Cornflower's High Sierra Music Festival Recap
Hiiiiiiigh Siiiiieeeeerrrrrraaaaaa!!!!!!!! This festival was quite possibly one of the greatest weekends of my Life... PERIOD!
I want to begin with 2 HUGE shout outs... To my Beloved wife, Nikita Gearing (who is also my Manager) who helped make this experience a reality. Her continued support and brilliance has lifted my music into a new dimension of potential. Thank you! And, too my spirit Brother in Sound, Craig Kohland (co-founder of YogiTunes and Shamans Dream)who was my HSMF TeamCornflower Crew Member. YOU ROCK!
DAY ONE. I landed in Quincy on Thursday evening to a warm welcome from the staff, volunteers and production team for High Sierra, which might I add is FIRST CLASS! I was super blessed to be given the BEST Artist Liaison EVER... Robin Jaffe! Thanks Robin. She met me at the Artist Check-in and her energy helped set the tone for an amazing weekend.
I arrive at my camping spot to be greeted by Dave & Tina Marguiles, two of the most beautiful souls on this Planet, and a whole team of Ashlanders! My camp was such a home away from home. I felt so supported! Big Heart Love to the Ashland Ladies who rocked the camp! Thank you for your energy and support.
DAY TWO. My first set was Friday at an Artist Playshop with Zach Deputy & Zoe Keating called "Architects of a Groove". This playshop was all about each one us sharing information about the technology we use to loop our music and then to showcase how we do it. After that we were supposed to jam together. Unfortunately, both Zoe & Zach got sick before the set and so I got to rock the whole thing solo! BIG LOVE to the crowd for hanging with me, and taking part in the call-and-response to send healing vibes to Zach Deputy & Zoe Keating.
I ended up being blessed with some amazing collaborations with Audio Angel, Dreda Dre and none other than ALO's Zach Gill. So much gratitude for everyone who came out and stuck with me and showed so much love for the magic of live music! There will be videos coming soon from this experience.
DAY THREE. My second set was a sonic breakfast set at 10AM on the Big Meadow Stage. It was such a beautiful morning, even though I didn't get too much sleep since at 5AM there was a Kickball game that started just behind my camping spot... I am not kidding! Luckily, I had a great team with me helping me out. Robin picked Craig and I up in an HSMF cart and drove us up to the Big Meadow Stage. Got to do soundcheck and set everything up... which was SUPER easy, as I was surrounded by pros! Thanks to Barnett English and JavaGogo... I was revved up and ready for my set at 10AM! Everyone started waking up and walking over to check out what was happening.
Here's the setlist:Galactic Love (Improv), In The Moment, Heartshine II > Something in the Air > TimeSpace, Do You Know feat. Audio Angel (see video below), Lady Love. This by far was one of my strongest sets ever. I felt really solid and supported by the amazing sound crew, engineers, stage manager, stage hands, my artist liaison Robin, my crew member Craig Kohland (who filmed the whole thing... good on ya Craig!), my special guest the amazing AUDIO ANGEL! She was amazing... do not miss the video below with her singing on "Do You Know". Last but not least, thanks to everyone who came out and were a part of the Great Music. It is an honor and responsibility to be amplified and I am forever grateful for your open hearts, minds and ears, and for some... their dancing feets!
That's it.., I couldn't have asked for a better experience at my High Sierra debut. People told me all they could hear through the crowd was, "Did you see Cornflower?" I left this Festival feeling so full and inspired. Thanks for listening and if you like what you hear please share it! I am so grateful for this amazing experience, and hope that it is only the beginning.