Musical Moments! – Todd Fadel

A favorite musical moment for me was when black-vest-white-t-shirt-clad Michelle Shocked joined Ric Hordinski’s Saturday night Americana Collaboration for “I’ve Got Some Good News” and did, what I observed as, the most amazing Jagger impression by any living human (including Mick himself).  The other great moment was, for Angie and I (Agents of Future), the on-the-fly version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” during Friday’s inaugural “Beer ‘n Hymns” worship time.  One of the attenders helped us all remember the lyrics line-by-line, even though, most likely, it was a surprise for her to have so many enthusiastic singers hanging on her every word.  An incidental-but-significant meeting between David Wilcox and David Bazan where the latter spoke of how greatly influential the former was to his musical upbringing really hit home for me how often these gorgeous,unorchestrated moments peppered the grounds of the Wild Goose Festival.

Agents of Future’s fest-opening set was jam-packed and fun-filled, what with Jewly Hight‘s world-class clogging, Tracy Howe and Seth Wispelwey‘s brilliant wildflower-seed-paper sing-along sheet idea, distinguished collaborators from two British colonies – Ontario’s Peter Tigchelaar and GB’s Corin Piling, Nashville’s greatest banshees – Julie Lee and Sarah Masen, and power percussion/low end provided by Team Fadel pre-teen cardholders Zion and Brennan and instrumentalists-du-jour Wen Reagan and Russell Jarvis.  A Force To Be Reckoned With, their’s was.

Based in Portland, OR, Todd Fadel and his family helped birth pioneering US alt-worship community, The Bridge, in 1998. There, he and his wife, Angie, currently co-ordinates jalopy-gospel, arts/music collective AGENTS OF FUTURE. His creative endeavors have landed him opportunities to play piano for a grade-school choir at a recent MLK day celebration, sing the national anthem at a roller derby and lead communion for 15,000 Greenbelt festivalgoers in the UK. His thoughts on play, visions for inclusive community and collaborative papercraft-ephemera can be found on loveisconcrete.com.