Apple Blossom’s second weekend of music is jam-packed with fun

WENATCHEE — If last weekend taught us anything about live music at Apple Blossom, it’s that anything can happen, and it’s usually good. Although two of the scheduled acts from week one of the festival canceled at the last minute, bands stepped right in to fill their shoes, and they did it admirably. When the drummer from Warp Detour, the headlining act from last Friday, got sick, Kevin Jones from 3 Track Mind, who’d played earlier in the day, called up the guys from his primary band and they hit the stage ready to go by 8:30 that night.

If you were around last weekend, you saw some great music and you helped send a legendary local band off in style at Junkbelly’s last performance ever.

This weekend starts Thursday afternoon, and the bands are ready to give it their all. On the 1st, the music starts at 4 p.m. on the GESA Entertainment Stage with Leanna Shannon and Mike Bills, a country duo that features one of the valley’s favorite female vocalists and the hardest-working musician at this year’s Apple Blossom, hands down. You already saw Mike play solo last weekend and with the Bada Bings and he’s back again.

At 6 p.m., it’s Light In Mirrors from Spokane, whose blend of indie, pop, and rock brings something for everyone. At 8 p.m., Moses Lake’s Dimestore Prophets take the stage with their fun, lively brand of party music — imagine hearing someone turning a Marshall Tucker Band song into reggae and you’ve got a small idea.

Friday starts even earlier, at noon with the biggest voice in the Valley, Gavin McLaughlin. It doesn’t matter what song he’s playing, Gavin has one setting: Power mode. His incredible vocal skill and guitar prowess brought him all the way to Hollywood for a famous televised talent show, but they told him he was just too pretty to move on to the final stage. Now he’s on the Apple Blossom stage, right where we like him.

At 3 p.m., the Easy Street Men’s Choir goes on with exactly what you think: A mostly a cappella men’s choir doing five-part harmonies. Supremely talented, these guys are some of the best Wenatchee has to offer. At 4, The PreFunc fires up with high energy classic rock hits from the 60s through the 90s to move everyone toward the evening shows.

At 6 p.m., local band Given To Fly takes off with the stylized vocals of Jim Gorman, who does not only a passable impression of the vocalist from every band you hear them play a song by, but has also done voices in theater in the valley. And although he doesn’t make a spectacle of himself, Wenatchee’s own Al Rookard — who you might have seen mentioned elsewhere in our reporting — is on the guitar, and it would be a surprise to everyone if he didn’t have shades on. Ask Al if he came incognito, and he’ll tell you no, he came in his car. Joe Sagan’s on the drums, and even though he’s not related to Carl, he is pretty cosmic. Rounding out the band is a guy for whom it’s hard to pick what to highlight. Domingo Gonzalez is so multi-talented that if you’ve ever seen any form of entertainment in the Wenatchee Valley, there’s about a 75% chance that Domingo had something to do with it.

At 8 p.m., classic hard rock cover band Tequila Road hits the stage to bring their electrifying energy all the way until the Blossom & Brews beer garden closes for the night. But Friday night is no place to stop on the final weekend of Apple Blossom, because there’s more to come the next day.

On Saturday, the afternoon gets off to a good start with the Saddle Rockers, a vintage rock and bluegrass outfit, followed by Jeff Fielder playing Americana, roots and blues at 2:30. At 4, you’ll recognize some faces from the previous weekend when local supergroup Older & Wiser gets on stage. Wayne Evans and Mike Gamble from JunkBelly are joined by Jim Harvill (easily the snappiest dresser in the Valley, if not the world) on percussion for original interpretations of songs you know and love, with a few originals thrown in every so often. They’re joined by two more familiar faces from the JunkBelly show, Jeff Frantz and special guest Seth Garrido, who, if they let him sing lead on anything, might accidentally upstage everyone.

The original drummer of legendary grunge band Screaming Trees, Mark Pickerel, is up next at 6:30 with his band the Peyote 3, with roots, rock and mood music to provide a seamless transition back to the decade that made him famous when they’re followed at 8:30 p.m. by the ultimate GenX party band Altered 90s.

If you can’t get your fill with this lineup, you’d better go get some funnel cakes from the food fair, because it must not be music you’re after. The final weekend of Apple Blossom is shaping up to be the Best Time Ever, part two.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media