| Punktfest 06 - Kristiansand, Norway - Day Two, August 25, 2006
When British drummer Bill Bruford stepped up to the mic for the first time during his engaging and highly playful duet with Dutch pianist Michiel Borstlap, he made the comment that “as a true road warrior, by all accounts this is an incredibly well-run festival, setting a new high bar for overall competence." And those are truthful words from someone with enough years on the road to know. While organizing any festival, especially where numerous acts will appear on the same stage, is a challenge, Punktfest has to be one of the greatest nightmares from a logistical perspective. Chapter Index
Challenges
Hanna Hukkelberg
Karl Seglem
Bill Bruford and Michiel Borstlap
Frode Gjerstad and Jan Bang
Bugge Wesseltoft
The Wagner Reloaded Project (WARP)
Challenges Almost every act incorporates electronics to some extent, so just organizing soundchecks so that acts can set up, make sure everything works, and then come back later for the show with the assumption that everything still works is a big enough task.
An 'Idol'-ized songwriter
MELANIE CONNER/ Morgan Grace Practicing at home Move over, Kelly Clarkson: Oregonians have their own "American Idol." And ours actually writes music, plays instruments and sings. Late this summer, 29-year Portlander Morgan Grace won first place in the pop category of "American Idol Underground's" songwriting contest for "The Rules of Dating." The cash prize for her catchy pop tune? A cool $10,000. In her basement practice space, Grace recently spoke about the contest and performed the winning song. How did you hear about the contest? The contest sent a mailer to CD Baby (a Portland-based online music store) asking for independent artists, and I thought, "Oh, that might be cool," and then forgot all about it. A year later, I saw a link for it on MySpace and uploaded my song and forgot about it again.
Kava: San Jose festival showcases top-notch local talent for free
It's getting harder and harder for great musicians to break away from their day jobs and get on the road. Which for fans means that some of the best local talent still plays area festivals, often for the right price -- free! This weekend offers a classic example with downtown San Jose's Tapestry Arts Festival, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. Great, diverse music will be played on a handful of stages. Steve Czarnecki's Soul Jazz Quintet is built around the Hammond B-3, that full-blustered organ that gave the old soul classics, like Booker T's ``Green Onions,'' their flavor. Czarnecki's band includes singer Nate Pruitt, who has taught a lot of San Jose's finest singers the art of vocals. They play at 11:45 a.m. Saturday on the 98.5 KFOX/95.3 KRTY stage.
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