|
No sooner had the rumors surrounding Strangefolk's
impending hiatus slowed
to a trickle, when a new and much more exciting
floater began weaving it's way throughout the
Strangefolk community: now that the band is taking an
indefinite break, will the possibility of Reid Genauer making an appearance at
this year's Garden of Eden (Saturday Aug. 30 & Sunday Aug. 31) festival become a reality?
By Greg Kessler |
It seemed to make sense to all the fans who had been splitting their show-going activities between
Strangefolk and Reid Genauer and The Assembly of Dust
ever since Reid left Strangefolk three years ago. There
have been several communications from both bands
attesting to their continued friendship and even a few
special guests appearances of Strangefolk members
joining Reid at his shows, but there have been no
sit-ins by Reid at Strangefolk shows as of yet
(although he did join Luke Patchen Montgomery, the guitarist who took his place in Strangefolk, at one of his solo shows in NYC earlier this year). If it was going to happen, this year's Eden just seemed like the perfect opportunity.
The first wave of speculation began innocently enough, but they were soon followed by statements that plans were indeed in the works to add Reid to the line-up of performers at this year's Eden. No one knew for sure if what they were hearing were shades of truths filtered down from those in-the-know, or if was just the twisting and churning of the rumor mill gears morphing their anxious questions into answers. Weeks passed after the hiatus announcement without so much as a peep from the Strangefolk organization, but then the news section headline on Strangefolk.com read: "Reid Genauer Joins Strangefolk’s Garden of Eden
Line-up". The message therein was as follows:
"The Strangefolk family is excited to announce, that former Strangefolk frontman, Reid Genauer, has
accepted an invitation from his former band to
participate in this year's Garden of Eden Festival.
Details will be forthcoming about his participation.
Genauer's last performance with Strangefolk was in
2000, three years ago at the 5th Annual Garden of
Eden, which drew close to 5,000 emotional fans. Since
then he has been performing as a solo artist and with
his band the Assembly of Dust. When asked about Genauer's involvement at the two-day camping and music festival, guitarist/vocalist Jon Trafton responds, 'Strangefolk recently announced that
we will be taking an undetermined amount of time off
after Eden, which makes it all the more important to
us that our friends, family members and fans join us
at this year’s event. It will certainly be a great
time!'"
By Val Tharp |
There are many bands that can claim a strong fan base that seems more like a community than just a group of music lovers, but there are a smaller number that saw such a community divided in two in the wake of a band member's departure. When Reid left, it shook the Strangefolk fan base at it's foundation -- some divided their time between both bands, others dropped both bands. Some went to see Strangefolk exclusively and others, Reid's Assembly of Dust shows were it for them. Now that it's been announced Reid will be at Eden, it only stands to reason that so will a good chunk of the "strangers" that've been scattered and splintered for the past three years.
Details or no details, I'm willing to bet there will be a huge surge of ticket sales based solely on the hope that Reid will reunite on-stage with co-founding band member and lead guitarist Jon Trafton, bassist Erik Glockler and drummer, Luke Smith. As for me personally, I'd love to see the boys all together again, and of course, hear some of the old classics, but I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to keep from speculating until the details get nailed down. No matter though, it's going to be one hell of a party.... I can't wait for EDEN!!!
Tina Campbell
JamBase | East Coast
Go See Live Music!
|
