I took my camera to Muddy Roots, and I fully intended to take enough pictures to properly document the weekend. The sad truth, though, is that I should not be the person in charge of that job, because I just suck at remembering to do it! This is the only picture I actually took, of my dear husband setting up the Hellfire Revival merch table behind the stage before they went on...
The reason that we went to Muddy Roots was that Hellfire was playing, and I was working their merch table. But last year, we just showed up right when they were about to play, they did the set and I did the merch, and then we pretty much left. This year, we took it as an opportunity to do something that we hardly ever do anymore...get away, spend time together, and just have fun!
We showed up on Saturday, not quite in time to see Don Maddox, which Matt was hoping for, so that kind of sucked. We did get to see the hulo hoop performers, which was interesting, because I've never seen a live hoop performance, but disappointing because it was kind of sloppy, really short, and not that great. They were cute, though, and maybe they'll get better with time.
The highlight, of course, was the music. Hellfire Revival had a really fun set, and perhaps the rowdiest crowd they've ever played to. They had the first "pit" of the festival! We also got to see some of my favorite bands. Viva Le Vox closed out Saturday night, and they were awesome. Then on Sunday, one of my favorite moments was when our dear friends in Hans Condor caused more havoc in their cut-short 20 minute set than would seem humanly possible. They arrived around the time that the rain did, so sets were being cut short, bands were being rearranged, and a gradually growing madness was washing over the attendees. Before long, I was standing ankle deep in mud watching Th' Legendary Shack Shakers for the first time in ages. They're playing in Nashville for my birthday, so I think I know what my birthday plans are. Sunday night was closed out by The Goddamn Gallows, and while we couldn't miss it, we chose to stand out in the rain, outside of the tent for that set. The rain, the mud, the frenzy of the music, and the madness of the crowd at that point were all coming together in a way that almost tore the tent down! You've got to give it to Baby Genius and Fishgutz for still coming out into the crowd in all of that mud and chaos
It was the perfect way to end out the night, and the weekend. We went back to a tent that was doing all it could to stay dry, slept through the night to the sound of rain beating down on us, woke up and packed up in the rain bright and early the next morning, and hit up Cracker Barrel on the way home. After the heat and sunburn of Saturday, followed by the rain and cooler weather of Sunday, I came home with a cold. I don't really get properly sick that often, but I already had swollen lymph nodes going into it, so I think my immune system was probably already compromised. I tried to ignore it on Monday, but by Tuesday I had to have one good day of rest, which I hate. I don't do well with being idle, and just laying around doing nothing makes me incredibly anxious. But it was necessary to I could get back up and running by the next weekend.
A few days of normalcy, and then it was off to the Ink4Pink Benefit in Atlanta. It was an awesome show held at a place called The Basement, which is literally the basement of a place called The Graveyard Tavern. Throughout the show, tattoo vouchers were raffled off, art was sold, and all of that, along with the cover charge, was going to benefit breast cancer research and treatment. The night was full of burlesque and sideshow performers, Farmageddon bands, and of course Hellfire Revival. And once again, I served as the merch girl.
I actually did take pictures at this show, but because of my position and the lighting, they pretty much sucked. But here are a few...
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| James Hunnicutt |
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| Sweet Christina |
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| Jayke Orvis |
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| D'Lilah D'Lite |
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| Hellfire Revival |
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| Kittie Katrina |
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| The Goddamn Gallows |
So much for trying to take pictures while anchored to the merch table. But at least it's documented.
James Hunnicutt, Jayke Orvis, and the Goddamn Gallows are all Farmageddon bands. They're actually all pretty different from each other, even though they all just kind of play together. But in this line up, Hellfire Revival stood out. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and they played a good set. This was only their 2nd time in Atlanta, so they don't have a built-in fan base there yet, and the crowd was kind of weird. Attentive, but not always that responsive. So when it was all said and done, I think they did a good job, but I don't know how happy they were with the reception. It doesn't matter, though. I always love to see Matt play drums, no matter who he's playing with. We also got to see The Goddamn Gallows again, which was a huge plus. Hellfire always loves to play with them, and they're fast becoming some of our favorite people.
Plus, this show gave us an excuse to go to Atlanta. Matt has family there, and his aunt has been struggling with cancer. With his job, it isn't always easy for him to get away, so this was our first time to get to try and go see her. We planned to spend Friday more or less with her, but as it turned out, she was having chemo and wasn't really up for visitors. We did get to see Matt's cousin and her kids, and she filled us in a bit more on what has been going on wit her mom. They weren't able to meet up with us until the evening, though, so we actually had a lot of time to kill hanging out in Little Five Points, which we haven't had the chance to do in quite a while. It was inspirational visiting some of those shops. It was a reminder about some of the goals we have for Dead Man's, and hopefully we'll find the right place to put it, so that it will thrive like some of those awesome shops.
After two weekends in a row out of town, the house was quite a wreck. You would think that with us around less to mess it up, it wouldn't be so bad, but not so. It just meant that I wasn't around to stay on top of keeping it in order. So getting caught up on the house and getting caught up with a couple of my students has been the focus of the last couple of days. This weekend will be yet another Hellfire weekend at the Redneck Rumble. After that, they should have a bit of a break, which will work out well. It will give Matt time to focus on his upcoming art show, and both of us time to get ready for the annual bonfire.
So now it's back to house work, student check ins, and hopefully a little more progress on the new Dead Man's website! Busy, busy, busy!
