Chasing Pedestrians

BARNSTOCK PRESS RELEASE
Barnstock 12 Festival raises $10K for local schools and charities
Donna the Buffalo takes BARNSTOCK’12 to record setting attendance of almost 1,200 fans during the two day music festival. Despite intense summer heat and epic thunderstorms on Friday evening, the much expanded Barnstock brought more music and entertainment to the rustic Huntersville venue.
Barnstock producer, Miles Brown took a huge risk this year signing internationally-known Donna the Buffalo to headline on Friday night. The big winners were Second Harvest Food Bank, Davidson Fire Department, Cannon School, Hough High School, and the American Red Cross who will share equally the $10k. Director of Barnstock Charities, Julia Brown stated, “Everyone wanted to see how far we could stretch. With Donna and the other bands, we believed Barnstock’12 could be our best fund-raising year. Barnstock fans, bands and sponsors are awesome! Thank you very much.”
Donna the Buffalo
After an extended mic check and sound setup by Charlotte Sound & Stage to make things just right, the members of Donna the Buffalo took the Barnstock stage just after 10pm. For the next two and half hours, just over 300 people enjoyed a semi-private Donna show that would rival performances at big time festivals like Merlefest or Shikori Hills. The weather was perfect, the night was peaceful, and the folksy tunes danced over the small patch of farm land wedged between Davidson and Concord. Not wanting to leave, the Donna crew, members of the Herd, and several new Barnstock friends shared the last remaining chicken and veggie tacos from the Chef & Friends truck. “Hey – the music, friends, and tacos can’t get better than this! Barnstock breakfast,” celebrated Mike Patton who drove to his fourth Barnstock from Asheville, NC.
Bigger and Better Talent in 2012
Barnstock organizers made a move to evolve from a local event to a full-blown music festival. Music started on Friday at noon and continued until 11:59 on Saturday night with 22 band performances. Daniel Brown, Director of Stage & Talent added, “It is really great that so many high-quality bands played Barnstock’12. Whether a thousand kids jammed in front of the stage or 6 folks were sitting in lawn chairs, each band played their hearts out.”
Even during the most extreme thunderstorms on Friday afternoon, the Brett Morton Project (Cannon School) played with tarps blocking the heavy rainfall to a happy and hardcore gathering of fans. Atlas Road Crew (Columbia, SC) covered a wide-variety of country tunes from Zac Brown, Jason Aldean, and Kip Moore.
Morning Brigade (Chapel Hill, NC) played a full sound and with classic energy on the Barnstock stage. The good-looking Keaton Lange performed his original music to the delight of Barnstock women from ages 15 to 50. Vanished Frontier, two Williams brothers from Concord, brought more heat to already steaming weekend of performances.
The highlight of the weekend festival was the impromptu sharing of the stage with Chasing Pedestrian and Brody & Choch singing the crowd-pleasing cover “Ms. Jackson” by Outkast. For both bands, Barnstock’12 was their third performance at the local grass roots festival. “Barnstock just keeps growing and getting better every year because of the fans – they love this place!,” explains Brody during Thursday night’s rehearsal.
The show was concluded with an outdoor rave by MasterJaxx that ended in traditional Barnstock style abruptly at 11:59pm. The full lineup for Barnstock’12 can be found at www.mybarnstock.com
Music & Much More
An all day beach volleyball tournament, excellent food vendors, and a predictable showing from the Herd (Donna’s fan club) certainly made for entertaining people watching. Hippies hoola hooped pretty much the entire weekend while Frat Bros played endless corn hole matches. Miles Brown offers, “The all day beach volleyball tournament on Saturday was clutch. Kids played from 11am to 6pm. Along with great music and food, everyone got into the beach volleyball which was a new addition to the Barnstock experience. Congrats to Block Party Team! ”
Barnstock fans traveled from local Hough High to as far away as Melbourne, Australia. Aussie turned Barnstocker, Elyse Kingston offered in her sweet down-under accent, “My mates and I have been watching Barnstock on Facebook and Twitter all year long. Five of us made the trip, and we had a lovely time. We’ll be back next year!”
Another nice addition to Barnstock’12 was a full array of excellent quality food vendors, including: Chef & Friends, Hogman, Kona Ice, Maki Taco, Ron’s Pig Palace, and Napolitanos.
Volunteers Handle Record Setting Crowd
Over 50 parent and student volunteers wearing barn red tie-dyed BARNSTOCK STAFF shirts worked both days in the 90+ degree heat and a monster rain storm. Monty Coggins, Cannon School Biology Teacher turned Front Gate Manager had a staff of a dozen who took money, checked id’s, directed parking, and handed out wrists bands. “Barnstock is a very special thing to many people. Our family knew Donna (the Buffalo) would make this year’s festival something to build upon in the future. Everyone, including the members of Donna, left Barnstock 2012 very happy but a little sad it was over.”
The crowd of 850 on Saturday night consisted of many local students who have attended Barnstock for the past four years. But with up and coming bands from Chapel Hill, Wilmington, Richmond, Columbia, the Barnstock fan base continues to expand. Miles Brown explains, “There is a growing group of great fans and bands out there that are totally into what we are trying to do at Barnstock. Good music from all genres, community service, and having a good time. Everyone is so chill, yet they get so pumped up. We are blessed that it keeps growing.”
Officer Oliver with Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Department stated, “The fans at Barnstock are good kids and pretty well behaved. All the volunteers and staff work really hard to keep things organized and safe. There were no issues.”
This year, Barnstock leverage the talents of many local residents that attend schools all across America, including,
Executive Producer – Miles Brown, NCSU
Director of Barnstock Charities – Julia Brown, Hough High
Director of Operations – Roy Goode, Denver University
Director of Stage & Talent – Daniel Brown, Presby College
Parking – Bryce Tharrington, ASU; Mike Lopez, NCSU
Security – Chandler Short, ASU; Sean Kane, NCSU
Volunteers – Phil Poley, Duke
Front Gate – Monty Coggins, Cannon School
Back Gate – Denise Poley, UNC-A
Beach Volleyball – Emily Cararra, Davidson College
Hospitality – Kathy Brown, NCSU
Video – Tommy Campbell, UNC School of the Arts
Photography – Wes Harkins, ASU
The list of supporters and corporate friends is as varied as the music and as important as the history of Barnstock, including:
Stock Car Steel & Aluminum
Sunn Enterprises
Altamont
The Birdsnest
CannonSchool.com
Charlotte Sound & Stage
CM Knights Fine Home Building
CorneliusNews.net
DavidMerckStudio.com
DavidsonNews.net
Denise & Phil Poley
DixiesSeating.com
Goode Properties
Gould Killian CPA
P&P Hennigans
HMS
Holiday Marina
Hughes Cleaning Service
Jobes Solo Investment Group
LeonardsAutoMart.com
LobbyGuard.com
Mecklenburg Sheriff Department
MountaineerConstruction.com
McLeodCorporation.com
PawnWorld
PCG
PhyllisPatton.com
SummitCoffee.com
Wadsworth Group
WesHarkinsPhotography.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION: contact Miles Brown at mbrown@mybarnstock.com or 704-778-2876. Barnstock is a Miles Brown Production. - DavidsonNews.net

The Fillmore House Party went off with a bing bang BOOM this past Saturday at…well, The Fillmore. Brody & Choch brought their customary attire and on-stage antics, and threw an assortment of rhymes at the crowd late into the night. Fellow Charlotte-based acts, Lucky Five and Chasing Pedestrians, put on quite a show of their own. It was a pleasant surprise for a photog who had never heard either band before. No doubt they both have been seeing some play time on my Spotify account over the past couple of days!
- Shutter 16 Magizine

Chasing Pedestrians was next at the Neighborhood Theatre and was the biggest surprise of the day for me. While I noticed the band members were young, I was quickly impressed by their talents and songwriting. Many times in younger bands you find the one standout amongst the mediocre, but every one of the seven or so band members here held their ground firmly. A horn section added some interesting spice to the mix, as well. Keep an eye on this band. - Creative Loafing Charlotte