Click images for desktop size: "Maximum Security" Today I went to the blue grass festival . . . It wasn't what I was hoping for or what I expected. First there was no one interesting to talk to. It was a family type thing, I mean a real family like thing. Like if you spoke to someone their mother would interject. Odd, at least to me.
Also odd, to me, was the number of women in their early or mid-twenties who had 2 or 3 children and no significant other. maybe this wasn't so odd as the two women who hit hardest on me - one told me she went to the HIGH SCHOOL near my home and the other said she'd be 18 next month . . . YOW!
The brightest spot though was that at no time did I see a clog dancer.
As to the music, they had 5 stages. I was expecting a cornucopia of banjo flailing and flat top guitar bashing. Instead I got World Music and New Age stuff.
I like the rhythms of some World music but, in general, I find it too bland to hold my interest. New Age music I think of as bodiless muzak, or something cool to hear at the dentist's office.
First guy I saw kept apologizing for how terrible he was. After the third apology I had to agree with him. He was country western to the max.
Next was a band called DOLE. They were weak but did an interesting cover of the Ramones "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker". They did like a wishy washy Pogues tune, complete with fiddle and tin whistle.
They were followed by a terrible guitarist, singer who was totally self obsessed. He sucked. I suddenly wished they served beer because if anybody ever needed to be rocked on the noggin with a beer bottle it was this dude.
I drifted around for a while until I found a band called "Grass Street". These were old dudes but at least they had a dobro and a banjo. They were pretty good and when they did a cool "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" I felt justified in coming.
Then i met a 7 week old lab mix puppy. He was great, very serious and very silly. I let him lead me to a gospel group, "The Sons Of Bethel". They were okay, worked hard and they had one of the best bass men I'd ever heard. He could not only hit the ultra low notes he could melodize around them. Very cool stuff.
then I saw a totally decked out surf chick, but when I started talking surf to her she was clueless. When did surf chick become a fashion thing? It only works if you surf.
Drifted some more and had a little 7 year old girl show me the clay sculpture she made. She explained to me that it was a very good sculpture but would have been better if they'd given her better clay to work with.
Saw a local boy who was an awesome finger style guitar player. He had a rock solid rhythm and fast heavy styling; good voice and okay songs EXCEPT he talked forever between tunes. Not just talk but the long pointless meanderings of a stoned lonely guitarist. He was a great musician but a total suck ass entertainer.
Finally I paid attention to a blues band because the harp player had like a totally vintage set up - all 50's electronics and mikes, a full on Sonny McGhee rig. Sadly the vintage stuff sounded really poor compared to the way we'd mike the stuff today. Also odd was that the guitarist, another old dude, had a vintage Telecaster - an awesome instrument but totally not for the blues. He played it through a vintage tweed amp! It made for an odd sound.

Click images for desktop size: "Al Capone:Yes sir Mr Capone" At the festival I got 3 calls from my friend, Dr J. She sounded exhausted and had a couple of horror stories about patients she needed to off load. The steady streams of phone calls is a bit off putting but I'm making allowances for her mental state. She's been working about 50 hours straight on about four hours sleep and most of that grabbed at the cafeteria table.
I got home and went out to celebrate my housemates birthday. Went to nice but solidly packed "Chinese Bistro", the self imposed description made me laugh. I've decided to describe everyplace as a "bistro" from now on.