I Do Stuff…

Picture Gallery

After my impromptu trip to Newport for the annual Jazz Festival I wanted to get in a quick hike before I started my long trip home.  With only a couple of hours to hike if I wanted to make it home at a reasonable time, I decided to head back to a place I first visited in 2006 when I was up for the festival.  A park at the end of an island in Rhode Island Sound called Beavertail State Park.  It is a little park that serves as a light house to passing boats.  Fortunately the major shipping lanes no longer go past this rocky point, but it is still useful to small vessels.

...

With a good night sleep outside in the woods I was ready to take on the world when I started my day bright an early.  I wanted to get an early start on breakfast and get to the park.  As long as I have been traveling, I firmly believe in having a good hearty breakfast to start the day when you are on the road.  It is the only time a meal happens at a set time, all others are based on chance.  So while driving down the main drag out of town I spotted the Blue Plate Special, how cheesy is that.  So because of the name, the pretty full lot and the old style decor I ate here.  The inside was pretty nice, but the eggs benedict I had was alright at best.

Not to be discouraged by my breakfast I made the short drive to the park entrance along some very scenic roads.  As you island hop and get further away from the highway the pace of life slows down, actually rolls back the clock as you go.  You have one apartment complex that is not very big and a small tourist shopping center that fits very nicely with the surrounding neighborhood.  Once you get past this small area things start to open up.  The houses get further apart and the shops become ever smaller, but very necessary to the locals.  Shops that you just wont find anywhere else with curious names.  Eventually even these small shops fade to fewer and fewer house, till finally you don’t see any more houses.  The only reason you know they are there is because of a driveway that leads the way home.

The park is a small circle that travels around the peninsula with great views of the surround shoreline and into both Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound.  To get the longest walk possible and explore as much as I could, I parked in the first lot and walked completely around.  It doesn’t take long and is actually pretty level.  There is an aquarium and I believe a small museum at the light house.  It was cool to see all the people out enjoying a wonderful Sunday morning.  With temps in the low 70′s and zero humidity, it actually felt a little chilly which was fantastic for August weather.  Several people were painting, one family was trying to fly a kite.  But the groups sitting in lounged chairs, reading the paper while drinking coffee tripped me out the most.  I thought that was such a great idea, I do that already, but to add the scenery and audio sound track would make the words fly off the Washington Post.  Unfortunately I do not live close enough to have such a lazy Sunday morning with any regularity.  If I am in the area again I will arrive early and enjoy the sunrise.

a look down the trail

After only an hour or so I was back at my car and phyicing myself up for the 8+ hour drive back to Virginia.  It was going to be a three cup of coffee and three cigar kinda road trip.  I did make one stop early in the trip, it was to Allison B. Goodsell Rare Books.  The directions I had took me through the tiny town of Kingston and I noticed an rare book and post card store.  On my way home I just had to stop to get a couple post cards for my parents.  I thought it would be a great idea to send these classic post cards in the modern day.  I quickly dove into the Rhode Island sections and found that not all the postcards were empty.  It was great to read into the lives of someone 50-80 years ago.  Most people were on vacation, some for the entire summer.  One was address to a couple in Massachusets and it only had their name, city and state.  I couldn’t believe it arrived to the person, but back when it was sent town were much smaller and everyone really did know everyone in town.  I picked a couple blank ones and sent them off from the local post office, I always take stamps with me when I travel just for this reason.

The rest of the drive home was pretty uneventful.  Filled with lots of traffic across all of Connecticut for no reason at all.  Actually the traffic allowed me to give away a cigars.  I am smoking listening to some killer jazz and a Jeep pulls up with two ladies complimenting me on my cigar and wondering if I had another.  They offered to pay me, but of course I couldn’t take any money from them.  I was just happy they wanted a cigar and not bitch at me for smoking.  The Jersey Turnpike was stacked as the lanes started to peal away.  Then once I hit Maryland the heavens opened up and caused miles of backup.  It was a long trip, but a good one.  The Newport Jazz Festival, Beavertail State Park, and the rare book store made all the travel time worth it to get away for the weekend.

the crowd at Newport

Photo Gallery

What an adventure this past weekend was.  I decided at the last minute to catch the Newport Jazz Festival over the weekend, actually bought my ticket on Friday and that night I began my journey at 10pm.  I drove as far as I could make it before I needed to pull off at a rest stop to get some sleep.  My goal was to make it to the Melville Ponds Campground and then head over to Fort Adams State Park.  When I called to get a reservation for camping I was informed it was first-come-first-serve.  They had 10 or so camp sites left and I wanted one badly.  The camp site was only a few miles from the festival grounds and it was cheap.  I would have to pay for two nights because of the festival, but $50 was a lot cheaper than any hotel I was going to find.

After a few stops for cat naps I made it to the camp grounds and got my spot around noon.  I wanted to catch Christian McBride Trio at 12:50 so that was the target time I was shooting for.  I got a spot in the back of the camp grounds deep in the woods and it was great.  After setting up my tent it was off to the bathhouse for a much needed hot shower.  I wanted so badly to see Christian McBride, but I wanted a hot shower even more.  After I was refreshed and more awake I was off to the festival through some crazy traffic in downtown Newport.

When I arrived the place was exactly as I remember from my previous two visits.  Whats more is the place was packed with festival goers.  This years production almost didn’t happen from what I heard.  The old company, Festival Networks, bought the rights from George Wein a two years ago, the man who started it all in 1954.  With the recent financial crisis they were caught in the middle and were not going to put on this years Folk or Jazz festivals.  Fortunately George wouldn’t allow his baby to go to the way side so he stepped in and bought the rights back from Festival Networks.  George, with his clought, was going to put on the festivals with or without a major sponsor.  He was able to get an impressive lineup of acts for both festivals and more importantly was able to secure a license for Fort Adams, Festival Networks lost theirs.  Short story is the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals were going to take place this year with or without corporate sponsorship at their rightful home in Newport!

Joshua Redman Double Trio

I strolled down the vendor booths on my way to the lawn to secure my spot.  I recognized many of the same vendors as in the past which was nice to see with several new ones thrown in for good measure.  As I approached the lawn I started to realize how late I actually was.  There was not much space for new arrivals so I had to sandwich myself into a pretty tight spot.  The first place I broke camp for was behind a large tent and over the crest of the hill.  From here I could only see the monitor and not the actual stage.  But I didn’t really care.  I had finally made it after a long trip and I was enjoying myself.  The sun was shinning and the weather was cooperating very nicely.  It couldn’t have been above 75 degrees and with the constant breeze it was absolutely perfect.  So I broke out my chair and some food to enjoy the last few songs of Esperanza Spalding.  Later I moved further to the right and closer to the stage for a much better view.

so close

There was a 30 minute set break so I took the time to walk around some more and mingled with others at the show.  Again hitting the vendor booths, this time on the other side of the aisle and lazily made my way over to the Harbor stage to see what was going on over there.  One thing that I love about this venue are all the boats that show up.  Each year the harbor gets filled with all manor of boats with people enjoying the concert.  You can’t hear much that far from the stage, but it is a great party atmosphere and a spectacle to behold.

As I walked back to my spot I noticed I was running late and Joshua Redman Double Trio was already on stage, damn!  The closer I got to my seat I remembered you could take pictures right in front of the stage for a few minutes at the start of each performance, so I took a little detour.  A quick sidebar about the Double Trio name, it confused me when I first saw it, I didn’t understand what it meant.  When I walked to the stage and saw the full band know I understood.  There was Joshua Redman on sax and then two drummers and two upright bassists.  This type of arrangement I had never seen before and as crazy as it was, it worked out really well.  Each member complimented their counter part and the band came together really well.  Joshua near the end of the set said this was the first live performance of this band.  We got treated to a new act before anyone else.  This is why I love coming to Newport, you see bands and collaborations you wouldn’t see any where else.

Justin Faulkner from Branford Marsalis Quartet

After this energetic performance Branford Marsalis Quartet was up next.  They have featured the same cast of characters for the last ten years, in the jazz world this is a rarity.  Having said that, Jeff “Tain” Watts was busy with his own band so Justin Faulkner, an 18 year old high school senior, stepped in to replace him.  When I was taking pictures he had such a look of intensity on his face, he was in the zone and feeling the groove.  I was drawn in by him and hearing him with the rest of the band just made the performance.  His playing was very avant-garde, not much rhythm, constantly changing the beat and using every aspect of the drum kit to produce a fire of sound, simply amazing.  I can’t say enough good things about him or the performance of the band, it was some great stuff.

Closing out Saturday was Mos Def and the Watermelon Syndicate.  This I thought was a strange addition to the festival but one I was certainly looking forward to.  Mod Def is not know for his jazz performances but I liked the leap of faith that George Wein took by adding Mos Def to the bill.  As I waited for them to take the stage I see the Syndicate walk out and was astonished.  There was a full horn section, full string section, grand piano with a bassist and drummer thrown in for good measure.  This was going to be exciting.

relaxing on the lawn

Unfortunately a large number of the audience missed his performance.  I guess they were not to thrilled with a hip/hop artist closing out Saturday night.  They took an early leave of absense and made a run for the restaurants.  I for one was excited to hear what he was going to play with such a large band.  When the set was finally finished I was impressed with their performance.  You could see on Mos Def’s face he was nervous and was probably put off by the constant stream of people leaving while he was on stage, but he still did a decent job.  The addition of strings and horns was a nice touch that fit better with the festival as a whole.  He did his thing but looked and sounded very stiff.  Even just walking around the stage he never loosened up.  He never really got into the performance if you ask me.  All things considered it was great and definatelly something different.

Mos Def

After Mos Def ended his set it was time to pack up and head to my camp site for a well deserved nights rest.  The weather was going to be cool, perfect weather for sleeping outside.  But first I wanted to stop by King Park to relax, do a little writing, and take some pictures of the setting sun across the harbor.  The park is located right on the water and is the perfect spot to catch a sunset.  The sun painted the sky purple, blue, and pink as it set over the bridge and harbor.  The boats in the harbor lite up with perfect light as did the buildings along the water.  It was very peaceful and allowed me to do a write up in my travel journal.  In fact it was the perfect setting sun to get married under, which I witnessed a young couple do at the gazebo.  I was hoping to get a couple more shots of the setting sun and a final shot of the harbor at night.  I had this picture in my head of the sky being black with only the safely lights on the boats and the realive bright lights off the buildings reflecting across the water.  There was a church steeple that would have made for a nice shot at night as well.  But the masquittos were out in force making it to unconfortable to stay any longer.

So I settled for the shots I had and headed to the campground for a night of rest.  I was way to tired anyhow so it worked out.  I would need a good nights rest because on Sunday I was going to do some hiking before my 8 hour drive back home.

a beautiful setting sun over Newport harbor

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.