FANTASPOA 22 (2026)—THE TURKISH COFFEE TABLE (2025) / SACRAFICIOS (2025) / BLUEBIRD (2026)

In their 22nd edition, Fantaspoa—situated in Porto Alegre, Brazil since 2005—rightfully claims their stature as Latin America’s largest film festival dedicated exclusively to fantastic genre films (fantasy, science fiction, horror and thriller). Fantaspoa kicked off on April 8 and continues through April 26, 2026 in several cultural spaces of the city with an international slate of 210 films, both short and feature films, many premiering for the first time in Brazil, accompanied by several world premieres. Further, Fantaspoa flexes its outreach as a hybrid festival with a portion of the programming available online, exclusively for users in Brazilian territory. 

For starters, to demonstrate Fantaspoa’s international range and premiere divisions, the Brazilian premiere of Turkey’s The Turkish Coffee Table (2025) directed by Can Evrenol and the Latin American premiere of Mexico’s Sacrificios (2025) directed by Mauricio Chernovetzky share a thematic through line: the horrific consequences of the traumatic death of children. It’s expected that parents are willing to sacrifice for their children, fathers for their sons, but what if—substituting for willingness—unwitting parental negligence becomes the means by which children are sacrificed to dark primordial forces? The fathers in both of these competent films become culpable for immense tragedy through minor failures of the flesh. 

In Can Evrenol’s The Turkish Coffee Table (2025)—his remake of the 2022 Spanish film The Coffee Table (La mesita del comedor)—Ibrahim, a browbeaten husband intensely enacted by Alper Kul (also instrumental in convincing the producers to greenlight the film)—is forced to answer to one too many overbearing women in his life—a pregnant wife who isn’t happy unless everything goes her way, an adolescent neighbor whose fantasized infatuation is veering into blackmail, and a saleswoman who won’t take no for an answer when Ibrahim and his wife Zehra (Algi Eke) are shopping for a coffee table. Zehra, who has taken charge of decorating their apartment, begrudgingly concedes to letting Ibrahim have one item of his choice and regrets it immediately. He settles on an expensive, gaudy glass coffee table that Zehra abhors and the saleswoman is all too happy to sell him. 

Zehra and Ibrahim continue to quarrel over the coffee table as he assembles it in their living room and it angers Ibrahim that Zehra just won’t let him alone about the one thing he wants for himself when his life is made up of continuous episodes of being unnoticed and unheard after Zehra’s first pregnancy and now her second. Only later does he realize that this impulse to have the right to one choice is what becomes his only sin. Alper Kul does a great job of hiding his sin from everyone, which steers the narrative into what Evrenol has described as “a dark joke”, though its humor feels more like a timebomb waiting to explode. On the outside Ibrahim struggles to remain calm, detached and quiet, but director Evrenol provides the visual contrast of what Ibrahim is actually feeling inside: wailing, crying, flailing, gnashing his teeth, pounding his fists, and wanting to die. Evrenol’s directorial intention was to present a claustrophobic family scenario that echoes the society within which it’s set and Ibrahim’s increasing inability to breathe feels palpable. As the tension mounts towards the film’s inevitable reveal, the audience is almost begging for what feels like an impossible resolution, which—when it arrives—literally goes overboard and not in any expected way imaginable, though it satisfyingly puts the issue and all its conflicting feelings to rest.

  

It is a foundational belief among Mesoamerican cultures that human blood is a direct gift to nourish the divine. Blood is the vital, sacred substance essential for sustaining gods and maintaining cosmic balance. Whereas the Maya concept of ch’ulel is specific to the internal soul located in the blood, the Aztec reference yoatl (i.e., the “enemy”) as the vital nourishment needed to feed the sun. Both cultures are well-known for equating their bloodletting and sacrificial rituals with honored acts of devotion, but it’s the Aztecs who—in their devotion to Mictlantecuhtli, the Nahua God of Death—include practices of cannibalism and vampirism. 

Mictlantecuhtli makes an early appearance in Mauricio Chernovetzky’s Sacraficios as a photograph in a volume on Aztec art that serves as the framework for entering this troubling story of a stay-at-home dad Juan (in a grounded and tormented performance by Jorge A. Jimenez) who’s left to take care of his little boy Andrés (Siddhartha Tonalli) while his wife Alma (Frida Astrid) goes off to work. His sin? Jacking off while he’s watching pornography online and neglecting to make sure that Andrés is okay. He fails. Andrés suffers a fatal accident and—guilt-stricken—Juan retreats to the ocean where he isolates himself on an island, but not before hauling a mass of kelp out of the sea within which Juan discovers his son suspiciously resurrected. 

He has cause to be suspicious. Andrés is acting strangely. His eyes are as dead as fisheyes, and he’s constantly hungry, and ordinary food disinterests him. His appetite is for his father’s blood and because—as the film’s tagline attests—a father’s love is eternal, Juan bloodlets to feed Andrés who never seems satisfied. The slurping sounds are unnerving and Andrés’ bloody mouth is vampiric. What’s intriguing is Chernovetzky’s exploration of male nurturance, which is seldom explored let alone understood. Feeding Andrés with his blood becomes conflated with a child drinking milk off a mother’s breast and—in a scene that made me squirm in my seat—is further attached to a scene where Juan’s favorite blonde-haired porno star offers her blood-dripping breast to suckle. These overlapping substitution of images are psychic projections, of course, induced by guilt and grief and Juan is forced to reconsider his love for his son, to let him and his guilt go, yet another sacrifice, before he can return to his wife and a life less normal for now being in the grip of the death horizon far out at sea, Mictlan, the island of the dead.

  

Jay Arden Black utilizes his skill set as a video game designer to effect his feature film debut Bluebird (2026) boasting its World Premiere at Fantaspoa. True to form, Bluebird requires mastering three narrative levels in order to achieve film’s end where—as the aphorism goes—you’ll find the bluebird of happiness at your very own console.  

Bluebird is described as a satirical near-future love story, part neo-noir, part surreal dark comedy, which is ambitious, if at times amorphous. Its braided premise doesn’t fully hold together but it doesn’t completely fall apart either largely due to the sympathetic portrayal of nerdy protagonist Charles (David McElwee) whose relatable loneliness and frequent confusion is actually charming. He guides our attention through the film’s levels as he finds and falls in love with Chloe (Avery Joy Davis), loses Chloe, and goes through a series of uncanny tasks in order to find her again. Allies abound along the way: the Plastic Knight; the Prism Man; Rhonda and Not Rhonda. It’s a little hard to follow but compelling and promising in its idiosyncracy.

LED—CHING CHING WONG

Photo: © Michelle Bliss

In Wong Kar-wai’s 1994 film Chungking Express, Cop 223 (He Zhiwu), played by Takeshi Kaneshiro, aims to understand the breakup of a relationship by obsessing on the April 1st expiration date of a can of pineapple. As he reflects on heartbreak, the impermanence of love and the longing to preserve memories, he asks himself: “If memory can be canned, would they also have expiration dates?" Premiering at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival (no pun intended), Chungking Express helped solidify Wong Kar-wai’s international reputation and became a touchstone of 1990s world cinema. Over time, it developed a reputation as one of the defining romantic films of its era, endlessly revisited for its mood, music, and melancholy. 

Most recently, it has been revisited by choreographer Ching Ching Wong, fueling her expanded sentiment: “If memories came in a can, I hope that can never expires. If it has to expire, I hope it has a shelf life of 10,000 years.” Thus, the first episode of her evolving series The Shelf Life was born in collaboration with artists from Salt Lake City’s SALT Contemporary Dance (founded in 2013 in an effort to bring new contemporary dance to Utah). As the opening segment of LED Boise’s evening showcase of Ching Ching Wong’s choreography, the second installment of their “LED Presents” series, members of SALT accompanied Ching Ching to recreate Shelf Life, Episode 1 for LED’s audience. 

As noted by LED: “Welcome to The Shelf Life—your memory marketplace, where every past moment of your life is at your fingertips in our Tin-Canned System™. Meet KEL, your automated memory manager, she’ll reunite you with your favorite memories and some long forgotten ones too.” The artists of SALT—Quincie Bean, Maxi Riley, Kannen Glanz, Teres Castaneda, Jayda Escobar and Mia Huber—vigorously launch into Ching Ching’s staged and often bittersweet ruminations on memory. As unreliable a narrator as I have found memory to be in my own life, there is no denying its force as a fecund source of narration, often edited by distance, sometimes deleted by necessity, but a story always capable of being revisited and retold. 

True to the metaphor of the Tin-Canned System™, cans are The Shelf Life’s central prop. As Quincie Bean stacks them one upon the other to form a balanced pyramid, the remaining dancers swirl around her threatening to knock them over. Kannen Glanz, the only male in the ensemble, provides the handsome and virile axis around which the sinuous strength of the young women circumambulate. His “tilt” creates a vertical line between one leg grounded on the floor and the other elevated above his head; an astounding physicality that halted my breath. With a loud clatter, he and the other dancers recklessly scatter cans all over the floor, inciting Bean to anger in response, purposely wrecking the calm control of her stacked cans by petulantly, violently, knocking them over. This speaks, I think, to the inability to control memories even as one returns to them again and again to attempt a seeming order to one’s life. As if by reclaiming memories we can self-determine the uncertain course of our future. 

Photo: © Michelle Bliss

But memories tend to be messy. I felt concern for the dancers performing between cans scattered all over the floor. One foot landing wrong could result in a nasty accident. Consummate dexterity on the part of the dancers avoided that, of course, much in the same way that one must negotiate between memories moving forward in life; the past being both source and obstacle. 

Speaking of messy and hazardous obstacles, a woman with a bad wig smoking cigarettes emerges from the side of the stage pushing a shopping cart festooned with Christmas lights. She buffoonishly gathers up the cans, grunting and groaning, pausing now and again to puff smoke from her cigarette while flinging cans into her cart over a prolonged sequence that finally leaves the set swept and ready for the next program. It was a hilarious janitorial bit augmented by Chaz Gentry’s overhead crisscross latticework lighting that deepened the comedy with enforced theatricality. 

What becomes evident from the diverse demonstrations of conjoined and disjointed movement, stiff and fluid, from the structural storytelling that compels and informs Ching Ching Wong’s choreography, combined with KEL’s automated statements projected onto the back wall of the stage, an innovative use of props, and a solid grasp of ribald humor, is the assurance that—when it comes to expiration dates—Ching Ching Wong’s creative genius has none. 

Taking advantage of the SALT artists, the second part of the evening’s program was an opportunity for Lauren Edson to choreograph Love Is A Place (Excerpts), which used a door as a liminal prop to express spatiality, dividing and separating the dancers from each other in varying scenarios. Value added was a recording of Tilda Swinton reciting Rumi’s “Like This”, Michael Silverman’s adagio, and the Beatles picturing themselves in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. 

Quincie Bean and Mia Huber face off to each other from opposite sides of the door while the remaining dancers move to Joan Baez’s concert rendition of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”. The applause at the end of Baez’s live performance allows the dancers to rush up to the audience to receive their own before leaving the stage. Bean and Huber remain behind to perform a fascinating pas de deux where they mirror each other’s movements but remain distinct in their own bodies, differentiated by their unique anatomies. 

After intermission, the evening’s third program Prologue choreographed by Wong was a new work developed over the past few weeks at The Dixon. Much as The Shelf Life, Episode 1 was inspired by the words of Wong Kar-wai, the source of Prologue’s inspiration lies with writer / filmmaker Darcy Van Poelgeest from his comics Little Bird and Precious Metal: “If you’re feeling lost, then go back to where you last remember seeing yourself.” Again, an optimistic homage and hopeful return to the potential remedies of memory. 

Photo: © Michelle Bliss

“These words,” Ching Ching Wong explains, “have haunted me, seeped into my dreams, made their way into my work. They have urged me to take action, to explore, to seek that person I had lost or was losing. I started making works with that above notion in mind, across the span of one year and five companies, all in episodic form.” 

To capture this episodic resuscitation, visiting artists Francesca Romo and Brendan Duggan enact a couple who seem to be frantically attempting to escape each other as much as they are compulsively drawn back to one another. Theirs is a push me pull you interaction with Francesca comically interrupting their performance with notes and suggestions of how to make it better, much to Brendan’s fatigue. He patiently if begrudgingly allows her to place a hot pink fright wig on his head and he obliges her when she situates them at the back door and sends him out into the rain. Their comedy is this side of an unexpected coupling between Buster Keaton and Mike Nichols. 

Romo’s slight frame contrasted against Duggan’s heft becomes inverted when their shadows are cast onto the back wall of the stage. I found myself fascinated, if willingly distracted, by their dancing shadows. Often in their shadow dance Romo looms larger than Duggan, suggesting the same power play expressed through their comedy. 

The theme of projected identity is further amplified when Romo and Duggan face a filmic version of themselves positioned exactly as they are on stage. A slight change in costume reveals the simulation. It’s a truly eerie and oneiric flourish where Romo sets out to move exactly as her counterpart in the film, as if she is indeed following Darcy van Poelgeest’s advice. In this segment, Ching Ching Wong has evocatively created conceptual poetry through dance film.

TREEFORT MUSIC FEST 14 (2026)—DAY FIVE (Sunday, March 29, 2026)

Yellow Days was one of the main acts I wanted to catch at this year’s Treefort Music Fest and so I was determined to claim a spot on the rail of the Main Stage, which of course necessitated arriving the set before and—judging from what I was hearing all around me—Father John Misty, Treefort’s closing act, was not to be missed so I committed myself to hanging out all day at the Main Stage. 

Michael, of course, couldn’t keep still. After a hectic (and loud!) four days of Treefort he found it lovely to begin Day 5 listening to the jazz and ambient-inflected soundscapes of singer-multi-instrumentalist Go Kurosawa, while lying on the lawn fronting the Gene Harris Bandshell in Julia Davis Park. Kurosawa-san and his touring band performed "Autowalk" from his 2025 LP “Soft Shakes.”  

Michael joined me for the first few songs of The Womack Sisters who in varying designs of sensuous vermilion confirmed their claim of being a new generation of soul royalty, blending R&B, soul, and gospel influences drawn from their rich family legacy. As granddaughters of the legendary Sam Cooke, daughters of renowned soul and R&B artists Womack & Womack, nieces of Bobby Womack, and (by marriage) related to Mary Wells, The Womack Sisters ensorcelled their Main Stage audience with professions of love and unquestionable beauty. Their harmonies very much reminded Michael of the Hutchinson sisters (better known as The Emotions), whereas I took note that their performance at Treefort marked the beginning of an international and national tour with Treefort alumni Thee Sacred Souls and La Lom. Michael recorded them singing their 2025 single, "I Just Don't Want You (To Say Goodbye)" and I caught “All Around.”

   

Michael wandered around the corner of the Main Stage to the Hideout to sample New Zealand singer-songwriter Will Swinton who a mere year before was managing an Aukland trampoline park when Kelly Clarkson performed one of his songs on TV, prompting him to sell his car and buy a one-way ticket to L.A. A Capitol Records deal and 100 million global streams later, Swinton launched his latest single, "Better Off" at Treefort.

  

Meanwhile, having jockeyed into position center-stage on the rail I was hyped and ready for Yellow Days. Marcy Donelson has described British musician George van den Broek's vocals as "throaty, yearning" accompanying his "swimmy indie soul-pop" and the lustrous B&W videos promoting Yellow Days recent release "Rock and A Hard Place" confirm visually what we can hear clearly: a dynamite talent with a soulful fuse. I was amused watching George hydrate from a bottle of Kendall Jackson chardonnay, while smoking cigarettes, and with a backdrop of spermatazoa swimming on the big screen. My kind of guy!!

  

Amber Mark is an American singer, songwriter, and producer. Her multifaceted style implements sounds from hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul, and bossa nova. She released her first EP, “3:33am”, in May 2017, followed by her EP “Conexão” in 2018. Her debut album, “Three Dimensions Deep”, was released in January 2022. “Pretty Idea” followed as her sophomore album in October 2025. Her fluttering gossamer dress alone broadcast major sex appeal and her command of the stage all but guaranteed that her audience was fully under spell. I didn't know what to expect at all from Amber Mark but found myself dancing in place and having a good time with her cover of Toto’s “Georgy Porgy”.

  

Meanwhile, Michael was still at the Hideout Stage where he grooved to Melbourne, Australia's Belair Lip Bombs perform "Again and Again" (from their 2025 LP "Again"), with yet another quick dash to the Treefort Music Hall to hear Los Angeles duo Brijean (consisting of singer-songwriter/percussionist Brijean Murphy and multi-instrumentalist Doug Stuart) perform "Hey Boy" and “Counting Sheep.”

   

My experience of Treefort Music Fest 14 culminated in the Main Stage triumph of Father John Misty. It's hard for me now to believe that I had never heard of Father John Misty before he was announced on the Treefort line-up and I’m glad I listened to the intense anticipation of his performance such that I parked myself center rail at the Main Stage, insuring the best seat in the house. The effort was not disappointing. Handsome, hypnotic, with masculine restraint and an idiosyncratic delivery, Father John Misty wowed me and surfaced as my favorite act of the festival. A winning way to wrap it all up. Here are my clips of “Nancy From Now On” and “Goodbye, Mr. Blue” (which he amusingly dedicates to Colossal Collective’s wooly mammoth).

   

* * *

 

TREEFORT MUSIC FEST 14 (2026)—DAY FOUR (Saturday, March 28, 2026)

Some marriages are just meant to happen, are God-given even, and the coupling of the third No Kings Rally on Idaho’s State Capitol steps and the fourth day of Treefort Music Fest will linger in my memory for years to come. 

Claiming a bridge between the two was Cameron McCloud and his Cure For Paranoia crew whose evident talent and consummate humor provided a remarkable relevancy to the morning’s events. The evening before Cure For Paranoia had dropped their latest verse “WTF (‘Where The Files At’)” during their Treefort Music Hall set and my head about popped off my body as my fist shot into the air. Then when Cameron announced that he was going to be performing at No Kings 3 but wasn't sure how he'd be accepted, I shouted out, "You'll be LOVED by thousands." "You think so?" he smiled. And I was right. Roughly 10,000 people chanted along with Cure For Paranoia: “Where the files at? Where the where the files at? Where the files at? Where the where the files at?” Not that I needed to say so, but I wish I could have confirmed to Cameron, "I told you so." From my vantage point near the podium on the capitol steps, nothing could have been more beautiful and jubilant than those thousands of protesters chanting along with Cure For Paranoia. I was happy for him, happy for me, and happy for the country. We have a new poet to speak to a multigenerational nation.

  

From that empowering rally I ambled to the press lounge to prepare for an interview with Gregory Rawlins while Michael made his way to Rhodes Skate Park located beneath the Connector freeway ramp to partake in Treefort’s free punk and metal offerings. He caught two amazing shows from Seattle's The Rat Utopia Experiment and SoCal's Mexican Slum Rat. Rats were all the rage for him Saturday afternoon. In this clip, T.R.U.E. performs "Worlds End Lane" from their 2025 LP “No Hit Wonders.”

  

Off to the Neurolux next, Michael caught Canadian femme goth-rockers Bonnie Trash opening their set with "Veil of Greed," from their 2025 album “Mourning You.”

  

Rivaling Richochet Rabbit, Michael then popped up at the Cyclops to catch the 10-member Portland-by-way-of-Nashville Family Worship Center who served up their brand of Southern-fried funkified Rock n' Soul, RIYL Leon Russell, Dr. John, etc. They knocked out "Reason to Live" from their 2020 EP "Sunday A.M."

  

Meanwhile, I was taking it easy drinking African ambers at Pengilly Saloon where Gregory Rawlins was singing his resinous tunes accompanied by Jeff Grammer on keyboards and Wayne Marvin Callahan on bass. Having had a pleasant conversation with him earlier in the day, it felt like genuine friendship to catch his set, a welcome respite from Treefort’s commotion. No ear plugs necessary!

  

* * *

 

TREEFORT MUSIC FEST 14 (2026)—DAY THREE (Friday, March 27, 2026)

On the third day of Treefort Music Fest, Michael Hawley had the pleasure of listening to a fabulous collaboration between his favorite Boise hip-hop crew (Dedicated Servers) backed by his favorite Boise rock band (The French Tips) at the Treefort Music Hall. He filmed their performances of "Shades Up" and “Waifu Kisses” from Dedicated Servers's 2025 album “Colors.”  

Michael had never heard of New York City dance-pop diva INJI (née Inci Gürün from Istanbul, Turkey) until she showed up as a top-of-the-poster headliner for this year's Treefort Music Fest. Here she performs "Bodega" from her 2025 LP “Superlame” on the Main Stage.

  

Denver's Jesus Christ Taxi Driver gave one of the most dynamic shows both Michael and I experienced at Treefort Music Fest this year, largely aided by some whacked-out stage antics from singer Ian Ehrhart. Michael loved that when the band hit the stage they immediately launched into his favorite song of theirs: “Ding Dong The Beaves Are Dead" from their 2023 LP "Lick My Soul."

  

 It’s a dead give-away who my favorite discovery of Treefort is when I buy their merch. I've been wearing my JCTD t-shirt for days! And I've bought all the music. All in preparation for Easter, of course. Somewhere between the violent rock and roll of Jon Spencer, the sophisticated rhythms of Ali Farka Toure, and the religious disorientation of Jean Meslier, Jesus Christ Taxi Driver makes joyfully irreverent noise. Taking aim at daily banal agonies, and existential uncertainty, the moods shift from meditative to unhinged. The music takes risks. Formed in 2022 on Colorado’s front range, Ian Ehrhart, Miles Jenkins, Colin Kelly and Will Ehrhart have been bringing their wildly disruptive live shows to venues across the mountain west at an incredible pace.

 

Jesus Christ Taxi Driver’s wild disruption energized me and fueled me for the rest of the evening. Michael and I then shifted to the Treefort Music Hall to catch the queer-flavored Dallas, Texas hip-hop collective Cure For Paranoia, fronted by rapper Cameron McCloud. Michael caught them performing their viral 2025 hit "No Brainer" (with its infectious "left brain right brain no brain" chorus) and “Drop A Bomb”, whereas I filmed “The Art Show”.

 

And because it’s important to attend at least one bacchanal each Treefort, Michael and I wrapped up our third day with the strobing magenta and cobalt-blue bass punk of L.A.’s Sextile.

  

* * *

 

TREEFORT MUSIC FEST 14 (2026)—DAY TWO (Thursday, March 26, 2026)

Started out the second day of Treefort Music Fest by baking a batch of “friendberry” cookies to deliver to the Press Lounge. From there I went to talk with the artists creating live murals in Julia Davis Park, then stopped at the Gene Harris Bandshell to listen to Deloyd Elze out of Jacksonville, Florida, whose guitar-driven tunes textured with electronic fuzz added spoken word to the mix to satisfying effect. He joked that competing with the loud sounds from the Main Stage was “kind of fun.”

  

Next stop was the Main Stage where I hooked up with Michael Hawley for Toronto-based The Beaches. Unabashedly sapphic and iridescent with raucous abandon, The Beaches rocked!! Like any gay guy with good sense I was hoping they would make me an honorary lesbian; but, even though they didn’t, I loved them anyway. Michael filmed performances of their 2022 non-album single "Grow Up Tomorrow" and “Did I Say Too Much” (from their 2025 album “No Hard Feelings”).

   

Idaho has the highest concentration of Basques in the U.S. so it made perfect sense for Northern Spain's Kokein to play Treefort Music Fest on their 25th anniversary tour celebrating their major presence in the Basque music scene. Founded in Eibar, Gipuzkoa in 1999, the band started out singing exclusively in Euskara and has stayed true to that choice ever since. Their appearance at Treefort had value added in that Kokein’s drummer Haritz Lete was able to visit with family members living in Boise. Here's Michael’s clip and mine of Kokein’s Basque Center blast. Michael wondered if "kokein" means what he thought it meant in Euskara, but it doesn’t. The Basque word for cocaine is “kokaina.”

   

Michael lingered at the Basque Center to hear Keddie’s Resort while I wandered off to the Cyclops stage to catch The Whips. Thrash-punkers Keddie's Resort—aka "Portland's Most Infamous Band"—performed "Cursed" and "Medical Love."

  

Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, The Whips want to grow up together. Set forth on an impossible journey by a fateful middle school rhythm section bus ride, creating art together remains the singular constant for these four Kansas boys navigating the mercurial landscape of young adulthood. Emanating from the warmth of their 10x10 apartment bedroom studio, their songs sound like the type of late night talks with friends about life, love and loss that you never truly forget. Singing these songs with friends across the country, the Whips have felt less lonely in those lonesome feelings and figured out the only universal truth that actually exists—none of us are truly alone and we’re all going through it.

  

Michael then joined me at the Cyclops much like members of The Whips joined Wichita, Kansas funksters Rudy Love & The Encore onstage for a fabulous and joyful 13-minute jam where they switched instruments, riffed beats, and filmed each other. This felt like one of those rare spur-of-the-moment events that characterize Treefort.

  

* * *

 

TREEFORT MUSIC FEST 14 (2026)—DAY ONE (Wednesday, March 25, 2026)

The Septuagenarians are back at it again!! On behalf of The Evening Class, Michael Hawley and I leaned into five full days of music, dance and art (Wednesday, March 25-Sunday, March 29), sampling from 500+ bands performing at 40+ venues throughout downtown Boise, and reminding ourselves that rock and roll will keep us young or—perhaps more realistically—keep us thinking we’re young. Treefort Music Fest is a fountain of youth in form and function and fantasy. 

Michael and I lean into Treefort at different angles. For weeks before the festival he takes advantage of Treefort’s Spotify list and—I kid you not!—listens to every single track to familiarize himself with every single band. I wait until a few days before the festival begins and determine my schedule by how I want to move around the festival village and who’s available to listen to wherever I happen to be at any given time. Moving around the village has become a concern due to a bad back that makes walking long distances difficult and so I’m grateful to Treeline, the festival’s bus service provided by Valley Ride, that allows me to bounce between far-apart venues, if I’m so inclined. That’s really Michael’s thing. He crisscrosses the festival village, diving into the Neurolux, hanging at the Shrine, rushing back to the Main Stage in an enthused effort to see as many acts as possible. My focus, no less impassioned, is more centralized and tempered by the experience of having attended Treefort since its inception. I’ve watched it morph from a waddling toddler to full-blown adolescence. I’m also morphing. Edging towards decrepitude, I call it, though I’m not quite there yet. Still, I’m not as prone to bounce from venue to venue like Michael. 

He jumped feet-first into Day One by catching eight sets (okay, some were just 2 or 3-song partials). We both started out, however, with The Other Room There, before he took off to see Dela Freed at the Boise Brewing stage, The Old One Two at the Neurolux, Death Lens at the Shrine Ballroom, back to Boise Brewing for The Thing, then joined me at the Music Hall for the tail end of Son Little’s set leading into Tune-Yards. We had agreed beforehand that we had to catch one of our Bay Area favorites—Tune-Yards—at the Treefort Music Hall, which I knew was going to be a packed event, and I wanted to have an advantaged perspective from the slightly elevated tables to the sides of the stage so I arrived early to claim one and stayed with it the whole evening so that—by the time Michael joined me—I could share our unobstructed view of the stage. I settled into my table and didn’t budge. You could call that unfair and selfish. I call it smart, even clever. The only disadvantage was that I couldn’t leave it for fear of losing it and so didn’t record any of the acts: The Other Room There, Floating Witch’s Head, Kassa Overall, Son Little and Tune-Yards; but, that was okay. I just wanted to enjoy the music. 

Photo:  © Jordyn Puckett

I wasn’t intending to watch local band The Other Room There—they were on Michael’s schedule—but, after shuffling our schedules, it only made sense, and I was really glad I added them on because—boasting their third performance at Treefort—they were upbeat and a great way to launch the fest. They performed select tunes from their recently released “Look Alive”, including a catchy cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself.” 

Settling into my chair before Floating Witch’s Head took the stage, the physical sense that I would not be moving all evening seemed underscored by how my age from hereon in would negotiate Treefort. I want to make a point here that Treefort allows for such accommodations. I may not be able to experience Treefort as I have in years past, but it’s clear to me that I can enjoy Treefort for many more years in different ways. Looking out at the youthful crowd milling around while waiting for the next act, I was touched by the heedless entitlement of their youth. Youth, they say, is wasted on the young. I’m not sure that’s true. But it does give an elder pause observing young people throwing away minutes, idle hours, like party confetti. I bless them and the joy Treefort will give the young for generations to come, let alone senior statesmen like me. 

Photo: Unknown

Floating Witch’s Head started their set and I considered how clever Eric Gilbert was for booking his band early on the first day to free himself up to enjoy the rest of the festival. Well-deserved. 

Cribbing from Treefort’s website: “Floating Witch's Head is a project based in Boise, Idaho concocted by Travis Ward (guitars &‬ vocals) with Michael Mitchell (drums), Eric Gilbert (keyboards). RIYL [“recommended if you like”]: garage, psych, swamp,‬ proto-punk, acid rock, beards, hot peppers, pickles, parties, nice people‬.” I mean, is there anybody who doesn’t? 

Boise's own garage-psych power trio offers overdriven‬ guitars, organs, Moog bass lines and driving rhythms that are easy to love.‬ At the heart of Floating Witch's Head is the songwriting of Travis Ward—also the frontman of the‬ nearly 20-years active Hillfolk Noir. While Hillfolk Noir is very much a folk oriented affair, Floating‬ Witch’s Head is a sweaty, gritty, tube-driven, garage-y milieu. Joined by Eric Gilbert (previously Finn Riggins) on‬ organs/synths and Michael Mitchell on drums (who I’ve also been enjoying in LED’s house band), this is a band dedicated to the artistry of music‬ and all the little things in a song that make it great.‬ Ward’s open guitar tunings and overdriven amps lend themselves to a very heavy, psychedelic‬ blues-oriented guitar. Gilbert on keys provides organ leads and soundscapes while providing‬ perfectly punchy round basslines through his Moog synth. Then there’s Mitchell on the drums‬ whose taste on the kit balances driving rhythms with laid back beats in all the right moments.‬ 

Photo: © Josh Farria / The Seattle Times.

I’ve long described Treefort Music Fest as a discovery festival and I mean that not only in terms of being introduced to bands and performers but an equal exposure to multiple genres of music. Because if you thought Treefort is just about neopsychedelia, folk or hiphop, you’re misinformed. One of Treefort’s most innovative acts is jazz drummer Kassa Overall, whose liquid and lambient arrangements inspires the mind to fly. The appreciative Treefort crowd went soaring. 

Participating in a New York Times survey conducted by Giovanni Russonello, fellow drummer and Grammy Award-winner Terri Lyne Carrington described Overall as a “pre-eminent style bender and blender, successfully juxtaposing genres through his production expertise and use of melodic and harmonic forms that deftly integrate the new with the old.” 

That bending and blending is evident on his latest album CREAM (2025), where the acronymic title track “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)” artfully reworks Wu Tang-Clan’s original; “Back That Azz Up” covers Juvenile; and “Nuthin But A ‘G’ Thing” leans right into Dr. Dre. 

While I was enjoying Floating Witch’s Head and Kassa Overall and holding onto our primo seats at the Treefort Music Hall, Michael was out and about exploring the festival village and edging up against mosh pits. He had regrettably missed seeing Boise's own Dela Freed at last year's Treefort Music Fest and—having fallen in love with their 2022 single, "Billboard Jesus" (with its anthemic chorus, "I don't need your Billboard Jesus, to save me from your diseases")—he rectified last year’s omission by catching Freed perform a stripped-down version of “Billboard Jesus” on the Boise Brewing stage.

  

The last time Michael got close to a mosh pit was 30 years ago during a Rage Against the Machine set at Free Tibet in Golden Gate Park. I experienced that mosh pit with him. We were having a perfectly nice picnic with friends when Rage Against the Machine took to the stage, the crowd exploded into fury, and me, Michael, our friends, our picnic supplies, abruptly shifted 30 feet away from our original position. It was one of the most horrifying experiences of my life. Thus, I am grateful and respectful that Michael dared edging up against a mosh pit while watching L.A. post-hardcore punkers Death Lens perform their new single "Debt Collector" at the Shrine Ballroom.

  

Brooklyn-based The Thing takes a back-to-basics approach to rock and roll. Raised on Zeppelin, psych rock, and jazz, each member adds a distinct edge. The result is loud, unfiltered, and entirely their own. Michael caught a Boise Brewing stage performance of "Dave's TV" from The Thing’s 2025 self-titled third LP.

  

Michael then joined me back at the Treefort Music Hall to enjoy Tune-Yards. My prediction was right. The place was packed and I was glad we could watch the concert from our comfortable position. I have so many filmic memories of San Francisco, including a performance by Tune-Yards at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (2012) where they accompanied projections of Buster Keaton’s shorts. That was a thoroughly entertaining event. As was their Treefort performance, which Michael described as “insanely great.” The highlight was "How Big is the Rainbow" from their 2025 album "Better Dreaming." Tune-Yards mastermind Merrill Garbus (accompanied by Nate Brenner on bass and keyboards) led the audience in the song's ethereal chorus. She also struck a few seriously comic Maori warrior poses.

  

* * *

  

#Treefort2026 

TREEFORT MUSIC FEST 14 (2026)—WINDOW WALK

Nothing heralds the arrival of Treefort Music Fest like Boise’s First Thursday Window Walk where artists and vendors collaborate to amp up the anticipation. With 38 painted windows ranging from the West End into BODO, here’s a few that caught my eye. All photos: © Michael Guillén. All Rights Reserved.  

 

 

 

 

 

Hap Hap Lounge. Artist: © Walter Gerald. All Rights Reserved.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters. Artist: © Maiyan Justice Linane. All rights reserved.  

 

 

 

 

City Peanut Shop. Artist: © Dana Wagner. All Rights Reserved. 

I really love the peanut with the Saturnesque rings around it. Let alone the peanut astronaut and the peanut rocket pilot! 

Dana Wagner describes herself as "an illustrator and graphic designer who loves bright colors and bold shapes." She earned her bachelor's degree at Furman University in Studio Art with a minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. With a few years of freelance work under her belt, she headed back to class to earn her MFA in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design. 

"When I'm not illustrating and designing," she admits, "I'm probably sewing a quilt, baking banana muffins, validating my friends, or playing with my cat Stella." 

Zen Bento. Artist: © Julius Bridgeforth. All rights reserved.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barbarian Downtown Beer Bar. Artist: © Justin Masi. All Rights Reserved. 

 Justin describes himself as "a quiet man of questionable talents, scratching, scribbling, & sculpting behind a battered desk in Boise."

Fête Style Bar. Artist: © Andie Kelly. All Rights Reserved.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zamzows. Artist: © Ben Bingham. All Rights Reserved. 

I stopped into Zamzows to get some compost and was delighted to see their first participation with Treefort's Window Walk, which is gaining range with each successive year.  

Form And Function Coffee. Artist: © Jess Scheider. All Rights Reserved.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boise Brewing. Artist: © Mitsuko Stoddard. All Rights Reserved. 

Mitsuko is one of the artists who has been selected by the City of Boise to participate in their Public Art Collection. She'll be designing an image on the theme of transportation for a traffic box at 195 S. Capitol Blvd. Congratulations, Mitsuko!   

The Record Exchange. Artist: © Kennedy Fitzgerald. All rights reserved.  

 

 

 

Calle 75 Street Tacos. Artist: © J Rod Studios. All Rights Reserved.  

 

 

The District Coffee House. Artist: © Mariel Jasso. All Rights Reserved. 

Mariel is another of the artists who has been selected by the City of Boise to participate in their Public Art Collection. She'll be designing an image on the theme of transportation for a traffic box at the corner of 10th & Grove St. Congratulations, Mariel!

TREEFORT MUSIC FEST 14 (2026)—FIVE MORE ACTS TO CATCH

Hailing from Boise, Idaho, the third time is the charm for The Other Room There who perform tunes from their recently-released “Look Alive” at Treefort Music Fest on Wednesday, March 25, 5:00PM at the Treefort Music Hall.  

As noted by the Treefort team: “The Other Room There is the solo, dream pop, indietronic project of why-it. For years, why-it has spent time in other groups building his ability to create lush soundscapes and droning tones to create meticulous sonic atmospheres along with catchy, poppy melodies. The Other Room There is a project focused on creating anthems to suburbia, anxiety, loss, and the great unknown. Pulling inspiration from electronic and indie artists of both the last 20 years and the 20 before then, The Other Room There creates music that both feels nostalgic, fresh, and unique. Now accompanied by Carsen Cranney (Moon Owl's Mages, Crush The Monster), the energy of The Other Room There shows has never been more electric.”

   

* * * 

Photo: © Hailey Jane.

Formed in 2022 on Colorado’s front range, Jesus Christ Taxi Driver is made up of Ian Ehrhart (guitar and vocals), Colin Kelly (guitar and vocals), Miles Jenkins (drums) and Will Ehrhart (bass). Known for their unrestrained, disruptive live shows that have been likened to Iggy Pop and The Cramps, Jesus Christ Taxi Driver has previously opened for Frank Black (Pixies), The Hold Steady, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Thing and more. Leaving their mark across North America, they have also performed at festivals including Treefort, Somewhere Fest and Break Out West. Fueled by the human connections they make on the road, the band has every intention of spending as little time at home this year as possible. 

In 2023, the band released their debut record “Lick My Soul” with standout tracks “STUPIDMOTHERFUCKER” and “Ding Dong The Beeves Are Dead.” In 2025, they were included in the National Independent Venue Association’s (NIVA) Live List of best independent live bands to keep an eye on. The Denver Westword frequently champions Jesus Christ Taxi Driver as one of the best bands in the scene right now. Their most recent releases include the eponymous “Jesus Christ Taxi Driver”, “Too Cold To Golf”, and “Lana Del Rey”, anticipating the release of their second album “Taxi the Rich” coming April 19, 2026 on Midtopia.

   

* * * 

For pop listeners looking for a bit more to chew on, Social Cinema’s debut “Don’t Get Lost” features a wealth of simultaneously at-odds and complementary instrumentation, whether that’s demonstrated by the band’s hard-panned, three-pronged guitar track of Gang Of Four-esque chimes exchanged among guitarists Griffin Bush, Mari Crisler and Reed Tiwald, or via the stop-start, drum-pad-aided grooves played by Logan Bush and bassist Austin Engler. Each song on “Don’t Get Lost” is ultimately concerned with stuffing in as many hooky bits as possible, which often sends the songs in unexpected directions. 

Take second track “Human Development,” which contains the elements of a normal pop song—there’s an intro, a verso and a chorus, albeit separated by several other distinct parts. Instead of returning from the chorus to a second verse, the song diverts into a maracas-infused instrument break whose only vocal part functions to bolster the song’s rhythm, not the song’s melody. It’s a delightfully adventurous move that makes the eventual explosive second chorus that much more gratifying. 

“Don’t Get Lost” is unmistakably a pop album meant to hook you in at the surface level and designed to reward you with repeated listens. Social Cinema have evolved here from their own self-prescribed characterization as a “live” band. While the live show will remain key to their identity, “Don’t Get Lost” is a full-length feat that earns them a new label: a “complete” band. Social Cinema plays Treefort Music Fest twice; first, late Thursday night, March 26, 2026 at 12:40AM at The Olympic, and then the following afternoon, Friday, March 27, 2026 on the Cyclops stage at 7:00PM.

   

* * * 

Photo: © Meg Moon

Unabashedly sapphic and iridescent with raucous abandon, The Beaches will rock the Main Stage at Treefort Music Fest on Thursday, March 26, 7:00PM. Like any gay guy with good sense I’m hoping they’ll make me an honorary lesbian; but, even if they simply can’t, I’m going to love them anyway, like all those other adoring str8ers. 

As profiled on Spotify: “The Beaches have spent the past decade building something unstoppable.

“Sisters Jordan Miller (lead vocals, bass) and Kylie Miller (guitar), along with best friends Leandra Earl (guitar, keys) and Eliza Enman-McDaniel (drums), have gone from Toronto up-and-comers to one of the biggest rock bands in Canada. 

“Their breakthrough came with ‘Blame My Ex’, a heartbreak-fueled, anthemic record that turned them into a viral sensation. It’s Platinum-certified lead single, ‘Blame Brett,’ exploded across platforms, racking up 115 million+ streams, 20 million views, and 15 weeks at #1 on Alternative Radio in Canada. The song’s success on TikTok introduced their music to a whole new wave of fans, solidifying their place in modern rock. 

“But The Beaches aren’t just a band you stream—they’re a band you experience. Known for their panty-throwing, stage-diving, no-holds-barred live shows, they bring an energy that’s as fierce as it is infectious. Their ‘Blame My Ex’ Tour proved it, selling out major venues worldwide, including their upcoming headline show at Budweiser Stage (Toronto)—a 16,000-capacity venue sold out three months in advance. 

“Now, with sold-out tours, major festival slots, and a sound that blends raw emotion with unapologetic fun, The Beaches have become more than just a band—they’re a movement. Loud, fearless, and completely in their own lane.” 

Their most recent 2026 releases include “I Ran (So Far Away)” and a live recording of “Silver Springs.” Getting rowdy with G Flip, The Beaches also have a new video for “Lez Go.” Otherwise, I’m offering up three of my favorites from 2025’s “No Hard Feelings.”

   

* * * 

Whether irony or mere wistfulness my mind has circumambulated around Father John Misty’s (sold-out launch of his 2026 tour at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, which grounded so many of the entertainments of my youth and mid-age. Granted, I’m not sure I would have been able to afford the tickets plus service charges recently required by the Castro, so I am all the more appreciative that I will get to hear Father John Misty (née Josh Tillman) on the Main Stage at Treefort Music Fest on Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 8:20PM. Rather than bemoan a bygone era, I celebrate my current opportunities. 

Father John Misty has recently released a three-song EP, “The Old Law” with its eponymous track, and repeats of two tunes from his sixth album 2024’s “Mahāśmaśāna”, whose title refers to the Sanskrit word Mahāśmaśāna, meaning "great cremation ground". Tillman chose the word after reading it in Bruce Wagner's 2006 novel Memorial and feeling inspired by it, "Just visually, it has all these sha-na-nas and ha-ha-has in it. With the record, there’s a lot in there about the self and about identity, and I think just the micro and the macro scale of endings." 

Tillman commissioned artist Joe Roberts to do some collages for the album, he also sent along a few doodles. One of them was made while Roberts was listening to the record, Tillman thought they looked like biblical angels, and chose it as the cover. Roberts almost did not send the drawing due to an accidental "red splotch" of paint.