Back to RustFests Page Gorge RustFest (September 14, 1996)Your Host - Mike Lost Dog CurriePre-Fest NoticeThe Fest Call was put out by Mike Lost Dog Currie.... Having heard nothing, and getting really pumped for this event, we had better organize something quick. Concensus is that many of us will camp at the Gorge. I understand that the campground is beside the concert venue. I hereby take the initiative to call this The Official Gorge RustFest! More info, from John ToschHey all,
Fest Report(Also see the Show Reviews)Well, here is the official first post of the road trip. Lost Dog reporting on the Gorge RustFest, from CBTman's computer in Portland. After getting past a particularly owly border dude, My Buddy Doug and I safely arrived in Seattle Friday night. We were staying at a friend's house, but the friend was not home. On entering the house, we found the fedex package containing the MORE BARN banner inside the door. Thank you Cutlass Supreme. Thank you Computer Cowboy. After a few beers and a listen to Rotterdam '93, we crashed out. After rising on Saturday morning, we inspected the banner closely. MBD remarked: "there's something cosmic happening here, this guy's handwriting is identical to yours and he goes by the handle Cutlass Supreme" (I used to drive one). We added our autographs to the banner and safely stowed it away. We left a RNS disk for our absent hosts, since they had zero Neil in their CD collection (can you believe it?). We drove out to the rust rendezvous point near the Columbia River, to find some rusties waiting. Here's the full list of them, and those we connected up with later:
We had a 6 or 7 car convoy going to the venue. MBD and I were somehow leading the convoy. Big mistake, having no idea where we were going (two Lost Dogs?). As expected, we missed the turnoff, but everybody else exited correctly. We start to panic, and made a U-turn at tone of those gravel lanes on the freeway median that the cops use for chasing down speeders. We then managed to get to the campground and set up camp. In accordance with somebody's recommendation that the quiet side was noisy enough, we camped there. Another big mistake (more later). We placed the MORE BARN! banner on the side of Rustman's van and floated up 3 helium filled rust colored balloons. We had a few beers and played some tunes on my CD blaster. Take a look! (Pic is 27KB. Photo provided by David Mullan.)Quite a few more of the rusties listed above then eventually showed up. The RustFest was going great when one of the campground security nazi's told us that we had to turn OFF (not down, OFF) the blaster because we were on the quiet side. Being resourceful, and not being prepared to be quiet, we moved the party across the quiet/noisy border to the noisy side, and let her wail! Eventually it was time to cook up some food and head over to the show. We entered the venue after a painless search process. Cameras, recorders, bzzrs, and the MORE BARN! banner managed to get by! Actually, there is a good story about the banner: While rolling up the banner at the campground, a security knob yelled over "don't even try to take that into the show, it's against the rules". So we folded it up and wrapped it around my torso, which was no problem at all. Once inside, we bought some t-shirts and headed to our excellent seats in the Rustrow. This venue is spectacular! As for the show, I missed Sponge, but others say they were okay. Patti Smith was good. The last song was Not Fade Away, on which she may have been joined by Peter Buck from REM on guitar. Contrary to Neil legend, when he came on, the skies opened, and it proceeded to rain for the whole show. Neil's show was very very good. The set list was as follows: See the tour review page.I was happy for those Rusties whose first show this was, and also for Rustman, who's first show this was in 23 years! And also happy to be at my 5th Neil show. The early highlight for me was Slip Away, at the end where it really cooked. Neil and Billy and Pancho huddled in a circle and just kept going. The biggest disappointment was HOG. Before that, Neil said "Bonus Song time", and proceeded to play an intro that I hadn't heard before. We had hopes for a new tune, when the familiar HOG came along. It sounded fine, but our hopes were for something different. Fuckin' Up and LAH were most excellent. The dripping wax on Old Black brought Larry running real fast! I hope no permanent damage was done. The five song encore was great, and had no break in the middle. This was appreciated, since the band and the audience were very wet by this time. The rain actually enhanced the show I thought, especially LAH. There was nowhere in this place to hang the MORE BARN! banner. We made an attempt to get it on the speaker structure, but even if that worked, Neil wouldn't have been able to see it. During LAH, I tried to get it to the rusties in Row 6 centre, but whoever was between me and them (I thought they were rusties) would have none of it! I kept the banner and worked my way to the stage (the nazi security dudes had given up by this time). Just after the show ended, we unfurled the banner from Row 2 standing on the seats. Take a look! (Pic is 25KB. Photo provided by David Mullan.)Those left on the stage got a kick out of it, Zeke being one of them. We also turned it to face the remaining audience, and got a good reaction. The rain caused some running of the ink on the banner, but only affected was Cutlass Supreme's intro comment (should have used permanent ink dude, but you'll have another chance). Guitar picks were tossed into the crowd, but I didn't manage to get one. In addition to the rusties noted above, we met Kurt Johnsen from New Brunswick (now that's a road trip!), Barb Hardaway and daughter, plus more that I forget. We wandered back to the campground, but the rain put a real damper on the proceedings. The party ended early and we crashed. It rained all night as well. Unfortunately, Mick and Rick musn't have been boy scouts, because their tent got very wet inside, so they couldn't sleep. At about 4 AM, they decided to pack up and go. Since they were driving me to Portland, they had to wake me up in an adjacent tent. Mick talked lightly at the door "Mike, we're soaked, and we're leaving, etc.". I thought this was MBD having a bad dream, and told him it was okay, go back to sleep. This kept on for a few minutes before I became conscious. In a state of confusion, I packed up and we quietly departed. It was a 5-hour road trip to Portland. I managed to doze in the car while listening to the Mermen, a new experience for me. I slept most of the day, and am now back to normal, or as close as I get at least. After some good tunes, and good food -- thanks to my hosts Mick and Tina -- I am about to crash again before heading to Sacramento tomorrow morning. Looking forward to meeting a bunch more rusties at the brew pub. Then on to Concord! The adventure continues. Will post from California if I get a chance. To all those rustie's who took pictures, especially of the MORE BARN banner at the show, please make me an extra photo. Lost Dog Back to The Rust List page Back to HyperRust Home Page |