Icestock

Hello friends, family, and strangers!

First I'd like to wish you all happy holidays and a safe new year. I have been in McMurdo for the last week and a half decompressing from the crash and preparing to head to our field site in the Patriot Hills. If all goes well we will leave on Wednesday, Jan 2 and return to McMurdo sometime in late January, probably around the 22nd or 23rd. I'm not sure if I will have internet access there. Some people have been saying that we will, others say we won't so I don't know what to expect. The base we will stay at is a tourist facility for rich adventurers who like to do crazy things like bike to the pole. So it should be interesting. Around here we have been making last minute preparations for the field and celebrating the holidays. For Christmas, there was a big party with decorations and dancing and a Santa Claus. It was pretty fun. Then the next day we had a big feast that included crab legs, beef wellington, roast duck, assorted desserts and pastries, lots of wine, and lots of freshies (or fresh fruits, vegetables, cheese, etc). Freshies are a pretty valuable commodity around here as we can only get them every so often. But the best celebration was for New Year's. This includes the annual music festival known as Icestock. Icestock is a collection of bands that play an all day music festival. Also there is a chili cook off during the festival that is pretty delicious. All of the performers either bring their instruments down to the ice or borrow them from the rec department, find like minded musicians, and form a band. There are some pretty talented folks here spanning all genres of music. I had a lot fun, probably the best time I've had since I've been here. So without further ado, some pictures from Icestock.


The lineup card and schedule. I'm only going to post the pictures of my favorite bands.

It was a pretty cold day for an outdoor music festival. It was pretty windy with sometimes heavy snow. I have to admire the musicians. My hands were cold and I had gloves on. And they were up there playing instruments with no gloves! Of course they weren't holding cold beers like I was but still.

These are some shots of the Phat Ass Bluegrass band. They were pretty good. Definitely my style. I recognized most of the songs they played. Scott, the guitar player, is an amazing musician. And the two female vocalists, both named Julie, were also pretty solid.

Nice costume!

These are some shots of the blues band Blue Ice. They were great. Solid all around. I know the singer, Russ, and the guitar player Scott (also of Phat Ass Bluegrass) pretty well. We've been playing disc golf together so I was really excited to see these guys. And they did not disappoint. Russ has got some soul and Scott could wail on that guitar.

There were lots of great costumes in the crowd. Everyone was fired up and ready to dance and have a good time.

This is the band Porn Spill. They were awesome! Probably my favorite band of the show. They were a rhythm/funk band with ultra high energy. Great performers with a killer stage presence. The first image is a short movie. I couldn't get the audio to work on the computer in the lab. But I'm not sure if there is audio. All of these pictures and the movie were taken from the community temp drive on the local network. Can someone let me know if it works and I'll try and fix it?



And finally, Muschnuckle. A rocking band for sure.

Ok, that's all for now. I've got lots more pictures to post so hopefully I'll get a chance before we head to the field. If not, you'll hear from me in a few weeks.