In episode 40 of Hooked on Creek, I reflect on my experience at Camp Creek on September 8-11, 2022, and what it was like seeing Max Creek at Odetah Camping Resort in Bozrah, Connecticut.
This episode also features full performances of Cocaine Lady, Darlin’ and Calypso Wind performed live by Max Creek at Camp Creek.
Related links:
- Watch Jamemurrell Stanley and the Drummers of Peace & Equality perform on Sept. 9, 2022
- Listen to Max Creek perform on Sept. 10, 2022
- Listen to Max Creek perform on Sept. 11, 2022
- Watch Max Creek perform Southbound Train in 360° on Sept. 11, 2022
Transcript of episode 40
You are listening to Hooked on Creek. A podcast celebrating the music, history and fans of the legendary jam band Max Creek. I am your host, Korre Johnson, and you are listening to episode 40.
Thank you for joining me on the podcast. I am so glad you made the decision to be here with me. In today’s episode, I am going to reflect on my recent experience at Camp Creek in Bozrah, Connecticut, at the Odetah Camping Resort watching the best band in the land, Max Creek, along with all the other incredible artists at the event. I want to begin by just saying thank you to Max Creek, Sally Rider, Rider Productions, Odetah Camping Resort, Telefunken and everybody involved in making Camp Creek possible. I am just so grateful that I was able to come back to Camp Creek this year and experience the magic once again.
Like last year, I came to Camp Creek with my friend Nate. We flew from Milwaukee into Hartford on Wednesday night and then enjoyed all four days of the event, including camping at Odetah on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
Reflecting on my time at Camp Creek, my mind is flooded with so many amazing memories, including reconnecting with people I met last year, meeting tons of new people this time around and of course the stunning musical performances from Max Creek and all the other unique and talented musicians that made the event so special.
Looking back at Thursday, a few highlights come to mind. The first highlight of that day was being greeted by Dave Bonan at my hotel room when I woke up that morning. It turned out that the hotel Nate and I stayed in on Wednesday night after flying in from Milwaukee was the same hotel Dave was staying in. So after I messaged Dave and told him where we were staying that night, he made a point to come over to our hotel room in the morning and welcome us to Connecticut. My long-distance relationship with the music of Max Creek has been heavily influenced through my friendship with Dave over the years, so it was a ton of fun reconnecting with him right away. It’s hard for me to imagine anybody connected to the Max Creek scene that does not know Dave, but if you want to take a deep dive into Dave Bonan, check out episode 19 of this podcast.
Another highlight from Thursday was meeting Kelsey and Scott in our campsite. Nate and I shared our campsite with Kelsey and Scott through the entire weekend and we had a great time getting to know them and hearing their stories. Kelsey and Scott, if you are listening, I wish you both all the best and I hope to see you at Camp Creek next year!
And thanks to Dave Bonan, I got the opportunity to meet Eamon Cronin on Thursday. Eamon is a musician, singer and performer that I have really wanted to connect with given his close relationship with Max Creek. So, I am hopeful the meeting I had with Eamon at Camp Creek will someday lead to an interview for the podcast.
And, Thursday also gave me the opportunity to meet longtime Creek sound engineer Steve Desjardins. I had a nice conversation with DJ and I think I laid the groundwork for reconnecting with him in the future as well.
And of course, Thursday was a big night of music. I really enjoyed watching the genre-bending music from harpist Mikaela Davis and her band Southern Star. Her music delivered a really cool vibe that I would categorize as sitting somewhere in the intersection of psychedelic folk and rock. It was truly mesmerizing watching her sing and play harp on stage. I am definitely going to check out more of her music.
And then later that night, I could not get enough of the soulful, pop-infused music of Melt. The vocal talents of the band’s lead singer, Veronica Stewart-Frommer, are almost beyond belief. And she certainly helped the band deliver an unforgettable encore that night as she jumped into the crowd — and then the lake — before coming back on stage completely wet, and with a few less articles of clothing, to finish their performance. Now that’s entertainment. I am going to keep an eye on this band, too, because I really enjoyed their music.
So then after a quick sleep, I was ready for another full day of music on Friday. In preparing for this trip to Camp Creek, I remembered really enjoying the set from Jamemurrell Stanley and the Drummers of Peace & Equality that I saw last year at Camp Creek. So on Friday, I wanted to do something to help me document their performance that night. So, I got permission to attach my GoPro camera to the side of the beach stage and record the band’s entire set, which I absolutely loved. You can check out my video of the entire Jamemurrell Stanley and the Drummers of Peace & Equality set from Friday night on the Hooked on Creek YouTube channel. A direct link to that YouTube video is also in the show notes of this podcast episode.
But I really enjoyed all the music on Friday night and loved watching the Marks Brothers, Hot Acoustics, Rolling Thunder Revival and Beau Sasser Trio. The music was flowing all night and I was having a blast. Late on Friday night, I got the opportunity to talk with John Rider for few minutes. It was cool spending time with him and hearing him talk about how much he enjoyed Mikaela Davis and Melt from the previous night. Needless to say, I fell asleep in my tent with a smile on my face that night. It felt so good to be welcomed back to Camp Creek and i was enjoying every minute of it.
I woke up Saturday morning with big plans ahead of me. Because this year, I brought my podcast recording equipment with me to Camp Creek so I could be prepared to do an in-person interview if the opportunity came up — and it did! Just after lunch on Saturday, I met up with Jay and conducted an interview. Jay is such a nice person and I am so grateful he took time out of his busy weekend to sit down and talk with me about his love of music and his perspectives on Max Creek. I will be releasing my interview with Jay in the near future, so stay tuned for that episode.
I only caught a portion of the John Spignesi Band on Saturday because his set occurred at the same time I was interviewing Jay. But I am glad I still found an opportunity to reconnect and talk with John over the weekend. John is a great guy and I love his music. While I think a lot of fans of Max Creek are probably familiar with John Spignesi, if you are not, I encourage you to listen to my interview with John in episode 9 of this podcast.
I spent most of Saturday afternoon chilling on the beach enjoying the music of The Big Takeover and Karina Rykman while Nate floated in the lake. I think I was most surprised by Karina Rykman’s performance. She was a like tall glass of water on a hot day, refreshing me through a set of music that was fun, unexpected and groovy.
And Saturday also provided me the opportunity to meet Linda Cournoyer KOR-NO-YER and her husband Marc. For a long time, Linda was the lighting director for Max Creek, but she also wrote a couple of songs Creek performs. So, it was a huge honor to meet Linda.
But most of Saturday afternoon involved me just sitting in a chair on the sand listening to music from the beach stage. I knew I had to save energy for the main event on Saturday night — Max Creek. And holy shit, did they ever deliver!
To be perfectly clear, every single song I get to see Max Creek perform is a gift. I mean, this is such a rare treat for me to see the band in person. But that said, I think the band absolutely crushed it on Saturday night. I loved the Cocaine Lady into Darlin’ opener, and that Orange Sunshine into Mozambique in the first set was killer. And the second set was huge, too. I loved the Cruel World into Gone at Last and that Mama Are You Ready into Peaceful Warrior hit me right where it counts.
And then when Frank Messina came on stage with his poetry, my mind was blown. I mean, I got to see Frank fucking Messina! How cool is that? I sent a message to Frank later and he replied back saying “it was a blast sharing the stage with Creek. It’s been a while, but it feels like we never missed a beat.” Now, if you are unfamiliar with Frank Messina, he is an award-winning and widely recognized poet, spoken-word artist and author. I interviewed Frank Messina in episode 27 of the podcast. So, check that out if you haven’t already.
Alright, back to Saturday night. The other thing that really stuck in my memory from Creek’s performance that night was their massive three-song encore that included the song I Heard it Through the Grapevine. I love Creek’s take on Grapevine and I feel really lucky to have seen them perform it.
OK, so after Max Creek, Nate and I headed up to watch the late-night set from The Kings in the social hall. I have been following Jeff King on YouTube for a while so it was really cool to see The Kings perform. I love their style of music. And bonus, I got to see Mark Mercier sit in with them and perform on their song Greasy Wheels. So, that was a lot of fun.
And then after a quick sleep, it was already Sunday. Time flies when you are having fun, that’s for sure. Through the weekend, I heard a lot of buzz about the band Bearly Dead so I was eager to finally see them — and they did not disappoint. What stuck out to me, aside from their incredible talent, was the mix of Dead songs they decided to perform. They did a great job pulling together a setlist that was interesting and unexpected and ultimately showcased the band’s love of the Grateful Dead. So, seeing Bearly Dead was certainly a highlight for me.
But as you can imagine, I was most excited to see Creek again on Sunday. And just as anticipated, Max Creek delivered another incredible performance that provided some really deep cuts, tasty jams and beautiful memories.
I absolutely loved the Jones into Wild Side opener to start their Sunday performance. And then for me, things got a bit interesting over the next couple tunes as Mark and Scott engaged in some playful banter on stage about this podcast . Of course I loved it. I just hope it was not a distraction for everybody else.
But as things got going, I enjoyed hearing the band perform their older songs Southbound Train, Mississippi Delta and Calypso Wind that I am not as familiar with. On stage, Mark joked that his songs Mississippi Delta and Calypso Wind were not on the Max Creek song lyrics page of my Hooked on Creek website. That was funny, but a couple days later — because Mark Mercier is the nicest person in the world — I got a message from Mark that included the lyrics to those two songs with a request to add them to my website. Wow. Thank you Mark! So you can check out the lyrics to the songs Mississippi Delta and Calypso Wind, along with over 70 other original Creek tunes, on my website.
Now at this point in the show I had something I wanted to accomplish. Because like last year, I brought my GoPro camera with me to Camp Creek with the intention of recording a 360° video of Max Creek performing one of their songs. Having a 360° video gives me the opportunity to relive a portion of my Camp Creek experience via my Oculus Quest VR headset from home anytime I want. So on Sunday, I recorded a 360° video of Max Creek’s performance of Southbound Train. I think it turned out great and you can check it out on the Hooked on Creek YouTube channel. You don’t even need a VR headset to watch it. You can look in the episode show notes for direct link to that YouTube video.
Other highlights for me from Creek’s performance on Sunday include The Seven, She Took Off My Romeos, Burgers and Fries and the epic Heartbeat. Fans of this podcast can probably guess how awesome it was for me to see the band play She Took Off My Romoes, given the deep dive I took on that song in the last episode of this podcast. But looking back, Max Creek’s entire performance on Sunday provided me with another unforgettable experience that I will treasure forever.
And I also want to mention Clifton Hanger did a great job recording a lot of video content from Max Creek’s performances on both Saturday and Sunday. You can check out all of his Camp Creek videos on his YouTube channel with the username Skelator Revisited. They are pretty cool and so glad he put the work in to do all that.
And, there is one more important thing I want to mention as I reflect on my experience at Camp Creek. A lot of people came up to me and told me how much they appreciate this podcast. And I want you to know how meaningful it was to hear that from you. As you might know, I sit in my basement in Milwaukee with a microphone literally talking to myself about this band that I love so much. So to know that people are listening and enjoying this means the world to me. Thank you!
So, I had the time of life at Camp Creek and I am excited to come back next year and see you again. Alright, I want to end this episode with a few tunes from Camp Creek. Coming up, you are going to hear Cocaine Lady into Darlin’ from Saturday night, and then Calypso Wind from Sunday.
This is Max Creek performing live at Camp Creek on Saturday night.
And now this is Max Creek performing Calypso Wind live at Camp Creek on Sunday.
And that concludes episode 40 of Hooked on Creek. You can find links to stream or download the music included in this episode from Max Creek’s live performances at Camp Creek in the episode show notes, including their performance of Mozambique which I played during the introduction to this episode. If you have feedback about this episode, I would love to hear from you. You can get in touch with me via the contact link on the Hooked on Creek website at hookedoncreek.com or via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Just search for Hooked on Creek to get connected. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for tuning in.