After a decade of impromptu, once-in-a-lifetime jam sessions, including Beach Boy Al Jardine, the Mother Hips and Jackie Greene unleashing a round of Beach Boys tunes on the Fernwood Campgrounds’ stage, it’s fair to say anything can happen at the intimate, three-day boutique music festival at Fernwood Resort in Big Sur.
Hipnic XI’s 20-plus acts include the Mother Hips, Jonathan Richman with Tommy Larkins, Robyn Hitchcock, Kelley Stoltz, Sonny and The Sunsets, Little Wings, The Coffis Brothers and more. But even that list is really just a stepping stone to larger performances and collaborations that go beyond music fans’ wildest dreams.
In addition to the Entrance Band, Tim Bluhm Band, Cosmic Twang, Elisa Randazzo, Sensations, Trumours, Suzzane Vallie, The Casual Coalition and psychedelic effects courtesy of Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show, A Tribute: The Music From Big Pink celebrates The Band’s seminal record. That comes from an all-star supergroup made up of many of the weekend’s musicians.
“The real highlight is watching all the kids that have been coming [to Hipnic] every year of their lives,” says Hipnic co-founder, co-producer and folkYEAH! Presents’ Britt Govea. “It’s like a kid-friendly, all-inclusive musical cruise ship that stays docked at Fernwood campground all weekend – 11 years in, and it is truly a family-friendly, intimate camping gathering.”
Hipnic artist Robyn Hitchcock will perform double duty in Big Sur, playing a show Friday night at the Henry Miller Memorial Library, a spot just down the road that’s adopted a slogan opposite from the Hipnic anything-can-happen vibe. At the library, it’s: “Where Nothing Happens.”
Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter/poet and a former member of The Soft Boys. He returns with a batch of music and prose spanning a lengthy career.
Hitchcock’s 2017 acclaimed self-titled record goes deep into Nuggets-era psych rock, with a slew of hallucinatory trips to ride along the way. “I Pray When I’m Drunk” could be a B-side of The Byrds’ country-centric saddle melter “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.” Except Hitchcock delivers lots of lyrical intellect on top of it all:
“Yeah I pray when I’m drunk, Pray when I’m sober, I’m grateful for the man that I’ve become/ Yeah I swarm with the bees and I booze with the mackerel, And I think about you every time I strum.”
Meanwhile the opener, guitarist/composer Bill MacKay, unravels an avant-garde ball of yarn.
Make way for the unassuming gap-toothed hero Mac DeMarco, who performs Monday at Henry Miller and then Tuesday at Fernwood. DeMarco is a dynamic ambrosia salad of velvet Elvis, tiki-themed motel rooms, aviator sunglasses, rhinestone cowboys in plaid suits and flowbee fauxhawks – rolled into one entity without any irony.
DeMarco’s 2012 full-length debut, 2, was beloved by a laundry list of media outlets. That included Pitchfork, with this take: “DeMarco has a knack for building songs where the realness of his subject matter lies just below the surface.”
The singer-songwriter is one prolific dude. His recently released Here Comes the Cowboy marks his 10th record in just eight years. It’s also his best album, among many very good releases – and, overall, one of the best records of 2019 thus far. Think The Beatles’ The White Album andSgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band through a yellow haze of ether and nitrous oxide. The title track opener features the same four words over and over again, evoking a similar cartoonish genius of “The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill.”
Meanwhile, one of the main instrumental elements that fires “Choo Choo” is one of those wooden toy train whistles, which DeMarco may have found at a thrift store. His instant adoration erupted into a song centered around the sound of the hollow block. The result: a call-and-response gem with sheer silliness to the point of infectious – plus a funky groove, which recalls George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic circa early-1970s.
Beyond recording stellar music that seems simpler than meets the ear, DeMarco’s delivery is far from stagnant during his live performances. Even without raucous, heavy guitar distortion, and more of a folk vibe, his shows have occasional consensual moshing. No broken bones or anything. Just bodies against bodies.
“We have a certain reputation with our live shows at festivals over the past couple years,” he says. “It’s not premeditated like we’re getting up on stage and saying, ‘Alright, let’s get crazy.’ A lot of times kids come to the concert so excited and amped up that it just kind of happens. The kids want to have a good time and you can’t deny that.”
HIPNIC XI 11am Friday, May 17, Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. Fernwood Resort, 47200 Highway 1, Big Sur. Sold out. folkyeah.com.
ROBYN HITCHCOCK AND BILL MACKAY 7pm (6pm gates) Friday May 17. Henry Miller Memorial Library, 48603 Highway 1, Big Sur. $38. folkyeah.com.
MAC DEMARCO 7pm (5pm gates) Monday, May 20. Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur. $145 (includes shuttle fee). folkyeah.com.
MAC DEMARCO 10pm Tuesday, May 21. Fernwood Resort, Big Sur. $300-$560 (varying overnight accommodations included in ticket price). folkyeah.com.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the following change to the lineup. Linda Perhacs is no longer playing; the Entrance Band has been added.