Festival Season Will Never Die!

Step into the barn at the Outback Music Festival.There’s a good chance you already packed up all your summer music
festival gear…the folding chairs, the tent, the bug spray and even the
sequined cape and matching mask. You sealed all of these away for next
summer, when you’ll reemerge from your winter cocoon come Memorial Day
Weekend just in time to head up to Sasquatch.

But head out to the
garage and start digging because the people who brought you the Coyote
Festival earlier this summer have made it their mission to extend
summer at least one more weekend for the Outback Music Festival. Held
in the same Summer Lake (near Paisley, Ore.) location of the Coyote
Fest, this event is slated to kick off on Friday and run until Sunday.
Organizers say the ticket fee covers your camping as well as access to
the hot springs located on site – not a bad deal at all, especially
when it means an extra week of summer (or at least summer mentality).

The lineup is heavy on the local acts, featuring Mosley Wotta, The Mostest, Empty Space Orchestra, Greg Botsford and Julie Southwell. Near the top of the bill are some regional bands like Taarka, Eleven Eyes, Evolution Control Committee and Organik Time Machine. The lineup brings a sound that ranges from jam to funk to electronic to jazz fusion – making for a slightly Burning Man-ish mish mash. Further Burning Manification comes in the form of DJs (Barisone, Red-I, Smoke, Rada, Moksha and Byrne-1) spinning until sunrise on Sunday.

Promoters promise sounds for you to get down to running non-stop from 1pm on Saturday until, as previously stated, the sun comes up the following morning. Those who made it down to the Coyote Fest may remember the crazy ass winds that tore through the site, so come prepared. This might sound like a bummer, but for the Burning Man lot, adverse weather conditions are just part of the fun.

Outback Music Festival
Friday-Sunday, October 3-5. Summer Lake Hot Springs (Paisley, Ore.)
$65 (3-day pass, including camping). Tickets at Cosmic Depot and Music Makers. Myspace.com/outbackmusicfestival.

This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.