Grand Haven band takes over Rothbury

Mon, Jul 6, 2009

ROTHBURY — It was 1 p.m. Saturday when local band Four Finger Five took over one of the Rothbury music festival stages. By Rothbury standards, it might as well have been a sunrise show.

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Four Finger Five's lead singer and guitarist, Joe Sturgill of Grand Haven, welcomed the still-groggy crowd.

"Thanks for getting up early and walking over here," he said. "It's good to have a festival in our backyard and to see all you beautiful people here," he added.

To see the related video, click here: http://www.grandhaventribune.com/liveique/b_vid_front.bsp

The crowd grew steadily during the band's set. After an hour of playing, the band had to call it a day even though they seemed to just be getting comfortable.

"We're used to playing three-hour sets," Sturgill said. "To just play for an hour, that was just a warm up."

Sturgill and his bandmates — bassist Mike Phillips and drummer Steve Harris — had some support come to Rothbury from Grand Haven to help with the show as well.

Guitar Haven owner Dave Johnson tuned Sturgill's guitars, and Bill Chrysler was their sound engineer. Chrysler lives in Grand Haven, but is gone much of the year. He was with Bon Jovi last weekend and will soon join Van Morrison.

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Even though Chrysler works with some of the biggest acts in the music world, he's very complimentary of Four Finger Five's blend of rock, jazz and pop.

"They're definitely a project I want to stay involved with as much as possible," he said. "They have as much potential as any of the bands I work with."

A high compliment from someone who has traveled with artists ranging from Barry Manilow and Paul McCartney to John Mayer and Christina Aguilera.

Sturgill, a Grand Haven High School graduate, said he was proud to represent the local music scene at Rothbury, a festival with artists and an audience from across the country.

"I feel like we're hosting the party," he said.

Back to the bus

Four Finger Five weren't the only ones representing the Grand Haven area. It took a healthy dose of elbow grease for four friends to resurrect a 1951 GMC Coach bus in preparation for Rothbury, and it took another minor miracle to get the bus 35 miles north to the Double JJ Ranch festival grounds.

"As soon as we got off the exit, the bus died," Rhea Ybarra said.

A suburban towed the bus to a Rothbury campsite, where the bus quickly became a spectacle. Ybarra said she woke up to people taking pictures of the bus, which was covered in flowers, butterflies and peace signs.

As of Saturday, Ybarra and her friends wasn't sure what would happen to the bus once the festival ended Sunday evening.

"We'll figure that out when we get home," she said.