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith with a very small chance it's Sarah Slean.

Has the Hillside Festival lost something in becoming such a success?

Has the Hillside Festival lost something in becoming such a success?

Check out the blog:

http://news.guelphmercury.com

Ticket woes

Delma Lobo really hopes she can get her hands on a Hillside ticket in the next few days.

Lobo is like hundreds of others searching for an elusive last-minute ticket.

"I really want to attend Hillside Friday night and spend the evening with my friends," the Guelph resident said.

Unfortunately for her, Friday evening tickets sold out last month and she didn't get hers in time.

The lightning speed of past ticket sales had people lining up outside festival offices at 5 a.m. this spring.

Ticket hopefuls have been pleading for tickets on community buy and sell websites such as eBay, Facebook and Kijiji.

Read more . . .

Former NDP leader to attend Hillside

Posted by Nicole Visschedyk

Former federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent will attend Hillside with local NDP candidate Tom King.

King says the two have never met but he is looking forward to showing Broadbent around.

Before they were "big"

Up for discussion at the Hillside Facebook page:

"Who's the biggest artist you can claim to have seen at Hillside before they made it big?"

in photos

Take a photographic walk back in time at Hillside via Blog Guelph

Set list

Wanna know who's playing this year?
Check out the massive list
The Mercury is still working on nailing down if Feist will be at the show.

Hillside 2008 — tix available

Friday evening passes are sold out.  But Sunday evening passes are still available for purchase through the Hillside office, online and by phone at 1-866-598-4455.  Go to the event website for the complete schedule of acts playing on Sunday evening.

A walk past the workshops and other random notes

Posted by Ben Gelinas

Observations at Hillside

- The main stage has a green roof. Vegetation of some sort grows atop it.

- Walking past the workshop tents, one is liable to hear the strangest things. Sunday afternoon in the women's tent there was a lecture on orgasms. "Sometimes it just happens," the lecturer said.

- I was told people were lining up at the park office at 6 a.m. Sunday to reserve their camping spots for next year's festival. The best spots are those closest to the island.

- The Sun Stage, though designated the spoken word stage, often plays host to acoustic guitars, singers, and even rappers.

- Elvis Perkins is nothing like Elvis Presley, but among his backing band is a rather animated upright bass player with a glorious mustache.

Ani DiFranco

Posted and updated by Ben Gelinas

Nicole Baute was supposed to go out to Hillside tonight to watch Ani DiFranco sing, but there was a motorcycle accident and Baute had to cover it, putting her significantly behind this evening.

So no one from the Merc working for the weekend saw the closing set at Hillside.

Luckily reporter Magda Konieczna was there for the fun of it. She commented tonight after I expressed, in this very post, my inability to provide readers with a review of the festival's headliner. Here's what Konieczna said of DiFranco:

"She was, as expected, fantastic, and an apt headliner. Sam Baijal had a hard time introducing her around the vocal energy in the audience. She also appeared to have thousands of guitars -- a tech brought her a new one between every single song. And she had a line about not being able to support our troops -- a line that got cheered here for the first time ever, she said."

Feel free to send your reviews from acts we saw or acts we missed, dear reader, and I just may put them on the blog.

Hell, send me any thoughts on the festival or our coverage: bgelinas@guelphmercury.com

Born Ruffians in the woods

Posted by Ben Gelinas

After my discussion with the Toronto band and their management about the food backstage, I pitched an idea.

There's this lovely series of Internet shorts on dailymotion.com known as the Take Away Show. The man behind it gets musicians to perform their songs in weird places, often with impromptu instrumentation. One episode saw the Arcade Fire playing in an elevator. Percussion was wholly created by the ripping up of a magazine.

In another episode, one of the Ruffians' favourite bands, Grizzly Bear, sung acapella while walking through the streets of Paris.

Inspired by the novelty of it all, I thought: why not get Born Ruffians to play a song in the woods at Hillside?

They did. And I recorded it with a digital video camera. I'm about download the footage into Final Cut Pro. Tomorrow you should find the result on guelphmercury.com: an acoustic performance of Badonkadonkey on a narrow, overgrown path somewhere on the island, along with some other videos I shot. Before you judge the quality, remember I am trained first as a writer, not a photographer (as is likely already evident from the photos on this blog).

But it's fun stuff.

Mistakes

Posted by Ben Gelinas

First, I am not the prognosticator I think I am. Not a drop of rain so far today. The sky is a near-solid blue. I suppose this is for the best, though I was praying for rain throughout the day, if only to quell the excessive heat that made my brow moist and my shirt sticky.

Second, as you may have guessed this blog is only semi-live. I was unable to find a connection on site, so I've been driving back to the Mercury office downtown to update. It is frustrating but necessary.

Thanks for understanding.

A brief interview with Samir Baijal

Posted by Ben Gelinas

To say the artistic director of Hillside is a busy man come festival time would be an understatement. I tried, and failed, to get an interview with him numerous times today, but he was always in transit.

At 6 p.m., Samir Baijal gave me five minutes, long enough for a cigarette, off the mainstage on a woody path.

It's Baijal's job to make sure the artists are accommodated and present. At 3 p.m. today, a problem: Vieux Farka Toure had yet to show. The Malian guitarist was scheduled to take part in a high-profile workshop on the Island Stage at 4 p.m., but it seems he was held up at the border. Baijal, on the phone, pushed to get him onto the Island in time. Toure made the end of the workshop show, called "Gourds and Guitars," and played the main stage at 7 p.m..

The festival sold-out Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each day they welcomed about 5,000 indie music fans and free-thinkers. Baijal said Hillside ran well this year, largely thanks to some 1,000 volunteers who cooked, cleaned, set up and tore down.

Larissa Schneider, pictured, was among many washing attendees' dirty dishes this weekend.

The big change from last year was Mike Nagy's favourite festival talking point: free water by the truckful. Last year, bottled water reigned. The fields were littered with the remnants, Baijal said.

"Water shouldn't cost money," he said. "I mean, what did people do before bottled water?"

      

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Posted by Ben Gelinas

I haven't seen a weather report, and I'm no weatherman, but from the looks of the clouds in the sky, up there plotting something, I'm thinking it'll rain today.

Scary because I'm shooting a couple videos for the web today, one with band Born Ruffians, another a kind of virtual tour of the Hillside site, that will be up on guelphmercury.com Monday.

I am also going to check out Elvis Perkins' performance, interview artistic director Samir Baijal and try to attend at least one workshop. Saturday's itinerary had me scrambling. I'm going into Sunday with a little less to fret about.

This is to say that one could dub today's lineup underwhelming.

Then, I'm back in the Mercury office, writing a story for tomorrow's paper, while reporter Nicole Baute takes my place.

She'll review Ani DiFranco's show for the blog.

In addition to the pair I'm shooting today, we'll hopefully have a bunch of other videos online for your post-festival viewing pleasure Monday.

Emily Haines and Shout Out Out Out Out

Posted by Ben Gelinas

Last time I saw Emily Haines, she was commanding a crowd of young Metric fans to rise up! in the middle of a sweaty, psychedelic, 12-minute rendition of Dead Disco in Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre.

At Hillside Saturday, Haines sat on stage with an electric piano, the Soft Skeleton (a tall guy with stubble) at an electronic drum machine thing on the opposite end. The black and white short films of Guy Madden played between them on a projection screen. Haines' voice sounded hoarse. She said it was her last solo show for a while, and she was glad it was in Guelph. The crowd appreciated the comment.

Her solo work is slow and depressing, sexy stuff with a pinch of angst.

It was a beautiful, simple performance.

From the main stage, I wandered over to the Island Stage tent for the last show of the night by Edmonton's Shout Out Out Out Out. They didn't disappoint (eventually).

As the tent packed with people, standing on long picnic tables for a better view of the band noodling in soundcheck, a man stepped on stage. He said a little girl, 7, named Lara, was missing.

Then, five minutes later, it was announced that Lara was found. The crowd cheered.

Then, five minutes later, it was announced Lara was in fact still missing. False alarm. The crowd did not cheer.

Meanwhile, Shout Out Out Out Out was freaking out. Their sound guy "Rudy" forgot their sampler in the hotel room. For a dance band of this sort, a sampler is essential equipment. The crowd was told a cab was rushing it to Hillside posthaste.

The crowd waited.

And waited.

Then, the band's lead vocoder man announced, in his regular voice, that "the lost kid was officially found for real this time."

The crowd cheered.

And waited.

Until blam, bloop and so forth. The band kicked in and everything was alright. Twin drummers wailed on their skins. Shaggy haired frontmen danced and kicked. The tent was packed with people, all sweaty and full of dance. It was a wonderful little party, and a great way to get out what little energy was left after a full day of music.

Do Make Say Think

awe·some (ô'səm)

adj. 

Inspiring awe: an awesome thunderstorm.

source: dictionary.com

More scenes from Hillside

Posted by Ben Gelinas

Saturday was awash with colour on the big old island. Here are some favourite shots.

the Besnard Lakes

Posted by Ben Gelinas

The buzz band from Montreal put up a dry wall of sound that forced a quarter of their audience out of the Island Stage tent by the second song.

"Don't go. Don't go," three players sang in unison. But I wanted to.   

It was too loud. My ears actually hurt. It's not that their music is anything but technically spectacular, dense and complicated. It's that it was too loud to hear any of it properly. Bad.

I regretted choosing their show over a chance to watch Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (my mom's favourite band) break their hips.

Things in the tent picked up halfway through the set, when the Lakes played through some slower stuff.

Their lead has the voice of an angel.

Sigh.

That 1 Guy

Posted by Ben Gelinas

At 6 p.m., one guy stole the main stage, largely on account of his bizarre, homemade instrument, which he called "the magic pipe."

That 1 Guy's instrument is tall. It looks to be made of discarded plumbing. And it makes a million sounds. A dance hall in a tube, from which the man plucked and beat out music unlike anything. I suppose I'd describe it as equal parts Blue Man Group, early Korn, Get Smart, Weird Al and Rahzel. The man has a voice like Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice. His lyrics are bizarre. One song was about weasel pot pie.

And at one point, he plugged a cord into a boot and played it like a little drum, hence the Get Smart reference.

But he had a big crowd's ears for a good 40 minutes.

The set was a Saturday highlight.

Regardless, the food backstage is free

Posted by Ben Gelinas

Volunteers, performers, security and media all eat from the same vegan chili trough behind the main stage.

Saturday's Menu

- Lettuce and cucumbers

- Gritty pasta salad

- Dense, taste-free biscuits

- Beans with tofu chunks and chili powder 

"Why is this pasta so funky," Leila Hebden asked. Born Ruffians' manager was by far the most vocal at the table on the subject of the free grub's general crumminess, but everyone seemed to agree with her:

"That carrot cake is like a wedge of hell," she said.

Ruffians' bass player Mitch DeRosier is done eating.

a sea of bikes and hot, hot hot

Posted by Ben Gelinas

As I walk from the grassy parking lot into the compound, Mike Whitehead is over yonder, tying up his aluminum horse amid a sea of bikes at the bike lock up. The volunteer guarding the bikes, 15-year-old Silas Dubelaar, tells me they are close to capacity and will soon have to set up more racks with wood resting "over there."

 

The festival secured a tanker truck full of fresh water the Wellington Water Watchers dispensed for free. All people need is a container, Guelph federal Green Party candidate Mike Nagy says, eager to show why Hillside's different from other big festivals. He says last year they had thosands of empty water bottles to deal with.

 

I wore way too much clothing. Socks? Long, black cotton pants? What is wrong with me? Sure, I'm scared people will see my legs, the hairy pale white of Dickens-grade Cream of Wheat, but sometimes function trumps vanity. Sophia Elwazani was in my boat. "The heat is making me tired," the 22-year-old said. She wore jeans and black. "I am camping, believe it or not." She said she rushed out from Oshawa, where it was a little cooler.

 

Volunteer Josh Shook, set to give a workshop on democracy, relaxes in the shade of growth decorated with cloth flowers.

Photos by Ben Gelinas

Getting into Hillside

Posted by Ben Gelinas

Apparently my media pass gives me access to the island for free. Great.

Getting there, though, is an ordeal. The strip of park pavement that winds towards the concert grounds is barely the width of my Nissan compact. With scores of Hillside faithful walking to and fro on either side, often forced onto the road by wayward growth, and cutting between the cars crawling forward, the drive is scary. I almost took out a group of school children.