Flinchapalooza

This past Sunday, The FLB played what Chris Bell has dubbed "the most dangerous gig (he'd) ever played." Two bands (The FLB and The Luv Gods) rocking out hard on a Sunday evening atop floating barges on the Susquehanna river. And who would come up with such a treacherous and crazy idea? None other than the man who knows how to throw down, Mr. Matt Flinchbaugh--proprietor of Flinchy's restaurant and bar (with a little help from yours truly). Flinchapalooza...a summer party on the Susquehanna river in Harrisburg certainly not to be forgotten.

Our stage at Flinchapalooza literally consisted of two pontoon barges strung together in the Susquehanna river, with a third pontoon barge off to the side housing two power generators. It did move quite a bit with the water and made for a very interesting playing experience. The stage was right across from a pier on an island in the middle of the river, appropriately dubbed "Party Island." Many boats docked at the pier and lots of folks gathered for the event. The island was to the right of the stage and the Harrisburg skyline was to our left. I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever played on.

Once I arrived, we loaded all of our equipment onto Flinchy's boat and motored out to the stage to unload and set up. Chris and Ken (and maybe even Randy a little) were really freaked out at the situation. Chris apparently has a water phobia that I was unaware of, and he and Ken were not too happy about the chaos and danger involved in setting up and executing this operation.

Funny (or not so funny) enough, one of Ken's mics went into the drink early on as The Luv Gods were sound checking. Their drummer, a really friendly and humorous fellow named Swish (or Swisher), accidentally knocked Ken's mic boom and 57 into the river. Oops. The bottom half of my piano seat also seemed to get lost in the shuffle somewhere, either into the watery depths or somewhere else. Thankfully enough, those seemed to be the only two casualties of the evening.

After we set up and plugged everything in, I sat and ran sound for The Luv Gods, a very popular Harrisburg band whose members include my friend Shea Quinn and other Sharks Band members. The Luv Gods played first and had a great set. The crowd on the pier loved it and was very receptive, not to mention that the band members themselves were all very friendly and a lot of fun to be around.

The FLB played a set after a short change over, ending with a "Flinchy's Song" encore. Considering the playing circumstances and the fact that this was the first ever Flinchapalooza, I thought the event went very well. No tragedies and everyone seemed to have a great time. Ken and Chris even loosened up eventually. We had a few power issues with the generators and extension cords, but it wasn't anything major. I certainly enjoyed the hell out of playing for a bunch of half naked people on a floating river barge in Pennsylvania's Captiol City. There was some very beautiful "aquatic wildlife" out there...

Big thanks to Mitch for helping out with the equipment and for lifting items over 2,000 lbs. Also, thanks to The Luv Gods, The Flinchy's family and crew, and of course a special thanks to Matt Flinchbaugh himself for inviting us to play and setting up the event. I can't wait until next year (the plan is for us to play actually on "Party Island," on dry land). Flinchapalooza 2007, here we come...