Campfire Punkrock (July 30 - August 3, 2018)
Note: not yet finished but almost have to still add a few things to this....
was an event at the Full Moon Resort in the Catskill Mountains done by Frank Turner and his band The Sleeping Souls and attended by approximately 65 people and one bear.
The Sleeping Souls are Tarrant Anderson, Ben Lloyd, Matt Nasir and Nigel Powell.
The Events that occured over the camp are shown in the original publicity page for the camp.
Even before the Camp began I had joined the FaceBook group that was created for it and thereby managed to get a ride with Krystle Henninger and Josh Bothwell instead of having to catch a bus. On the ride up Josh provided us with music by Frank and similar artists he liked and Krystle told stories about meeting Frank and showed how she was even more fanatically devoted to him than Josh and I added together.
As we gathered for drinks shortly after arriving Frank complimented me on the Will Varley T shirt I was wearing and I quizzed him about being the main artist and masthead for Xtra Mile Recordings. It's strange to realize that someone you admire and respect for their songwriting abilities feels the same way about other artists as well.
He encouraged everyone to step out of their comfort zone and perform with him onstage whether playing music or singing along with him which a lot of people did, except for me as my throat and voice were still suffering after a long flight from Sydney to LA and then New York.
Matt Nasir started talking to me soon after that and I learnt that his favourite James Bond films were From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service where he thought Telly Savalas made a particularly good villain. He also explained how Frank just doesn't get Superhero movies at all "Why don't they just shoot him in the face?"
I managed to embarras myself by telling Matt that I recognized all the band members from the passport like Dive Dive photos only for him to point out to me that he actually wasn't a member of Dive Dive.
Matt is the Ringo of the group not because he plays the drums but because he was the last one to join them in 2008.
The entire band were all nice and friendly and mingled with all us participants and it was like meeting someone in a pub for the first time and you shout each other drinks and after a while it seems like you're old friends from way back. Except for Tarrant. You had to start a conversation with him rather than the other way around.
Here's a video I managed to get of Nigel improvising on keyboards
I recorded more than a dozen videos of various singalongs and music lessons done at the camp and uploaded them all onto YouTube
Stupidly I was one of the few people who didn't bother to actually take a selfie with Frank so there's no photographic evidence of me standing next to him available although Gromit did manage to upstage me in that department
I did however get him to sign his book for me:
Here is the bear who kept popping up every now and then at the camp and was at one point christened Frankie Punkrockbear and who was the subject of a very drunken hunt in the middle of the first night at the camp.
A splendid time was had by all although some few members did go an a drunken rampage chasing after the bear very late on the first night we were all there. The event was even commemorated with T shirts
Although I didn't get a selfie with him I did manage to talk to him one on one a few times and on the last day we did clasp hands at about my shoulder level after I'd given him a very small gift. It felt both cool and geeky at the same time.
See if you can spot me in this photo I'm wearing a Beatles T shirt.
