Happenings on the Scene – Rockin’ recollections from Minnedosa

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/08/2012 (4992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Oh yeah, baby — August long is almost here!

Are you ready to rock in the fields? With a lineup that includes a great mix of classic and newer rock (much like KX96), Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa 9 should be nothing short of spectacular.

Prepare to be blown away by smokin’ hot sets from the likes of Streetheart, Saga, Finger Eleven, Default, The Northern Pikes, Platinum Blonde and many more.

There’s also the rock-off to see which local bands will come out on top to play the big stage and open for the major acts. And we can’t leave out the ever-popular Sunday afternoon deck jam hosted by Saskatchewan rockers Shattered from 1-4 p.m. (deck pass not required).

However, before we get all caught up in the high octane, rock ’n’ roll fever of the upcoming long weekend, let’s take a few minutes to do what most RFM regulars will invariably be doing throughout the course of this weekend — reminiscing and sharing some of their fondest RFM memories from all the festivals that have been held out near Minnedosa.

So many great artists have graced those stages out by the lake. Whether it was with friends at your campsite, getting an autograph and a photo from your favourite rocker in the artist’s tent, chillaxin on the VIP deck or just cheering along with the huge crowd during a stellar performance from your favourite group, RFM is the birth place of many a memorable moment for rock music fans in this neck of the woods … or should I say fields?

Fresh off of their big win at the Manitoba Tourism Awards — Rockin’ the Fields was honoured with a Partnership award for its joint effort of fans and community to hold a successful August long weekend rock festival for nine consecutive years; the festival comes together with the support of 160 co-operative members, 11 board members, more than 300 volunteers, sponsors and of course, the thousands of fans who attend the festival each year — Tom Crook (promoter) and Vaughan Boles (secretary) took some time to share their rockin’ recollections of past festival highlights.

The following is an edited version of our conversation. You can check out the audio version of the full chat session on my blog at KX96online.com.

Frank: Before we get into your “rocking recollections”, let’s discuss site preparations. They’ve been underway for a few weeks now and I suspect all the crucial things have been taken care of?

Tom: Yes, plus there have been a lot of renovations. A lot of the dressing rooms have been renovated. We moved a new trailer in for our kitchen and stuff like that. We renovated some different things, so we can actually feed the band. We revamped our showers too.

Vaughan: The showers did not enjoy the winter.

Frank: Uh oh.

Vaughan: They kind of died on us, the coverings. This time they will be much nicer actually.

Frank: So, how many shower stalls are you going to have there?

Vaughan: There must be 20 on each side. The only complaint we have had about the showers is that they are never warm. They are sometimes.

Frank: What about buildings on the site? Are the beer and food vendors going to be in the same area?

Tom: There is a merchandise booth beside the lower stage. Last year we actually shared the merchandise booth with the bar, and it got a little bit chaotic in there because the bar was obviously really busy. Now we brought in a new booth right beside it so there will be a separate merchandise area, and ideally autographs get signed there and things like that.

Vaughan: As a result of numerous requests from the ladies, there are going to be some washrooms down in the lower section this year as well.

Frank: Will the artists’ autograph tent be in the same spot?

Tom: Pretty much and it’s a fair sized booth so they will be able to do autographs from there.

Frank: OK, that’s down in the bowl. I understand the stage that you have has some add-ons?

Tom: Yes, there are some new speaker enclosures, instead of actually having them on the stage which is really nice.

Vaughan: They’re quite a bit higher, which adds room to the stage.

Frank: So a little bit more room for the bands to run around. Excellent! Has the site been sprayed, including the camping area?

Tom: The bugs aren’t that bad this year, not as bad as previous years, but we still sprayed just to keep everybody happy.

Frank: There are a lot of volunteers needed to get this done I’d imagine.

Tom: Yeah, it’s unbelievable how many people step up. There’s such a great support from the RM and the town. The old-timer hockey club came out one night and did a pile of renovating in the change rooms and stuff like that. You know half of them are backyard carpenters.

Vaughan: As well, the service clubs came out to the booths that they are using to sell liquor and what-not, scrubbing everything down for us. We couldn’t do it without the volunteers.

Frank: So the bands are all signed up, ready to rock. Are the ticket sales on track?

Tom: Ticket sales are right on track. We always get a great walk-up crowd, which is great, but we are above last year for sure, which is looking really positive at this point.

Vaughan: And our campground is starting to look pretty much filled — it’s never had that much red on it for the reserved spots.

Frank: Is there some overflow if need be?

Tom: Yeah, it’s basically Campground B. If it comes to that, we can open that.

Frank: Are there any new vendors this year?

Vaughan: I know that the perennial favourite is taco-in-a-bag.

Tom: And there is somebody doing taco-in-a-bag this year. There are some repeat vendors but there are some new ones. There will be a little bit of everything out there for sure.

Frank: Let’s get into some of the memories now guys. Part of the fun of the weekend is sitting around the campsite prior to getting up to the site and seeing your favourite band, having a few frosties and just kicking back and recollecting your favourite memories of RFM, maybe even as far back as the ’90s. People are still talking about those years. You two are the guys to talk about for some key inside glimpses of what goes on behind the scenes.

Vaughan: Well, one that I will never forget frankly is, sitting in the dressing room with Jerry Doucette. He is an extremely personable, wonderful guy and he brought out his guitar and he’s like, hey Vaughan, listen to this. He wrote a new song, tell me what you think and he starts strumming away and the other guitar player is like, oh yeah, yeah that one. He picks up his guitar and starts playing and they start singing. I am sitting there thinking, this is how it’s done. It was a really cool moment. I felt very privileged to watch that and be there. Another one was the very first year that we did this — Tom will attest to this — I was a basket case with it and when the first band came on, I couldn’t even be out front to watch, I was just expecting something to go wrong. So I was behind the stage, and the guitars started up and nothing exploded, nothing fell apart — I just broke down like a little baby. It was like ah.

Frank: Just relief probably, knowing that you pulled it off. Actually I was there and I saw when you were going off the stage there. Oh, he’s having a moment. I know how you feel, it’s a good moment.

Vaughan: It’s a good moment — I mean, there are a lot of good things about this festival. It keeps us going I guess more than anything. Helping out the community is great, but it’s the concert that’s important to a lot of people. However, when you think about how much has been turned over to the volunteers and the service clubs it’s a lot of money — pushing around the $150,000. To have that much money given to these people in the small communities like Minnedosa, that’s a lot.

Frank: Big influx of cash. Tom, what are a couple of your rock recollections from RFM years past?

Tom: One of the most recent ones was three years ago when we had a huge storm and the Kings were on stage. They got their one song in and unfortunately they got rained out. The stage got hit so bad, that we weren’t sure if we were going to start it again. I was running back and forth, just trying to figure things out, talking to the sound company and everything. Then it clicked to me that we had the deck. So I went over to Don from the Northern Pikes and said, “Don, come for a little walk with me.” I took him over to the deck and I said how do you feel about playing here? He said, “Yeah we could do that.” So Terry Ross, who was doing sound, set his system back up and they actually played on the deck, as opposed to playing on the stage. I mean, how sweet was that? So they gave back, it was really nice, it worked out really well. They didn’t get to play a whole set because it ended up Glass Tiger did play but I mean they still did half a dozen songs to a lot of happy people that were underneath that tent there … Billy Idol was another one, he was fabulous to work with and he wasn’t going to be doing an autograph session because he was running out of time. My sister-in-law whipped him up this great vegetarian pasta dish and he said, “Where do you want me to sign?” He actually got off his bus, surrounded by tons of people and did a bunch of pictures, autographs, shook hands and everything else. Then got on his bus and drove away. Just anything to give back, you know.

Here are five of my fondest in no particular order.

• One of the coolest memories out of all the Minnedosa festivals was getting hooked up via the KX phone lines for a last minute interview with Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen prior to their Saturday night headlining set back in 2001 or 2002. During our chat he actually asked me to make up their set list! Naturally I thought he was joking since he has a reputation for such behaviour; however, it turns out I was wrong. Later that evening as luck would have it, a good friend of mine spotted them out by their dressing room backstage and asked if I could set up a photo op. When I introduced myself to Rick, he said, “Hey, where’s our set list?!” They obliged for the photo and just as we were getting ready to say cheese, Dan McCafferty of Nazareth was strolling by on the way to his bus. The Tricksters called him over for the photo op and he kindly obliged. Just prior to the picture being snapped (above), I remember Rick attempting to get me in a head lock.

• Getting the opportunity to not only interview Bill Henderson of Chilliwack but having my band (The Whip) open for that great Canadian group at RFM 2004.

• Playing the side stage with Stepping on Mars prior to the release of our debut CD “Landing Party”. Then enjoying the after-party jam session at private camp sites that our good friends had down by the lake. The moon shimmering off the lake provided an amazing backdrop for our impromptu camp fire jam. It was truly a magical moment. And fortunately nobody fell in the lake!

• Jamming with a group of local area musicians on the side stage during RMF 2. As I recall we did Mustang Sally and SRV’s Pride and Joy. Not a bad way to start the day! Later that afternoon we wound up jamming at a campsite together.

• Sharing a wobbly pop and enjoying a chat with Darby Mills whilst enjoying a Zeppelin Tribute act during RFM 3. I always knew she was a huge Zeppelin fan!

RFM 9 Schedule:

Friday, Aug. 3

Main Stage

(Minnedosa Credit Union Stage)

7:15 p.m. — Six Foot Stupid

8:35 p.m. — The Northern Pikes

10:45 p.m. — Kenny Shields & Streetheart

Upper Bowl Stage

(Heritage Co-op Stage)

10 p.m. — Four Hole Punch

12m idnight — Take With Audio

Saturday, Aug. 4

Rock Off V with: White Trash Heavy Metal, When Planets Al!gn, Panic Land, Recovered, Until Red & I Candy

Main Stage

5 p.m. — Effect & Cause

6:40 p.m. — Wheat Monkeys

8:40 p.m. — Default

10:40 p.m. — Finger Eleven

Upper Bowl Stage

6-8 p.m. — The Bad Marleys

10 p.m. to midnight — Red Seed

12:40 a.m. — Shattered

Sunday, Aug. 5

Deck Jam 1:30-4:30 p.m. featuring Shattered

Main Stage

5 p.m. — Rock Off V winner

6:40 p.m. — Barry G Player

8:40 p.m. — Saga

10:40 p.m. — Platinum Blonde

Upper Bowl Stage

6-8 p.m. — Dagnabbit

10 p.m. to midnight — The Junk

12:40 a.m. Free Byrd (Skynyrd tribute act)

* All times starting times and may be subject to changes. Rain or shine event — no refunds or exchanges.*

Frank McGwire is a radio personality and booster of the music scene in Brandon and Westman.

» Frank@kx96.astral.com.