Copious Notes

Remember, so long ago, Thursday, as the 40th edition of Ichthus was getting started? Jason Morrow has some video to remind us.

Kutless frontman Jon Micah Sumrall strapped on a guitar for a worship set with his band, including drummer Jeffrey Gilbert. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Two of the last three acts on the schedule for Friday’s Ichthus main stage lineup were scheduled to perform on Friday of last year, one of Ichthus’ infamous days of cancelled shows due to bad weather.

Stellar Kart frontman Adam Agee jumped into the crowd at the end of his band

“This is actually our Ichthus debut,” Stellar Kart lead singer Adam Agee said from the stage yesterday.

After the show, Agee said that the band has played around and through bad weather at festival shows, but last year’s Ichthus was the first time the group had ever had a show cancelled due to the weather. And they were ready to go.

“We had all our gear on stage,” Agee said.

And then, while GRITS was performing mid-afternoon, a storm blew in that even took down a portion of a merchandise tent.

“We waited a while, and then found out we weren’t going to perform,” Agee said, “and then we hoped we’d at least get to see Kutless and TobyMac, and then they got cancelled.”

Kutless frontman Jon Micah Sumrall initially addressed his band’s cancellation last year in a prayer, thanking God for, “no tornadoes,” and then referred several times to Kutless’ bad weather luck at the festival.

Both acts made the most of eventually getting a chance to perform, Stellar Kart hosting a spirited late afternoon party and Kutless playing a heavily nuanced set, including delivering a flavor of its forthcoming worship album.

One of the dramas that unfolded after the bad weather on Thursday was the delayed opening of the merchandise tents.
Festival goers traditionally love to get into the tents to buy stuff, and the sellers love to accomodate them.
But the tents didn’t open until after 6, anxious shoppers siting at the flaps, waiting for sales to start like it was Black Friday.
Despite possibly losing some afternoon business, the merchants were unfazed.
“I’d rather not be selling than be struck by lightning,” said Michael Yonosko, who sells jewelry and the soccer jersies with the Greek characters for Ichthus on them.”It is what it is.”
Peter Everett, who works with Desperation Rescue, which sells jewelry to raise money and awareness of girls forced into prostitution, said they didn’t feel like any sales were lost by the late start.
And Mike and Veronique Palumbo of Salem, Ark., got a very good impression of the festival when it finally came time to load their Cedar View Gifts booth into the merchandise tent.
“We backed the van up to the tent and there were 15 to 20 people there waiting to help us unload,” Mike marveled. “This festival has a lot of heart.”

Disciple lead singer Kevin Young plays to an appreciative crowd. By Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Ichthus has had a hard time getting going today.

First, it was delayed by cleanup and set up after the thunderstorms that swept through earlier today and yesterday. Then, the festival shut down around 1:30 for about an hour due to rain and storms, though nothing serious came through. That put the festival about an hour behind.

Justin Lookadoo is now doing his talk at 8 p.m. that was supposed to start around 7. It could be a late evening with Family Force 5. That is, if more storms don’t come through. Ichthus just sent out a text advising us to be ready to seek shelter, as there are storms in the area.

Judging by the Twittersphere, Disciple is the band that kicked the festival into gear.

Nathan Dickerson (in yellow) and Clayton Allender (white) of Maysville, joined Brittany Strong and Jillian Krouse of Lexington to dance and cheer on the Lee Roessler Band, which won the Ascenxion Scout Competition. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

There’s plenty of pressure in performing in a battle of the bands in front of top record executives for the chance to play on the main stage at Ichthus and go on to another competition that could put you in line for a deal with a major label.

Add to that being woken up at 4:30 in the morning by a severe thunderstorm that makes you throw all of your stuff in plastic bags and sleep — if you can call it that — in your car for the rest of the night.

“Our campsite was flattened,” said Christina Conyers, one of the singers in CrossLife, one of the nine bands that competed in the Ascenxion Scout Competition Thursday morning at Ichthus.

Jones Beene, guitarist for Athens, Tenn. band Calling Glory, was in an actual home. But still, the thunder roused him around 5 a.m., and he decided to go ahead and get up.

Jacob Allen of Wisdom's Call in the Ascenxion Competition.

But that is not all the competing bands had to deal with. Since the campsite was closed due to weather issues until after 10 a.m., the competition, which was supposed to start at 9 a.m., was moved to one of the worship stages in the campground and didn’t start until nearly 10:30.

“The good thing was we were too busy running around to get to the new place to have any time to get nervous,” said Eric Draine of Versailles based Eyesuponus.

The competition did offer up a variety of Christian pop styles, from the worship set of CrossLife, to the atmospheric sounds of Calling Glory, to the metal of Elizabethtown-based Wisdom’s Call.

The bravery award had to go to 16-year-old Allison Stafford of Radfordville, who took the stage and said, “I don’t have a band, but I’m going to get up here and sing anyway.”

Allison Stafford, 16, of Radfordville performed by herself in the competition.

She was a lone girl with a guitar in the middle of a bunch of dudes with bands, and she confessed it did intimidate her, but, “I knew God was with me.”

Stafford said she had been inspired by seeing BarlowGirl at Ichthus a few years ago, and she said, “I want to do that.”

She got onto the Ichthus stage via an online competition that narrowed the field down for the live showdown, that was really cordial for something billed as a, “battle.”

The ultimate winner was the Lee Roessler Band out of Alexandria, in Northern Kentucky.

“It’s great,” said Roessler, the head of the trio. “But I don’t view it as a competition. We’re all out here just praising God.”

It was a competition with a prize. Roessler will play the Ichthus main stage at noon Friday. Calling Glory, the runners up, will play the Edge Stage at 6:20 p.m. Saturday, and third place finisher’s Wisdom’s Call will play the Edge at 3:10 p.m. Friday.

Last night’s storms have put Ichthus a bit behind in getting started. Security guards at the main gate say that the rough weather left some areas unsafe, and they are currently being assessed. Several vendor tents were blown down. A canopy was down on the Edge Stage where the Ascenxion Scout Competition was set to take place at 9 a.m. It has been moved to the Worship Stage in the campground.