Desert Sage 3 grows from local talent and vision

MOSES LAKE - This weekend the Desert Sage music festival will bring together family and friends of the local music scene. More than 100 musicians will be in attendance, and a few hundred friendly fans are expected, too. 

EHS graduate, musician and sports journalist Brent Stecker, will return home from Seattle to play Desert Sage 3 with his band, Hand in the Attic (HITA). Stecker joined HITA in 2011 after meeting band frontman, Alex Fox, at a show where HITA opened for The Bloody Oranges, another Wenatchee band. Stecker's "hard-rocking" or " dumb-rock-guy" persona has been pushed to create new sounds more suited for the modern folky weird sound Fox likes to drive. 

Stecker's job also includes entertaining the crowd between songs, and is as proud of his one-liners as he is HITA's self-titled new album. Stecker is excited to play his second Desert Sage show. "Last year it was like I was playing to a group of my friends in my parents' backyard... I've always felt that Central Washington, while it maybe doesn't have the most robust music scene, is absolutely full of talented musicians, so to have a band I'm part of selected as worthy of playing at Desert Sage is a huge honor to me," he said.

The festival is during a very busy weekend in the Basin. Ephrata's annual music festival, Basin Summer Sounds and John Mayer at the Gorge Amphitheatre are other big music scenes happening in the area. Pat Ruffin, EHS graduate, musician and one of the men behind the Desert Sage festival is not concerned. "I've seen John Mayer, he's really good. But we're not competing with anyone, we're doing this for ourselves," Ruffin said. "This is pretty much for the bands and the fans. We are busy people and one weekend a year we get together." He said entry to the festival is by donation, and most bands are just looking to get fed and gas money home. Ruffin has been active in the music scene in Washington for 10 years. Since meeting "so many friends in sweet bands," he, his cousin Jeremy Pugh, friend Keyton Bilodeau and "so many others," decided to get the festival started. 

This generation of musicians is not only making the music, they are creating venues and building social networks and communities to perform in. Stecker does not see a lot of positive things being done by his generation, 20-something year olds who were introduced to dial-up Internet in middle school, but he does believe that Ruffin and the Desert Sage crew are to be commended for their effort and blessed for their vision.

Ruffin agrees with Stecker there are not many positive things happening with people in their generation. "It seems like there are a thousand paths and everyone stands there spinning in circles. With all this technology we are a generation of too many options," Ruffin said, "This is the calm before the decisions are made." Then why have a music festival when you are in the middle of such big decisions? "It's like free cake! Do you want free cake? Do you want good music and good friends? Yes! That's an easy one." 

Ruffin's band, Gipsey Party will be playing Saturday evening around dusk and Stecker and Hand in the Attic will play early Saturday afternoon.

Desert Sage 3 is open to the public; a suggested donation $40. For more information find Desert Sage 3 on Facebook.