Day Zero

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Tuesday was "Tooth and Nail Day" and has been dubbed Day Zero. It's never my favorite day of the fest (I grow tired of hearing so many bands that sound the same.), but it is still great to have an extra day of C-stone good times.


The first band I heard was Lucerin Blue (3.5), a Canadian hardcore/emocore band. I liked their strong vocals (both lead and background), confident stage presence and tight sound.


Afterwards, I headed to the Merchandise tents to see old friends and to check out what new albums were available. Miranda Stone's booth as usual was a nice oasis between the mind-numbing banality (and occasional offensiveness) of the "Christian" bumper sticker and t-shirt sales booths. While perusing her booth, I had to buy some heavenly smelling Nag Champa incense. After that I headed for Madison Greene's booth where I got a peace-sign incense burner & MG patch. I also ran into Mrs. Blair (the mother of Michael, Mellisa and Bone of Madison Greene). She is so nice. Every band should have a mom as cool as her.

After some chill-out time at the campsite, I headed back to the T&N dog and pony show for Havalina (4).

Havalina never disappoints, and this show was no exception. The ussual characters were there: Orlando wearing a surgeon's mask while thumping out those righetous bass lines, and Matt acting like the show was no big deal in his typical non-challent way.

However, as cool as the guys were, Mercedes showed them all up with her smoking guitar and vocals to kill for. She is most definitely the new supernova of the Havalina universe.


Next came my favorite old-time punk band, Calibretto 13 (4.5). They gave the kids a heaping helping of punk fun, including their hit "Why can't can't we be on MTV?"

The best part of the show was when the band asked a member of the audience named John to come up on stage with his girlfriend Cassie. John then dropped to his knees and proposed to Cassie right there in front of everybody!!!

Of course, you can imagine the sheer joy of everybody when she said yes, so the band had to play the "it's about time you married me" song as the young couple sang along. It was such a sappy sweet punk love moment.


Next came the pride of Wayne, New Jersey... Element 101 (4.5).



I had never heard them before, and was pleasantly surprised by their girl-fronted mid-70's blue collar rock ‘n roll sound. This is most definitely music to play when cruising down Main.

What is strange though, is that every review I've read of them since C-stone says that they have a pop-punk sound. Either the band has changed or those reviewers are smoking crack because I don't they sound punk. (The rhythms do not fit the style at all.)

Crissie, the lead singer was fantastic. I dig her slightly-nasal edgy sound, but more than that I dig the way she gets into it. She is a grade-A example of how a true rock n' roller should sing.


After Element 101 I headed out as I had heard enough heavy music for the day. I do have to say this though, this year's slate of T&N bands were very professional. Even those I only heard only in passing had an unexpectedly high level of musical competency.


Back at the Gallery/Magazine stages, a night of quality acoustic music was to take place. The first on the lineup was Busker Kibbutznik (4). The band is composed of fifteen musicians playing a variety of ethnic instruments, with the violin & percussion taking center-stage. Their sound is multi-ethnic but the biggest influence seems to be Middle-Eastern.

Busker provided a feast of songs, both fast and slow. I dug everything they did, but I liked them best when they played faster songs that got the hippies dancing. (It is good for the soul to watch hippies dance, but even better to join in.)

Of all of the dancers, my favorite was a joyful girl who was dancing in an unexpected style: ballet.

Her graceful body moved with the greatest fluidity as she stepped into the air on tip toed feet and glided back to earth, landing softly on the soft Illinois grass. As she continued to dance, she spun, she twirled, and flew, while the hippies nearby swarmed and moved like living beings awakend for the first time.

As I felt God's warm smile on the dancers, my own inner dancer awoke. Those last few songs were a glorious time!


Afterwards, I caught my breath and found fellow EXITziner, Martin Lansdale. We grabbed a bite to eat and then hung out for a chilled out performance of Erik Brandt and The Urban Hillbilly Quartet (4.5). The band was a five piece tonight with Mike playing in place of Sena on fiddle.

They kicked off the show with the foot-stomper "Living in the City" that incorporated some nice changes. This was followed by a jam session that started with a glorious Gypsy/Russian folk medley. The visit to the Russia then morphed into a trip back in time to the days of Rockabilly music in America and ended with a series of solos. (My favorite was the bassist's.)

The third song was taken from the new album and featured horns (you heard that right, horns) and the singers from Ticklepenny Corner on BGV's.

From there the band played a variety of songs from various stages and genres of the band's development. In listening to these songs, I was most impressed by the band's improvisational skills and Erik's depth in lyric writing.

I also should give kudos to the lights/sound folks for this show. The lights and the good sound balance added so much to this show.

Sadly I had to leave a few songs early to catch some ofthe encore acts.




As I walked to the Encore tents, I caught a few moments of the Drum Circle Worship. I only stayed for a moment, but I did see a huge number of drummers and singers on stage. As they worshiped, they kept chanting the words of Jesus' model prayer: "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." As I walked away, I realized that the best part about Heaven is that it is the place where God's will is done. . . then it hit me, if we (as followers of Christ) bring about God's purposes here on earth, the Kingdom's reign is extended here and now, and as this happens we get to experience a little bit of what Heaven will be like.

Wow! That definitely makes me want to live with Kingdom principles now, instead of having to wait until death to experience Heaven.


I was looking forward to hearing Starflyer 59 (3.5) but left a little bit disappointed. They played well for the packed tent, but they just didn't seem to grab me emotionally the way they have in the past.

I stayed for a couple of songs and then headed to the other Encore tent for Ghoti Hook. However when I got there the show was over which was a bummer. I'm not sure if I my watch was running slow or if they played a shorter set.


I was dragging at this point so I headed back to camp. By now our small group had doubled in size with the addition of several Okies (friends of Fabricio). Tired as I was, I stayed up for awhile chilling out with everybody.

Later on in the evening, Aaron (one of the Okies) brought Miranda Stone & some other hippies to our campsite for a visit.

I mostly just listened to the conversation while they were there but I did jump into the conversation when they were talking about Sarongs. I'm in favor of them, but I am just too self-conscious to wear one myself.

What was funny about the whole conversation was that I didn't recognize Miranda at first. If I had known it was her, I would have been so tongue-tied. (I have such a crush on her. Sheesh, I would even wear a sarong if I thought it would help me to woo her.)

I finally went to sleep, but this time sleeping outside the tent on an air mattress. It had been so long since I had last slept under the stars. I had forgotten what it feels like to feel this alive.

Coming soon... Day 1

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