{"id":5132,"date":"2013-07-23T00:44:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-23T07:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=5132"},"modified":"2013-07-23T08:54:16","modified_gmt":"2013-07-23T15:54:16","slug":"up-on-old-butte-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2013\/07\/23\/up-on-old-butte-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Up On Old Butte Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

[dc]E[\/dc]very time I roll into Butte, Mark Ross\u2019 eponymous 1992 long-player<\/a> \u2013 one of the finer Agit-Folk albums upon which you\u2019ll ever lay your ears \u2013 lodges itself into my noggin’; and there it remains ensconced for the duration of the visit. It\u2019s perhaps fitting, then, that the Montana Folk Festival, now having completed its sixth iteration, has become my concert-going highlight of the year.<\/p>\n

I sang its praises twice before (here<\/a> and here<\/a>), but it seems to just keep getting better. It can\u2019t, of course, match the breadth of Folklife\u2019s four full days of musical mayhem; but the spine-tingling moments now arrive with such plenitude to have the former out in front, by a nose or two, of the latter.<\/p>\n

From the ear-splitting roars greeting Bernard Allison\u2019s Fest-opening guitar pyrotechnics; to the Global Dance Party erupting at the conclusion of Granite Street\u2019s penultimate set, from Ethiopian phenomenon Fendika; and so many in-between; the audience\/performer feedback loop drove the energy again and again to dizzying heights. Maybe there\u2019s something to it: that Montana mountain air to which the artists throughout the weekend made reference.<\/p>\n

Over at the Flickr page, hundreds of photos<\/a> are ready and waiting to be viewed. But in addition to the usual photo and audio documentation, took a goodly quantity of footage this year; which we\u2019ll gather up here, to keep everything neat and tidy. Here\u2019s to it. (Hint: the<\/p>\n

First up, closing out the Dance Pavilion Friday night; a live experience as thrilling as any in recent memory, from the eleven-piece Boston-based Ethiopian Funk outfit Debo Band.<\/p>\n