sorry for my extreme procrastination on this blog. probably the longest one ive ever written. but here is my Dewey experience.
dewey beach music conference 2014 September 17-22: we left a bit later then we planned on Wednesday. there was an accident on the interstate that we would be taking to Delaware. arriving about 7ish and since its now Fall, it was getting dark already. the area of Dewey and where we were staying is beautiful! you can rent just 1 floor of a condo or a the whole house, we had the whole house! quickly we unloaded the car and put everything into the first floor. at this time i didn't get to see much of the house, just the back where there was an outdoor shower for coming from the beach to wash off sand because literally the beach is not even a half block away, its actually more like a couple feet away!! i was in awe, because i love the beach!
we sprung to the beer/liquor store because we didn't know when they close and then to food market. i had already brought some food with me, peanut butter, breakfast bars, can goods-soup, chef boyardee, ramen, and a case of water. i was just going to pick up meat, a pack of chicken and bread. of course we all shared with each other anyway. alcohol wise i bought 2 cases of pabst blue ribbon, wasn't going to buy liquor cause i only do shots here and there but we ended up with a bottle of Fireball and Makers Mark, haha. we got back to the house, where i was given a tour and we put our luggage into our rooms. 4 floors, the 4th is separate just for a roof deck!! with an amazing view of the ocean!! every floor and room has their own deck on both sides of the house! fucking unbelievable!! kinda felt like rock star treatment, hahaha! my room i shared with my coworker equipment tech. we had a separate bed and also a bunk bed, i slept in the bottom bunk.
the first night: we loaded up some beers and for some reason took both bottle of liquor to our friend Jim's condo. Jim is actually well known promotion/booking agent here in Philly and has been around for 20 years. he also is part of the reason that Dewey happens and coordinates everything with another booker. staying with him is also friends we know from bands in Philly. sitting on their deck, drinking, talking and eager for Dewey to begin. after hours of having a good time, our boss actually managed to drink the Makers Mark himself, he was quite lit to where he hard to understand and fell asleep, haha! of course everyone else was quite off too, actually i wasn't. we took our boss home and we went down to beach for some beers and smoke. it was awesome! when we got back to the house, we heard snoring in the 2nd half of the house which held my room, the kitchen and living room, which had TV, radio and even board games. our boss managed to fall asleep on the kitchen floor! hahaha
2nd day/night: we didn't have much to do during the day so me and my tech guy went to the beach. the house provided beach chairs, boogie boards, the works! being September the water was actually quite enjoyable, not too cold and easy to get used to. the only thing, the waves were brutal! i don't know how many times i got knocked over and pushed to shore, haha. actually to the point where our legs were gettin bruised up from the pebbly beach. but that didnt stop us, it was a beautiful day!
we got back to a empty house. our boss had to run to staples to print our flyers to post around the venues. the main thing we had to do was setup our equipment in the main bedroom for in house interviews if we were able to.
at night, we go to the Rusty Rudder, where we would get our badges that took care of our venue entrees and also included free dinners/happy hour for anyone involved in the music conference for all 5 days. there were only a few bands that night and only at Rusty Rudder. most of the after parties were at another bands that were friends with, The Great Socio. they actually had 2 houses, 1 to live, eat and sleep, the other was just the 3rd floor of a condo, the party house. after some beers there we ended up the beach, sat and relaxed til almost the sun rise. it was awesome.
3rd day/night: Friday our 2 other co workers, sound engineer and business or "bullshitter" as we like to call him, haha, were arriving. with also the possibility of my sister joining us because she is friends with the company owner, but she still wasn't sure at this time. they arrived probably right before noon and we had our first day of video interviews inside the Rusty Rudder. we were able to use a empty restaurant room before a certain due to another friend in a band and works at this restaurant. an easy setup, back drop with our banner banner and tripod camera. the rest was just assembling bands and getting our name out there.
as we cleared out of the restaurant, i was doing the video editing so we can upload to our social medias. after the day interviews we were free to do whatever. but keep in mind another early day the next day of video interviews. this night all the bars had bands performing. bouncing bar to bar putting flyers, business cards, stickers, and bracelets for all eyes to find! the strip of bars is only about 6-8 blocks, which wasn't bad at all, since we also were broke but had beer at the house that we kept going to. one main band we wanted to see was our friends, Rowboat Casino. the rest of the night we hung out at the Rusty, waiting for Sweet Leda to play. (at the end ill post some links to bands). the bars close at 1 so of course we go to the Socio house. this time the cops came on a noise complaint. eventually everyone slowly dispersed. we ended up at the beach again!
4th day/night: another round of interviews at the Rudder. being Saturday, more bands were coming in so we got even more interviews! which is great! i had my first bloody mary that afternoon and definitely never again lol!! besides us, there was a showroom with companies involved with music from home(philly) and tri-state area. ranging from music equipment, drum manufacturer, t-shirts, vinyl. really cool! during the last 2 interviews, which we had to take outside due to time limits my sister decided to randomly show up. besides being undecided, she isnt used to driving long distances and by herself.
after a couple hours there it was basically just time to party. being it the last night. a couple beers at the house while we showed my sister around and she got ready. from then it was dinner time. as dinner ended my friend and his girlfriend from home that has a beach house across from Dewey was joining me to enjoy the night of music. there was 2 bands that i really wanted to see, Vajra and The Great Socio. so for me my night was shaping really well.
taking advantage of happy hour and splurging a bit with some of the cash i had, i enjoyed myself at every bar and every band we seen. my friend had to leave after Vajra because he was driving and so we ended back at the Rudder to catch Socio. it was a great show and of course by then everyone was a bit "off" haha! you can only imagine the after party at the Socio house this time! it was packed! with everyone in bands, new bands, friends, new friends. im surpised the deck didn't collapse into the lower condos lol! only this time the family under us complained. the woman "its 3 in the morning can you keep it down?!". being smart and to avoid any other circumstances, we went to the beach! lastly we ended up on our roof deck as the sun was rising. incredible.
5th day/Sunday: hungover as hell. too much beer and jagermeister, hahaha. the 2 guys that came friday had already left to avoid traffic. the other 2 went to the final brunch. me and my sister stayed behind. i wanted to get everything taken care of because we had to be out of the house by 2. since my sister being there we could split cars and have more room for our luggage. we said goodbye and said good bye to Dewey Beach.
Monday i still felt the after math, hahaha. by Tuesday i was back into reality and i tell you, it sucks! those 5 days were just so awesome, i didn't want to leave. wake up, music, party. wake up, music, party. kinda dreamish "whoa, did this really happen?".
^^either Friday or Saturday with my retardo face. lol
here is the final interview, where our friends that we support in their bands and they support us decided to interview us. it's hilarious! i come in towards the end with another retardo face. lol really hoping i can get the video in here!
dewey beach final interview/unclaimed bands
^OK i can't figure out how to embed, since it is not on my computer but on Facebook so ill just insert the link
unclaimed bands facebook unclaimedbands.net
sweet leda band facebook the great socio band facebook rowboat casino band facebook vajra band facebook
low note: Tuesday i found out a friend of mines dad had passed away while i was gone. it was really a punch in the gut. growing up as a teenager with their family and being excepted as one of the family. he and his brothers would call me "ZZ Top" cause of my long hair and beard. we were all just at party the previous weekend for a surprise birthday for their cousin, which is my friend. he was battling cancer for awhile now. i just want to say he will be missed and all the future parties aren't the same without you. RIP <3
today i woke up sick with a sore throat. felt ok yesterday but overnight i felt it become scratchy and to where i wanted to cough up something but couldn't. no sleep. ugh.. ;(
hope all is well on your end.. hope you didn't fall asleep reading this lol
