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It’s Tuesday, March 30th and two full days have gone by since Birds on a Wire. We didn’t get to sleep until about 4:30AM on Sunday morning. There’s still a lot to do before Birds on a Wire 2010 is officially behind us, but before the memories get too foggy, I wanted to thank a few people. This festival was put together with too little time and money and a lot of people were asked to give a lot more than was reasonable and we know that there’s no way this thing could’ve happened without so many people going out of their way to help.

First off, I have to thank my lovely wife, Bethany. One of the coolest things about this festival for me has been how much more in love with her I’ve fallen because we’ve had the chance to work side by side together. Honestly, the festival would have been a disaster without her and if you had any fun at the festival, you should be sure to thank her!

Moving on - David Dalbey. David’s the most talented designer I know and the fact that he’s got a work ethic to match made working with him a pure joy. Thank you David (and Leesh!) for the dozens of late nights tweaking posters and ads for me - and for never complaining. There’s no way I would have asked so much from any other designer, but you always were able to pull through & I always had 100% confidence that I could trust everything you produced would be beautiful.

I’d also like to thank Mike Yates for believing in this idea and getting important people behind it. You’ve always taken Stereopathic seriously and that means a whole lot to us.

Travis - this festival couldn’t have happened without you - literally. Thank you, not just for backing this festival financially, but for your encouragement throughout. A lot of folks say family and business should never mix, but you were great!

The Volunteers - there were so many and you were so awesome! If we had the money, we’d buy you each a car.

David Hoos - for keeping the crazy ideas coming and always being ready and willing to help in whatever way was needed.
Robbie - for making us a beautiful website (almost overnight!) and then putting up with the 10,000 updates and tweaks we threw at you.
Brendan - for being a filter and a cheerleader from the very beginning. This fest had your stink all over it and we like it that way.
Bart - you’ve really stepped up your game for this festival and we noticed. You guys couldn’t have done a better job on sound!
Chelan Lippencott & Evan Reyes & the KZUU kids - for going way above and beyond the call of duty to help us get this thing off the ground. We don’t deserve the kind of support you guys have always cheerfully volunteered to give us.
Shawn O’Neil - for your encouragement and support - it really meant a lot to us.
Austin & Laura Storm - for getting on board right away and pushing those tickets!
Vic Hudak - for all of the help - with tickets, sound gear, and moral support.
Kenna Eaton - for being the first to jump on board as a sponsor.
Nate Wolffe - we don’t deserve friends like this! I don’t know how much you spent on ice (or tickets or travel to Pullman from PDX), but you’ve treasured up rewards in heaven brother!
Ted Powers - for pulling through in the clutch as our one-man street team!
Jon Tollefson - for your eagerness to pitch in wherever needed.
Drew - for your steady encouragement and support and for striking fear into the hearts of our enemies with your big muscles.
Josh Stervenson - for being someone I always knew would just be positive and encouraging about whatever new hair-brained idea or bit of news I shared with you. It’s nice to have nice friends like you.
Suzanga - just another one of the amazing friends we don’t deserve. Thanks for being one of the first to buy a ticket and then for being one of the first to volunteer your help and then for kicking butt left and right. You’re awesome!
EMSI - for letting me take the week off and for keeping food on my family’s table and a roof over our heads. You’ve got to be the most awesome employer in the Palouse.
The Johnsons - for taking the plunge into the unknown with us.
Leah Sottile - for your enthusiasm - we never would’ve imagined you’d support us the way you did. Your articles were beautifully written and they were so fun to read! We’re not accustomed to that kind of quality coverage!
Jennifer Bauer - for helping us get the word out!
Josh Loveseth - for being a believer from the get go & helping us get the word out.
Nathan Alford - for supporting the festival.
Alan Solan - for all of the great coverage.
John Saltarella and all the lovely people at Inland NW Broadcasting - you guys were HUGE and we really appreciate it. We look forward to working a lot more with you all.
Som Jordan - thanks bro - we’re looking forward to collaborating with you more very soon!
Steve Lowe - for taking on security for this crazy festival last minute & doing a great job. Especially, for bouncing that drunk/wigged out girl in the green room - that was pretty pimp!
Andrew Colvin - for believing in this fest and taking the leap of faith with us on JTE.
Seth Fein - for always being ready and willing to help us figure this thing out.
Zale - for the great suggestions, encouragement, and promo on the Pickathon blog.
Eric Gilbert - for always being an enthusiastic cheerleader.
Will Thompson - for your excitement from the start and for picking up those t-shirts and for busting your tail for us wherever needed at the festival!
Aaron Bradetich - for pulling through last minute with some beautiful banners & brochures.
Charlene Jasper - for the coffee and support!
Paul Kimmel - for getting behind us early on.
Trevor Bice - for the last minute lamination and for the good deal!
Tiffany, Sean, and the rest of BDB - for giving Joe a ride and for the super sweet card!
Barton Carroll - for coming out last minute even though the budget was maxed out - you’re awesome & we were honored.
Grace Sullivan & Aaron Stevens - I know you guys did a ton to promote the fest and it really meant a lot to us. Thank you! You guys were amazing!

And of course, to all of the artists - you all were so amazing and such wonderful people. It’s always a pleasant surprise to meet nice, humble musicians and almost all of the BOAW 2010 line-up fit that profile. We hope we can have you out to the Palouse again soon!

I’d also like to throw out a blanket “thank you” to my friends and family who were all so supportive and encouraging throughout - even though I’m sure most of them thought I was crazy.

There are only about 2,000 more people that I feel I owe a “thank you” to. You know who you are (and we do too!). Thank you for coming along side us and investing in our community. Let’s keep making history together and transform the Palouse into a rocking music scene!

Thank you!

Here’s a little check-list/guide to attending the Birds on a Wire festival.

Pre-festival Checklist:
1) Buy your ticket here Tickets are $35 until Friday, when they go up to $45.
2) Out-of-towners: Figure out where you’re going to stay. Here are some suggestions.
*Optional* - RSVP on Facebook that you’re attending here.

Day of Fest Check-list:
1) Check out the FREE Birds on a Wire Festival Preview at the Green Fair over at SEL and see Maldives, Stephen Ray Leslie & the Crooked Mile, and Hueco starting at 4:30 PM.
2) Head over to BellTower anytime after 5:30 PM to a) exchange your ticket for a wristband, b) buy a ticket ($45 day of festival), or c) pick up your ticket at will call. (You will not be able to get into any shows without a wristband! You can only get your wristband at BellTower!)
3) Attend all the shows you want!

Here’s a PDF version of the official festival program

Here’s a map of Pullman for you (click to enlarge). Please note the parking around downtown Pullman (highlighted in white w/blue spots).

Are you on Twitter? Do you have a camera phone? Go social during the Birds on a Wire Festival with the #boaw tag. If you have an iPhone or similar smartphone just add the #boaw tag to your tweets and add to the festival buzz.

The great thinkers of the East traditionally view the world balanced between spectrums of opposites, explains Rocky Votolato, a Seattle-ite musician-philosopher.  ”There’s dark and there’s light, front and back, everything is basically a wave,” his voice continues in a telephone interview.  Volotato works these rich veins of thought into the tension of his guitar strum, maintaining a fulfilling equilibrium between understatement and drama that echoes the core statutes of Eastern philosophy.

Thoughts on the human condition give True Devotion, Volotato’s latest release, a sense that “this is what life feels like on the ground,” as the song “Red River” says in a frame of running drums. The open beat nuzzles its way into your affections.  Votolato sings in a steady voice that is tan like a friend’s drawl, a voice that takes you by the hand and draws you into a sunny afternoon, coffee shop discussion about life and purpose and love.

“We all suffer, we all suffer from the fact that we’re human. Just being in your own mind, trying to figure out what the hell we’re doing here,” Votolato tells me, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. That’s something you have to find out for yourself.” True Devotion helped Votolato to find the eternal Tao for himself, to define his beliefs as well as to fulfill what he sees as a the greater purpose of life by channeling creative energy to create a distinct voice which he hopes will reach people, “make them feel that they’re not alone.”

True, honest devotion is being there for your family, your friends, your loved ones, Volotato continues. But I think that we can also see it in Volotato’s dedication to searching out the subtleties of his belief and expressing them through music that translates into a peaceful yin for the listener’s yang.

This album is rough around the edges, rusty and unkempt like an old glass greenhouse. Glass green bottles ring and bizarre pipes interrupt while Miss Gibson whispers in like a starlet in an evening gown exploring a memory in an old Hollywood suspense sequence. Her hair is a little wind-blown, perhaps, but her pearls are intact and her fingernails are immaculate red. She sweeps through the old halls, caressing the days of yore and wondering where to go now that they are over. And that is how you must hear the association of the voice of Laura Gibson and the music of Ethan Rose in their recent collaboration Bridge Carols.

Rose’s instrumentation doesn’t own the beat; Miss Gibson’s voice chimes in around the edges like she is on tip-toe. That is not a draw-back: it is a choice seeping with sublety. These songs are not commanding because they are residual. Gibson’s and Rose’s extraordinary collaboration is an exploration of mystery – and, down, deep deep down, an exploration of belief. It is an exploration of discovery that challenges your conceptions of music and listening. The music is resonant, and the nuance causes Bridge Carols to emanate come-hither like Lauren Bacall.

Take, for example, “Knife,” my favorite song on the album. The song is about cutting a shadow with a very sharp blade so that you can hold it, save it, dress yourself in it – and, perhaps, not hear its reflection echoing in your mind. “Knife” evokes the memory that defines a life – explores the options of out-growing it, leaving it behind, or learning how to embrace it as a piece of your own self-heritage. This theme of self sine qua non reverberates throughout the album, and makes it a volume of required listening for the inquiring listener.

03/23 - UPDATED SCHEDULE BELOW!
After months of waiting, we finally have a schedule for the Birds on a Wire festival!

You’ll notice that there are just a few holes still, but we didn’t want to leave you waiting any longer!

Here it is (click to download PDF version):

The Birds on a Wire Festival is part of Stereopathic Music’s ongoing labor of love to bring great bands to the Palouse. As it happens, a lot of the artists that’ve come through in the past—arstists like Horse Feathers, Laura Gibson, Sera Cahoone (among many others)—happen to hail from the Pacific Northwest. As we’ve worked at this, we’ve come to a deeper appreciation for the truly great indie folk scene thriving in Portland and Seattle and thereabouts. We’re humbly pleased to be a part of that, not least because that kind of music—that slightly off-kilter, adventurous take on folk and country and other roots music—really resonates with us. This music is part of what pleases us to call the Northwest home.

Another festival worth your attention and ticket-buying dollars is Portland, Oregon’s Pickathon Indie Roots Music Festival. It’s coming up August 6th-8th at the Pendarvis Farm just outside the Rose City, and this’ll be the 12th year they throw this party. In addition to a beautiful setting on 80 first- and second-growth timbered acres, plenty of camping and hiking, and a family-friendly vibe, they’ve got a killer lineup of bands. Seriously, this is almost a laundry list of the artists we want to bring up here—Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Deep Dark Woods, Roadside Graves, Megafaun—and if you go for the Birds on a Wire lineup, you’ll find plenty to dig at Pickathon. Read more

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