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Indigenous will be headlining Saturday night’s performance at the Medicine Park Blues Ball in Hitchin’ Post Park.
After missing last year’s festival, those cool cats in Dirty Red & The Soul Shakers will be doing their thing at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Sweet 16th Medicine Park Blues Ball.
Kalo returns to close out the Sweet 16th Annual Medicine Park Blues Ball with a 9 p.m. set Sunday night.
Fildio: from left — Nathan Red Elk, Clay Commings, Brandon Barnett and Ben Ellis — are part of the “Where Were You in ‘22? Choice Cuts From Central Oklahoma’s Rock Underground, Vol. 3” collection.
Norman’s doom power-duo, Bugnog are rising from the underground with a powerhouse sound.
Indigenous will be headlining Saturday night’s performance at the Medicine Park Blues Ball in Hitchin’ Post Park.
After missing last year’s festival, those cool cats in Dirty Red & The Soul Shakers will be doing their thing at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Sweet 16th Medicine Park Blues Ball.
Kalo returns to close out the Sweet 16th Annual Medicine Park Blues Ball with a 9 p.m. set Sunday night.
Fildio: from left — Nathan Red Elk, Clay Commings, Brandon Barnett and Ben Ellis — are part of the “Where Were You in ‘22? Choice Cuts From Central Oklahoma’s Rock Underground, Vol. 3” collection.
Norman’s doom power-duo, Bugnog are rising from the underground with a powerhouse sound.
“Get ready, this weekend is going to be the big one,” said Rodney Whaley, master of ceremonies for Medicine Park’s outdoor music festivals.
That’s right, it’s Labor Day Weekend and if you’re from around these parts, you know the cobblestone community of the Wichita Mountains is ready to ring out with the beat of the blues. And this one is more special than most.
It’s the Sweet 16th Annual Blues Ball in Hitchin’ Post Park. This year’s got a beast of a lineup and a good time assured for all who visit, according to Dwight Cope, Medicine Park Economic Development Authority event coordinator.
“This Friday to Sunday come hear some great blues,” he said. “It should be funky.”
The three-day festival is free to the public, family friendly and a good time for all, according to Cope.
As always, the belle of this annual end to the summer season is the blues. This year’s lineup is about as good as it gets, according to Cope. A real coup to this year’s lineup is Saturday night’s headlining set by Indigenous.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” he said.
Indigenous is an American blues rock group that first came to prominence in the late 1990s and continues to thrive. They channel the tones and spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana with a hue of blue that’s borne from the band’s Native American spirit.
Check out this 2008 live performance of “Blues From The Sky”: https://youtu.be/q2CPhYpqITk.
Visit the column’s online edition at swoknews.com and click on the links to go directly to this and any other music. As always, the column is free to read online.
Another heavyweight to the schedule is festival closer, Kalo, fronted by Bat-Or Kalo. Born in Haifa, Israel, this funk/fusion/blues beast is a graduate of Oklahoma City University’s music program and has made her mark regionally for dynamic live shows filled with guitar heroics.
Check out Kalo’s take on Cream’s classic, “Crossroads” at the 2014 edition of the Blues Ball. It’s the real deal: https://youtu.be/iAaR4I9yQNo.
A performer who has played at more Blues Balls than he’s missed is Lawton-raised Eric “Dirty Red” McDaniel. He and his bandmates in Dirty Red & The Soul Shakers are excited to return, he said.
“It’s been two years since we last played here and we are juiced,” he said.
This one will be a first for the performers on the Hitchin’ Post Park stage. McDaniel said he is an excited front man.
“I haven’t seen the new stage, but I hear it’s over the water and in the shade,” he said. “How cool is that?”
Having attended several music festivals since the move from the Old Plantation parking lot stage that was the mainstay for many years, this benefits, both, artists and audience. Pretty sure ol’ Dirty Red will agree when he’s not facing the descending Labor Day weekend sun.
McDaniel said returning to the “homelands” is something he’s looking forward to. It’ll be good for the soul to perform for friends and family while making new fans on Saturday afternoon.
“Times are rough and being from the Lawton/Fort Sill area, it means a lot to me to come back home and deliver a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down,” he said. “We love you all and look forward to grooving with you all. Let’s get dirty.”
The columnist will be catching up with McDaniel and get some cool updates on a big project he’s been working and other news from Soul Shaker world.
Until then, check out this burner of a take on “I’m Goin’ Down” from a 2018 hometown concert by the band: https://youtu.be/zOTslf8pqIY.
Here’s the lineup for this weekend’s music:
•Friday: Sweet Brenda & Sour Mash, 7 to 8:30 p.m.; Terry Quiett Band, 9 to 11 p.m.
•Saturday: Lone Star Mojo, 3 to 4:30 p.m.; Dirty Red & The Soul Shakers, 5 to 6:30 p.m.; Skye Pollard & The Family Hollar, 7 to 8:30 p.m.; Indigenous, 9 to 11 p.m.
•Sunday: Amanda Howle & The Big Bad Wolves, 3 to 4:30 p.m.; Big Train & The Loco Motives, 5 to 6:30 p.m.; Chant DuPlantier, 7 to 8:30 p.m.; Kalo, 9 to 11 p.m.
Also Saturday evening, Brothers DuPree will be taking the Drunken Goose Stage at Small Mountain Street Tacos from 6 to 9 p.m.
So, here’s some cool news. Southwest Oklahoma’s own Fildio has been selected for the Choice Cuts Bandcamp collection, “Where Were You in ‘22? Choice Cuts From Central Oklahoma’s Rock Underground, Vol. 3.”
Although the title infers the selected artists aren’t well known, the truth is actually a little different. Fildio is one of the hardest and most consistently working bands from our neck of the woods.
Bassist Ben Ellis said the inclusion is cool, if not a bit surreal.
“It’s kind of cool to be considered part of the ‘rock underground,’” he said, “but doesn’t that also mean that nobody knows about you?”
With singer Brandon Barnett, Ellis said he and drummer Nathan Red Elk and guitarist Clay Commings, the band is gelling into a precision unit.
You can see and listen for yourself.
Check out their newest video for “Can’t Believe You’re Real,” live from the Common Room in Chickasha: https://youtu.be/O4LAXz0rTRk.
For the compilation, Fildio and their song “That’s Just Me,” joins a big range of Oklahoma bands with a range of styles. From punk rock attitude and amplitude from Anarch for A … to Bugnog and Nog, it’s a wild range of sounds on tap.
I made a friend at the Baroness show in Oklahoma City a few months back who told me to check out Bugnog. A two-piece, drum/guitar combo out of Norman, these guys are a nice fuzzy kick in the pants.
Check out Bugnog’s song, “Chuggernaut” and you’ll catch my drift: https://youtu.be/9lBfoseeEZ4.
You can purchase the “Where Were You in ‘22? Choice Cuts From Central Oklahoma’s Rock Underground, Vol. 3” collection for $7 to download: https://choicecuts.bandcamp.com/album/where-were-you-in-22-choice-cuts-from-central-oklahomas-rock-underground-vol-3?fbclid=IwAR2aXdxGcmTqSj0HJ6TYtHjxu3WQgnFySkCmrsEufzHRhet9jBss6-LLHd0.
Soundemonium Musaic Lawton music archive homepage: Scott Rains — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPw__GedGPOUD-wROFcuZ8w.
Along with being the columnist of Soundemonium Musaic, Scott Rains is also a police, fire, Native Affairs and roller derby reporter for The Lawton Constitution.
You can email him at: scott.rains@swoknews.com.
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