Grateful Dean

Following a wet and treacherous beginning, the cast and crew, lead by Peter Shapiro, pulled of an enormous task by reconstructing the damage left behind following some super cells of storms that passed through Arrington and put a beating on the property much like the thousands of folks in Virginia are putting on their rented RVs. Unfortunately, after making a Rainbow in California and stopping all wind in Chicago for 4 days, Shapiro ran out of money and was blackmailed by Mother Nature. When he failed to come up with the rumored 7 figure ransom, Mother Nature busted out a wooden spoon and took it to the ass of Arrington like a child that stole something. Father Time wasn’t on our side either and watched from a rocking chair as the whooping took place.

After being forced to postpone entry into the grounds and cancel Thursday’s performances, every demon in Hell laughed as the leader and descendant from the Tribe of The Chosen People appeared to be tied up like a groupie in Steven Tyler’s hotel room. One thing’s for sure, adversity and resistance are the things that either cause people to crumble or become much more than they could’ve been prior. The staff here at Lockn’ were given that choice and proved they could accomplish much more than they were previously aware. With all the cards and forces of nature that were stacked against them, the crews worked around the clock to make it possible for a safe albeit sluggish entry Friday morning.

After transferring funds from various accounts, Shapiro came up with a respectable ransom and Mother Nature accepted the offer providing abundant sunshine and ideal conditions for the start of the postponed event. As the sun baked the moisture out of the ground, the lines moving into Lockn’ moved like old folks screw… Slowly, if at all. Congratulations to the fans and crew are in order as both did everything possible to maintain an atmosphere of Love and understanding as the procession moved along. From my vantage point, cool heads and warm hearts made the best of the challenges we were faced with.

For those that aren’t familiar with Lockn’, this is my first, the staging is absolutely incredible. There’s two enormous and complete stages on the main field, right next to each other, that allow the music to basically run continuously throughout the entire day. The timing was remarkable as bands would play their last note and the following band’s first notes would begin only moments later. This continued throughout the entire day, without a single noticeable technical glitch for 12 hours straight. Anybody that knows how many people and moving parts, as well as all of the artists that have to be on the same page for that to take place realizes the magnitude of that accomplishment alone. From the opening notes of John Popper’s National Anthem followed by The Doobie Incident all the way to the closing notes of Mad Dogs and Englishmen, nearly 12 hours later, the music truly NEVER stopped.

I don’t have time to review everybody at the moment but the sets were all inspired and full of the energy and vibe we all live for. The staff and people in charge of operations worked overtime trying to insure the comfort and satisfaction of everyone in attendance. With all the challenges that were faced, I’d like to personally thank Chris Kovach and Brad Tucker who did a lot to help me personally with the various challenges associated with getting in and settled. I appreciate it guys, Thank You!

If you’ve never been, I can tell you that Lockn’ is like Disney World for Music Lovers. If you have been before or are here now, you already know. There are things happening constantly and nearly 24 hours a day. While there may have been some there, I personally didn’t see a single police officer or a single fan hassled. If there’s a place for fans of all ages to gather peacefully and enjoy almost more music than they can handle, Lockn’ is certainly that place. Once I crawl out of the psychedelic soup here in Virginia, I’ll write a more detailed and complete review. For now, it’s off to a day of nonstop jams with our musical family and friends. See y’all out there!

I understand there’s some extremely special surprises coming tonight! Maybe Mickey joining Billy and The Kids and who knows what else…
Get your popcorn ready! It’s about to get turned up to 11 again!!!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)