Camp Creek: A Party Like it Used to Be

Camp Creek makes its long awaited return to its home base in Mariaville, New York, less than 20 miles outside of Albany, at the Indian Lookout Country Club. After taking a few years off the band comes back for a party like it used to be. This means home grown music, bands you will not see from festival to festival, just friends of the band as well as some local acts. This party is taking place Friday, August 22nd through Sunday the 24th .

The first act Casey Bloom, a natural born guitarist, who as a child said he wanted to grow up to be Eric Clapton, will start at 3:00. Midnight Chrome Muffins, a musical fusion of funk reggae and soul will hit the hill stage right after at 5:00,leaving the door open for the Marks Brothers, a band comprised of Max Creek‘s Marc Mercier on keyboards and vocals, Mark Paradis from his namesakes band on guitar and vocals, Scott Guberman from Rev Tor Band on Hammond B3, along with Dave Stoltz, formerly of Dickey Betts and Great has Southern on bass and Brian “Duke” Konopka, formerly from S.L.A.P. and The Mark Paradis Band on drums. This all-star line up sets the table nicely for Eastbound Jesus, who take the stage at 7:00. This is going to be a party in itself, bringing Jam-grass and Americana together for an amazing sound and even better time.

When combining a keyboard extraordinaire such as Beau Sasser, percussionist and long time Frank Zappa collaborator, Ed Mann, along with Max Creek’s drummer Bill Carbone and Guitarist Scott Muraskwi, the possibilities are endless; a foursome not to be missed. These acts will all be on the more intimate hill stage to get the closer personal feel tot the acts.

Saturday morning at 11, the festivities kick off with Max Creek Percussionist Jamemurrell Stanley and Creek Bassist John Rider for their take on some hot acoustic styling early in the day. Also performing is Matt Ziener, an exceptional keyboardist, known for his time with Dickey Betts. After four years of touring with Betts, Matt was ready to go back on his own and start making his own music. This will be brought to light as the first main stage gig at 12:30 Saturday afternoon.

Jamband scene mainstay Ryan Montbleau will be performing his playful sound to the Hill Stage at 2pm, keeping everyone in good spirits. The Midnight Suns, who will be performing on the main stage at 3:30, live by the motto “Have fun, play good music and meet great people”. That motif is what every band should live up to and the perfect entity to have at this year’s Camp Creek. The ten piece Funky Dawgz Brass Band is the type of band that if someone in the audience isn’t having a good time, they don’t know what a good time is. The funksters bring it from every direction and bring it all over the Northeast. Blowing the crowd away at the recent Gathering of the Vibes Festival is just one of the many attributes these guys have on their resume.

Saturday evening, it will be time for the men of the hour, and the weekend, Max Creek. The guys who have been playing for over forty years under the same name will be playing a set that will go over five hours. This is their set of the year, and they pride themselves on it. If there is a Creek number you want to hear, chances  are you will be hearing it on the main stage starting at 7:00 pm. Just in case that wasn’t enough, the late night action continues on the hill stage with Kind Buds. Bud and Budd Johnson, inspired by Jerry Garcia, play a mix of classic covers to enlightening originals, being which is the perfect way to end Day 2 of Camp Creek.

Day 3 is going to musically start out in a serendipitous way as Jamemurrell Stanley & Drummers of Peace & Equality take the early risers on a musical trip of the African Culture. This group features drummers Bill Carbone and Kabisco Kafscba, men of many talents. Combined with other drummers TBD, will be an experiment with different fusions of sound and making a spectacle not to be missed.

Spi Tune takes the hill stage next, and describe themselves as over aged children playing rock ‘n’ roll music. Being that its is 11 am on a Sunday morning, and Spi Tune seems to be like a band that would best be seen at 11 pm. Not to say the fans won’t have a good time, because Spi Tunes always delivers a good dose of fun, no matter what time the clock says.

At 12:30 the main stage opens with Flipper Dave, a great delight for Connecticut natives. Flipper Dave’s last release Something Simple, was released back in 2002. Since then, band members have been focusing on other aspects their lives. It is a real treat to see them get back together for this one of a kind performance. There could not be a better stage for this reunion to happen then at Camp Creek.

Fungus Amungus out of Providence, Rhode Island, focus on a jazz core with smooth saxophone , bouncy keys and a shredding guitar. These guys will bring the Hill Stage to a close for the weekend. Max Creek return to the Main Stage at 3:30 to play another nearly four hour set.

The music stops at approximately 7:00 with the camp ground to be cleared out by 8.This is going to be fun. More like a family reunion than like a rock festival, may seem kind of weird. But if you stop and think about it for a minute, isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?

Gates open at 9am on Friday and the music ends around 7pm on Sunday, with the campgrounds cleared at 8pm. See you all at Camp Creek!

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