Jemfest Thanks!!!! - These bands rocked!!!!

[Gabe Nickelson]

This years Jemfest was by far the most successful one. *The music and people were totally incredible and amazing. *There's no way to put words on it. *Everything went smoothly and we had a good attendance. *At a given time, I'd say there were around 60-70 people watching the show. *This is a far stretch from 99 and 00. *If you missed out of Jemfest 2001 you missed out on something really, really big.

Eric Sands - Man what a guy and incredible talent. *His band was just 'on it' the whole night. *His surprise with J3 (Sands, Balducci, and Garcia) was the highlight of all Jemfests. *J3 was an emotional experience. *I'm working on a webpage specifically for J3.

Rob Balducci - Once again he came through for another Jemfest. *Although Chris couldn't make it, Anthony did and they played with backing tracks. *None the less, another excellent performance. *Seeing Rob play makes me want to go live in NY just so I can see him play live. *You have to see him live to understand.

Ricky Garcia - Ricky has such an emotional playing style that makes your jaw drop. *Be looking for Ricky doing something really big one of these days. *What a great guy too.

Arc of Descent - What a rush! *Arc rumbled the fest with such power and energy that would bring down the chandeliers at Jemfest 2000. *You must see the video to experience this energy. *This was Jemfests heaviest act ever.

Frankenshred - Good God man. *These guys are beyond words. *From one of the most powerful set of lungs came the lyrics which backed the fastest playing ever experienced at a Jemfest show. *They're such perfomers and excellent showman not to mention a great bunch of guys to party with.

Stephanie's Religion - *These guys gigged all the way down to Jemfest! *If you ever get the chance to see this band you're in for a real treat. *I'll soon have videos posted so you'll see what I mean!

Matt King - A guitar prodigy maybe? *I'd say 'yes' as would many others. *Satch has something to look out for in the future because someones creeping up on him and will take him out. * *Adam recommended Matt for JF2001 and it was an excellent choice. *The band members ages ranged from 16-18. *

Jeremy Krull - This is his 2nd time performing at Jemfest. *He gets better year after year and impressed everyone there. *Plus he won the Ibanez raffle guitar! *Congrats!

I want to give special thanks to all those who loaned equipment for others to use. *This saved us LOADS of money! *Also Ryan and Bob for running sound for the acts and Jay for bringing in tons of his stuff. *Of course, Kevan for organizing and booking all the gigs - man, I hope you are still interested in JF02. *Bill was impressive and controlling the sales and funds. *He marked down every item sold and made sure we had enough funds for everything.

That's all for now - It's late and I'll post more later. *I'll work on some captions and will be touching up some pictures (red eye, rotation, etc.)

Gabe

[bob oakman]

My thanks to Gabe, Kevan and Bill, the organizers, for showing me a GREAT time! Thanks to all the performers for being fun, kind and professional during the shows and loads of fun after the shows. Thanks to everyone for bringing so many incredible guitars and not hurting me when I drooled on them… except for Rich, who wouldn’t let me closer than 5 feet…. :biggrin: … but thanks to Rich for being such an entertaining character.

The only bummer thing that happened was the no-show by my guitar. UPS lost it. I still have not seen it. If I get her home safe, I will never ship her again! Nevertheless, that obviously depressing event pales next to the great fun I had the entire time.

Please except my undying commitment to helping make next year even better. Next year I will know to sleep for three days before the fest.

[Kevan]

DATELINE- Long Beach, NY
5.14.01
Total Miles Travelled: *2570.7
Total Hours Slept: *7.4

The Good News: *I'm home, Shane is back at his home (with a family VERY happy to have him back), and my p-dogs are out running around the bedroom. *All eleven guitars are also intact and happy to be home...well, I *think* they're happy. *:-)

The Bad News: *Jay called my cell phone at about 5:30AM EST to let me know that the deer he hit with his truck at 80MPH had officially failed it's physics test. *Jay was stressed about the front end of his Blazer being destroyed, but all things considered he was in good spirits. *No one was injured in the accident. *Insurance company is helping Jay out.

My thanks go out to Gabe and Bill for making me look like a good guy (LOL), to the artists who performed for making me sound like a good guy, and to EVERY ONE of the attendees who made me feel like a good guy. *It's a hard job, but I love doing it (Yes- I'm in for JF2K2). *Also, I have no way to thank the Vai Camp and Ibanez enough for all the stuff they sent so we could give it to the attendees, thus making us ALL look like good guys. *They say that they're floored by the fact that this is so big, but we're floored by their generosity! *THANKS! *The rest of the "donatees" also deserve a HUGE hand-clapping round for their raffle items. *Cool stuff for cool people from cool people. *Keep clapping....

I'm going to get some much needed sleep now, but don't worry- Gabe's little 2-page post will be a sticky-note compared to the one I've been working on in my head during the drive home. *:-) *
Look for it soon.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Right on! *Kickazz!

[Matthew King]

Gabe - Kevan - Bill

Thank you all for having us down there! *It was the best week end of our lives. *We met so many cool people, it was kind of like a family atmosphere! *One I will never forget, thanks...