Where did my week go? Why is it Friday and I’ve only managed two posts, and one of those a press release?
Well, Tuesday morning I got another one of those phone calls. Those of you with elderly parents understand the italics. My sister called me at 7:30 in an amazing panic, telling me that my mother had experienced a serious stroke and they were on the way to the hospital.
“I’ll meet you there.”
This was followed by a quick SSS (shower, shave, shit) and trucking down the highway to glorious Rock Hill, SC. Fortunately I’m close enough to home to be able to rush off when these emergencies crop up, which has been happening with disgusting regularity lately.
So we spend all day Tuesday waiting for tests and admitting and all that jazz, and I get to see my mom, and she seems okay. Not like anyone who’s just had a stroke. No slurring, no paralysis, none of that stuff. So I figure it wasn’t a stroke, but that we’re going to be there for a while trying to figure out exactly WTF happened.
Damn, I’m good. An MRI, CT scan and EEG later, we know that it wasn’t a stroke. It looks like she has a problem with blood pressure that is causing her to pass out. Apparently as we stand up, the blood vessels in the legs constrict, increasing blood pressure to get enough blood to the brain. Well, some people as they age begin to lose some of this constricting action, and their blood pressure drops drastically as they stand up, leading to fainting, or almost catatonia, which was what happened to Mom on Tuesday.
And since the spell hit her while she was sitting upright, the body couldn’t compensate, because the blood flow still wasn’t going right. It didn’t catch up until she was laying flat, right before they put her on a stretcher to haul her out. By then my father was absolutely losing his shit, and my sister was convinced that our mother was going to die.
Compound this with the fact that the numbnuts ambulance dispatcher gave bad directions to the ambulance which sent them 25 minutes out of their way along rural roads, and you’ve got a bad morning.
But Mom’s okay. For 73 and senile. So I spent three days sitting in the hospital, one to see if she was going to be okay, and two to meet with the doctors because she gets confused really easily and can’t remember what the doctors tell her. Natural progression of aging. What a muthafucker. So we’re not sure when she’ll get to go home, maybe tomorrow. And we’re not sure what to do with her when she gets home, because if these spells continue, she can’t stay alone. And there aren’t exactly a lot of home healthcare options in Bullock Creek, SC. Think Mayberry, only without all the urban development and infrastructure.
So we wait and see. I feel like a bad son for thinking it, but all the way down there Tuesday all I could think was, “If it was a stroke, I hope it’s the big one.” I watched my great-aunt lay in her hospital for two years praying to die after a stroke left her partially paralyzed and completely incapable of taking care of herself, and I just hope as we get to this point in the lives of my parents that it can happen quickly, and that neither of them have to suffer through that pain and ignominy.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Jumped the shark, huh?
For a pasttime that has jumped the shark, we keep getting all kinds of new technology! Check out this new product that lets you play Heads-Up Hold 'Em on your Cell Phone.
What will those crazy kids think of next?
ABANDON
MOBILE AND NBC SPORTS TEAM UP WITH VERIZON WIRELESS TO DELIVER NBC
SPORTS HEADS-UP POKER
CONTACT:
What will those crazy kids think of next?
ABANDON
MOBILE AND NBC SPORTS TEAM UP WITH VERIZON WIRELESS TO DELIVER NBC
SPORTS HEADS-UP POKER
Texas
Hold’em Style Poker Game Pits Players Against a Series of
Expert Players in the Ultimate Showdown
BEDMINSTER,
NJ and NEW YORK – Verizon Wireless, Abandon Mobile and NBC
Sports announced today that NBC Sports Heads-Up Poker mobile game
will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless Get it Now®
customers through May 31, 2006. The mobile game, NBC Sports Heads-Up
Poker, will be promoted on-screen during the 2006 Championship from
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that is scheduled to air nationwide
on NBC Sports April 16, 23 and 30 and on May 7 and 14. All television
coverage begins at noon EDT; the two-hour championship telecast
will take place at 1:00 p.m. EDT on May 21.
Based on the popular card game Texas Hold’em, NBC Sports Heads-Up
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can also challenge all of the opponents at one table for a game
in Texas Hold’em format.
The National Heads-Up Poker Championship features the world’s
best players in single elimination competition for $1.5 million
in prize money. Competitors include defending champion Phil Hellmuth,
Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Ted Forrest, and Chris
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The high-quality graphics and animation provide spectacular gameplay
on a variety of Verizon Wireless Get It Now-enabled handsets, and
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charges for Get It Now applications vary and airtime charges apply
when browsing, downloading and using certain applications. Customers
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to access the Get It Now virtual store.
For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services,
visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN
IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
# # #
About Verizon
Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation’s most reliable
wireless network, serving 51.3 million voice and data customers.
Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture
of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE:
VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com.
To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution
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About Abandon
Mobile
Abandon Mobile is a mobile game developer and publisher formed by
Abandon Entertainment, Inc. and GF Capital Management and Advisors,
LLC. Recently, Abandon acquired Lucky Chicken Games, a Malibu, Calif.-based
game developer whose management team has over 50 years combined
game
CONTACT:
|
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Merlefest Saturday report
Merlefest Day 3 – Saturday Jam
Sorry for the delay in posts, I’ve been working on clearing a bonus through the kind folks at Poker Source Online (I love my sponsors). I managed to clear the Pokershare bonus in about 1500 hands, and was able to net a decent profit at the same time. I highly recommend folks check our PSO and their neat gifts, it’s a good way to get cool stuff or money while checking out new poker sites.
But when we left our heroes, we had just had a fantastic time at Merlefest Friday night and crashed in our hotel in Lenoir. So Saturday dawned clear and beautiful, not hot at all and looked like it was going to be another absolutely perfect day at the festival.
So the plan was to get up around 9 or10, eat the Shoney’s breakfast bar, and make it to the festival around noon. Yeah, well ,anyway. So we got up, made it to Shoney’s and got to the festival around 1:30. Suzy was rolling up from Charlotte with her aunt to meet us at the festival, and they were running just a little behind us. So we got there, got set up around the Watson stage, and cruised back up front to meet Suzy as they came in.
The Watson stage didn’t have a ton to attract me on Saturday, so my plan was to check out other stages, try to catch more Duhks and Mammals, maybe see a little Guy Clark, and definitely see Laura Love and John Cowan at the Dance tent. Good Plan.
And it mostly worked. First we caught Casey Driessen and friends at the Americana Stage, including Luke Bulla, Matt Mandano, Scott Senior and a pile of other guests. Great set by this young fiddle players and all his buddies. This set was great in that there was a lot of cross-pollination among the younger acts at Merlefest, which made it exciting for a lot of the younger fans.
The festival has many faces, and that’s one of the things that I really enjoy about it. There’s plenty of old-time and traditional music for the folks that are into that, plenty of rocking jam music for folks that are into that, and a splash of world music/Celtic boogie with a little bit of dance music thrown in. So there really is something for everyone, including some traditional country and straight-up Americana singer-songwriter stuff. So no matter what kind of jam you’re into, you can find something at Merlefest to appeal to you.
So after that, we grabbed more overpriced pizza, then over to check out the Duhks in the Dance Tent. Holy crap, what a high-energy set. The Dance Tent was rockin’ to the Duhks, with some of the most smoking Celtic/Canuck/Traditional boogie I’ve seen in forever. Top-notch musicianship and great entertainment is the norm at the festival, but these guys have added even greater energy than normal. Hope they come back for many years to come!
Hung out at the dance tent a little bit longer, then it was time for Laura Love and John Cowan. Dueling bass players with plenty of funk, this was sure to be one of my favorite sets. If you aren’t familiar with John Cowan, get there. He played bass for New Grass Revival for years and is a killer bass player and vocalist. Laura is a great bass player and singer herself, so this should be killer with lots of Laura’s songs, maybe a little bluegrass and some old R&B. And they did not disappoint! From Mustang Sally to Higher Ground, they went all over the song map, from John’s stuff to Laura’s stuff to straight up covers. And a killer backup band, with Barbara Lamb on fiddle and Scott Vestal on banjo. Phenomenal musicianship all around, kinda the theme of the weekend.
So while I’m jamming with the Duhks and Johhny C., Suzy and Debbie were checking out the shopping at the merchandise tents and the craft tents. And of course the cool food tent. So it didn’t take long for her to come find me for more cash. A couple of purses, hats and small pieces of pottery later, we found ourselves with a second mortgage and me having to cash out my 401(k) to afford our presents.
After getting my groove well and truly on in the dance tent, time for my last set of the day – The Mammals in the Traditional tent. The traditional tent is a small 200-300 person tent (small by Merlefest standards) and pretty unaccustomed to the kind of slammin’ jammin’ that was about to be unleashed. One of the coolest parts of this Mammals set was Ruth Ungar bringing up her dad an stepmom, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason to jam on a couple of tunes. That kind of family vibe and atmosphere is one of the things I love the most about Merlefest.
The clogging/dancing was fun to watch, too. There were clogging boards set up off the side of the stage. Ok, they were more like sheets of plywood, but they served to give folks a place to dance without thrashing the grass in the tent. And they did, and it was cool.
So then I moseyed back to the Watson Stage where Suzy and Debbie had watched Nickel Creek and eaten ice cream. They loved their set, Debbie has a Nickel Creek album, so she was already familiar with them, and Suzy has heard them often enough in the car, so they really enjoyed that. Then we waited for Bonnie and Steph to meander down from the Hillside Stage, where they had gone to catch another set by the Waybacks.
And we waited. And we waited a little more.
Finally they make it down the hill, and Steph is grinning from ear to frickin’ ear. Bonnie looks over at me and says “we won.” Apparently she was under the impression that they had seen the ultimate set of the festival. And I think she may be right – The Waybacks with Bob Weir in a reprise of last night’s set, then adding Sam Bush to the mix just as the icing on the cake. Zeppelin covers, Dead covers, Dylan covers, and all red hot according to the sis. That was all the boogie we could stand for one day, so we packed up and headed to Sagebrush right by campus for foodage.
And that’s where I had dinner with Bob Weir. At least, that’s what I told Steph to tell all her friends. What actually happened was we ate at Sagebrush, and afterwards Bonnie got to chatting with the manager. She waits tables at a Ruby Tuesday’s on weekends, so they talked restaurant bs, I suppose. She told him we had just left the festival (like it wasn’t obvious from the plethora of Birkenstocks) and he mentioned that one of the artists was in the banquet room eating. She asked who it was, and he said “I don’t know, Bob something, used to play with the Grateful Dead.” So Step charges off towards the banquet room to meet the legend, only to find that we had missed him by about two minutes. So that was my dinner with Bob Weir. Good grilled chicken, though.
Sunday was a much more relaxing day, with an amazing Hillside set from Bryan Sutton and Friends (hint to festivalgoers: if you see a billing for xxxx & friends, it’s going to kick ass). His friends included legends like Jerry Douglas and Tony Rice. Nice friends to have. I got a great picture of Peter Rowan and Jim Lauderdale in the crowd for Tony’s portion of the set, because everybody in their right mind loves to watch Tony play.
Then down to the main stage to see Emmylou Harris play. This woman is an absolute living legend of country music, and I’ve been a fan of hers since before I can remember. Bonnie introduced me to Emmylou’s music when I was just a little kid hanging around her house instead of going home, so it was super-cool to see her with my sis. Supercool for Bonnie, too, she cried through most of the set. It brought back a lot of great memories of her late husband for her, I the way that only brilliant songs can evoke memory. Interestingly enough, that was only the second time she’s cried at a live music event, and I was with her both times. The other time was when I got a comped box at the Newport Folk Festival tour and she got to go down to the front row to see Joan Baez.
Emmylou’s set was amazing, a voice like an angel and such fantastic musicianship. A great end to a great festival. Next year will mark the 20th anniversary festival, so I can’t wait to see the lineup they put forth for that puppy!
Sorry for the delay in posts, I’ve been working on clearing a bonus through the kind folks at Poker Source Online (I love my sponsors). I managed to clear the Pokershare bonus in about 1500 hands, and was able to net a decent profit at the same time. I highly recommend folks check our PSO and their neat gifts, it’s a good way to get cool stuff or money while checking out new poker sites.
But when we left our heroes, we had just had a fantastic time at Merlefest Friday night and crashed in our hotel in Lenoir. So Saturday dawned clear and beautiful, not hot at all and looked like it was going to be another absolutely perfect day at the festival.
So the plan was to get up around 9 or10, eat the Shoney’s breakfast bar, and make it to the festival around noon. Yeah, well ,anyway. So we got up, made it to Shoney’s and got to the festival around 1:30. Suzy was rolling up from Charlotte with her aunt to meet us at the festival, and they were running just a little behind us. So we got there, got set up around the Watson stage, and cruised back up front to meet Suzy as they came in.
The Watson stage didn’t have a ton to attract me on Saturday, so my plan was to check out other stages, try to catch more Duhks and Mammals, maybe see a little Guy Clark, and definitely see Laura Love and John Cowan at the Dance tent. Good Plan.
And it mostly worked. First we caught Casey Driessen and friends at the Americana Stage, including Luke Bulla, Matt Mandano, Scott Senior and a pile of other guests. Great set by this young fiddle players and all his buddies. This set was great in that there was a lot of cross-pollination among the younger acts at Merlefest, which made it exciting for a lot of the younger fans.
The festival has many faces, and that’s one of the things that I really enjoy about it. There’s plenty of old-time and traditional music for the folks that are into that, plenty of rocking jam music for folks that are into that, and a splash of world music/Celtic boogie with a little bit of dance music thrown in. So there really is something for everyone, including some traditional country and straight-up Americana singer-songwriter stuff. So no matter what kind of jam you’re into, you can find something at Merlefest to appeal to you.
So after that, we grabbed more overpriced pizza, then over to check out the Duhks in the Dance Tent. Holy crap, what a high-energy set. The Dance Tent was rockin’ to the Duhks, with some of the most smoking Celtic/Canuck/Traditional boogie I’ve seen in forever. Top-notch musicianship and great entertainment is the norm at the festival, but these guys have added even greater energy than normal. Hope they come back for many years to come!
Hung out at the dance tent a little bit longer, then it was time for Laura Love and John Cowan. Dueling bass players with plenty of funk, this was sure to be one of my favorite sets. If you aren’t familiar with John Cowan, get there. He played bass for New Grass Revival for years and is a killer bass player and vocalist. Laura is a great bass player and singer herself, so this should be killer with lots of Laura’s songs, maybe a little bluegrass and some old R&B. And they did not disappoint! From Mustang Sally to Higher Ground, they went all over the song map, from John’s stuff to Laura’s stuff to straight up covers. And a killer backup band, with Barbara Lamb on fiddle and Scott Vestal on banjo. Phenomenal musicianship all around, kinda the theme of the weekend.
So while I’m jamming with the Duhks and Johhny C., Suzy and Debbie were checking out the shopping at the merchandise tents and the craft tents. And of course the cool food tent. So it didn’t take long for her to come find me for more cash. A couple of purses, hats and small pieces of pottery later, we found ourselves with a second mortgage and me having to cash out my 401(k) to afford our presents.
After getting my groove well and truly on in the dance tent, time for my last set of the day – The Mammals in the Traditional tent. The traditional tent is a small 200-300 person tent (small by Merlefest standards) and pretty unaccustomed to the kind of slammin’ jammin’ that was about to be unleashed. One of the coolest parts of this Mammals set was Ruth Ungar bringing up her dad an stepmom, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason to jam on a couple of tunes. That kind of family vibe and atmosphere is one of the things I love the most about Merlefest.
The clogging/dancing was fun to watch, too. There were clogging boards set up off the side of the stage. Ok, they were more like sheets of plywood, but they served to give folks a place to dance without thrashing the grass in the tent. And they did, and it was cool.
So then I moseyed back to the Watson Stage where Suzy and Debbie had watched Nickel Creek and eaten ice cream. They loved their set, Debbie has a Nickel Creek album, so she was already familiar with them, and Suzy has heard them often enough in the car, so they really enjoyed that. Then we waited for Bonnie and Steph to meander down from the Hillside Stage, where they had gone to catch another set by the Waybacks.
And we waited. And we waited a little more.
Finally they make it down the hill, and Steph is grinning from ear to frickin’ ear. Bonnie looks over at me and says “we won.” Apparently she was under the impression that they had seen the ultimate set of the festival. And I think she may be right – The Waybacks with Bob Weir in a reprise of last night’s set, then adding Sam Bush to the mix just as the icing on the cake. Zeppelin covers, Dead covers, Dylan covers, and all red hot according to the sis. That was all the boogie we could stand for one day, so we packed up and headed to Sagebrush right by campus for foodage.
And that’s where I had dinner with Bob Weir. At least, that’s what I told Steph to tell all her friends. What actually happened was we ate at Sagebrush, and afterwards Bonnie got to chatting with the manager. She waits tables at a Ruby Tuesday’s on weekends, so they talked restaurant bs, I suppose. She told him we had just left the festival (like it wasn’t obvious from the plethora of Birkenstocks) and he mentioned that one of the artists was in the banquet room eating. She asked who it was, and he said “I don’t know, Bob something, used to play with the Grateful Dead.” So Step charges off towards the banquet room to meet the legend, only to find that we had missed him by about two minutes. So that was my dinner with Bob Weir. Good grilled chicken, though.
Sunday was a much more relaxing day, with an amazing Hillside set from Bryan Sutton and Friends (hint to festivalgoers: if you see a billing for xxxx & friends, it’s going to kick ass). His friends included legends like Jerry Douglas and Tony Rice. Nice friends to have. I got a great picture of Peter Rowan and Jim Lauderdale in the crowd for Tony’s portion of the set, because everybody in their right mind loves to watch Tony play.
Then down to the main stage to see Emmylou Harris play. This woman is an absolute living legend of country music, and I’ve been a fan of hers since before I can remember. Bonnie introduced me to Emmylou’s music when I was just a little kid hanging around her house instead of going home, so it was super-cool to see her with my sis. Supercool for Bonnie, too, she cried through most of the set. It brought back a lot of great memories of her late husband for her, I the way that only brilliant songs can evoke memory. Interestingly enough, that was only the second time she’s cried at a live music event, and I was with her both times. The other time was when I got a comped box at the Newport Folk Festival tour and she got to go down to the front row to see Joan Baez.
Emmylou’s set was amazing, a voice like an angel and such fantastic musicianship. A great end to a great festival. Next year will mark the 20th anniversary festival, so I can’t wait to see the lineup they put forth for that puppy!
Friday, May 05, 2006
Merlefest Day 1C
I swear, there will be poker content coming soon. I'm actually playing a little when I get home from tech rehearsals this week, trying to knock out a quick bonus from the nice folks at PokerSource Online (I <3 my sponsors), and actually ending most sessions in the black this week.
I just guaranteed myself an evening of soul-crushing defeats. I know.
But anyway, when we left our hero he was trying not to tumble down the side of a mountain after the Platypus/Pete Seeger Jam at the Walker Center. Let me tell you, 937 steps is hard to navigate when your feet are barely touching the ground.
So I get to our base camp, where Bonnie and Steph (remember them, the sister and neice I abandoned 4 hours ago?) were waiting, basking in the glow of The Waybacks and Bob Weir. Yeah, that Bob Weir, the one that used to hang with Jerry. According the sis, their set Friday night was absolutely smokin', featuring jams and covers of everyone from Dylan to the Dead (duh). They would feature prominently into Steph's Saturday (see, foreshadowing! I really am a writer!)
But for us at least, it was time for the Main Event - Sam Bush. My sister is an admitted and avowed Sam Bush Stalker, and as her wheelman, I'm an honorary stalker. We very seldom miss a Sammy show if it's within 3 hours of home, but we had never seen the new lineup. See, Sammy picked up Scott Vestal from John Cowan's band, adding the banjo to his lineup for the first time in about 5 years. We were excited. I was excited because more banjo means more Hartford covers, and I loves me some Hartford. As a matter of fact, hold on.
Ok, that's better. Got a little Aero-Plane on the iPod, let's gear up for an uber-report (apologies to the midget Pocahontas).
So Sammy is now touring with his fellow Kentuckian Byron House, one of the absolute finest bass players in bluegrass, Scott Vestal (simply smokin' banjo boy), Chris Brown (and his drums of renown) and a new guitar player whose name I didn't catch (sorry, dude, you were good, tho).
Update - dug around a little on sambush.com and found that Stephen Mougin is the new guitar player. Nobody will ever replace Jon Randall for my sister, but she still has a crush on JRS, so what can I say. Stephen has some serious chops and is a great addition to the Sam Bush Band.
They played mostly stuff off their upcoming album, Laps in Seven (in stores June 13th, I'll be buying that bitch on iTunes as soon as humanly possible), with a few old songs and one particularly poignant moment. Sam has long covered at least one number of John Hartford's Steam Powered Aereo-Plane album in his live shows, and last year at Merlefest he dedicated Vamp in the Middle to Vassar Clements, who played fiddle on that album and was ailing at the time. Well, Vassar passed last year, so this year, Sam dedicated Back in the Goodle Days to Vassar's memory. It was a nice moment to think about all of friends that "have done gone on."
All the stuff on the new album was cool, one tune in particular was very reminiscent of the Jeff Black smoker from King of My World (Sam's last album, geez, keep up!) called They're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone. Yeah, that album will kick much ass.
Every Merlefest is a little different, and one of the changes I most approve of from this year is the addition (return) of the dance trail down by the side of the stage. They cordoned off a standing room only area off to the side of the stage, meaning if you wanted to get your groove on, you didn't have to be a football field away from the stage, you could get right down close and jam. So we did. We ran down front and got our groove well and truly on.
In true Merlefest style, guests were a-plenty, including dobro master Jerry Douglas (photo below) and the voice of the angels herself, Emmylou Harris. Once upon a time after New Grass Revival folded, Sam's main gig was playing mando for Emmylou in the Nash Ramblers, and they frequently show up on each other's albums and live sets. At 59 years old, she exudes class and beauty like very few women 30 years her junior. and that voice! If heaven doesn't sound like Emmylou, it ain't worth hearing.
So it kinda goes without saying that I liked Sam's set. By this time we were absolutely STARVING, but the good news was that the dance trail was right beside the food tents, so during the set changes we grooved over to nosh a little. I snagged a couple of overpriced hot dogs for charity, and sat down to munch. Looked over, and there was jamgrass festival campsite legend Dancing Dave, chatting with Ali, a guy I'd met a couple of times in Charlotte. I said hi, then it was time for Robert Earl Keen.
We buzzed back to the chairs to put on some socks, then headed back to boogie with Bob. Bonnie and I had seen Robert Earl a couple weeks ago in a full set at the Neighborhood Theatre (one of the two best places to see music in Charlotte - The Evening Muse is the other, and they sit catty-corner across the street from each other), and we've seen him 4-5 other times, but this was a first for Steph.
It was a first for me too, since I was sober, and that just don't happen to me at a Robert Earl Keen show. Killer set from Bob, but an hour is simply not enough. He put on a great version of Dreadful Selfish Crime, which might be my favorite song of his, then into Gringo Honeymoon, another fantastic story-song.
He's done a couple of really hallucinogenic songs in the past couple of years that I really can't get into - something about wolf and bear and I haven't done nearly enough drugs to undrstand it, but still a fun song.
He's worked Corpus Christi Bay into the set for the last year or so, and I love that song, since I have a brother, and have been to Texas, and I've been drunk. I've never been drunk in Texas with my brother, but I've got 2 outta 3 in most cases.
He seems to have taken Amarillo Highway out of the set list right now, which is a shame, since that song leads so well in to The Road Goes on Forever, his perennial closer. Great set by Robert Earl, but feel free to send Porter Wagoner his shirts back any day, the sequins really don't work with the songs, babe.
Steph totally enjoyed her first Robert Earl Keen experience, then it was back to pack up the camp, check the chairs into overnight storage (isn't that a brilliant idea?) and tote our backpacks and cooler to the buses. Then it's onto the Boy Scout buses back to the parking lots for our 45-minute drive back to the hotel.
We stay in Lenoir, about 45 minutes away, because everything in Wilkesboro books up fast and jacks the rates, so we sacrifice convenience for fiscal responsibility. It's not bad, really, but just once I'd like to stay close. Maybe next year.
Next up - Saturday - the wife joins the festivities, more of Laura Love's Booty, more Mammals, a hint of Guy Clark and dinner with Bob Weir. No really.
I just guaranteed myself an evening of soul-crushing defeats. I know.
But anyway, when we left our hero he was trying not to tumble down the side of a mountain after the Platypus/Pete Seeger Jam at the Walker Center. Let me tell you, 937 steps is hard to navigate when your feet are barely touching the ground.
So I get to our base camp, where Bonnie and Steph (remember them, the sister and neice I abandoned 4 hours ago?) were waiting, basking in the glow of The Waybacks and Bob Weir. Yeah, that Bob Weir, the one that used to hang with Jerry. According the sis, their set Friday night was absolutely smokin', featuring jams and covers of everyone from Dylan to the Dead (duh). They would feature prominently into Steph's Saturday (see, foreshadowing! I really am a writer!)
But for us at least, it was time for the Main Event - Sam Bush. My sister is an admitted and avowed Sam Bush Stalker, and as her wheelman, I'm an honorary stalker. We very seldom miss a Sammy show if it's within 3 hours of home, but we had never seen the new lineup. See, Sammy picked up Scott Vestal from John Cowan's band, adding the banjo to his lineup for the first time in about 5 years. We were excited. I was excited because more banjo means more Hartford covers, and I loves me some Hartford. As a matter of fact, hold on.
Ok, that's better. Got a little Aero-Plane on the iPod, let's gear up for an uber-report (apologies to the midget Pocahontas).
So Sammy is now touring with his fellow Kentuckian Byron House, one of the absolute finest bass players in bluegrass, Scott Vestal (simply smokin' banjo boy), Chris Brown (and his drums of renown) and a new guitar player whose name I didn't catch (sorry, dude, you were good, tho).
Update - dug around a little on sambush.com and found that Stephen Mougin is the new guitar player. Nobody will ever replace Jon Randall for my sister, but she still has a crush on JRS, so what can I say. Stephen has some serious chops and is a great addition to the Sam Bush Band.
They played mostly stuff off their upcoming album, Laps in Seven (in stores June 13th, I'll be buying that bitch on iTunes as soon as humanly possible), with a few old songs and one particularly poignant moment. Sam has long covered at least one number of John Hartford's Steam Powered Aereo-Plane album in his live shows, and last year at Merlefest he dedicated Vamp in the Middle to Vassar Clements, who played fiddle on that album and was ailing at the time. Well, Vassar passed last year, so this year, Sam dedicated Back in the Goodle Days to Vassar's memory. It was a nice moment to think about all of friends that "have done gone on."
All the stuff on the new album was cool, one tune in particular was very reminiscent of the Jeff Black smoker from King of My World (Sam's last album, geez, keep up!) called They're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone. Yeah, that album will kick much ass.
Every Merlefest is a little different, and one of the changes I most approve of from this year is the addition (return) of the dance trail down by the side of the stage. They cordoned off a standing room only area off to the side of the stage, meaning if you wanted to get your groove on, you didn't have to be a football field away from the stage, you could get right down close and jam. So we did. We ran down front and got our groove well and truly on.
In true Merlefest style, guests were a-plenty, including dobro master Jerry Douglas (photo below) and the voice of the angels herself, Emmylou Harris. Once upon a time after New Grass Revival folded, Sam's main gig was playing mando for Emmylou in the Nash Ramblers, and they frequently show up on each other's albums and live sets. At 59 years old, she exudes class and beauty like very few women 30 years her junior. and that voice! If heaven doesn't sound like Emmylou, it ain't worth hearing.
So it kinda goes without saying that I liked Sam's set. By this time we were absolutely STARVING, but the good news was that the dance trail was right beside the food tents, so during the set changes we grooved over to nosh a little. I snagged a couple of overpriced hot dogs for charity, and sat down to munch. Looked over, and there was jamgrass festival campsite legend Dancing Dave, chatting with Ali, a guy I'd met a couple of times in Charlotte. I said hi, then it was time for Robert Earl Keen.
We buzzed back to the chairs to put on some socks, then headed back to boogie with Bob. Bonnie and I had seen Robert Earl a couple weeks ago in a full set at the Neighborhood Theatre (one of the two best places to see music in Charlotte - The Evening Muse is the other, and they sit catty-corner across the street from each other), and we've seen him 4-5 other times, but this was a first for Steph.
It was a first for me too, since I was sober, and that just don't happen to me at a Robert Earl Keen show. Killer set from Bob, but an hour is simply not enough. He put on a great version of Dreadful Selfish Crime, which might be my favorite song of his, then into Gringo Honeymoon, another fantastic story-song.
He's done a couple of really hallucinogenic songs in the past couple of years that I really can't get into - something about wolf and bear and I haven't done nearly enough drugs to undrstand it, but still a fun song.
He's worked Corpus Christi Bay into the set for the last year or so, and I love that song, since I have a brother, and have been to Texas, and I've been drunk. I've never been drunk in Texas with my brother, but I've got 2 outta 3 in most cases.
He seems to have taken Amarillo Highway out of the set list right now, which is a shame, since that song leads so well in to The Road Goes on Forever, his perennial closer. Great set by Robert Earl, but feel free to send Porter Wagoner his shirts back any day, the sequins really don't work with the songs, babe.
Steph totally enjoyed her first Robert Earl Keen experience, then it was back to pack up the camp, check the chairs into overnight storage (isn't that a brilliant idea?) and tote our backpacks and cooler to the buses. Then it's onto the Boy Scout buses back to the parking lots for our 45-minute drive back to the hotel.
We stay in Lenoir, about 45 minutes away, because everything in Wilkesboro books up fast and jacks the rates, so we sacrifice convenience for fiscal responsibility. It's not bad, really, but just once I'd like to stay close. Maybe next year.
Next up - Saturday - the wife joins the festivities, more of Laura Love's Booty, more Mammals, a hint of Guy Clark and dinner with Bob Weir. No really.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Merlefest Day 1B
So after I watched the Avetts and Laura Love, I trucked it up the hill to the Walker Center for an afternoon's worth of boogie, starting with Darrell and Wayne Scott.
I'm a huge Darrell Scott fan, I think he's one of the finest songwriters in America today, so I wasn't going to let a Merlefest pass without seeing him at least once, and I just bought his dad's album off iTunes, so I was interested to see what they would cook up together.
Wayne Scott is better than 70 years old and has just released his first album, a true old-school style country music record with a unique voice that I really enjoy. He starts off with "The whiskey eases the pain," and closes with a rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues" that is honestly channelling Cash at his finest.
So the set started off with Darrell doing a version of "River Take Me" solo, then bringing his dad out to join him. They also had Matt Mandano on bass, Casey Driessen and Luke Bulla on fiddle, and a guy on drums that I didn't know (sorry). A solid set overall, not terribly exciting, but good solid musicianship and some excellent songwriting. Honestly, at 71, I didn't expect stage dives, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was able to get a seat in the front row, which is always nice.
When they were done, most of the front row emptied out and I was able to move over to dead center in the front row for the Platypus Jam, featuring The Duhks and The Mammals. I fell in love with The Duhks last year, and had really high hopes for this jam.
Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. It took a while to sound check everything and get the monitors right, but that's what happens when you get around a dozen musicians onstage all at the same time. They kicked into a smokin' bluegrass tune for their first number, and then said "that was pretty good for a sound check." Which is also the fact of festival sound - the first song or two are the sound check, and it's never until the second song that the sound is really dialed in, and sometimes the third. SE Systems out of Greensboro does all the audio for Merlefest, and they have done a great job for years. This year was no exception, so big shout out to Cliff and the boys for their excellent work.
To start the second song, Tao, one of the leads in The Mammals, steps up to the mic and says "let's go ahead and get this outta the way. Grandpa, you wanna come out and sing one with us?"
So out totters this old guy carrying what looks like the world's first banjo, and the room absolutely erupts. See, Tao's full name is Rodriguez-Seeger, and this was Grandpa Pete Seeger coming out to play a song with the Platypus Jam. These things happen all the time at Merlefest, but they're always magical.
So I'm sitting front row center and one of the living legends of folk music is picking banjo 15 feet away. It's gonna be a good day. Pete does a song or two, then The Duhks do a couple of songs on their own. Then The Mammals do a couple of songs on their own, then the two bands reconvene to figure out the rest of the set list.
This was a jam session in the truest sense, with no predefined set list, folks picking up a break whenever someone throws it to them, and generally blowing the roof off the Walker Center. Special kudos to Luke Bulla, who The Duhks brought out for a couple of songs and he just stuck around, jamming on everything he could find and smoking the solos for the rest of the set.
It didn't get much better than Tao (or maybe Leonard) looking out at the crowd and asking "you guys aren't in a hurry, are ya?" They played until the stage manager wouldn't let them play anymore, then they did a couple more songs! You cannot finish a set with any more energy than they had, from Mike from the Mammals doing a rock-star monitor jump with his banjo to Tao picking banjo on his knees to Leonard down in front of the monitors jamming on the forestage. I would not have been surprised to see Jesse stage dive before the set was over.
Then to close it out, they brought Pete back out. He came down and said "at 87, I don't have much voice anymore, but I can give you the words and you can sing this one." Then he led us in an 1100-person chorus of "Turn, Turn, Turn." I teared up a little, I'll admit it.
I've been going to Merlefest off and on for 10 years, and that set may be the best single set I've ever seen there. Simply amazing, a magical moment that I'm glad I could witness. I didn't think my night could get any better, then I found out that Sam Bush has a new album coming out and most of his set would be off that album. It was gonna be a gooooood night.
I'm a huge Darrell Scott fan, I think he's one of the finest songwriters in America today, so I wasn't going to let a Merlefest pass without seeing him at least once, and I just bought his dad's album off iTunes, so I was interested to see what they would cook up together.
Wayne Scott is better than 70 years old and has just released his first album, a true old-school style country music record with a unique voice that I really enjoy. He starts off with "The whiskey eases the pain," and closes with a rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues" that is honestly channelling Cash at his finest.
So the set started off with Darrell doing a version of "River Take Me" solo, then bringing his dad out to join him. They also had Matt Mandano on bass, Casey Driessen and Luke Bulla on fiddle, and a guy on drums that I didn't know (sorry). A solid set overall, not terribly exciting, but good solid musicianship and some excellent songwriting. Honestly, at 71, I didn't expect stage dives, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was able to get a seat in the front row, which is always nice.
When they were done, most of the front row emptied out and I was able to move over to dead center in the front row for the Platypus Jam, featuring The Duhks and The Mammals. I fell in love with The Duhks last year, and had really high hopes for this jam.
Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. It took a while to sound check everything and get the monitors right, but that's what happens when you get around a dozen musicians onstage all at the same time. They kicked into a smokin' bluegrass tune for their first number, and then said "that was pretty good for a sound check." Which is also the fact of festival sound - the first song or two are the sound check, and it's never until the second song that the sound is really dialed in, and sometimes the third. SE Systems out of Greensboro does all the audio for Merlefest, and they have done a great job for years. This year was no exception, so big shout out to Cliff and the boys for their excellent work.
To start the second song, Tao, one of the leads in The Mammals, steps up to the mic and says "let's go ahead and get this outta the way. Grandpa, you wanna come out and sing one with us?"
So out totters this old guy carrying what looks like the world's first banjo, and the room absolutely erupts. See, Tao's full name is Rodriguez-Seeger, and this was Grandpa Pete Seeger coming out to play a song with the Platypus Jam. These things happen all the time at Merlefest, but they're always magical.
So I'm sitting front row center and one of the living legends of folk music is picking banjo 15 feet away. It's gonna be a good day. Pete does a song or two, then The Duhks do a couple of songs on their own. Then The Mammals do a couple of songs on their own, then the two bands reconvene to figure out the rest of the set list.
This was a jam session in the truest sense, with no predefined set list, folks picking up a break whenever someone throws it to them, and generally blowing the roof off the Walker Center. Special kudos to Luke Bulla, who The Duhks brought out for a couple of songs and he just stuck around, jamming on everything he could find and smoking the solos for the rest of the set.
It didn't get much better than Tao (or maybe Leonard) looking out at the crowd and asking "you guys aren't in a hurry, are ya?" They played until the stage manager wouldn't let them play anymore, then they did a couple more songs! You cannot finish a set with any more energy than they had, from Mike from the Mammals doing a rock-star monitor jump with his banjo to Tao picking banjo on his knees to Leonard down in front of the monitors jamming on the forestage. I would not have been surprised to see Jesse stage dive before the set was over.
Then to close it out, they brought Pete back out. He came down and said "at 87, I don't have much voice anymore, but I can give you the words and you can sing this one." Then he led us in an 1100-person chorus of "Turn, Turn, Turn." I teared up a little, I'll admit it.
I've been going to Merlefest off and on for 10 years, and that set may be the best single set I've ever seen there. Simply amazing, a magical moment that I'm glad I could witness. I didn't think my night could get any better, then I found out that Sam Bush has a new album coming out and most of his set would be off that album. It was gonna be a gooooood night.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
More Merlefest Photos are up!
This shot is of Jerry Douglas, probably the finest dobro player alive today, from a set he played with Bryan Sutton on the Hillside Stage.
Check out the link for more photos of Flux, Bryan, Tony Rice, Peter Rowan and the inimitable Emmylou Harris.
Check out the link for more photos of Flux, Bryan, Tony Rice, Peter Rowan and the inimitable Emmylou Harris.
Merlefest Day 1A
Merlefest Day 1 – Friday
My day one trip report starts on day 2, because that’s just how I roll. And because I have that whole job thing and couldn’t get out on Thursday to see John Prine. Yes, I’m still a little pissy about that. But anyway.
So the plan is to blow out of the house by 10, be in North Wilkesboro around 11:30, see the Duhks (remember, huge crush on both girls in the Duhks) at noon, and go from there. Not so much. More like, get out of the house by 11:30, get to North Wilkesboro by 1, and head straight up to the Hillside stage to see Laura Love followed by the Avett Brothers (my niece Stephanie has a huge crush on the Avett Brothers, esp. the one with the banjo). I catch up with Bonnie (sister) and Steph in the parking lot, they landed about 5 minutes before I did, and we groove on up the road. Bonnie has had surgeries on both hips since December, so this weekend was going to be a mother of a test of her walking ability. We get there, go set up our base camp down by the Watson stage.
If you’ve never been to Merlefest, here’s a rundown. There are something like 11 stages scattered around the Wilkes Community College campus. The Watson Stage is the main stage, and is at the end of a big-ass field. At peak times, there are over 40,000 people in that field. Really. The Hillside stage is one of the B stages, where big acts play during the day, and can easily accommodate 10,000 people on the side of, yup, a hill. The Creekside stage is another B stage, with similar accommodations. Most of the other stages have enough real estate for a few hundred to maybe a 1500 at the Austin stage. On top of a friggin’ mountain is the John A. Walker Center, the main auditorium for the college. It seats about 1200 and is a great place to see a concert. It’s also home to the annual Midnight Jam on Saturday nights. That’s a tough ticket to come by, as a rule.
So our M.O. is to set up our chairs and cooler (no booze, it’s a dry festival) at the Watson stage at the best place we can find, and wander the campus seeing acts at other stages during the day, then we reconvene at the Watson for the evening shows, since they shut down all the other stages at dusk or so. This year looks like a monster year for attendance, because at 1PM-ish, our best seating was at least a football field away from the stage. No worries, since UNC Public Television has provided a monster video screen.
So we get to the Hillside, and Laura Love starts up. Laura is a singer-songwriter-activist from Seattle who stirred up some folks two years ago with her love song to G.W. Bush called “I want you Gone.” She serenaded the pres again this year, but there weren’t any boos from the crowd this time. She put on a hoppin’ set, full of fun dialogue and thumping bass. I went up afterwards and asked her for a picture for my blog. I didn’t explain the Snailtrax T-shirt to her, figured that was a little more info than she was ready for on just her first day at the festival.
Midway through her set, I looked over to my left, and saw my friends Jim and Mel walking up the hill! Jim had been a great supporter of our theatre for years, and he and Mel are just great folks. I had no idea they came to Merlefest, and we realized that we’ve managed to miss each other for about 8 years at the festival. Easy enough to do in a crowd of 50K.
After Laura, the Avett Bros. took the stage. These guys are from around Charlotte, and they’ve been a huge hit locally for a while. I had never seen the appeal. I bought one of their earlier albums and was less than impressed, but they are great live! They have a ton of energy and can solid jam when they get going. Steph of course took about a dozen pictures, and she couldn’t remember which Avett got married last year, but it made her a little sad. She’s turned into a great kid, and I love going to concerts and festivals with her and her mom. The Avett boys were smoking and I definitely have a new appreciation for their music, which is why I love festivals in the first place.
After the Hillside sets, it was down to meander and grab a little grub. Merlefest food tents are all provided by local charitable and educational institutions, so I paid waaaayyyy too much money for a couple of slices of Pizza Hut pizza to benefit a local elementary school. It’s for the childrens, yo. Missed the Mammals on the Americana stage because I was stuffing my face, so now I’ve missed two bands I wanted to see. That made my next decision easy – it’s time to climb the hill and see Darrell & Wayne Scott in the Walker Center followed by the Duhks & the Mammals in a jam together.
More to come…
My day one trip report starts on day 2, because that’s just how I roll. And because I have that whole job thing and couldn’t get out on Thursday to see John Prine. Yes, I’m still a little pissy about that. But anyway.
So the plan is to blow out of the house by 10, be in North Wilkesboro around 11:30, see the Duhks (remember, huge crush on both girls in the Duhks) at noon, and go from there. Not so much. More like, get out of the house by 11:30, get to North Wilkesboro by 1, and head straight up to the Hillside stage to see Laura Love followed by the Avett Brothers (my niece Stephanie has a huge crush on the Avett Brothers, esp. the one with the banjo). I catch up with Bonnie (sister) and Steph in the parking lot, they landed about 5 minutes before I did, and we groove on up the road. Bonnie has had surgeries on both hips since December, so this weekend was going to be a mother of a test of her walking ability. We get there, go set up our base camp down by the Watson stage.
If you’ve never been to Merlefest, here’s a rundown. There are something like 11 stages scattered around the Wilkes Community College campus. The Watson Stage is the main stage, and is at the end of a big-ass field. At peak times, there are over 40,000 people in that field. Really. The Hillside stage is one of the B stages, where big acts play during the day, and can easily accommodate 10,000 people on the side of, yup, a hill. The Creekside stage is another B stage, with similar accommodations. Most of the other stages have enough real estate for a few hundred to maybe a 1500 at the Austin stage. On top of a friggin’ mountain is the John A. Walker Center, the main auditorium for the college. It seats about 1200 and is a great place to see a concert. It’s also home to the annual Midnight Jam on Saturday nights. That’s a tough ticket to come by, as a rule.
So our M.O. is to set up our chairs and cooler (no booze, it’s a dry festival) at the Watson stage at the best place we can find, and wander the campus seeing acts at other stages during the day, then we reconvene at the Watson for the evening shows, since they shut down all the other stages at dusk or so. This year looks like a monster year for attendance, because at 1PM-ish, our best seating was at least a football field away from the stage. No worries, since UNC Public Television has provided a monster video screen.
So we get to the Hillside, and Laura Love starts up. Laura is a singer-songwriter-activist from Seattle who stirred up some folks two years ago with her love song to G.W. Bush called “I want you Gone.” She serenaded the pres again this year, but there weren’t any boos from the crowd this time. She put on a hoppin’ set, full of fun dialogue and thumping bass. I went up afterwards and asked her for a picture for my blog. I didn’t explain the Snailtrax T-shirt to her, figured that was a little more info than she was ready for on just her first day at the festival.
Midway through her set, I looked over to my left, and saw my friends Jim and Mel walking up the hill! Jim had been a great supporter of our theatre for years, and he and Mel are just great folks. I had no idea they came to Merlefest, and we realized that we’ve managed to miss each other for about 8 years at the festival. Easy enough to do in a crowd of 50K.
After Laura, the Avett Bros. took the stage. These guys are from around Charlotte, and they’ve been a huge hit locally for a while. I had never seen the appeal. I bought one of their earlier albums and was less than impressed, but they are great live! They have a ton of energy and can solid jam when they get going. Steph of course took about a dozen pictures, and she couldn’t remember which Avett got married last year, but it made her a little sad. She’s turned into a great kid, and I love going to concerts and festivals with her and her mom. The Avett boys were smoking and I definitely have a new appreciation for their music, which is why I love festivals in the first place.
After the Hillside sets, it was down to meander and grab a little grub. Merlefest food tents are all provided by local charitable and educational institutions, so I paid waaaayyyy too much money for a couple of slices of Pizza Hut pizza to benefit a local elementary school. It’s for the childrens, yo. Missed the Mammals on the Americana stage because I was stuffing my face, so now I’ve missed two bands I wanted to see. That made my next decision easy – it’s time to climb the hill and see Darrell & Wayne Scott in the Walker Center followed by the Duhks & the Mammals in a jam together.
More to come…
Political for a minute
I’m late to the party, as usual, but this is pretty important to me. You see, I’m a writer. Not a famous one, most days not even a very good one, but a writer nonetheless. And the internet has given me back a voice that I thought I had lost more than a decade ago. Through blogging and reading blogs and meeting new people through my blog I have found my voice and I now get to do cool things like write for Pokerworks and Truckin’ and this little corner of the intarweb.
But that ability feels really threatened right now, by a movement to take away something called Net Neutrality. There’s more info here, but basically Net Neutrality is the covenant that the internet is based on, that the ‘net moves information, and doesn’t make decisions on what information moves based on content. Some big businesses and Congresspersons are looking to change that, and it would really cramp my style, and have a negative impact on my personal income. I have been fortunate enough to have three nice folks come up and sign on as sponsors for this blog, and they pay me a little money each month to do so. If this legislation to preserve Net Neutrality doesn’t go through, my blog would quite possible load more slowly, or not at all, depending on the whims of the local internet provider. So my sponsors would probably pull out. And the website that I write for would probably either go away, or not be able to pay me to write for them anymore, because their traffic would be killed as well.
It’s not so much about the money, but that’s a motivation that folks can more easily understand. It’s about the potential to lose my voice. Without this little corner of the blogosphere, and the few of you that come here and read my scribblings, I’m just another guy screaming into the void, and I think that would drive me even battier. So many of us would lose our voice, and so many of the cool things on the internet, like etree.org, wikipedia, flickr, would all go away. So click on the little banner to the right and write your congressperson.
Please.
But that ability feels really threatened right now, by a movement to take away something called Net Neutrality. There’s more info here, but basically Net Neutrality is the covenant that the internet is based on, that the ‘net moves information, and doesn’t make decisions on what information moves based on content. Some big businesses and Congresspersons are looking to change that, and it would really cramp my style, and have a negative impact on my personal income. I have been fortunate enough to have three nice folks come up and sign on as sponsors for this blog, and they pay me a little money each month to do so. If this legislation to preserve Net Neutrality doesn’t go through, my blog would quite possible load more slowly, or not at all, depending on the whims of the local internet provider. So my sponsors would probably pull out. And the website that I write for would probably either go away, or not be able to pay me to write for them anymore, because their traffic would be killed as well.
It’s not so much about the money, but that’s a motivation that folks can more easily understand. It’s about the potential to lose my voice. Without this little corner of the blogosphere, and the few of you that come here and read my scribblings, I’m just another guy screaming into the void, and I think that would drive me even battier. So many of us would lose our voice, and so many of the cool things on the internet, like etree.org, wikipedia, flickr, would all go away. So click on the little banner to the right and write your congressperson.
Please.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Merlefest 2006 beginnings
This may have been the very best Merlefest ever for me, not the least of which reason is the phenomenal set on Friday afternoon from the Duhks & the Mammals with Pete Seeger guesting on a couple of songs. More to come later, for now follow the link back to my photos. I'll have more of those in the next couple of days, too.
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