I Do Stuff…

I got a wild hair up my butt the other day, Tuesday in fact, to go see the Newport Jazz Festival happening this weekend.  I was listening to NPR’s All Song Considered podcast and they started posting the performances from the weeks previous Newport Folk Festival.  Then I looked again at this years lineup and with vision of my two previous trips in 2005 and 2006, I was sold on the idea of going back.

This morning I purchased my ticket and got a rental car.  I figure I will leave Saturday morning about 4am and start driving, should take me about 8 hours to get there.  I still don’t have a place to stay but I am looking at my options.  I checked several camp sites near the town and they are all booked.  I even tried some rental properties but they are way out of my price range.  To be honest, accommodations are the least of my worries.

I am looking forward to lounging on the lawn listening to some kick ass music.  A quick check of the weather says partly cloudy skies with a high of 76 tomorrow.  For the dog days of summer that is perfect outdoor weather.  I will have a chair to relax in with some food and drink at my side, what a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  On Sunday I will walk around downtown and do a little hiking.  I am not looking forward to the long drive back, but if I can do it for Phish in Knoxville, I can certainly do it for the Newport Jazz Festival.

Looking forward to seeing Christian McBride Trio, The Joshua Redman Double Trio, Branford Marsalis Quartet, and Mos Def and the Watermelon Syndicate.  I will report back with a review and a ton of pictures as soon as I can.

Photo Gallery

For several years now I have seen Baltimore’s Artscape come and go, never being able to make it.  This year I was determined as ever to catch “the largest free outdoor art festival” in the country.  Every year they get hundreds of artists together and close several city blocks for all the booths and stages.  Not only do they have traditional artists, but dance troops and what I was mostly interested in the local and national musicians together as well for free concerts on several different stages.  This years artists included Cake and Robert Randolph.  With Cake making an appearance it didn’t take any arm twisting to get Jeremy to come with me.  For the first time in years I was finally getting to Artscape.

Jeremy and I got together in the early afternoon to start our trek to Baltimore.  I had never been to Artscape nor the part of town it was located in.  Needless to say we were going to be winging it, just like so many adventures from our youth.  When we got close to the festival we found a garage that was only a couple blocks from the festival and followed the throngs of people towards the festival grounds.  When we arrived it was a giant mass of people walking down the closed streets.  I just couldn’t get over how many people were there.  But I guess being right in the middle of a large city and a free event, brings out the people.

Our first priority was bathroom, drink,  and food, in that order.  We hit one of the “food courts” to grab some grub and found huge lines of people waiting.  It was nice to have all the food in one spot, lots to choose from, but everyone had to go to the same spot to eat.  Instead of picking what we wanted, we settled for the shortest line, a Greek place.  After waiting only 15 minutes or so we placed our order with the lady and promptly got our food.  For some reason she couldn’t take our money and told us to see the guy next to her.  So we cut in line and paid.  He told us $23 for the food and drinks for which we quickly gathered our money and got $2 change.  While looking for some napkins the lady start yelling at us to pay, saying we owed her $20 for the food.  The guy starts yelling at us asking for more money, so we just walked away.  We paid in full and apparently got ripped off for doing so.  Food vendors can be some shady people.  With food and drink secured we found a nice shady spot under a tree and joined the hundreds of other festival goers in eating some food.  For being over charged it was rather good too.

After lunch Jeremy and I parted company.  Jeremy took the recording gear and headed to the pit to secure a spot.  I headed to one of the other stages to catch Higher Hands for a few songs before meeting back up with Jeremy.  On the way to and from the Festival Stage I stopped by many of the booths to check out the art work.  I was very impressed by what I saw from most of the vendors.  I would have actually bought some of the pieces but the prices were to steep for my pockets, so instead I just marveled at what I saw.  I have always been impressed with artists, of all kinds.  I have always been a little jealous of artists actually.  The fact that these people create something and display it for the world to see has been something I wish I could do.  I wish I could create something beautiful the way these people do.  The closes I come right now is with my photography.  What I do might be called creative, but I think of it mostly as being at the right place at the right time.  Nature has done all the work by creating the world around me, I just take the pictures.

Cake copyright: Kathleen Hill

Higher Hands was not finished with their set before I needed to head over to the main stage for Cake.  When  I arrived the tiny amphitheatre was packed with people.  Jeremy said he was down in the pit near the stage right corner, now I just needed to find one man in a crowd of thousands.  When I got to the pit I quickly ran into a wall of people that made it near impossible to get to him.  He was about 20′ from me but because he was taping I was unable to get his attention, yelling would have been a bad idea.  And besides even if he knew I was there I couldn’t get any closer.  So I took up my spot and just enjoyed the show, only missing two songs of the set.  From my vantage point I could barely see the stage, but I certainly could hear them play.  The photo to the right is a good approximation of my limited view of the stage.

As the set progressed Cake played many of their hit songs, which I recognized, and even a song from their as yet unreleased album.  John McCrea said there is no official release date and they would release it when they wanted.  They currently don’t have a major record label and are taking their new found freedom from “the man” to its fullest, which seems to suit them very well.  Every now and then I would see John poke his head out.  With my limited view of the stage it allowed me to do a lot of people watching which I love to do.  Quite a diverse group of fans made it to see them play.

Once the set was over the crowd quickly dissipated which allowed Jeremy and I to take up a much better position on the hill.  We managed to snag a spot about half way up the hill just left of center, right next to the tapers.  Up next was Robert Randolph and the Family Band.  A rockin’ soul/funk/fusion band that is hard to describe, you just have to see them.  The band does a good job of getting the crowd into the music and their shows are always a party.

Robert Randolph copyright: Jeff Quinton

They came out and rocked the house with their brand of funk and the audience ate it up.  They played a ton of covers, two from Michael Jackson who recently passed away, Man in the Mirror and Billie Jean.  For Billie Jean a young kid, maybe 10 or 11, came on stage and stole the show with his break dancing skills.  The whole show was like this……good.  By the time the band walked off stage at the end of the set it was almost 10pm.  But you see the guys milling around next to the FOH board deciding what they are going to play and a few minutes later come out for an encore.  With the clock marching towards 10pm there was not much time to squeeze in the two song encore.  As they played on I saw coming up the stage stairs a police or fire chief and he looked pissed.  The sound guy and he talk real quick and the sound man gets a panic look on his face.  The city takes their curfew very seriously but Robert didn’t care about any curfew, he just wanted to play.  The crowd was digging the music and he wanted to give them everything he had.  Eventually the band members slowly walk off stage leaving Robert playing a melody on his guitar.  Slowly he walks off stage, still playing, and has a pow wow with the chief.  Then just stops playing, there was no more show.  I definitely thought the power would have been cut mid-song or the chief walking on stage and pulling the cord from Robert’s guitar, something like that.  But I was glad to see them playing as long as they did.

After the show we filtered out with the rest of the crowd.  It was great seeing variety of people that attended the festival as we walked back to the car.  When we got back it was off to Sabatino’s for some midnight grub.  I for one was hungry and thirsty.  I had visions of tiramisu and cappuccino dancing in my head.  When ever I am in Baltimore I stop by Sabatino’s for some late night eats, usually to sober up too.  When we arrived I was hungrier than I thought and ordered a bowl of mussels along with my usual.  Everything was so good, what a way to cap off the night.  After food and a little time to rest we headed back home to Virginia.

CAKE
1. Stickshift and Safetybelts
2. War Pigs
3. Ruby Sees All
4. Love You Madly
5. Frank Sinatra
6. Wheels
7. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle
8. Sheep Go to Heaven
9. Daria
10. Short Skirt/Long Jacket
11. Comfort Eagle
12. Untitled*
13. Mexico
14. Never There

Note:
* – John McCrea said Cake may or may not release a new album with this song on it.

Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Start time 8:32pm
1. Sunshine Of Your Love jam
2. Deliver Me
3. I Need More Love >
4. Wanna Be Starting Something jam >
5. I Need More Love
6. The March
7. jam >
8. Man In The Mirror
9. Shake Your Hips
10. Jesus Is Just Alright
11. Gilligan
12. Billie Jean
13. I Don’t Know What You Come To Do

encore:
14. Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That
15. Thrill Of It

walked off stage 10:02pm

view from the lawn

I was lucky enough to get two tickets to the first leg of the summer Phish tour, Knoxville and Burgettstown.  The unfortunate thing about these two shows was they were 8 days apart, so no mini tour for me.  For each show I did take two days off, one to enjoy the show and the other to hike a local park.  For the Knoxville show I hiked the Great Smoky Mountains and had a blast.  For Burgettstown (Post-Gazette Pavilion, aka Star Lake Amphitheatre) I planned on camping and hiking at Raccoon Creek State Park, noticed I said plan.

It is completely my fault, but I didn’t plan out the camping till the day of the concert so when I called to book a camp spot they were booked.  Actually the lovely lady on the phone, when she first brought up the park info, said “That can’t be right, it says it is completely full.”  I informed her there was a concert that night at Star Lake and that is why it was full.  We Phish fans loves nature and camping, so the state park was a natural choice.  I quickly looked online for other options, I was running late and wanted to get on the road quick.  I found Bennett Acres which actually was closer to the amphitheater than the state park.  When I called there for reservations the lady said “just make it before the show, we have plenty of space.”  I felt good knowing I had secured a campsite for the night and the following day I would hike Raccoon Creek.

I was behind schedule but I kept telling myself not to worry.  I needed to take a test at NOVA before I left, but I thought that would be pretty easy.  My truck was almost packed, one last check around my apartment and I was good to go.  A few minutes before 11am my phone rings.  It’s the Woodbridge shop and they have a computer problem.  Of all the days it has to be today.  I am about to make a 5 hour drive for a Phish show and there is an issue.  Usually it is a simple reboot, or check the wire, something easy like that and the problem is resolved.  Well they inform me that the problem is a blue screen of death and a reboot didn’t fix the problem.  I was pissed.

copyright: Dylan Avery

I quickly drove to the shop to take a look at the computer and it was indeed hosed.  The quickest solutions to get it up and running and on my way was to install a spare computer I have in the back.  After 3o minute or so I finally got the register working and transactions processing as normal.  But I still need to take a test, today being the last possible day to complete it.  Would this day ever get better?

With the computer fixed I flew over to the NOVA Woodbridge campus to take the test.  Fortunately it was quick and easy, 10 minutes and I was out the door.  Finally something was going right for me.  So by 12:30 or so I am finally on the road headed north.  But there is traffic, and a lot of it.  As I approached Springfield and the interchange things ground to a halt.  A severe storm decided to roll through causing near white out conditions slowing my progress.  Once that was completely there was more traffic on 270.  I kept looking at my watch hoping I would have enough time to make it to the campsite and then the show before the houselights went dark.

Once I got onto 70 in Maryland things started to open up….until I hit Pittsburgh.  My directions took my right through the center of town to head West towards the venue.  When I reached the outskirts of town it was right in the middle of rush hour, great more traffic.  At this point there was little chance of me getting to the campsite before the show started.  Right now I was just hoping to get to the venue before the band took the stage.

After the drive from hell I finally made it to the parking lot of the venue around 8pm.  At least it was a breeze getting in and parking was a snap.  But only because I was so incredible late everyone else had already arrived.  The ticket said the show time was 7:30 and I remember the band saying they were going to try and honor the start time as much as possible.  I was hoping tonight was not going to be one of those nights they started on time.  I quickly parked my truck and headed towards the entrance of the venue, at least my parking spot was close.

copyright: Dylan Avery

As I approached the entrance of the venue I heard the crowd erupt, Phish was walking on the stage and I had not yet made it into the venue.  This has happened before to me.  Back in June of 2004 they played two nights at Saratoga PAC and for the first night I arrived late.  That show when I parked and started making my way the boys were already playing, for that show I missed a couple songs before I took my spot on the lawn.  Tonight’s show I only missed Golgi and a little of Chalk Dust.

I took my spot on the lawn, so happy that I had finally made it!  I was back with my huge extended family enjoying the great sounds of Phish at a classic amphitheater on a great summer night.  The weather was not particularly hot or humid and as the sun set behind me the sky and clouds looked like they were on fire from the setting sun.  I was finally at peace and just enjoying the vibe.

The first set was peppered with great songs including Chalk Dust, Bouncing, Wolfman’s, Heavy Things, Walk Away, Wilson, Tube, and the closer David Bowie.  In fact the whole set was stellar.  Of course a couple songs, three actually, I didn’t care for but it was a solid set.  Just like at Knoxville I was blown away by the set.  When it ended I was stunned just like everyone else and cheered my head off.  For a few minutes I had to clear my head, cool down, and a relax a little before the start of set two.  I took the time to walk to the top of the hill and took a seat where I quickly noticed all the families were camped out.  There were a ton of kids running around with their parents close behind.  It still trips me out to see all the fans from years ago have grown up, some now with families.

About the time the second set started, night had fallen and things started to cool off.  I quickly grabbed a spot closer to the middle of the lawn and as far down as I could without stepping over people.  If there was going to be a glow stick war tonight I wanted to be a part of it.  In Knoxville there was a Harry Hood played and despite the work of several dedicated fans a full on glow stick war never ensued.

Grind copyright: Dylan Avery

The set opener was a strong choice with Down with Disease and lead into Free.  Piper lead into a much different temped song of Circus Comes to Town.  And I got another Harry Hood out of the nights performance!  This time the crowd was a little better about picking up the glow sticks and continuing the visual display, but only slightly.  A full blown war never happened like I wanted it to.  The set closers was a monster, YEM, one of my favorites.  I just love the long jam in the middle of the song with the crazy vocal jam at the end and light show to go with it.  I thought this was the perfect way to end the set.

For the encore this is where things got really interesting.  When they come out onto stage they head over to the acapella mic and get ready for a song, but there were a few issues.  Grind started off “ok,” as much as they tried they didn’t get the harmonics right.  Trey mentions that “Page blew the wrong note” so they have a quick conference and when they come back to the mic Trey say’s that “If this doesn’t work Fish will sing Bike.”  They got maybe two verses into the song and it quickly breaks down so “Fish will now sing Bike for you.”  They were having so much fun on stage it was infectious, the crowd was eating it up.  Trey quickly runs over to the drums and the “Train wreck portion of the show” starts to a lot of fan fair.  After a quick HYHU, vacuum solo and more HYHU, things get back to a symbolance of normalcy with all band members back to their respective instruments.  They play one last song, Loving Cup, to close out what was a great set, and awesome show.  The show ended just at midnight, which later I found out was also very rare.  The venue has a curfew of 11pm and they completely blew past that and never looked back.

Once the show was over I was on cloud nine and it was hard to come down from.  But I knew I had a long drive ahead of me so I got to.  I never got a camping spot and I didn’t want to a large sum of money for a hotel room so I decided to head back home.  I drove to the nearest rest stop, about 45 minutes from the venue and crashed for the night.  The next morning I noticed I was not the only one in the parking lot from the Phish show, as there were three other cars full of phans all passed out.  I got a cup of coffee and continued the rest of my journey home.  The music was cranking as the sun was rising, greeting a fantastic morning.  I couldn’t wait to get home and download the show, what an experience.

Set 1: 8:10pm start
Golgi Apparatus
Chalk Dust Torture
Bouncing Around the Room
Wolfman’s Brother
The Divided Sky
Heavy Things
Walk Away
Wilson
Tube
Alaska
David Bowie

set 1 ends at 9:36pm

Set 2: 10:06 start
Down with Disease >
Free
Guyute
Piper >
When the Circus Comes to Town
Harry Hood >
The Squirming Coil
You Enjoy Myself

set 2 ends at 11:36pm

encore:
Grind
Hello My Baby
Hold Your Head Up >
Bike >
Hold Your Head Up
Loving Cup

encore ends at 11:57pm

Over the last few months I have been scrambling to get tickets to the reunion show in Hampton and the summer tour.  Of course none of the shows I wanted to attend could I get tickets too.  I however was happy to get tickets to: Knoxville, Pittsburgh, Merriweather, and SPAC.

So first up, Knoxville.  This was the last stop before Phish hit Bonnarro for a long weekend of shows.  Getting there turned into quite a trip being 8 hours away.  Even with the long drive I was able to stop and get a hotel in Pigeon Forge at the Pigeon River Inn for an astonishing $30!  I was going to hike in The Great Smoky Mountains on Friday and this hotel was close to the park entrance.  While driving down 71 to the hotel I was amazed at the amount of crap on the side of the road.  The long stretch of highway reminded me of a redneck Vegas, but without the gambling.  An hour to go before the concert and I still needed to make it to downtown Knoxville.

Thompson-Boling Arena

As I approached the city following the directions I had I started to see signs saying highway 40 was closed and that I would have to take a detour which took me around the city and not into it.  I was able to find further information on the closing and the highway was closed at the exact exit I needed to get off at, and to throw more egg in my face it was being re-opened on Friday.  Ugh.  So I followed the detour around the city and with a lot of luck I found my way to the general area of the venue.  But since my directions to the venue were based on getting off highway 40 they were completely useless to me.  I eventually found a parking lot with a bunch of other fans and the great search for the venue started, for all of us.  No one knew how to get to the venue so we all just followed the people in front of us that eventually lead us to the campus and the Thompson-Boling Arena.

The venue is the basketball stadium for the University of Tennessee and as such doesn’t have much on site parking.  This however did not stop the horde of fans from setting up a shakedown street and totally packing it.  Unfortunately there was no time for me to walk around and take in the sights and sounds, all I could do was pass through it.  One crazy thing I noticed was that as I got closer to the entrance more and more tickets became available and the prices got lower and lower.  To the point that people were just giving them away because no one was buying.

copyright: www.BreakfastOnTour.com

After making it through some of the most inclusive security I have seen ever I was in the venue without incident.  Mission one had been accomplished, I made it to the venue before the start of the show.  Mission two was finding some beer.  Before I got the parking lot I stopped for some Guinness for a little pre-party.  My buzz was mild and I wanted to get it going before the show started.  A quick scan around was worthless so I found an usher.  To my horror they didn’t serve alcohol in the venue, didn’t matter that it was not a school event, no alcohol was served.  Then it dawned on me, not a surprise.  It is on a college campus and the vast majority of the attendants can’t legally drink, so cheaper to not have alcohol.  Crap!  In disgust I walked to my seat to enjoy the show.  I most certainly was not going to let this minor incident put a damper on my first Phish show in 5 years.

My seat was located in section 315.  When I bought the ticket I first was happy to finally get one, then I was a little concerned about the locations.  I was only a few rows from the top at one of the furthest points from the stage.  But when I actually sat down I was delighted by my view.  My seat was a perfect spot to take in the visual aspect of the show.  The lights by Chris Kuroda, in my opinion, are an integral part of the show.  The guy is magic at adding to the atmosphere of a show, without him it would not be the same.

As the venue started to fill up it still didn’t feel like a Phish show, something was missing.  It had been over 5 years since I saw them perform live and after the breakup I pretty much stopped listening to their music and moved on to other acts.  When the lights went off just after 8 and the boys took the stage a chill ran down my spin.  The crowd erupted with cheers and excitement to welcome them to the stage and it infected me.  All seemed right with the world once the lights went down and I got back into the groove of things.

The set open was Runaway Jim, so I knew this was going to be a great show.  First set highlights included a great PYITE which is a classic and a new song I later found out to be Ocelot.  It was very long and jammy with some heavy heavy guitar rifts near the end of the song by Trey.  Very impressed with the new song from the band.  When they started with Foam as the next song I was not particularly excited to hear it, not one of my favorites.  But when they started jamming it turned into an amazing version.  There was so much feeling and emotion from the guys in this version.  It of course had the crazy guitar work by Trey near the end that escalated higher and higher in its pitch with no end in sight.  When the song finally ended the crowd went nuts.  No one had heard a version like that and we could all tell things were back to normal.  It was not just a song for a songs sake, there was emotion and feeling in it.  The guys were feeding off the energy of the crowd. Another new song, Undermind, had some crazy of key bass work by Mike which lead to the classic Weekapauge > H2O > Mike’s.  Another classic played well.  Squirming Coil was the second to last song of the set and features great solo piano work at the end by Page.  I love this song just for the end piano work by Page.  It reminds me of a lullaby that just makes me feel to rested and peaceful.

copyright: not me

The first set alone they crushed it for about 1:20 before walking off the stage.  Everyone was stunned when the house lights finally came on.  No one could believe what we had just witnessed, we all witnessed something amazing.  I talked to the people around me and we all came to the same conclusion, it was a very special show in deed.  And there was  second set to follow!  In my opinion second sets have a better selection of songs with sometimes an oddity thrown in straight out of left field.

Set two rolls around and I am ready for the fireworks.  The opener was Get Back on the Train, nothing to say here, standard fair and personally a slow way to start the set off.  The second song, Waves, brings high energy to the set.  It was a very spacey version with corresponding light show on the back of the arena near the end of the song.  This lead straight into A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing which was very heavy and deep.  This lead into David Bowie, a little more upbeat and high spirited to contract with the previous dark song.  Other highlights included the accapela Hello My Baby, a classic tune when touring the southern states.

The set closers was another trifecta run on jam consisting of Julius > Cavern > Harry Hood.  What ever you do take care of your shoe.  I was ecstatic to hear Harry Hood, it is certainly one of my favorite songs and was actually played at the first Phish show I ever went to.  I was however a little disappointed with the crowd during the song, there was no glow stick war.  Certain portions of the crowd tried three times unsuccessfully to get a glow stick war going, but most people were not having it.  People would not pick up the glow sticks and keep things going.  Even Chris tried to get the crowd into it would much luck.  I am not sure if this is because all the new fans don’t know what to do or everyone has just gotten lazy.  What ever the reason I wish people would participate when they are suppose to.

After the show it was a short lazy walk through downtown Knoxville back to my car.  With it being midnight the city was quit and empty with the exception of all the elated Phish fans heading back to their homes.  There was this buzz among the crowd while walking back.  Everyone enjoyed the show.  As I reflected on what I had just witness I was very impressed.  This was not the old Phish from the late 2000 I remember, this was the Phish from ’97 and ’98.  They thoroughly enjoyed themselves on the stage, feed off the crowd, and explored musically some of their songs taking them into way off directions I had not heard before.  I was afraid they would be a cliche of themselves and were getting back together for the money.  This show put all thoughts of that to rest and made my look forward to the Pittsburgh show the following week.

But for this evening it was a short 45 minute drive back to my hotel for a good nights rest.  The following day I was going hiking in The Great Smoky Mountains before making the long drive back to norther Virginia.

Set 1: 8:10pm start
Runaway Jim
Punch You in the Eye
Ocelot
Foam
Train Song
Undermind
Mike’s Song >
I am Hydrogen >
Weekapaug Groove
The Squirming Coil
Character Zero

set ends at 9:31pm

Set 2: 10:08pm start
Back on the Train
Waves >
A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing >
David Bowie
Army of One
Reba
Hello My Baby
Julius >
Cavern >
Harry Hood

set ends at 11:31pm

encore: 11:35pm
Frankenstein

encore ends at 11:40pm

Photo Gallery

My Aunt called me on Wednesday saying she was throwing a BBQ for my Grandmother on Mothers Day and my Mom was going to be there.  So of course I was going to show up for a great chance to see my mother’s side of the family.  It was a wonderful lazy afternoon on a day that finally saw the sun shinning.  Jim cooked hot dogs and hamburger on the grill along with all the sides you would expect at such an event.

bird sitting on his house

As the sun set and the light became soft I took advantage of the remote setting and got some pictures of the many birds around the yard.  Alice’s house in Fredericksburg sits on 7 or so acres of land with dozens of bird houses and feeders.  As you would expect the yard was filled with birds flying around also enjoying the late Spring afternoon.  I framed shots with the a fence, bird house, and feeders in the pictures.  I was even able to spot a rabbit right at the edge of the forest.

As the evening wound down and it was time to leave I decided to stop by the Chancellorsville Civil War Battlefield.  A couple weeks ago I visited the Manassas Battlefield and figured it would be a good idea to stop by this one.  Being far from my house I didn’t know the next time I would be down in the area.  The setting Sun again provided some good opportunities for great photos.  It was just to idyllic not to stop for a few minutes.

The small parking lot marked the site upon which the Chancellor House once stood.  During the last day of the battle the house burned down to the ground as the Confederates over ran the superior numbers of the North.  I was amazed to find out that all five cross roads from the original site are still being used today.  Add a few extra lanes and some black asphalt for color and you take once narrow dirt roads soaked with American blood and turned them into modern roads.   So as the sun set I got some decent shots of the surrounding field and cannons.

Chancellorsville Battlefield