WIMF 08
Not to blast it, but I felt as though the Skeleton Park Music Festival was a bit less awesome than my memory made it out to be. To me, it seems that the same people play year after year at Skeleton Park, and although I love many of our local bands, and appreciate the hard work and dedication it requires to put on such an event, I honestly believe that they would benefit from including more out of town acts. But perhaps that’s not the mandate of the festival. Maybe organizers want to keep it small, local and familiar. Thankfully Skeleton Park isn’t the only Summer music event in Kingston, as the Wolfe Island Music Festival (WIMF) is set to go down this weekend with a healthy mix of Kingston, and non-local talent.
The festival kicks off at 8:30pm on Friday with a “Townhall Hootenanny”, which will feature fine local acts including: The Abrams Brothers , Carolyn Mark , Jenny Whiteley , Joey Wright, Luther Wright , The Handsome Furs and Magic Jordan . Although most of these acts are regularly performing around Kingston throughout the year, for the low price of $15, it’s a steal of a deal considering the variety and talent. I recently had a chance to see The Abrams Bros perform with the Kingston Symphony at Fort Henry, and these fine young lads honestly stole the show. I have also had the pleasure of seeing various members of Magic Jordan perform at the Grad Club open mic, and they are equally as noteworthy.
Day two of the festival starts at 1pm, while the main stage located at the Marysville Baseball diamond will feature: Wintersleep (Halifax), Cadence Weapon (Edmonton), Land of Talk (Montreal), Jason Collett (Toronto), Plants and Animals (Montreal), Tony Scherr (Brooklyn, NY), The Acorn (Ottawa), The Ruby Coast (Aurora), Music Maul (Kingston), and P.S. I love you! (Kingston). Although I had not heard of some of these acts, a quick listen on their respective MySpace pages made me an instant fan. Day two will cost you $30, however I would gladly pay that just to see either Cadence Weapon or P.S. I Love you!. Plus you get to ride on the ferry to and fro.
Sure you won’t see any of these acts playing at the KRock Centre but that’s a good thing. Who am I kidding, you probably won’t see anyone play at the Krock unless you’re a fan of bands that were popular in the 50’s. Back on track, WIMF is Kingston’s premier indie festival, and Kingstonist will be in attendance on day 2. Hopefully you too will make it out to support this great local event. All proceeds go towards the Wolfe Island Community Centre, for projects including a rink, tree planting and such. Just don’t mention “wind turbines ” while your there.