Kent Jamieson is NOFX's manager and sound mixer. He has also done sound for Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Descendents, Alkaline Trio, and others.
What was the food highlight of your year?
My food highlight of the year was a meal at Skaručna located in Slovenia a stone's throw from the capital, between Ljubljana and Brnik. The meal was incredible, no menu (my favorite way to eat) but course after course of incredible food, starting with house made pickles and charcuterie including ham with fresh ground horseradish that I could not stop eating, a ton of fresh veg all grown on site, a whole fish, then giant bone-in New York steaks, grilled right on vines in a wood burning outdoor oven 20 feet from our giant old wood table. They also served several dozen shots of schnapps made right on sight, including walnut, and all sorts of crazy herbs and flowers from the yard, picked by the owner who was our host. Their business cards are paper mustaches, that NOFX played the show wearing that night.
What was the music highlight of your year?
My Music highlight was getting to do live sound for the Alkaline Trio's Past Live series, where they played all 8 of their studio albums, over 4 consecutive nights in L.A. Chicago and NYC. In my career the one thing I have never burnt out on, on a daily basis is mixing live for great bands. I had never had the opportunity to mix the Trio other that a terrible festival who's name I won't mention. So to have them all to myself with their great sounding gear in a comfortable club setting was very rewarding, I received many genuine accolades from peers both friends and unknown, which never gets old I must say. In Chicago, where everyone in the room has seen the band 100 times, Niel Hennessy famed record producer and drummer of The Lawrence Arms, brought Eli from the Smoking Popes, a band I like but a guy i didn't know, to meet me, because he wanted to tell me how good it sounded. I try not to be boastful, but that kinda made my life.
Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?
There isn't so much a moment, but for me the festival catering in Europe is a time when great food and music come together. Over the past 20 years, NOFX and me First and the Gimme Gimmes have had the good fortune to be welcomed by what must be 100 great music festivals all over europe and 99% of the time the catering might as well be a 4 star restaurant, with a ton of great choices for the beast eater to the Vegans, and they will all make Smelly our drummer bacon and eggs when he gets up at 5 pm because he stays on California time the whole time we are there.