Lighthouse music is not a cult.

During Harvest of Hope Fest this year we kept getting friends and lovers trying to meet up with us in the artist area. Invariably everyone would want to meet at the most glaring un-miss able thing in the sea of tens / buses / cars / unwashed punk woodsmen. This meeting landmark happened to be a huge vintage bluebird bus painted red, with zebra stripes, a bio-diesel / WVO system in there, some bunk beds, hammocks and general psychedelic energy. On the back of the bus it said www.lighthousemusicband.com, and I was told that the constant stream of people coming in and out of it were indeed the band, which had a rumored ManMan meets AnimalCollective while ocassionally channeling the Thermals sound. We decdided that we would certainly like to see that to believe it.

Fast forward to last night, where (after some serious distrations in Athens Georgia that morning, and some seriously beautiful scenic driving) we arrived at a warehouse open air stage attached to a surfboard making shop with a field full of St.Augustine's music lovers drinking cold keg beer well into the evening hours. Dubbed the Strawberry Moon Fest it was a very loving affair with a ton of bands from as far away as Maine, and an audience that was nothing but appreciative.

We caught part of the set of Hyena, rapped with our friends in Tam Tam the Sandwich Man, and stuck it out till the end of the event to see the GAZE who reminded us of some of the best slacker rock of the early 1990's. But the standout was the host of the event, Lighthouse Music, who had their iconic looking bus parked out back, with a steady stream of people in and out of it, a stage set up that consisted of members swapping instruments and everyone singing. The music is not easy to describe, but it is worth the listen, and especially the good time and live show they put on, and we hope to see them again on the road.

 A list of the bands for posterity...
> Mono Mojado 1:00 - 1:45
> Roll Out The Guns 2:05 - 2:40
> The Gaze 3:00 - 3:30
> Andrew Virga 3:45 - 4:15
> Dirty Fist! 4:30 - 5:00
> Best Of Synthia 5:20 - 6:00
> Fancy Feast 6:20 - 6:45
> Attachedhands 7:05 - 7:30
> Tam Tam The Sandwichman 7:50 - 8:20
> Bermuda 8:40 - 9:10
> Hyena 9:30 -10:00
> The Beauvilles 10:20 - 11:00
> Lighthouse Music 11:30 - ?

Harvest of Hope: "Big freaking badass great festival".

Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene said it best: "This is a festival about hope! Right? RIGHT!" before closing out the Sunday evening of the 3 day festival known as Harvest of Hope Festival 2010. The founders announced that there will be a 3rd annual one in 2011.

This year the Beauvilles got tapped to play on Saturday night, to a sweaty yelling crowd, who took every last CD that they had in their worn leather travel bag.

If you were one of these several hundred lucky people, that caught our show please join us on Facebook. And K.I.T. We leave for SXSW tonight, and are playing 6 shows there in 4 days.

On a personal note, I was completely blown away by Chicago band Mucca Pazza, who are a strange cross of punk rock stage antics mixed with all the over acheiving people you ever knew from band camp. This 30+ something member band blew the doors completely off the festival, and set the tone for the rest of Sunday's show. They would have a marching number between the crowds themselves, and then later would join the group MAN MAN and also Broken Social Scene to act as impromptu horn sections...  I overheard Kevin Drew ask one of the group if they would be cool playing with them at a well known upcoming Chicago festival this year... nice!

Sincerely, yours,

s.Beauville