28 Crescent Magazine [ October 2010 ]

[ ENTERTAINMENT ]

Rolling hills, apple trees and open fields — not the typical place for a music festival. Nonetheless, this or-chard’s serene atmosphere, combined with a diverse selection of music, will

create an appealing contrast to make this concert unique.Joe Engelbrecht, owner of Joe Engelbrecht’s Fourth Gen-

eration Orchard, said his love for music led him to do this event on a whim and is hoping his first Engelbrecht Home-grown Music Festival will be — literally — a full day and night of entertainment. The apple orchard bandstand expects 1,500 guests, 14 hours of live music from six different bands and will provide enough genres of music to satisfy every-one’s tastes.

“I love music and thought, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great spot for this,’” Engelbrecht said.

His vision of the festival as a modernized Woodstock will

come to life Oct. 9. Spanning from noon to 2 the next morning, or all night for VIP campers, the fes-

tival will feature a variety of music, food and oth-er activities. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children 12 and under. Tickets are available online at joesorchard.com/homegrownfest.

Headlining the event is Buffalo Clover, a Nashville band that will bring a rhythm and

blues feel to the concert. They are only the first of six bands to perform; others are The Pits, The Walde-

mere Revival, Calabash and The Funk, with Namaste wrapping up the night.

Steve Horning, lead vocalist for Namaste, said his band name means “bring it down,” which is exactly what they in-tend to do. They’ve been together for 10 years and have ad-opted a variety of genres, including jazz, reggae and instru-mental.

The other bands’ genres are harder to pin down, such as The Waldemere Revival from Indianapolis.

“I don’t want to put a name with any of these bands, but [The Waldemere Revival] sounds like Blues Traveler — heavy on the harmonica,” Engelbrecht said.

partyorchard

at the

by Brennan Girdler & Elizabeth Crozier

A picture-perfect apple orchard turned music festival will be the loudest thing in southern Indiana as six bands, camping and a festival atmosphere help it come alive for one full day.

THE PITS The Pits, a band 27 years strong, plays clas-sic rock n’ roll but is not afraid to play more modern music. They regularly interact with audiences and even have their crowd mem-bers play percussion instruments.

BUFFALO CLOVERNashville-inspired Buffalo Clover plays rhythm and blues among other genres. They employ, in their act, both electric and

acoustic guitars, bass, drums, banjos, horns and a wide range of additional instruments.

CALABASHThis two-man rock band is known for its classic rock, blues and folk music. For 25 years they’ve kept their classic feel. And, of course, they have a saxophone.

Engelbrecht Homegrown Music

Festival

[ October 2010 ] Crescent Magazine 29

Engelbrecht wants the event to be as homegrown as possible. For this reason, he is bringing in bands from Ohio, In-diana and Tennessee.

“I want to promote small bands, and some of these bands are getting ready to blow up,” Engelbrecht said.

George Barnet, with The Pits, said that his Evansville band has been jamming for 27 years. They’ll be playing orig-inals at the festival, as well as covering songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He said his band likes to interact with crowds and get everyone involved.

“If you don’t [participate], we’ll come out and get you,” he said.

With the eclectic mix of genres — the bands pulling in-spiration from various popular musicians, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get involved. Whether you’re a Led Zepplin fa-natic or get your kicks listening to James Brown, you’ll be drawn in by the enthusiasm of these local, up-and-coming artists.

And at 2 a.m., when the amps are overheated and every-one’s ears are ringing, phase two of the event begins. Over-night camping is available for 200 special VIP ticket hold-ers at $20 per ticket. Set off from the stage, campers can

put up tents near the or-chard’s lake and Kumba-

ya well into the dawn.

The stage it-self is erected on a 5-acre field, so whether or not you’re camping,

bring blankets and chairs — there will

be plenty of room to spread out.“We rented a 4- to

5-foot elevated stage and we’re putting it smack-dab

in the middle of the orchard,” Engelbrecht said.

On one side of the field, The Frontier Restaurant & Bar will offer a beer garden and will be sell-ing beer, wine and other beverages. Rivertown Butcher Shop will be grilling up cheeseburgers, hotdogs and ribs. Pizza will be sold by the slice.

Engelbrecht’s Orchard will also be selling caramel ap-ples and pumpkin pie, so be sure to bring cash. Coolers are allowed, so you can bring your own soda, water and food, though no alcohol may be brought in to the concert.

Aside from opportunities to gorge yourself on food and overload on music, the festival will have corn hole boards, horseshoes, art vendors and plenty of other activities.

Engelbrecht said it is a rain-or-shine event and assured that nothing will stop the music.

“But, I’m hoping it’s 70 degrees and sunny,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the music — the main reason I’m doing this.”

From jazz and classic rock to blues and reggae, the Engel-brecht Homegrown Music Festival is more than a full day’s entertainment. It will provide a unique alternative to home-work for those students staying in Evansville during fall re-cess. The festival will echo the same feeling as Woodstock did 41 years ago, but in Evansville’s own backyard. Z

CALABASH Praesent nec orci quis orci venena-tis porta in et turpis. Maecenas semper urna ac urna vestibulum hendrerit. Pel-lentesque non aliquam nulla. venena-tis porta in et turpis. Maecenas semper urna ac urna vestibulum hendrerit. Pel-lentesque non aliquam nulla.

THE FUNKThe Funk plays rock, soul and blues and leans strongly toward New Orleans funk. This new band lists influences such as James Brown and Michael Jackson.

THE WALDEMERE REVIVALThis up-and-coming Indianapolis-based band plays jam rock and fusion melodies. Their style is said to resemble the heavy harmonica sounds of Blues Traveler. The five band mem-bers want to play with a purpose and use their uniquerhythms andsound to speak out.

NAMASTENamaste, meaning “bring it down,” performs rock n’ roll, reggae, funk, instrumental and jazz. This Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Grate-ful Dead-inspired band has been shredding southern Indiana for 10 solid years.