Boxstock 2011 – A Retrospective
Boxstock was a blast. From the Friday night open mic at the Barge and Barrel to the awesome performances on Saturday night from Ben Prestage, Tinqui8, Hollowbelly and the unforgettable belly dancers it was an exceptionally memorable and enjoyable event.
For me the most outstanding aspect of the two days was the time I spent with StumbleCol. Those guys are just so well organised, professional and a lot of fun to hang out with.
Tom and Col arrived at the Barge and Barrel on the Friday night and within half an hour had their excellent P.A. set up and ready to rock. There was already a crowd of cbg fans ready to give the black country a taste of what they could do and the music kept going until almost midnight. There were some memorable performances from some well known personalities in the British CBG scene including Roosterman, Anthony, Tinqui8 and the godfather himself, Chickenbone John.
On Saturday morning myself and StumbleCol set up their P.A. in the downstairs foyer area of the Public ready for our lunchtime performances before ducking out for a spot of breakfast at a nearby café (only £2.60 for a full English). Tom had a minor hiccup when one of his many cbgs decided to go quiet just before their performance. Luckily there were plenty of tools that he could borrow from the build-a-cbg workshop that was proving to be immensely popular that morning. So Tom managed to strip down the guitar, fix the fault and rebuild it ready for their set.
Our lunch time sessions appeared to go quite well and I certainly enjoyed myself. Once we’d done our bit it was time to relax. So the P.A. was dismantled, loaded into the van and returned to the hotel where we freshened up and then took a taxi back to the Public, hell bent on enjoying ourselves and making the most of the evening.
After filling our faces at a local curry house (that was some of the toughest lamb I’ve ever eaten) we started on our plan to drink all of the beer available from the bar at the Public. The evening’s entertainment was outstanding and the auditorium and sound couldn’t have been better. The Belly Dancers were mesmerising, Hollowbelly’s performance was better than ever, Tinqui8 had us all joining in and then Ben Prestage came on.
I’d previously seen many Ben Prestage videos on Youtube but they hadn’t prepared me for this man’s awesomeness. As he warmed into his set, playing a six string cbg with both bass and guitar strings, along with drums and harmonica, everyone in the room was captivated. Such a truly incredible talent was something magical to behold. He played a variety of cigar box based instruments including a Lowebow, a replica Civil War cigar box fiddle and one of Anthony’s wonderful cigar box banjos, which he didn’t want to put down. What a great night!
Without doubt, Boxstock 2011 will be a tough one to beat. Here is a collection of just some of the Boxstock videos posted on Cigar Box Nation (thanks to Alan H., Brian and others):
Chickenbone John gets things going at the Barge and Barrel:
Chris Tinker warms them up:
I do my bit:
Alan H. shows us how its done:
Jez Longshanks delivers the goods:
Yellowbelly Flatt does a little bit of fiddling:
StumbleCol make it look easy:
Roosterman gets a little help from his friends:
Dogfinger and the awesome Shotgun Shack:
Black country blues with Tinqui8, Chickenbone John and Tony on Harp:
Saturday Lunch Time:
Find more videos like this on Cigar Box Nation
Find more videos like this on Cigar Box Nation
Penfoot and the CBG he built at the Boxstock workshop:
Find more videos like this on Cigar Box Nation
Evening Performances:
One of my favourite Ben Prestage tunes 
Find more videos like this on Cigar Box Nation
Find more videos like this on Cigar Box Nation
And there are more great videos and photos over at Cigar Box Nation.
