Mac High grad works with, plays in local music festival
Marcus Glaze would have loved attending the Walnut City Music Festival had it existed when he was still in high school.
A 2005 Mac High graduate, his passion for music was catching fire back in his student days.
He started playing guitar at 13, earned enough money by babysitting to buy his own instrument at 14, and starting writing his own music at 15. In his sophomore year, he started his own band, Scars & Stripes, which went on to win a citywide Battle of the Bands competition.
But what really sparked his dream of becoming a performer was attending his first concert, a punk/ska show that featured Sum 41 and Reel Big Fish. “I had goosebumps the entire time,” Glaze said.
“The community of the show … the dancing … the energy,” he recalled. “I caught the bug.”
For the first time, the McMinnville resident said, he thought of music not just as something he enjoyed, but also something that could be a career. Then the Battle of the Bands’ win “really kicked me into high gear.”
That led to where he is today, a member of a trio he founded with drummer Aaron DeRosso, with whom he’s been playing for about 15 years. The third member is Jean Mastaler, who plays electric violin.
They call the folk and Americana band “Falcon Heart,” which represents their love of nature and “big soaring rock.”
Glaze said his love of music originated from “wanting more out of life.” He wasn’t thinking of going pro at the time; he just was passionate about music.
“Music kept me out of trouble,” he said, looking back.
It also gave him an outlet for working through his emotions by writing songs. “It’s very cathartic,” said Glaze, who now works in the wine industry as well as playing music.
He said he often writes about his own history, family, “love or loss, grief or happiness.” DeRosso also writes songs for Falcon Heart, focusing on nature, his children and other folk-related topics.
Being able to perform those original songs in front of an audience is “a rush,” Glaze said. “When we play for an attentive audience … there’s nothing like it,” he said.
In addition to originals, the band plays some covers — a wide range that includes “Angel from Montgomery,” “Hallelujah” and “Bad Romance.”
Glaze also plays solo sets and does duos with either of his Falcon Heart partners when the third isn’t available.
At this year’s Walnut City Music Festival, for instance, he and Mastaler will do a duo set Saturday afternoon, Aug. 17. Falcon Heart has performed on the Main Stage at several past festivals.
This year’s event runs both Friday and Saturday, Aug. 16-17, in McMinnville’s lower city park. Music is scheduled from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and from 1 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Festival tickets are $25 for adults and $12.50 for youths. For more information, go to walnutcitymusicfest.org.
The full band also has a show coming up at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at McMenamins White Eagle Saloon in Portland. Tickets to the 21-and-older event are $10, at falconheartmusic.com or mcmenamins.com/events/257102-falcon-heart.
During and before the Walnut City Music Festival, Glaze will be working in the background as one of the main organizers.
He joined the festival crew in 2022 to help line up the food, took on a larger role in 2023 and now is responsible for food and beverages, marketing and paperwork, such as getting permits.
This will be the first time Walnut City has taken place in McMinnville’s Lower City Park since he started. The last two years were on the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum campus and 2020 and 2021 were canceled because of Covid, so the festival is returning to the park for the first time since 2019.
“Being in the park is a huge win,” Glaze said, noting that Visit McMinnville helped by sponsoring the cost of renting the park for the weekend.
“It will attract a lot of people and be accessible,” he said.
Glaze is sure he would’ve attended if the festival had happened in the early 2000s. And that’s one of the reasons he is involved with organizing and playing at it today.
“I want it to inspire people to play and to listen to music,” he said. “It’s a labor of love.”
About the Walnut City Music Festival
Tickets are $25 general per day, $12.50 to $40.
The nonprofit festival started in 2013. Organizers wanted to create a “home-grown, destination live music experience.”
The 2024 event will open at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, with music going from 5 to 11 p.m. The main-stage lineup includes: Indie-rock band Glitterfox; jazz/funk group DTW; honkytonkers Lee Walker & The Sleep Talkers; Countryside Ride, a classic country band; and Bootleg Jam, the popular Yamhill County bluegrass/Americana group.
On Saturday, Aug. 17, music will run from 1 to 10:30 p.m., with gates opening at noon. The lineup on the main stage includes: harmony-driven, genre-fluid Analog Dog; folk rockers Bear & The Beasts; Harpers, a psychedelic rock/Americana quintet; indie rockers Jakki & The Pink Smudge; Ida Jane & The Weekend Gardeners, a folk/alt-rock/indie group; Sunkicks, which plays bluegrass to pop/rock; and rockers Manitoba Road Crew, another McMinnville-based favorite.
Additional artists and bands — including Falcon Heart — also will be featured throughout the festival on the “locals only” stage.
Vendors will offer food, craft beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages.
Parking for those with a certified handicap parking permit is available down the hill from the entrance. Others can park two blocks away in the Oregon Mutual lot at 400 N.E. Baker St. or in other nearby parking areas.
No pets other than service animals are allowed on the festival site.
Volunteers are needed. They will receive a T-shirt and admission in return for volunteering to help with taking tickets, working in the merchandise tent, pouring beverages, serving as alcohol monitors or assisting with parking.
For more information and signups, go to the festival website, walnutcitymusicfest.org.
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