my 3 month hiatus, pt. 3

XRA Fest '09
Bloomington, IN
Sept. 11-12

A few years ago, the boys of husband&wife decided to start a record label. I am not entirely sure of the original motivations behind it, maybe they thought it could make some money to help fund the band, maybe they wanted to help produce and promote friends records, maybe it was just the cool thing to do. Whatever the motivation, Mike, Will, and Tim all shared it and Crossroads of America Records (XRA) was born. Though they only have a handful of releases under their belts, the boys put a lot of time and energy into it. They toil out of a love of independent music and the community of people here in the midwest who create it, listen to it, and support it.

This summer, XRA decided to host a music festival featuring all the bands on the label. I think the idea was to promote the bands and the label, but also just to get all their favorite musicians together for one extraordinary weekend of music.

They booked 2 shows: Friday, Sept. 11 @ Russian Recording on S. Walnut and Saturday, Sept. 12 @ Uncle Fester's. A ton of people showed up for the shows and it was an overall success, but it is hard for me to describe in words exactly how amazing and fun it was.

It wasn't just that the music was good, or that the people were great and fun. It wasn't just that we had a barbecue at the Roses, or a super sweet post-show dance party. It was just...everything.

Saturday night, I was at Uncle Fester's watching some of my very favorite people playing some of my very favorite music. Surrounding me were more of my favorite people, and as I looked around at them, I knew that they were watching their favorite people play their favorite music. Before I knew it, we were all singing together, and then we were pumping our fists in the air, and then we were climbing up on the stage. Then we stopped singing and started shouting the lyrics, and some dudes took off their shirts because there was nothing left for them to do but take off their shirts, and in that moment we were all experiencing the pure joy of music.

Now, I know that I sound like some crazy hippie from Woodstock, but seriously it was really fun. I think I understand a little more how Woodstock could have had such a huge impact on people.

Below is a link to a video from XRA Fest Saturday night. It doesn't really compare at all to actually being there, but it is still really funny to watch everyone getting up on the stage and acting like an idiot.



Can't wait for next year!

lovecare.