On April 14-17, I attended Rock By The Sea (RBTS) FIVE on St. George Island, FL. While this is the third year in a row I’ve attended this annual event, this was the first time I was able to do so as a board member of the organization. This year the event was bigger and better. There was more music, more people, and more money raised for more charities. Those included the Pediatric Brain Tumor Program at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Camp Sunshine in Atlanta, and the Down Syndrome Association in Tallahassee.
While I spent most of the weekend as a volunteer, running the merchandise table, I was still able to take in nearly all the musical performances and have some fun. The weather was perfect. Upper 70s during the day, low 60s at night. Perfectly clear not-a-cloud-in-the-sky type days. Thursday night I arrived down on SGI around 9pm, checked into my beach house (none of my other housemates arrived until Friday, which I have to say was a little creepy at first on an isolated island). But luckily, plenty of my music loving friends were already having a good time at Harry A’s, the venue that hosted all of the musical performances this year.
Probably the highlight of the entire weekend for me was late, late Thursday night, going into early early Friday morning. A group of us went back to the beach house that Stevie Monce and his band were staying in. We jumped in the hot tub, and Stevie broke out his guitar (in the hot tub) and played a few songs for us, including one he just wrote 4 days prior. He treated us with the first live performance of it (outside his band mates). In fact, he sang it for us four times. I personally think this song “Diamonds and Roses” has potential to be a hit. We were all singing along to it immediately. Musician Brian Fechino tried to help Stevie perfect it by switching to another chord. Stevie wasn’t buying it. Someone caught this on video, and if I come across it, I’ll try to post it. This is one of those special Rock By The Sea moments that takes places in the friendly exchanges among musicians and RBTS attendees. We can’t advertise these type of experiences.
I left Stevie’s beach house around 4:30 am to head back to my house – I woke around 8:30 am, couldn’t get back to sleep. There’s something about being on the beach, on this island, that refreshes you in the morning, no matter how little sleep you are running on. I grabbed some breakfast in the kitchen and then went down to the beach. It was empty. There was hundreds of yards between me and the next person I could see. It was nice to just lay out there, take in the fresh air, the quiet solitude and just relax. I almost go to sleep, but then Beth Gosnell called me and told me I would soon be going to work.
I spent all day at Harry A’s. In fact, I arrived over there around 12 noon and didn’t leave the venue once until the music was over at 2am. There would be no after parties for me on Friday night. I went back to the house and slept, only to arise the next day and grab some lunch with a few friends, including fellow board member Allison Carvajal and two Florida State Senators, Paula Dockery and Greg Evers. They are great supporters of this charitable music festival and it’s always great to see them out and about with their fellow Floridians and fellow music lovers.
Saturday was a lot of fun, at the festival and beyond. The Alternate Routes and Tim Brantley are probably the most talented of the performers we had at the festival. I think we’re privileged to see these guys and all the artists in such an intimate atmosphere. And it’s also great that they all stay and hang out most of the time, watching other performances and even getting on stage for live collaborations with each other. Headliner Shawn Mullins was fantastic. His song writing is amazing. My two favorite “new” artists (meaning, “new to me”) were the band named Georgia and Chuck Cannon. Georgia, a southern rock band, actually includes three brothers that hail from Chiefland, FL. They all moved to Atlanta about 10 years ago and then formed their band there, naming it for the state they were in. Chuck Cannon was such a great guy and his bluesy country music is so phenomenal.
I also met a fun band named The Heyday. They came all the way from Denver, driving 32 hours straight (they took turns driving). They told me they had a blast and that Rock By The Sea was probably the most unique festival they ever played at. One of their friends that sometimes travels with them told me that many of the festivals they play a lot of the bands are on drugs, barely talk to each other, etc. But he said, even though they didn’t know many of the other RBTS bands previously, by the end of the weekend they felt like part of the RBTS family. He really remarked about the “community” of musicians and music lovers that makes up Rock By The Sea and the fruitful collaborations that come out of it.
That was a timely statement because a few hours later we would find ourselves at a house party at one of the bigger beach houses that housed some of the artists. This after party took place at the beach house of J.K. and the Lost Boys, a band that hails from Atlanta and the house they shared with B-Liminal, a reggae band from Jupiter, FL. This house party was jammin’ – we were all up on a very big outside patio on the third floor – guitars and bongos and singing were going until about 4am or so.
Sunday morning, we did brunch back at Harry A’s, where we were treated to the music of Jackson Rohm, who played an acoustic set, while everyone in this community said their last good-bye’s to each other. Jackson is the only musician to have played all FIVE of the annual Rock By The Sea festival on St. George Island. He’s such a nice guy and always lends more than his musical talents – you can see him setting up sound and equipment for other bands, among many other non-official duties. He certainly encompasses what this RBTS community is all about.
Well, if you weren’t able to make it, I hope you will join us next year or at some other RBTS event. We do some road shows throughout the year. So, stay tuned. And, here’s a great video you can watch to get you in the mood. It is a 12-minute production that includes sampling of some of the music. I have to warn you though. This is just a glimpse through the window. You’re going to have to come to experience it for yourself!
Rock By The Sea V – 2011 Recap (Video)