Fenway Park organist Josh Kantor is a utilityman of sorts, playing keyboards for a number of outfits in addition to entertaining the Red Sox faithful. His highest-profile gig is with the fantastic national pastime-themed band the Baseball Project; his hidden-track rendition of the group’s “Panda And The Freak” is a highlight of its aptly titled third album, 3rd (Yep Roc). Kantor is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand-new Q&A with him.
Kantor: Peter Buck is “retired.” This means that he now only records and tours with about 10 different bands while also coordinating a music festival that he founded in B.C.S., Mexico, to raise money for charities in and around the town of Todos Santos (principally for the Palapa Society, which offers educational opportunities for children and families). For the past three years, Peter has invited many of his favorite musicians for several days each January to this town that he and his wife have fallen in love with, to play music together and enjoy each other’s company and support the charitable endeavors of the festival. I consider myself very fortunate to be among this group of musicians whom my wife fondly refers to as “The Nice People Club.”
I attended elementary and middle school in the early-to-mid 1980s in Athens, Ga., which was when and where Peter was playing guitar in R.E.M. as they built a presence in the Southeast and on college radio stations before later finding great mainstream international popularity and an eventual place in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame. I was too young to go see them play (“You and I were running in different circles back then, Josh,” R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills once noted), and somehow I ended up never seeing an R.E.M. show. (The first time I saw Peter and Mike play live was when I shared a stage with them for a Baseball Project show at a small venue a few months before R.E.M. disbanded.) Still, I remember standing on Broad Street in the ’80s once while listening to Murmur on my Walkman and seeing them stroll by. The overall vibrancy of what they were doing as a band was reaching me back then and shaping my sense of how to approach music creatively, and motivating me to start my first band.
For my first trip to the Todos Santos Music Festival last year, I was slated just to play with the Baseball Project (each of whose members—Peter, Mike, Steve Wynn, Linda Pitmon, Scott McCaughey—has nurtured my playing on more occasions than I can count). At the airport, I noticed Jon Langford (Mekons, Skull Orchard, Waco Brothers), of whom I’m a long-time fan, waiting to board the same flight to Mexico as I was. I shyly introduced myself, and in short order he was insisting that I play with him. That spirit of collaboration is a hallmark of the festival. Earlier in the week, I respectfully asked drummer extraordinaire Jon Wurster (who’d been tabbed to play in the pick-up band for Ben Gibbard, whose new record I was listening to a lot) if he thought that Ben (who didn’t know me from Adam) might want any keyboard help, and within minutes, I was on board. Upon arriving in Todos Santos, I was also invited to sit in with Chuck Prophet and Kevn Kinney (two of my favorite songwriters and performers) and a handful of other terrific bands, many of whom I’d long admired from afar. This year, I got to play with another slew of great acts, including Mexico City natives Torreblanca and Twin Tones, and the reunited Dream Syndicate, whose current lead guitarist Jason Victor was my bandmate and roommate in college.
The sense of camaraderie among the performers at Todos Santos both onstage and off is strong. Kevn aptly calls it “musicians’ summer camp.” Early afternoon strolls around town together in search of the perfect taco are routine, as are field trips to participate in organized baby turtle rescues or to visit the mating and calving grounds along the in-season Gray Whale Migration Route. Late afternoons entail soundchecking and sharing songs to see who might like to guest with whom at that night’s show. Joyous and eclectic shows that are full of great musical moments make up the evening’s activity. After-hours vinyl listening sessions are not uncommon, nor are early morning hikes or runs in nearby mountains for those who managed to leave the listening party at a reasonable hour.
The performers’ sense of connection to the charitable mission of the festival is strong as well. There are small and large excursions to play music and interact both formally and informally with social service providers and donors, and best of all, with the children who are receiving services. My wife and I have enjoyed visits to play with and learn from the kids at both the Hogar del Niño orphanage and the Palapa Society. Festival performer Alejandro Escovedo was inspired to turn an annual event that he hosts in his hometown of Austin into a benefit for the Palapa Society.
One of the most poignant threads of the festival is a shared love of playing music together for the sake of playing music together. Everyone is engaged in the playing because it’s where they want to be. It’s an atmosphere where creativity, spontaneity and joviality all flourish. On the final night of this year’s festival, John Paul Jones (bassist, keyboardist, and mandolinist for a gritty little London-based blues band called Led Zeppelin) made a surprise appearance for a couple of songs, and it meant so much to me to play with and listen to and chat with someone whose playing had long informed a lot of my own approach.
Just before last year’s closing show, during an acoustic run-through of some songs backstage with Peter, Mike, Scott, Ben and Jon, a quorum decided we should play R.E.M.’s “Near Wild Heaven.” It is humbling to have opportunities to “run in this circle” with people who are so motivated by the joy of songs and community.
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Photo by Vivian Johnson
