Anyone go? I missed last year’s (I was only four blocks away but had to work), this time I was on the wrong coast!
Edgar Winter was always an ARP man in the 70’s - and his sounds and playing stand among the best. We made him the “Frankenstein” sounds for Moogfest, and I gotta say, the Voyager does a danged good job of it! He’s a SUPER nice guy too…
Brief report: Adam Holzman, Jack Hotop (of Korg), Jordan Rudess, and Edgar Winter were my favorite performances. Will Calhoun was also impressive on synth percussion, midi flute, and "real drums. More to follow later. TZ
I went last night and thought it was incredible! All the acts were really good. I particularly liked that guy from the band Particle tearing it up on that Moog Source.
Oh yeah who was that guy who went up by himself and played that really bassy synth song? (It was pretty funny too b/c after he finished this guy yelled out “that was the sound check”)
Adam Holzman’s tribute to Jan Hammer was tight . . he nailed Jan’s “my mini sounds like a lead guitar” sound and style.
Jack Hotop was just a blast . . he had such a great presence on stage and his Voyager soloing was superb (although I guess most of the huge sound was coming from the Triton’s sequencer).
Jordan Rudess is always great . . big prog sounds with complex time signatures . . shame he played all the moog solos from his Kurzweil! but it was nice to see a model D and Voyager side by side (IMHO both Adam Holzman and Jordans best sounds come from the model D).
Edgar Winter . . not my thing but highly entertaining . . very talented musician . . there wasn’t an instrument on stage that he didn’t have a go playing (and playing extremely well).
Well done to Volts per Octave for opening the show . . that couldn’t have been easy.
Down sides . . . there were a couple of bands that didn’t even play a moog on stage . . and too many Korgs on stage for my taste (Nick, dump your MS2000’s for something more retro!). I didn’t go last year but to me, last years line up was much more “moog” then this years . . this year, where were the likes of Jan Hammer and George Duke?
Wishing Bob a speady recovery.
Mal
Oh yeah who was that guy who went up by himself and played that really bassy synth song? (It was pretty funny too b/c after he finished this guy yelled out “that was the sound check”)
That was Jack Hotop . . apparently from Korg (hence the big Triton sequenced sound). He wasn’t billed so my guess is that he was there supporting all the Korgs on stage and just stepped in to do a number . . . he plugged his external hard drive into the back of the Triton . . dialled up his song and off he went.
I think at that point Trevor actually asked if anyone from the audience wanted to come up and play!
Mal
Yeah Deodato did “Super Strut” & “2001,” no Moogs played in either of those tunes. Seemed like Jason Miles got a lot of stage time playing non-moog tunes. He put together a great “funk” for the show.
It almost could have been dubbed “Korg Fest.” LOL! The Triton is just such a popular & powerful keyboard.
Hello,
I wanted to attend however, was financially tapped by month’s end. Graduations and birthdays are major May/June events for me.
Adam Holzman is based in NYC and plays in the area quite often.
Have seen him play with his own lineup, in addition to playing in his wife’s
(guitarist Jane Getter) band.
Hopefully, I’ll attend next year’s Moogfest.
Regards,
LWG
I agree with some of the statements above…I’m not a MOOG purist, but, there were too many non-MOOG moments.
The highlights for me were Don Preston’s Akashic Ensemble (cool’n’moody electronic music), Will Calhoun (once he got started his one-man-show of techno-world-soul music was killer!!!), Steve Molitz (Particle), Adam Holzman (both Molitz and Holzman were that rare combination of being technically proficient AND soulful)… and seeing/hearing DJ Logic sit in with different artists…especially doing his awesome scratchin’ too Edger Winters “Frankenstien”!!!
But, I really tip my hat to Nick and Anna of Volt Per Octaves. They were terrific! To me, it’s much more rewarding and interesting to hear new artists like these folks. Most of the other performers are well documented on CD and seeing them perform is no big deal (IMO). But, new acts…now, that’s where the excitement is!!! It would be great if next years MOOGfest had one or two big names (like the rumoured commitment from Eno) and several lesser or unknown bands like Volt Per Octaves.
Overall it was great being there and it looked like everyone was having a good time!
What’s funny about you liking volts per octaves is that they were possibly one of the only artists not paid to play.
They won a contest, but had to pay for their own transportation, as far as I know.
In effect, THEY paid to play.
I don’t think many of the performers “got paid.” Maybe Edgar, and Jason Miles for putting the band together. Jordan, Deodato (not Deodata) and Adam are NYC guys, a gig like this isn’t a “money gig” especially with so many artists. It’s more a prestige thing and “an honor to be asked to play.”
It was a diverse bill of artists, I enjoyed it, and will try to go agin next year. TZ www.zkgmusic.com
Who was the guy giving out his business card to each musician?
Mal
Wow.. Moogfest was crazy…
I had a few big dilemas holding back my performance. It’s amazing that we sounded like anything at all.
Upon finding out that we won I started to get a little freaked out because my minimoog (model D) was having some Osc drift problems. Kevin Lighnter was upto his head in Mini’s and was gonna be unable to fix mine in time. We found out 3 weeks before the show exactly. So Moog Music being cool like they are, sent me a Voyager Electric Blue to become familiar with and bring to the show. I signed something saying I can have it for 45days or payfor it but am solely responsible for it. I was in rapid communication with the KB tech for the show, Jack Hotop of Korg USA about the fact they they wanted to streamline the number of synths on stage. So He told me that since there would be four on stage I wouldn’t need to bring the Voayger they sent me. And considering that Jet Blue, the airline I took didn’t offer any insurance on the luggage was a concrete factor in me not bringing the Voyager or any of my old moogs. And I was glad when I saw the way the jerks at the airport were throwing all the luggage on to the back of the baggage claim belt . So anyway I used a Voyager that was there that was deathly out of tune. I just expected the Voyager to be in tune and didn’t think twice about it being out of tune with the MS 2000s. I did my best to “on the fly” tune it during the performance and was close to successful, but not close enough. So I ended up playing my stupid Korg at moogfest.. Believe me if anone was pissed about that, it was me. I felt like an ass for not bring the brand new Voyager they sent me, but if something happened to it, I would have been screwed. On top of that we were the first ones to show up at the club at noon for equipment load in. And we didn’t get keyboard stand number one on stage till 25 mins before we played and the club was already half way filled up with people. I didn’t want to do a sound check song with half the audience already in attendence and then sit down for 15 mins and play it over again for them. So we set up in like 5 mins, (as where everyone else had upto 8 hours to set up) and I made sure all the KBs were getting feed,and going through the monitors. Then we had to to get off stage, and thats when the opening part of the DVD was played. Then we were called on stage 20 mins later to do a performance that only show cased about 2.5% of our capable 100%.. I am deeply saddened, but at same time I feel like I learned alot about show biz..
Jason Miles put it to us straight off the bat when I introduced myself and my band to him upon his arrival. He pretty much told us the truth, but in a rather harsh kinda New Yorker (who was nominated for a grammy) fashion.
He said more or less that we were lowest priority and to go sit down until we were told what to do. And we weren’t instructed to do anything until 7:05pm and we were supposed to play at 7:30.. I know this might just sound like an elaborate excuse for a less that perfect show, but there was a lot that contributed to it. Thats why I say its a miracle that we pulled it off at all..
I found out later that the Voyager I should have brought, I was actually supposed to bring. It was one four expected. They didn’t have one for the day before rehearsals at Carroll studios so they had to rent one. The thing is We weren’t invited to that rehearsal so it wouldn’t have made a difference for them whether or not I brought it like I was supposed to.
(Which I didn’t know until the day before the show an I was checking my email by our hotel/loft in NYC..)
Even though it sounds like a nightmare,we still had the time our lives. The experience as a whole was an amazing,surreal time that I will never forget and would never take back. I hope that even given the circumstances of our performance, that we have a chance to further prove ourselves as Moogists at future Moogfests… I don’t want anyone to think I am blaming other people.I only blame myself… And of course, you are always your own worst critic so maybe I’m just trippin a little. A few people seemed to genuinely enjoy our performance. I thank you all for your support..
OH YEAH..
The reason we had dual MS 2000s is because
we were going to do a Vocoder duet on Radioactivity that didn’t end up happening.
Nick 
Nick
To some it might have been obvious you were having problems with the Voyager . . to others it may have not. I sat next to an older gentleman (NYC film composer) who “had used moogs in the past” but “wasn’t an expert” and he totally digged your sound. In his mind, atonal music is just part of what HE does so given the nature of electronic music, he didn’t hear any problems.
As i said in my earlier thread, hats off to you for opening the show . . I know what it’s like when you are first on and there are bigger names on the bill, I have played the Albert Hall and Queen Elizebeth hall at the South Bank Centre in London a few times and it’s very nerve racking but you just gotta go with the flow and chalk it all up to experience.
One time, i was playing in a “battle of the Bands” competition that was being broadcast on London Weekend Television . . i was playing a Yamaha CP70B and our other keyboardist was playing a Jupiter6 and Godwin String machine. I started the song and a moment later the strings came in and eeeek! completely out of tune.
We hadn’t had the time to tune and when we were asked to start we just went for it (and the tune knob on the Godwin is round the back and you need a screwdriver) luckily for us one of the Judges was Rick Wakeman . . he stood up and told us to stop and tune up . . we did and then started again and it all went well (we didn’t win but we were on the TV which was fun).
I learnt a very valuable lesson - the audience will wait for you, so after that we always tuned up before we started . . and it became more important as the analog side of our rig got bigger and bigger . . so, just like an orchestra, tune up, pause, play. (look at the guy from Living Color, that’s excactly what he did . . you can even make a joke about it).
With regards your sound . . I thought you guys were more “moog” then most of the other acts . . as much as Jason Miles might be an accomplished composer and performer, In my opinion he had no right being there, if he at least played a Voyager at some point I would have been happier. I would have prefered to have had more numbers from Adam and Jordan . . these people showcase the moog in all it’s glory and moogmusic should have got together more people like these guys.
Personally, I think the moogfest has gone off in a different direction . . last years event was so much more “moog” then this years . . this years seemed like the moog branding was tacked on as an after thought . . “lets get a load of jazz acts on stage and get them to play a moog” . . even the headliner Edgar Winter wasn’t a moog player . . if Jason Miles can play his Clavia all night, why didn’t Edgar play his ARP 2600? I’m sure there are a number of big time moog players out there that would love to get involved (Morcheeba, Air, etc) and i bet there a many more smaller up and coming bands that would jump at the chance (Sundae Club?).
It was entertaining but not that “moogish”, you’ll get to hear more moogs at the Newport Jazz festival this August . . . I will not be going to the moogfest next year if it is to be a stage full of KORGs and Clavias . . where’s the “moog” in that?
Sorry Mike.
Mal
“It was entertaining but not that “moogish”, you’ll get to hear more moogs at the Newport Jazz festival this August . . . I will not be going to the moogfest next year if it is to be a stage full of KORGs and Clavias . . where’s the “moog” in that”.
I wasn’t there but just from reading the posts I also got this sense.
Greg
It was probably the “rep” from DigiDesign/ProTools. I met him too. TZ
I agree that this year was less moog-ish that last year. Deodato’s set was a disappointment after last year’s Moog heavy version of “2001”. I wonder if Molitz wasn’t asked to join him this year?
I enjoyed Holzman, Molitz, and The Volt Per Octaves the most. It was nice that Rudess added the Moog intros to the songs but I wish he would have played one during his solos.
I enjoyed the Jason Miles Band but I agree with some of the posters here. Not much Moog- what was the point??
And Nick- you’re being way too hard on yourself. You guys were cool. A great start to the evening.
They definitely need more Moog next year. And give Molitz at least one more song 
sam
As a small note to Nick’s comments, I am extremely busy right now, but could have serviced his Moog in time.
However, I offered that he was going to MoogFest and surely the place would have several Moog’s available. No use attempting to bring a two plus decade customized Model D all the way across the country when Voyagers should be in good quantity t here already. I advised him to ask Brian Kehew and Moog Music for some help. He did and received the Vger to help out. Afterall, he was there to help Moog look good and sell current products, ie: Voyagers.
It only made sense to showcase a buyable product.
It’s a shame that when he finally got to the stage, his Vger was out of tune though. And yeah, I’m sure Nick is being overly hard on himself, but it’s a common trait of excellent performers and only makes one a better player in the long run.
Btw, immediately after our conversation, Devo delivered both of their Mini Model D’s to me, both requiring serious work and with very little time to meet their upcoming tour schedule. They left yesterday and hopefully they’ll work well and make the tour.
It normally take months for me to do the work necessary on just one Model D.
Two in three weeks was quite a challenge.
WOWEE>>>
Thank you all for the nice comments…
Kevin, I know you would have done it in time, but I know how busy you are
and didn’t want to ask more of you than I already do… Plus, once I got a lesson from Brian K about the Voyager, and got one in the mail a few days later - I felt totally comfortable playing it over the model d… I didn’t think twice about whether their Voyager would be to spec or not ! But enough about it already… Its over and all I can do about it is make sure it doesn’t happen again..
We played a gig for like 15 people last night and everything sounded great.
I played with both Minis and my drums as well as programming/scratching. Because of the ammount of stuff on stage at moogfest it would have been impossible to do the set up we usually play with. So if any of you liked us there, you would really like to see us in our full element..
Nick
Nick, do you ever play in the Toronto area? If so let me know.
Never been to Canada.. Maybe we will someday .. New York was as far from home (Southern Ca) as we’ve played..
Thanks for your intrest though.. I’ll let you know .