Indy Fest 2009 - The official site thread

[BobRiff]

Michael,

Thanks for sharing your pix. Looking forward to seeing Glen's too.

I'm sure everyone appreciates the hard work all of you guys put in to make the concert a success.

Sorry I missed it. Hope to see everyone next year!

[kelA]

Good job to everyone involved. Looks like it was alot of fun.

[customsteve01]

Had a great time at Colters place over the weekend, but I am tired and beat now. I will post my reviews later trying to get caught up from being away since Wednesday. Colter is a great host and I believe everyone had a blast at the House of Klipsch.

Steve

[robc]

Micheal and Everyone,

I was there and saw the event but knew I could not offer any expertise so I was just a casual spectator. Great job everyone! Enjoyed meeting a few of you all and the tour of the House of Klipsch. What a fine group to be associated with.

The sound was also excellent from up in the parking lot! :-)

Bobby

[colterphoto1]

Thanks for posting Bob and for stopping by on Sunday. Sorry if the tour guide was a bit groggy.

Thanks for your purchase from The House of Klipsch (RB3's in minty Maple to match your RF7's)

I enjoyed meeting you and please post your thoughts on the Jubilees on the thread in the 2 channel section.

Michael

[colterphoto1]

Had a great time at Colters place over the weekend, but I am tired and beat now. I will post my reviews later trying to get caught up from being away since Wednesday. Colter is a great host and I believe everyone had a blast at the House of Klipsch.

Steve

Bet that was on long ride home. At least the weather cooperated (Steve braved 4 hours of rain on a Harley to get here on Thursday). Rest up and post when you can buddy. Good luck with the interviews.

M

[SWL]

What a fine group to be associated with.

Man, I wish I could have been there. Glad you guys had a good time. Indeed, a great group of guys to be associated with.

[BLSamuel]

My first posts about Indy Fest 2009 are going to be the band / performer lists.

Someone left a program at the "acoustic" stage so assuming it's correct, here's The Main Stage performers in order of performance. I didn't get to hear a lot of these from in front of the main stage so I'll not comment other than to say see Professor Thump's comments posted earlier

Cities of Noise

The Grimes Girls

Rebel Harriet

Aquatones

Reloaded

Star 67

Razorback Llama

Tim Brickly and The Bleeding Hearts

Consensus

The Are You Ready's

Sanuk

Rocketbot

[BLSamuel]

I'll try to comment a bit more about the acoustic stage performers as most didn't get to see them though a few others did and apparently could hear them between sets at the main stage. [] (HOSS Rock! - HOSS == Heresies On a Stick Stand - actually KP250's but pretty much a vented professional Heresy)

Please excuse any spelling mistakes as a few of these were penciled in as the day went on. The main stage started at 11:00, the "acoustic" stage at around the scheduled 12:20

p.s. Over half the performers are written in so the wrinkled and torn list of perfomers I have is probably the only complete record of who performed on the "acoustic" stage

Alex Hauptman

• Alex and a small Yamaha keyboard plugged directly into the mixer as was Michaels Shure SM58 microphone
• Alex's thing was to take requests for genre and topic I think - I forget the topics and the songs but I remember he was getting into the first song and was getting into trouble and ended up delivering a very entertaining set mixing some very cerebral humor with music - all improvised on the fly and turned out to be very entertaining

The Young Minds

• Surprise! A 5 piece band but only 3 members could make it.
• They had their own mixer, mike's and mike stands and wanted some reverb so we plugged the output of their mixer into Michael's -
• One small problem, to me anyway, is that they added too much reverb for my tastes and their microphone's picked up too much of the instrument amplifers and drums somewhat burying the vocals in the mix but it still sounded pretty good - Steve (K? from Chicago area) went and asked Tim Brickly who was watching and Tim said there really wasn't anything we could do but it still sounded pretty good
• Delivered a solid set and probably would've been even better with the full band

The Audacity of Youth

• Single young man by the name of Joey playing his guitar and singing
• Michael's microphone didn't seem to pick up too much of Joey's guitar amplifier so to me the vocal / instrument mix was much improved to my old fart ears
• I don't recall much other than I though Joey did a good job. Maybe even very good
• Now I remember more, Joey had a tambourine at his feet which added some nice rhythm to his performance and he was quite good
• Even seemed to have a few groupies, as did others, for lack of a better term

An open slot

• Nobdoy signed up for this slot so Jethro and Simeon the announcers for the "acoustic" stage earch performed a couple of numbers and were both really good
• Plugged Jethro's acoustic into the board along with the SM58 and we were good to go
• Michaels little system, while obviously quite puny compared to the big beast of a PA he put together for the main stage, was still VERY GOOD. Amazing how much clean, clear sound 2 smallisch cabinets can put out and I'm not sure we really pushed it (with the bands, the instrument amplifiers were responsible for most of the instrument sounds though some naturally did get picked up by the vocal mics)
• I wondered out to where Tim Brickly was watching and he commented that Jethro didn't look like a teenager (or was it Simean?) and I told him we had a blank spot so the announcers filled in to keep things moving. Tim seemed to be enjoy several of the "acoustic" stage performances

Catherine

• Irish Dancer with iPod
• I aksed her if she preferred our small wood stage or concrete - she said wood until she saw it was only 4x8' so concrete it was. I'm not sure we used the stage for more than Alex - and I got one of the waiting band members to help me move it back when she came witin a foot or two of running into it while dancing backwards
• Plugged in her iPod and let her dance, she did ask that I stop the 1st number at the 2:20 mark as it went into a new song
• I believe she did 2 more numbers
• Very talented young lady

Rachel Bell

• I think Steve covered Rachel as I went to the main stage to watch Tim Brickley and The Bleeding Heart's set and then assisted the drummer load his gear into his car

Brian and Derek

• I made it back to at least watch most of their set but don't remember if I was there at the beginning...
• Quite entertaining. I think a friend even joined them for at least one song
• They did an Avril Livigne song and did it pretty well though it did get a bit humorous when they tried to sound like Avril
• They were having fun and so did the audience

Steeling Thunder

• These guys were there pretty early watching quite a bit of the other acts from backstage or I think even in front of the stage
• Very talented - I'm not sure I really noticed but Michael did point out that the drummer was a bit off rhytm at times but I was too busy watching the guitar and bass player who were glancing at one another and rolling their eyes at times... and putting out some really good licks
• These kids, even with the drummer being a bit off at times rocked
• They were joined for I think the last number by one of the member's brother's on cowbell

Caliber.77

• One of the more interesting instrument lineup on the "acoustic" stage - ukelele, 12 string acoustic and electic guitar, lead guitar, and drums - I'm not sure they had a bass player - I want to think they did but the band's roster lists only 4 musicians. I guess being in the sun and on one's feet most of the day isn't good for my memory...
• The young gentleman who I assumed to be the leader and played the 12 string electic and 12 string acoustic though the ukele player played it on one number reminded me a bit in appearance of Michael Hedges
• One of my biggest gaffes of the day was asking Garth if he needed to mike his acoustic 12 string not realizing he had plugged it into his funky looking Vox amp - the ukelele player played it into a mike as he did his ukelele
• I'm not sure the ukelele was heard very well as it seemed to be buried whenever I stepped out in front of the speakers a bit - I tried to give it a little more level but couldn't to avoid feedback - probably when we blew a fuse (Michael was so proud... I hope that's all we blew)
• These guys also rocked
• Michael said someone over our way did a killer cover of a Dylan song - but I don't remember so not sure if it was these guys or the previous band but suspect it was these guys given the timing

Meghan Anderson and Brittany Casavant

• Our last act of the day, both stages, they started after the last speaker, Professor Thump, finished on the main stage
• I tried to turn it up a bit to attract a few more people from the main stage but hit some feedback - that said the volume seemed about right for 2 young ladies singing with one guitar
• Meghan had to work until 6 when Brittany or someone came to sign them up so Jethro or Simean or maybe Matt who was somewhat in charge of things pencilled them in to follow the 6:15 PM "acoustic" stage act
• Very nice performance from a pair of talented young ladies
• Their last song, titled "Strong" was dedicated or written for a friend who was going through some tough times - a very personal performance delivered from the bottom of their hearts

I'm not much of a music critic and would need to take notes rather than go on my memory 2 days later. I think the plan was to play on the "acoustic" stage during set changes on the main stage and vice versa. Not sure that happened most of the time. Matt was hoping / trying to herd some of the main stage audience over to the "acoustic" stage but I'm not sure he was real successful. Once or twice we brought things up to try and get a level check for the vocals compared to the instruments and they took off playing. But it seemed to go pretty well.

Gotta thank Jethro and Simeon.

Jethro had a black t shirt from one of the vendors at the gear petting zoo I guess and it was big enough for him and his girl friend when he tried it on so he asked me if I wanted it, so sure, I'm not going to turn down a 2XL black cotton t-shirt. So I'm now the proud owner of a black SWR t shirt. Back has large GET THE GIG with smallish SWR PROFESSIONAL BASS AMPLIFICATION in a box beneath it. Jethro or Simeon also gave me a Fender sticker.

Simeon really came through for us. Providing a couple of microphones and a mike stand. Michael had the aforementioned Shure SM58 and later scrounged up a mike stand. We thought a couple more mikes and stands were going to be provided but they never materialized. Matt also had scrounged up a mike stand so we ended the day with 3 vocal / instrument mikes and stands after starting with one microphone.

[BLSamuel]

Whew that "acoustic" stage post was lllllooooonnnnngggg

So here goes. Ben's thoughts on Indy Fest 2009.... somewhat chronoligical in order but also most likely somewhat convoluted.

Earlier in the week. Exchanged a couple of emails with Michael about what I should bring. I ended up bringing a hand truck we didn't use and the coolers I could conger up. One full sized with handle and wheels. I used to think wheels on such a small cooler was kind of pointless. A midsize, a couple of 6 pack coolers, and a styrofoam cooler I received medicine in along with some ice packs. I also brought my sleeping bag, 2 roadie towels, a pool/ hot tub towel, a couple of shower towels, 1 gallon of decaf sweetened blackened tea, 1 gallon of decaf unsweetened blackened tea, some diet Mountain Dew, some caffeine free diet sodas, my 3 black Klipsch t shirts, plenty of clothes.

Arrived at the House of Klipsch between 11:00 AM and noon maybe. Michael and Steve (Customsteve01) were busy at work in the shop. Michael gave me a quick intoduction to cable building and we ended up loading the trailer with most of the PA gear after Michael and Steve comleted the mixer rack.

Brian (Nola) arrived while Michael was working on cables and I think after Steve left for an interview bringing some fried chicken and other food. The friend chicken ended up being lunch for Michael and myself and maybe Brian also. Brian and I listened to a jazz LP before we headed off to the Klipsch open house with Professor Thump as tour guide.

Klipsch was celebrating something so there was free beer (and soda) along with elephant ears in JJ's cafe. We got a demo of an Energy home theater in a box system retailing for approximately $500 which was a very good sounding $500 HTIB systme though I was a little bummed we didn't get to hear the new Klipsch HD500 but someone had swiched out the demo room. We next did a little demo of a Palladium 2 channel system but cut it short as the amplifier or preamp was having problems. This didn't really bother any of us as we moved on to demo the Palladium HD home theater sound system. Simply stunning of course. I forget what all we watched but I suspect the Legends of Jazz track with John Pizzarelli and Jane Monheit. I've heard or read about both of them but not sure I've heard their music before... Jane's vocals just smoke at least in the cut we listened to. Another artist to add to the list of those missing in my collection.

Then it was time to go buy some food for the crew. We decided to just hit Kroger on the way back to the House of Klipsch rather than Sams Club as the Sams Club is way out of the way. Brian was probably a good influence as I think Michael and myself were in the grab some frozen burgers and maybe hot dogs and whatever else was on the list while Brian thought of other things which tasted really good late Saturday night though we never got to it at the park... but watermelon and mixing boards in hindsight just don't seem like such a good idea...

On to Roger's (IndyKlipschFan) place. What can I say that hasn't been said? This year we got to give a listen to Roger's new TSCM bass bins with Industrial LaScala top hats. One heck of a sweet garage / patio system. We muched out on some Hungry Howies pizza and sodas. The Red Wings game was on the TV upstairs and down though most everyone was upstairs. We were all pretty disappointed as I think everyone was for the Red Wings.

Professor Thump brought along a headphone demo case so I finally got around to trying the Custom 3 which are extremely sweet sounding, Image X5 (still my favorite - awesome sound and really easy to use) and the new Image S4 and Image S2 which are still not available. I was impressed by the new S4 and S2 - naturally they didn't sound as good as the Custom 3 or Image X5 but they also retail for $80 and $50. Extremely good sound for the $. The differences to me with only a couple of minutes with each is that the S4 and S2 are less refined sounding. The S4 and S2 I'd kind of compare like the Image X10 and Image X5 - the S4 has deeper bass maybe but the S2 sounded a bit better to me though maybe just inclined to like it better as it looks kind of like a fattened up Image X5 while the S4 is just even chunkier. At $80 retail the S4 should sell really well. At $50 retail the S2 should sell even better.

I couldn't believe there were still seats in the downstairs home theater. Hockey is quite impressive in Indy's home theater. Bone crunching hits sound, well, bone crunching. I could've sworn I felt a couple of ice shaving's hit below my knee when they were flying on the screen. The Red Wings seemed like they just didn't have the fire so we switched off to another thing or two and checked back a couple of times and finally put on some of the demos Mark had brought with him so we got to see Jane again and a few other things including the beginning of "Shine A Light". I didn't realize that it was also so funny. I think somebody made a comment about it being something like "Spinal Tap" with old dudes. We finally heade back to Michaels before midnight I think as Saturday was going to start early. Very early.

Back at Michael's we watched part of "Spinal Tap" before crashing for the night to get us in the proper mood I guess for Saturday. Was a lot of fun and to be truthful I'd not yet seen more than a few small parts of "Spinal Tap"

Saturday morning came early. Steve (from Chicago, actually Oak Forest I think) pulled the trailer as Michael was afraid his pickup would likely get stuck if the ground was too soft. I ended up loading up the coolers with Brian's help I think and off we went to the park at about 8:10 or so after the trailer left with Professor Thump trailing around 8:00. A flurry of activity unloading the trailer and setting up the Roadie's main PA rig. I helped out with that a bit and unloaded the coolers, food, water and whatever was left in our minivan. Once thigs were underway, Brian and myself went and got some ice as we forgot on the way. I was also going to get somre breakfast burritos and stuff from McDonalds but missed breakfast by 3 to 4 minutes. Naturally I hadn't really had anything for breakfast. We arrived back at the park as the finishing touches were being put on getting the PA set up and the first band ready. I think the first band actually started playing at 11:00 AM and they were surprisingly good.

And the MCM stack with 684's and KP362s and the K69's on a large JBL horn, besides looking REAL SERIOUS... SOUNDED AWESOME. There were a few glitches here and there which I'll not write about but man it is one SWEET sounding system. It delivers whatever the music called for - all out rockin' out to subtle vocals and violin. Just an amazing sounding system.

Steve (Chicago) and Brian set off to get started on the second stage while I went to get something from the Grand Caravan or park it but I think I did that before the first band played, or maybe check with Michael on the set up for the small "acoustic" stage. I think Steve and Brian had hauled everything from Michaels pickup truck down to the small stage by the time I arrived. We set things up on the wrong end, facing away from the main stage, maybe because the stage was there or maybe because I thought that the further away from the mainstage we could get the better? I think I went to retrieve my mp3 player and the equipment had been moved to the other end of the shelter facing the main stage. This worked better for a couple of reasons - there were some picnic tables at that end and facing away from the main stage would've meant the musicians would probably hear too much of the main stage while they were playing. Anyway, I found that my old Creative Labs Zen xTra mp3 player actually sounds pretty good. We were kind of bummed though as we were expecting a couple of microphones and stands and only had the Shure SM58 in Michael's small rig. Micahel's small rig consists of a pair of KP250's, 2 heavy duty stands (HOSS - Heresies on a Stick Stand as the KP250's are basically vented professional Heresies), 1 Shure SM58, a Behringer (?) mixer, a 300 WPC QSC amplifier, 3 mike cables, a long instrument cable, and a short instrument cable. They had provided a partially filled in band list and we found that the "acoustic" stage included bands. Not that big a problem, except of only 1 microphone. But some of the bands had their own and one of the announcers at the "acoustic" stage had a couple in his vehicle we put to use along with a stand. Those KP250's can crank out some serious tunes.

I ended up playing sound guy most of the day with help from Steve (Chicago) and maybe Brian though Brian snuck off and fixed us some awesome burgers and hot dogs. We made it through the day and only blew one fuse on the next to last act which Steve and Brian changed out with a fuse as Michael had spares in the rack that were easy to find. I'm sure way too many attempts at trying to speak with a British accent after watching "Spinal Tap".

The day is over it's time to break things down and load up. We quickly dismantled the small "acoustic" stage system. Brian went to get Michael's truck while Steve went to assist at the the main stage. We had talked about just carrying things up to the truck but I lifted up the road case and looked at the KP250's and decided we could drive the truck down to the stage to pick them up. Brian apparently thought the same after carrying the crate of cables he took with him up to the truck so shortly arrived to pick up the "acoustic" stage system. We then proceeded back to the main stage where most of the big stuff had been loaded I believe. I retrieved our minivan and we loaded up the coolers and food stuff and the large JBL horns with the K69's. We proceeded back to Michaels and I think pretty much unloaded most everything. I was extremely tired (pooped) and lumbering around like some sort of hunchback. When I went to carry the watermelon in the cooler into the house the handle and wheels didn't seem quite so silly anymore. I unloaded some of the coolers while Michael left to pick up the Some Guys pizza (mmmmmm, Some Guys, mmmmmm) along with a Blenheim ginger ale to take back for Alea (think Vernors with more bite). After pigging out on Some Guys pizza and that watermelon, we retreated to Michael's living room to watch "Shine A Light". I'd not yet seen it other than a bit of the intro Friday night at rogers and never reallized it was so funny. Michael, and OB, may he rest in peace, are right, it is an awesome concert movie. I'm sure we were a motley looking crew. Michael was on the sofa head bobbing enough I thought I should put a pillow under it so he woudn't get whiplash but then I'd have had to get up out of the comfy chair, Steve was even sleeping a bit, and Professor Thump was occasionally full out sawing logs as I'm sure I was off and on though I made it to the end and watched some extra's when next thing I know Michael's returned from getting ready to hit the sack and reminds me I should turn off the movie when done to avoid burn in (plasmas can still get that ya know). I remember thinking a bit before that I should go turn things off or put on a relaxing CD but was too tired / sore to move. So I hit the bathroom to brush my teeth and off to crash in Michael's gallery room...

Sunday morning came way to early but I was pleasantly surprised I could walk and most of the soreness had went away. Brian had left for the airport pretty early, probably before I got up to stay up after an early morning trip to the bathroom. Steve fired up his bike and headed out after I had gotten up but before I showered. I put away the rest of the food and loaded up the stuff I had brought and finally left for home about 11:30 after saying goodbye to Michael.

It was a long and exhausting weekend that was somehow way too short. A lot of hard work that was for the most part fun. And very exhausting as I was on my feet most of the day and my legs were TIRED. I'm sure I has quite the site the way I hobbled around Saturday night.

I returned home and found that we were going to watch our daughter's boyfriend DJ's football team (semi-pro, Indiana Mustangs) scrimmage at Indianapolis Cathedral at 5 PM so I was back in Indianapolis just a few hours after I had left. Cathedral's football field, artificial turf no less, is their practice field so we sat on blankets or I laid on a blanket when DJ wasn't in the game, sitting up to watch his plays. Finally headed back home to crash for the night.

By the way? Did somebody win the Image X5s? I forgot to stuff, er I mean sign up [] and my daughter had left to go shopping by the time I texted her a reminder [:$]. Michael said they didn't really get a whole lot of people trying out the 'phones. That's too bad as I think the kids will fall in love with them if they'd give them a try. The new Image S4 for $80 and Image S2 for $50 are killer for the price.

(whew... I wonder if anyone makes it this far [*-)])

[colterphoto1]

Ben- Alex was a hoot. He had a small DX21 keyboard and he'd take a word 'anvil' for instance, hit a sequenced cheesy rhythm mode, invent a melody and lyrics around the word.

Anvils

Pianos

Recreational Vehicles

These are things that would hurt a lot if they hit you over the head....

so on... it was hilarious. He reminded a few of us of Andy Kauffman. The key he was 'singing' is was unimportant- he had us in stitches. Totally FEARLESS on stage. He actually made fun of his nervousness at one point.

M

[colterphoto1]

GREAT writeup of the weekend from your perspective Ben, thanks for taking the time to share all of that. Yeah it was funny to wake up from my 'nodding off' to see you guys all sleeping soundly to the tunes of the Rolling Stones. I'm glad you came to Indy this weekend, I think you learned a heck of a lot, kind of 'trial by fire' sorry about that, but Dad always said that the best way to learn to swim was to be thrown into water over your head.

That second to last band you had opened with 'Welcome to the Jungle'. The guitarists were spot on, the vocalist got all the words out with great delivery but the drummer couldn't keep a beat to save his soul. The guys were cracking up- it was funny to watch but they got it back on track every time. Good kids!

M

[fyrpwr]

Sir , You have an amazing memory.

It was a busy day for all.

Steve

[j-malotky]

I did not get much time with you all, but it was fun to catch up with old friends for the hour or two I was at Roger's Friday night.

Hopefully next year things will work out better for all of us.

JM

[colterphoto1]

Hey John, that was a nice special guest appearance you made. Good to see you and thanks for stopping in. JM even sported a retro Klispch T for his stop at Rogers!

[dtel]

I'm sure we were a motley looking crew. Michael was on the sofa head bobbing enough I thought I should put a pillow under it so he woudn't get whiplash but then I'd have had to get up out of the comfy chair, Steve was even sleeping a bit, and Professor Thump was occasionally full out sawing logs as I'm sure I was off and on though I made it to the end and watched some extra's when next thing I know Michael's returned from getting ready to hit the sack and reminds me I should turn off the movie when done to avoid burn in (plasmas can still get that ya know). I remember thinking a bit before that I should go turn things off or put on a relaxing CD but was too tired / sore to move. So I hit the bathroom to brush my teeth and off to crash in Michael's gallery room...

Now it's a good thing there were not any Roadie groupies around, they would have killed you old folks ! []

Just kidding, that is alot of work moving all that stuff around and setting up and organizing everything, glad it went well, I wish I could have been there.

I do have a question not being a roadie and all, how do you know how loud to play everything when the bands are playing ?

[Professor Thump]

Simple... You push all the knobs to 11...

[colterphoto1]

you go until all the blinky lights are blinking, then you stop.

dang and I had my SPL meter with me all day. I meant to take a reading at the stacks and at the board. How loud do you think it was Prof?

M

[Professor Thump]

Hmmm.... I was pretty close at guessing the other day when we were set up at the House o' Klipsch. We could do the math which would be accurate. 1200 Watts into your MCMs at.....what 75 feet? That would be a close approximation.

We will get Ben on the calculator now that he is a true ROADIE!

[colterphoto1]

How would that calculation go with bi-amplification? Do you just take the 'loud' part of the system- the K2 and MWM-S x 2?

That would be 800 wpc into a stack that's 99 db at 10 feet (or something close to it)

That should be about 129 db at 10 feet, or around 110 db at mix position. That sounds about right for rock and roll.