Photos by Jason Bender

Words by Seth Kallick

I am iffy at best when it comes to going to festivals, so when I found out I was covering FarmFest 2011 you can imagine my internal debate went something like this: “Sweet, a chance to see a bunch of really cool bands!” versus, “Ugh, it’ll be hot, sticky and the combination of Axe body spray and patchouli will most likely render me disoriented and senseless.” Needless to say after the initial girding of my loins, I began to get excited about the prospect of driving out to Carroll County and jamming out for a July Fourth weekend bash. That was before an afternoon of playing music with my friends turned into a morning hangover from which Zeus would’ve been reeling. After a quick shower, a green tea and a small sandwich I began my trek up to Manchester with my notebook and pen firmly in my pocket. Down a twisting road that opened onto lush open land I trekked and lo and behold, I had arrived at FarmFest 2011.

I set up my stuff near the center of the stage, which was quite large, and began to walk around the grounds in search of a story. Off to the right of the stage stood a lonely grey tent which turned out to be the Keg Tent. Auges, a first year attendee said he didn’t mind that the beer was Natural Light, which I think is a pretty good attitude.

A majority of the people I talked to all told me the same thing when I asked then how they heard about Farmfest, “We’re friends with the Carney’s” or “We’re’ friends with the band” or “We all went to school together.” Mostly it was a combination of the three and with that information I ran off to piece the mystery together. On my way I grabbed a beer, so as to blend in, and went to talk to the patriarch behind Farmfest and get his take on why he would ever want an estimated six hundred sweaty people on his land.

Jonathan Carney is a cool cat. Five years ago he threw a graduation party for his daughter and her friends. They got a couple of local bands together, some Johnny on-the-spots, and Boom! It’s now an annual tradition. The patchouli levels were at their most manageable as I walked through “Tentworld” admiring the cynical T-Shirt propaganda and looking for someone interesting to talk with. “Hey, I know you, Hey!” Who was calling me out? I thought and when I whirled around I immediately recognized the girl from the grocery store I shop at, in fact I had just seen her the past Thursday.

Sofia Efremovi held up her wrist which had last year’s orange entry armband as well as today’s. Yes, she too was friends with the Carney’s. She told some of her friends and they all said they would be coming back as long as the festival was being held. So the “Smalltimore” affect had hit me at the festival and now I started to sense the energy and strong positive vibe that this place was emitting. It would only get stranger.

I am pretty sure that I have either seen or played with Jordan and Kenny before; the duo making up the progressive post rock band, Time Columns. I talked to the guys for a bit after their blazing set and we couldn’t come up with where we would’ve met but that’s half the fun about being a Baltimore musician. My hunch is our paths will cross again.

 

 

 

Most of the peeps attending were waiting to see The Flying Eyes who did not disappoint their fans including their newest, yours truly. They rocked out their blend of psychedelic Delta Blues and all was well with the world, or at least the world as seen from the Carney Family Farm.

I spoke with Elias Schutzman who was instrumental in founding Farmfest and the drummer for The Flying Eyes. The band offers much of their own equipment for Schutzman the festival really is a passion project. “We don’t get a lot of Baltimore press, “ he told me, which is a shame because they really are terrific and I most certainly am looking forward to camping out next year and perhaps even jamming with some of the guys.

 

 

 

 

We all know music transcends time and space and in an effort to carve out a slice of musical history a truly delicious and fun gathering has been slowly building steam because of the environment created by Jonathan Carney and his family of Carnies. Pun Intended.

Photos by Jason Bender

Words by Seth Kallick