Other casualties included Terri Tibbett from Juneau and Katieland from Anchorage, who were not able to make it (in Italy, and a no-call no-show, respectively). This left a big hole in our scheduling, thankfully Kaninau was there and more than happy to play again. We wish we were able to give them a bigger audience as the opening audience is always the smallest. Hopefully they will be up here again next year.

Here is a pic right before Phonetic started his set. People were stoked.

Not sure if people knew this, but we had delicious food at HomeSkillet Fest. This is just one of many food vendors we had selling goods. I had more than a handful of tasty pork sandwiches.

Kaninau was followed by Rasputin’s Revenge, a band led by frontman Jim McGowan. Many people got up and danced for their set. As always, it was good to see people trickling in and enjoying themselves. The audience for Saturday night’s show was much different in make up. I had a feeling I knew why: hip-hop.

After Rasputin’s Revenge came one of Lee Asnin’s other groups (I think the count is up to three). Always a treat to listen to, Belly Meat. They’ve been playing in Sitka for awhile. They play a rock’n blues and people dance and dance and dance when they play.

I took all kinds of photos, but I was only able to get this one crummy one of Belly Meat, 0-2.

And then came the intermission. We took a thirty minute break or so to let everyone get set up for the hip-hop portion of HomeSkillet Fest. It’s funny, before the festival started, I heard rumors that people thought HomeSkillet Fest was ONLY a hip-hop show. It goes to show, no matter what we do, people will always have misconceptions about what it is. I think we put out magazines, posters, radio spots, and newspaper spots, and still the show was only to be about the racket known as hip-hop. Ughh

HomeSkillet Artist, Micelph, kicked off the night with his set. From a running around and checking on things standpoint, this was the downhill part of the show. Most people were in the door, everyone knew when they were going on, and Phonetic was so key in MCing for the rest of the evening.

Speaking of Phonetic, he killed his set. When I watched him go through his set, it occurred to me there were a lot of people having fun at HomeSkillet Fest, but nobody having as much fun as him. It was also about the same time I noticed everyone under the tent mouthing the lyrics to his songs. Wow. To think where he has come from with his music, to where he is at, is inspiring. Can’t wait to hear his new stuff.

I will follow up with more posts about the guest artists soon.

Kaninau has a Hawaii inspired traditional sound. Their vocals shine brightly and they sing a lot of harmonies throughout their set. They played a number of original tracks and a few covers. Overall I think the Community House was a great first night to hear these guys play. The venue has great acoustics and it really accented their set.

It was good to see some other “Island Boys” playing their music and pursuing what they love.

They played Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Nights and we couldn’t be more pleased with the guys themselves, their music, and the family ties that bind us. These guys helped us set up and filled in when some of our other acts canceled. We are very grateful for that.

Be sure to check out their website and their myspace page for more music. These guys put out beautiful tracks.

I will post more pics when I get them.