There is an ancient Eastern ritual cycle known as Jo-Ha-Kyu which has been applied to tea ceremonies, martial arts rituals, and even theater performances. The cycle was created to create intention and awareness to the different stages of life. From August 5-7 outside Loveland, Colorado, a family-run, independent music festival, called Arise, enacted the spirit of that intentional cycle through its three-day event. The festivities opened with a beautiful opening ceremony that included a series of “Jo”-like songs, chants, and prayers aimed at infusing festival-goers with an air of respect and care not often found at music festivals.
The ritual “Ha” concept emphasizing the activity of becoming, often referred to “the swirl of days,” spun its way through the Arise weekend with a constant parade of live and electronic music acts including Jurassic 5, Colorado’s own, Elephant Revival, the Hard Working Americans, and Papadasio. The Area 51 stage hosted a bevy of bass-thumping EDM acts throughout the weekend. Still, mixed into the swirl were a number of self-reflective activities including yoga, philosophical discussion groups, and environmentalist workshops, including one led by the world-renowned activist, Julia Butterfly.
Certainly there are other festivals attempting to infuse self-reflective elements of artistic expression with art structures, live painting, play spaces, and spiritual growth workshops into the music scene. However, it is a testament to Arise organizers that they continue to grow as a family-run event in a saturated festival market that is increasingly being dominated by large-corporately-funded events. Arise grew this year even as a new festival, backed by a music industry giant, sprung up in a nearby location the same weekend.
The Arise weekend closed with rousing performances by the likes of Ziggy Marley, the New Mastersounds, and the Old World beats of Dirtwire, an EDM project founded by members of Beats Antique. A final ceremony closed the festival early Monday morning. “Kyu” rituals are designed to acknowledge the collections of communal experiences with the hope that participants have created a singular experience that is more than just another multi-day party. As the sun peaked over the rust-colored hills, and festival-goers slowly gathered in a circle to join hands, the sight was enough make one’s heart grow three sizes too large.
The lineup mixed the best that the Adirondacks has to offer, with some of the bigger acts of the festival circuit. Lucid, a band straight from the heart of the Adirondacks, has been a staple of the weekend since inception, and while this year was the same, it was also very different. Last year, the band announced it was taking a long break, but not officially breaking up and would continue to play events like Pondfest.
Along with Lucid, the other headliners were Melvin Seals and JGB, Pink Talking Fish (is Bowie), the Blind Owl Band and Twiddle’s guitarist Mihali Savoulidis and his ‘Frends’, who brought the surprise of a Twiddle set. NYS Music contributor Chelsea Wright was in attendance and gives us a first hand account of how it went down:
Arriving just on time, I approached the stage and Mihali was just getting it started by inviting a few good Frends up to join him. It was like revolving doors, including some of my favorite musicians; Ryan Dempsey on keys, Jamie Armstrong on Sax, Joshua West on drums, to Kevin Sabourin on guitar and vocals. At one point Brad Hester from Annie in The Water came up and had a back and forth match on a kazoo, with Jamie’s sax. Then they switched it up to Chris Shacklett on bass, Lowell Wurster on percussion and vocals, the beautiful Meadow on vocals, and then the big surprise of a total shift into a set by Twiddle. After Twiddle finished, Mihali remained, and invited members of Capital Zen up to join him. It was an all-around party, with special moments that no one could have anticipated.”
“Little towns like this aren’t really used to stuff like this, so I think they just took any and every precaution while they were here,” Haviland said, adding that the individual was fine by the following morning. “We are safety first; we took all the right precautions.”
Right after, on the Woods Stage, Syracuse hip-hop trio Sophistafunk took the audience on a positive mental trip with lyrics of encouragement, happiness and elation.
After grabbing a sausage, egg and cheese, two coffees and water (thanks to my editor), I made my way to catch some of Doomf#@k, a band with some of the Lucid guys. I can only describe this act as a talented, humorous joke band.
F5’s set consisted of some of the tightest jamming I have ever heard from the group. Matt Richards, who recently took over keyboard duties, displayed the energy and enthusiasm he brings to the band. Woods and Davis are a natural team, with Davis typically weaving his speedy licks around Woods’ boisterous bass lines.
Thurday, July 14 was pleasantly welcoming upon arrival compared to the tediousness of last year. The security lines moved much more quickly both on and off site, and the shuttle system ran smoothly. Once inside, campers had a plethora of events to choose from. Beginning promptly at 10AM, a yoga class at the Above the Waves stage kicked off the weekend’s bevy of Wellness programs. A Festival Fuel seminar followed at noon, a talk that gave information as to which food would best combine portability, nutrition, and ease of preparation; extremely useful for any frequent festival goer. It seemed that Bisco was aiming to make its patrons not only headier, but healthier, this time around.
Bisco veterans Orchard Lounge kick started the Friday festivities on July 15 with some filthy deep house beats. Being their 9th appearance at the festival, the trio floored the crowd with a qualified style. Thundercat continued to electrify the main stage at 4PM with a sophisticated brand of jazz-fusion that only bassist Stephen Bruner can deliver. Lettuce ensued, though seemed lacking in the wake of such intense technical musicianship as the Thundercat brought. 7PM rang in the Disco Biscuits first set of the evening. Humidity wasn’t the only reason for a high moisture level, as guitarist Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig slid into the opening bars of “Jamilia” with a sensuality that made the ladies blush. “Park Ave.” completed the segment, as Bisco classic “Caterpillars” brought us into an inverted arrangement of “Mulberry’s Dream”. The band seemed to struggle through “Feeling Twisted”, as bassist Marc Brownstein took off his five string and clumsily muddled around on his less mastered instrument, the mini-synth. The conclusion of “Caterpillar” rounded out the set.
Saturday July 16 was chalk full o’ fan favorites, starting with Tom Hamilton’s American Babies at 1PM. Ott grooved next, bidding a warm farewell and asking everyone to stick around for the Biscuits’ day set to follow. Rolling out another classic cover, the Biscuits pulled the pin with “Pygmy Twylyte”. Next was an inverted version of “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” which they recently played during the Bisco Inferno run in Denver, CO. Decidedly matching the sunny mood, the Grateful Dead’s “Viola Lee Blues” continued the cover trend. The segment continued with a stunning “Shelby Rose”, leaving many first timers with an apprehensive grin. “Little Betty Boop” concluded the first in the trilogy of Biscuits sets. The crowd seemed excited for Jewish rap superstar Lil Dicky, AKA Leftward Slopping Penis, but expectations were crushed for the first 15 minutes of the 6PM set, as there was an alarmingly obnoxious “hype” man screaming into a microphone and making air horn noises from behind a turntable. Lil Dick came out at a seemingly random moment and performed none of his well known comedic songs, instead going back and forth with an unknown rapper in perverse and simpleminded rhyme.
Noah Gokey 
With influences ranging from Talking Heads to Tame Impala, 
Although, most of the other acts on the program could easily be considered headliners themselves; Dopapod, Phuturprimitive, Lettuce, Orchard Lounge, Thundercat, Lil Dicky aka Firm Handshake, the list goes on. In addition to the kickinest lineup of the summer, Color Wars will return for its new and improved 11th installment, which will feature full reign of the state of the art water park at Montage. Hosted and judged by Wes Hall and the lovely Amanda Rivera, the brand new events will incorporate every amenity that the Mountain has to offer to an eager Color Warrior.
Once the children had their fill of silliness to hold them over until after nap time, the rest of the spectacular and diverse schedule of music, events and workshops started to unfold. Next up in Healey Hall was the 
The next artist to tear up the stage was 
Things got wilder and stickier as they continued spraying Faygo and cranking out songs off of Riddlebox. Things got really crazy when the band played their famous tune “Chicken Huntin.” The fans were in for a surprise when the band tossed buckets of feathers onto the already soda soaked crowd. One of the highlights for me was getting to hear my favorite song, “Toy Box,” live for the first time. The band ended their set with “I’m Coming Home” and what can only be described as the Faygo Armageddon. They sprayed so much soda into the crowd that it looked like it was raining Faygo from the ceiling.