Weekend of local rock volume 51

Now that the hurricane season and the election are both bad memories, I can finally get to this post I’ve been meaning to work on for over a month. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to do a WLR post on the Autumn Wine Festival because the musical selections truly aren’t “rock” but some of the bands were relatively close and I’m not going to play favorites. In fact, going back through my archives this is a first. So here goes with the handy entertainment schedule which will tell you in what order I present the pictures to you.

By looking at this, you’ll notice that the Backfin Banjo Band is first up.

It’s worth noting that these guys begin playing before the event actually opens, so those in line are able to hear them play their mix of standards in old-fashioned jazz and ragtime. They’ve played the AWF a number of times (as have at least one other band in the lineup) so obviously the management is familiar with the band and likes to keep them around. (Interestingly enough, they’re also playing our WCRC Christmas Party on Sunday evening.)

Next up were The Larks.

The musicians in this group are quite well known locally, both collectively as the Larks and in a host of other projects. I’m most familiar with Pete Bozick as a member of the Permilla Project. So they had a lot of influences and it showed in their set, which I enjoyed from my seat out among the vendors.

Another group which mixed in a number of different styles enjoyable were the Bullbuckers.

They even brought their own swag, which was great self-promotion on the AWF’s bigger day.

The Saturday afternoon affair wrapped up with Anything Goes, which lived up to its name by having a playlist featuring interesting takes on a number of songs.

Some had enough wine to put on their dancing shoes.

But the large crowd enjoyed the classic hits Anything Goes strung together.

There were only three bands Sunday, since the proceedings began 90 minutes later. First up was another jazz trio familiar to area listeners, Dark Gold Jazz.

People were already relaxing to their sound, as the chairs were filled from time to time.

Those of us who also attended the Good Beer Festival got a rerun of sorts because Interesting Monsters played at both. And yes, the bagpipes were put to use.

Finally, the event closed with a traditional finishing band, On The Edge.

It seems to me that this band has closed the AWF more often than not in the six or seven years I’ve participated in the proceedings as a vendor. They played their usual menu of Motown-influenced rock and soul, but it was interesting to see people dancing with Obama or Romney signs. I used this photo in my original post for another reason but there were dueling political signs on the dance floor as well.

Now if you want to go see local rock before next year, tomorrow is the annual 12 Bands of Christmas show at the Pour House in Ocean City, beginning at 2 p.m. and running for 12 hours. Unfortunately, it’s fairly doubtful I’ll make it since I have this previous commitment called the Fall Convention and Lord knows what time we’ll finish arguing in Howard County.

Thus, this edition of Weekend of Local Rock will have to suffice for awhile.