Restoration Festival

Swamp Baby performs. Click on the picture to visit SwampBaby.net.

The Restoration Festival was last weekend, and if you didn’t get there, you really missed out. I myself was only able to make it to Day 1 and missed the last couple bands, and I’ve been kicking myself ever since. Curse you, obligations!

The festival featured some of the best local music I’ve seen live. Barons in the Attic (who had a sign that said “FIND US ON FACEBOOK!” so here’s a link), The Red Lions, and Troy-based folk rock band Restys among others. I’ve been grateful to have been able to stumble on groups like this in the recent months, most of which I can attribute to Matthew Carefully and the fine folks at WEXT.

So great job to everyone involved. Bummed I didn’t get to see all of the performances, but hey, so long as music like this keeps getting made in this area, we’re going to have one Hell of a music scene for the next few years.

I also got to meet some great folks as well. CRUMBS contributor Andrew Gregory introduced himself to me and caught me doing that thing where I pretend to know someone that I don’t remember, then revealed we’d never met before. I also ran into several folks I know from around the way, including but not limited to members of Sgt. Dunbar & The Hobo Banned, Matthew Carefully, and Laura of Hello Pretty City on WEXT.

It was a great time, and St. Joseph’s is a site to behold.

The church, located on the Ten Broeck Triangle in downtown Albany (up the street and around the corner from The Palace). The church is surrounded by a park and the historic brownstones of Arbor Hill; a scenic and often forgotten part of the city whose mere mention evokes undeserved images of urban decay and crime. Not all of Arbor Hill fits that bill, with this neighborhood being a prime example.

The church has been in a state of disrepair for a few decades. In 2004, years after the city had to claim eminent domain on the building after an irresponsible owner allowed the facade to disintegrate to a point where it presented a very real danger to passerbys, $300,000 was spent to keep the building from falling apart and restoring the roof.

Although fit for people to go in and out, the building still needs a lot of work. The electrical wiring needs to be overhauled, the plumbing is non-functional (Rest Fest had outhouses which were seriously among the cleanest for any event I’ve been to), and the furnace needs to be replaced.

The goal of the venue was to raise funds to at least get the ball rolling on these much needed repairs. It’s my hope that they’re able to find some success in doing so. It’d be a shame for the church to go to waste, particularly since it’s the perfect venue for music and art. With the beautiful gothic interior and angelic statues locked into the vaulted ceilings, the space carries a natural and inspiring ambience that would be of great benefit to the area’s cultural scene.

To find out more about all the bands that performed/download their music, check out my original post on the festival and/or visit RestFest.net.

Pictures after the jump.

Restys performs

Some of the artwork on display at Rest Fest (these pieces from Patrick Dodson)

I won a potholder!