Film Festival week begins tomorrow. And in addition to official Sundance and Slamdance Film Festival events, other organizations are looking to tap into the throngs of people who will be migrating to Park City the next few days.
One is Mountain Town Music. Its concert series, featuring Los Angeles funk band Orgone and singer/songwriter Peter Goetz, kicks off at the Sidecar.
While Orgone has performed in Park City before, the band’s percussionist, Stewart Killan, calling from the road between Lake Tahoe and Sacramento, Calif., said he has never come during the film festivals.
“I’ve heard about it all my life,” Killan said about Sundance and Slamdance. “Being from Los Angeles, we have friends and family who go up there every year. So this will be fun.”
Orgone started as a funk/soul instrumental band that played Booker T and The Meters covers, Killan said. “We’ve grown to add vocalists and horns and began playing our own originals of the style we know and love.”
The band Killan, guitarist Sergio Rios, keyboardist Dan Hastie, bassist Ethan Phillips, drummer Sean O’Shea, trombonist Darren Cardoza, trumpeter Devin Williams, saxophonist Joel Bowers and vocalist Fanny Franklin are playing the music exactly how they want, said Killan.
“We’re playing an old-school sound that is about real instrumentation that uses vintage tube amplifiers and a recording sense of honesty,” he said. “But it’s not a retro sound. It’s a fresh take on the style we grew up with.”
To date, Orgone, which means a universal life force or a creative force in nature, has five CDs to its name. Visit www.orgonespace.com for more information.
Filmmaker and singer/songwriter Peter Goetz first visited Park City during Film Festival week in 2006, when his award-winning documentary “Sofia,” about the first female world-champion surfer from Peru, made its world premiere.
This time around, Goetz, who called The Park Record from his tour in Australia, will debut his music.
“I just finished my first full-length album, ‘Indian Summer,'” he said. “I recorded it in Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It’s in Portuguese, English and Spanish.”
Goetz recorded the record with Gilberto Gil’s band members.
“Gilberto Gil is Brazil’s Minister of Culture,” Goetz said. “He is one of the more well-known musicians from that part of the world. It was an honor to collaborate with the cream of the crop of these Brazilian musicians.”
While the CD is yet to be released, Goetz will be performing some songs from it during his set.
“I’ll be playing with a four-piece band and will be playing guitar and ukelele,” he said.
Goetz said he likes the vibe of Park City during Sundance and Slamdance.
“During the film festival, there is a unique collection of creative minds,” he said. “When I was there in 2006, I made some great contacts, the folks I have been able to collaborate on different projects throughout the last few years.
“I look forward to getting back out there.”
Here is the schedule and cost of Mountain Town Music performances during Film Festival week. All shows will take place at Sidecar, 333 Main Street. Tickets available by visting www.mountaintownmusic.org or www.24tix.com
The Stone Foxes, Holy Water Buffalo and Temperamental Falcons, Jan. 21, 9 p.m., $17.50
Das Racist, Jan. 22, 9:30 p.m., $22.50
Bryon Friedman, Damien Roomets and Trevor Nealon, Jan. 23, 9 p.m., $12.50
Orgone, Jan. 24, 9:30 p.m., $12.50
Topaz and Lake Effect, Jan. 25, 9:30 p.m., $10
Peter Goetz, Jan. 26, 9 p.m., $10
Wisebird and Cowboy & Indian, Jan. 28, 9 p.m., $10
T-Bird and the Breaks, Jan. 29, 9 p.m., $10
