(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

“Holy Shit,” my friend said when we found out via the highly anticipated late-January line-up announcement email that Robert Plant was going to play at Mountain Jam with his latest (and celebrated) band The Sensation Space Shifters.

“We’re going to see him right up close,” my friend and original TBR Rambler Bone continued. “That’s awesome. This could be the best Mountain Jam yet.”

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

We did (see the 66 year old Robert Anthony Plant up close) and it was (awesome). To (most) everyone’s delight the setlist was chock full of Led Zeppelin classics.

I wasn’t so jacked though with his performance.  He was a little too nostalgic for my taste. Robert was all done up with smoke and mirrors… up close he looked just like Lou Reed did before he died.

I know, I’m an asshole… it was Robert Plant and I should be grateful.

A feller walking next to me after Plant’s set said.”He was great, especially for an old dude.”

Exactly my point.

And yes, he is the rock god that sings “Black Dog” and “Whole Lotta Love”… but like seeing a great ballplayer in his final years… the hanging on only desecrates his legacy. But that’s me being a selfish music fan.  I’m sure he’s having fun and making lots of pirate booty.

It reminds me of the story that a friend’s dad told me while talking baseball over a pint. He regretted seeing Micky Mantle in his final days as a ball player.

Seeing an over the hill Robert Plant was not why I make the pilgrimage to Hunter Mountain the first weekend of June each year though!!

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

MY (co-) FAVORITE MOMENT OF MOUNTAIN JAM 2015 WAS…

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

watching Benjamin Booker, the soft spoken young guitar hero heralded for bringing a a fresh punk edge to the blues, rehearse on the alternate stage during Dopapod’s early day set.

When I first heard Booker and Co start playing somewhat loudly before it was there “go” time, I immediately thought of Sean Lennon and his band (Ghost of the Saver Tooth Tiger) last year at Mountain Jam (click here for Mtn Jam 2014 story) smugly drawing attention away from the main stage before his “go” time…BUT, this time it was different.

Really different.

Benjaman Booker was a caged animal.  Booker and Co. (which includes his 70’s Marlboro man mustached bass player and kick-ass drummer) were chomping at the bit to start playing.  I felt like I was watching a champion bull spinning about in his pen before “go” time OR like a prize fighter prepping in the trainer room before “go” time.

It was exciting to be so close to it all. For my tastes, it was thrilling to be seeing the real deal. This is what rock and roll is all about.

Fun, brash rock and roll all rolled up in a black panther black denim jacket buttoned up like a military vest.

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

Here is a video I grabbed on my iPhone while waiting for Big Ben start his set.

I love the raw energy of it all…

I thought at the time that this was why I treat Mountain Jam as a high holy day each June.  Musical moments like this.

The greatest thing about Mountain Jam (more then than other festivals) is that you “participate” in Mountain Jam.

You are not “attending” or “watching” Mountain Jam like people do at a typical concert or show.

Here is some great clips of “participants” I filmed…

At Mountain Jam everyone can be part of the fun.

Where else is the world is the “elevator music” (between set background music) Frank Zappa! Only on The Mountain.

Whether it’s a church or a club or a job, people are constantly searching for something to belong to. The only commitment is 4 nights of non-stop music participation. Mountain Jam provides the kind of life experience with substance (at least for me and my maniac music friends and others like us)!

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

Warren Haynes has done such a remarkable job in cultivating the Mountain Jam experience over the years (this was year ten).  He is like a great New Orleans gumbo chef; there is magic in the way these wizards cook up basic ingredients.

In Warren’s case, his mix of bands old and young, stage set-up and presentation, venue and vibe are unique and can’t be replicated or surpassed.

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

After a traumatic experience a few years ago, I braved the gondola ride again.  Good thing Texas Jay was there to keep me clipped me in.

AWESOME COOL MOMENT #2

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

The Jackie Greene and Joan Osborne led Trigger Hippy was “supergood”. With Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman pounding the skins and sturdy guitar wiz Tom Bukovac on lead (a favorite of Charlie the Mets fan), Trigger Hippy is a modern day touring supergroup in the Derek and the Dominoes or Delaney and Bonnie tradition of rock and roll.  During the set the band turned up the intensity level on the festival several notches and ignited the mid-day mountainside crowd.

This is the second year in the row that Jackie Green has showed up large at Mountain Jam.  Good for him.  He’s a real playa’.

Go get it, Jackie!

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

MOMENT #3 – Dark Side of the Mule

At midnight on Friday evening, Warren Haynes and his band Government Mule plus a host of soulful guests (like horn man Ron Holloway) performed deep cut Pink Floyd classics for a most interested audience.

Just as the clock hit midnight the beginning noises to Echoes begins.  The band tears through Pink Floyd’s most cherished songs and anthems with just enough of their own spin and edge to make them their own but keep the integrity of what Floyd does.

F’ing stellar!

Here is the setlist.

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble) This last photo was taken at the end of the set (after 2 am) from our mid-hill designated perch (w Kova) looking down during Comfortably Numb.

 

#4 – Late late night with The Budos Band and Big Gigantic.

Walking back from our townhouse to the stage front, I felt like I had paddled with Captain Benjamin L. Willard (played by Martin Sheen) against the grain into the heart of darkness as the late night (2:00 am crowd) shook the Mountain.  Kinda like the horse shaking the stagecoach driver just to let him know who is boss.

Here is a short video clip I shot before heading to the inside stage to watch The Budos Band with the tallest member of our merry bunch.

The Budos Band was spectacular.  Like Benjamin Booker, the music was raw and nuclear.

Of everyone I saw (and saw most everyone), I am looking forward to seeing The Budos Band the most.

Here’s a quick glimpse of the groove that surrounded my stage right late, late, late night post!

#5 – THE OTHER (co-)MOMENT OF THE FESTIVAL WAS…

The sick performance by Alabama Shakes.  They stirred up the crowd in the closing set of this year’s festival with such bravado… I was super happy to be a participant in their set.

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

The band’s new (and second album) “Sound and Color” translates very well to the live stage.

I am so happy for Brittany and the band.

Here are two short Instagram videos I shot first w my iPhone and second with my night vision goggles!

#6 – Government Mule plays “Dreams” as the “warm-up” for Saturday night’s headliner The Black Keys.  After a low-key first set, Mule “tore the cover off the ball” (like a Mike Stanton upper deck blast against the Mets) in the second set.

Standing on the front rail for most of their set, my hair looked like the Maxell Tape ads guy from the 1980s. I was literally blown away.

High quality video or Mule’s set on Saturday (before Black Keyes) is up online…watch below.

“Dreams” starts at 1:22… during which we were standing a few rows back from the stage left rail (our official “post” each year).

There were many other super awesome very specific moments scribbled in my Field Notes book, captured on my camera, and more importantly etched in me head, but most of them will stay there just for me.

Moe. Marco Benevento. Grace Potter. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Amy Helm. Larry Campbell and members of Little Feat. Railroad Earth. Shake Graves. Rusted Root. Simon Felice.

If I wrote on everyone, this story would never end.

)

Flap Your Wings (FYW) rancheloeros!

The 11th Annual Mountain Jam takes place June 2 – 5, 2016. Mark your calendar in pen.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

I wrote a short open letter entitled “Dear Warren Letter” discussing Mountain Jam 2016 line-up. (click here to read)

Below are some additional photos I took at Mountain Jam 2015 for your viewing pleasure:

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)

 

(Photo: MJ Beckerich / Thunderbird Ranch Ramble)BTW… I am terrified (and white knuckled) as I take this selfie from way up on the gondola.