Best of the Midwest

It’s only been a month since my trip to Europe and already I’ve sprung for the road. Desire, close friends and family and a really chill boss have all combined to make possible an excursion that has seen a first leg from Philly to Chicago to Iowa and now Denver.

   

Currently I’m sitting poolside at an apartment complex in downtown Denver, CO. The sun shines a little brighter through the clouds here and the air is full of fresh mountain air with an occasional waft of natural herbs. Volleyball is king here and the outdoor leagues are seriously competitive. I burst a blood vessel in my arm last night trying to bump the other teams serve. I also got flagged for grazing the net after throwing down a devastating spike.

Denver is also the most conscious farming city I’ve ever stepped foot in. Just outside the city I passed a sign on the side of the road that read, “If you ate today…thank a farmer”. That pretty much sums it up. Not a lot of people process how exactly they get the food they eat, and just like the emphasis on farming communities in Ireland, Denver has the same type of outlook that inspires people to buy local and eat right.

Before I got to Denver I had a chance to pass through the farming communities of another state; good ol’ Iowa. A lot of people told me how boring the trip would be through Iowa, as it is covered almost entirely with rows and rows of corn. However, I definitely took a liking to the green pastures, corn row patterns and slightly rolling hills all along the highways. 

John Neal's Mural in Des Moines, IO

The goal passing through Iowa was not only to continue the adventure to Denver, but also to make a stopover in Des Moines where a first time music festival I would be volunteering was set to take place. Due to flash floods early in the week (which would’ve made camping a nightmare as it was set on a river) it switched locations at the last minute to St. Charles, just a half hour south of Des Moines. This ended up working out even better as the main stage was set at the bottom of a hill surrounded by a natural amphitheater of trees.

First time festivals are always an interesting experience, especially when you’re a volunteer. The event essentially unfolds in front of your eyes, making improvisation and adaptability crucial to the festivals functioning. Of course, there’s a basic makeup that makes every festival a success, but there are a lot of X factors that go into making each festival unique, such as location, crowd size, weather predictability, so forth and so on.

As far as Hinterland went, you got a pretty accurate idea you were somewhere in the Midwest. All it took was a look at the main stage video screen, which was hung with metal cables by a giant forklift. You could also get an idea from the giant glass mason jars that hung like chandeliers above the stage. Even if you were blind, you could still tell you were around the Midwest with all the Minnesotans and North Dakotans who speak like Canadians.

I actually got to camp next to a couple from Fargo, North Dakota and we had a really fun time bonding over music and art as we strategized ways to avoid the thick Iowa heat. Music festivals, and camping in general offer an intriguing dynamic because you find yourself in a temporary space that you treat as your own home. The regular hospitality you would offer guests back home you get to share with complete strangers who often times, as in my case, become good friends.

The performances at Hinterland were quite amazing that weekend. Old Crow Medicine Show put on a vibrant and enthusiastic performance that turned the place into a hoedown as they closed out the festival Saturday night. Lucius, one of the bands I came to see also made a whole new following of fans with their soothing vocal harmonies and on point percussion. St. Paul and the Broken Bones, a seven piece from Birmingham, AL was easily one of the standouts of the festival. The lead singer showed up in his traditional suit and tie get up and brought down the house with some of the rawest blues singing you’ve ever heard. Probably my favorite performance of the night was by seasoned folk touring ensemble Yonder Mountain String band. With the recent addition of a new female fiddliest the band brought you along for a ride you didn’t want to get off of.

Hinterland. St. Charles, IO

Out of all those amazing performances, the best may have been the one we had back at the camp site after the shows that night. I was determined to get a crew of musicians together as the night before there wasn’t much going on, and  by selling tie dyes early that day and checking wristbands the night before I had already made friends with at least five people who had instruments with them. We set a place and time right after the shows let out, but neither the place nor time held up as its quite hard to round up five plus people to jam together, much less last minute at a music festival.

However, everything ended up working out as it always does. We got together two acoustic guitars from Colorado, a steel one from Cedar Rapids, a harmonica acoustic guitar combo from Iowa City and myself on Djembe playing percussion. We also had an amazing female vocalist from somewhere in Michigan. All of this culminated in some extended jams the likes of the Beatles, Shovels & Rope, Neil Young, and Mumford and Sons. A few highlights from that jam session included a cameo by a white rapper from Minnesota and a collaboration between the steel guitar male singer and the female singer who transitioned beautifully from “Wagon Wheel” into Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”.

That jam session was just another example of how music can bring people together. It may have been on a much smaller scale then the festival, but it was also on a much more personal level. Hinterland taught me a lot about Midwesterners and it also rekindled my old flame for volunteering and helping to serve others. This upcoming weekend I’ll take part in another music festival in Loveland, CO that combines Music, art, yoga and workshops on social change. That should make for another amazing experience, which I’ll surely include on here, but right now I need to walk my good friends white lab, the least I can do for housing me in this incredible city they call Denver.