‘No obstacles’ to a good time

Mattox Farm Productions launches 2023 Summer Music Series with first of four free Thursday night concerts at Farmin Park

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Robb Talbott of Sandpoint’s Mattox Farm Productions doesn’t just say he has a mission to “bring quality Americana music to North Idaho in a family-friendly environment” — he delivers.

Beyond being family friendly, MFP’s annual Summer Music Series goes a step further to be free, costing locals a grand total of zilch to enjoy high-caliber live music in Farmin Park on a handful of Thursday evenings throughout the summer.

In 2023, those Thursday nights will feature Seattle-based Americana rockers Heels to the Hardwood on June 29; Bon Bon Vivant, a horn-heavy indie band from New Orleans, on July 20; the nine-piece, Latin-influenced B-Side Players, hailing from San Diego, on Aug. 10; and, finally, Sandpoint favorites John Firshi and the Monday Night Blues Crew with Headwaters will cap off the series with a performance on Sept. 7, which is dubbed Local’s Night.

munity has adopted it and made it its own. He said last year’s series drew 3,000 attendees over the four dates, nearly tripling audience numbers from its inaugural year in 2019.

“The goal is for this to be a uniquely Sandpoint music series,” he said. “Sandpoint has such an amazing music community and I feel like it deserves a community-centered music series, so I am just trying to facilitate what the town wants to support.”

Concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own blankets and chairs and leave dogs at home. No outside alcohol is allowed, but there will be a beer garden on site. The first concert on Thursday, June 29 will coincide with the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce’s Summer Sampler food event in Farmin Park, so there will be plenty of good eats on hand, as well.

Mattox Farm Productions’ Summer Music Series ft. Heels to the Hardwood

Heels to the Hardwood vocalist and guitarist David John told the Reader that he and his band look forward to being the series’ first act of 2023.

Thursday, June 29; music starts at 6 p.m.; FREE. Farmin Park, Third Avenue and Main Street in Sandpoint, mattoxfarm.com/ summermusicseries. Listen at heelstothehardwood.com.

Talbott told the Reader that he booked the series with variety in mind, and that the event as a whole has taken on new life as the com-

“I love to play outdoor concert series that are making it so that music is a focal point of whatever community it is at that moment,” John said, “and there’s no obstacles to going and having a good time.”

Heels to the Hardwood defies Americana stereotypes by emphasizing soulful lyrics and not shying from a good electric guitar solo.

“Sometimes it’s soulful Americana, sometimes it’s alt-country, sometimes it goes straight into rock ’n’ roll,” John said. “Sometimes, it’ll seem like it’s a wall of sound. We try to create a lot of dynamics with different guitar textures or string textures.”

Those “guitarmonies,” as John called them, are key to Heels to the Hardwood’s live show dynamic, which relies on members of the five-piece band to draw inspiration from one another.

“There is a fair amount of us playing off of each other,” John said, “and that’s what makes it fun to me.”

Heels to the Hardwood has played Sandpoint before and commended Talbott’s commitment to giving musicians and audiences alike a chance to remember what it’s all about: the music.

“It’s a good way to get people who wouldn’t normally come together on a Thursday night to come hang out with everybody in the neighborhood,” John said.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint

Snacks at Midnight, 219 Lounge, July 1 Phat Piles & the Raw Deal, Eichardt’s, June 30

It’s appropriate that the 219 Lounge should bill its Saturday, June 1 show featuring Snacks at Midnight as a “summer kickoff.” The Spokane-based quintet’s popfunk-infused indie rock perfectly captures the sound and feel of a summertime party. Bursting with energy on tracks like “Hey,” from the so-titled single released in April; playfully poppy and hook-rich on “Unusual”; melodic and contemplative on “Live Like This”; and downright anthemic on “Westward Bound,” the band’s inventiveness is only matched by its powerhouse dynamic.

Founded by high-school friends Rory Babin, Nick Harner and Giovani Covarrubias, along with Rory’s brother Bill Babin and more recent addition Austin Davis, Snacks at Midnight is worth staying up for.

— Zach Hagadone

9 p.m.-midnight, FREE, 21+. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208-263-5673, 219.bar. Listen at snacksatmidnight.com.

Perhaps the best way to describe the band playing Eichardt’s on Friday, June 30 is using words by the immortal bard Shakespeare (uh, sort of): “A band by any other name would sound as sweet.” In the case of Phat Piles & the Raw Deal, that’s entirely accurate.

You might know this five-piece “band within a band” as Heels to the Hardwood (see story above), but in Phat Piles, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Files steps forward to sing lead vocals and

This

Read

Technology writing can often be esoteric and tedious to people who aren’t already familiar with the subject, but not so with the phenomenal (and chilling) long-form report “AI Is a Lot of Work” by Josh Dzieza. Published June 20 as a collaboration between The Verge and New York Magazine, it is a peek into the dystopian backend of what makes artificial intelligence work: ironically, millions of human workers who label and annotate data to feed the beast. Rather than destroying jobs, AI will likely transform work in “more alien, more isolating, more tedious” ways. Find it at theverge.com.

Listen

The podcasts I listen to pertain either to super-nerdy analysis of the mythologies surrounding Dune and A Song of Ice and Fire, vintage horror short stories or history. Almost all of them are on YouTube, but I recently came across three stellar history-related podcasts that exist on other platforms. Slow Burn (on podcasts.apple. com) tackles hot-button contemporary history with an investigative edge; A History of the World in 100 Objects (bbc.co.uk) is exactly what it sounds like, exploring the context and importance of items in the British Museum; and Stuff the British Stole (abc.net.au), an Australian-based exploration of the wages of imperialism.

Watch

guitar, giving Heels frontman David John a bit of respite. Phat Piles plays an intriguing mix of Americana, including old-school country covers we all know and love.

If you missed Heels to the Hardwood at the Sandpoint Summer Series, Phat Piles is right there waiting for you. Or double dip. It’s your world, man.

—

Ben Olson

7pm, FREE, Eichardt’s Pub, 212 Cedar St., 208-263-4005. eichardtspub.com

The sixth season of subversive Netflix series Black Mirror hit the streaming service June 15 with five one-hour-ish episodes stacked with supernatural horror, dark comedy, “techno-paranoia” and other “mind-bending” vignettes. The British anthology has covered much ground since its debut in 2011, but by now has become mature enough to feature A-listers like Salma Hayek and Aaron Paul. For my money, Episode 3, “Beyond the Sea” was the best of the bunch.

From Northern Idaho News, June 29, 1915