Now Playing -
classical.
Now Eating -
nothing.
Now Feeling -
hungry.
Now Tweeting
- Melanie
We set out at about 11:45 Thursday morning, Bonny, HollyBeth and I, after Joan woke up with her back all out of whack. (She didn�t make it up until Sunday.) Stopped off in Nyack for lunch, and drove around in the absolute wrong direction, i.e. New Jersey. We admitted defeat and headed back to try and find the highway. And found ourselves in the right direction, heading into Nyack proper. We stopped at a gas station so H.B. could buy a lighter, and Bon got out of the car to ask the locals where we could find good food. She asked the right person, because a woman who lives across the street from the chef pointed us to O'Donohue�s. Three words: Chicken Chipotle Poppers. Three more: Blanche de Brooklyn. Just the right thing to cut the fire from the poppers, and there was much fire. And a respectable Thai chicken wrap, besides.
Long Hill Farm at sunset, Thursday evening. My first sight of the festival.
We got there as Steve Forbert was concluding his set. Next up were Mark Erelli (who�s just adorable, and his bass player kicked ass), and Aoife (Ee-fay) O'Donovan and her band Crooked Still. Her cello player, Rushad Eggelston, did things with a cello I wouldn�t have thought possible. Between the cello, banjo, upright bass and her vocals, they put a really neat spin on some traditional stuff. I was humming it all weekend. The closer that night was David Bromberg. He had Jay Ungar and Molly Mason guesting with his band, and they did a number on their own. It was pretty spectacular hearing "Ashokan Farewell" played by the guy who wrote it. At one point they had four fiddles playing in four-part harmony. Wonderful. Couldn�t believe I was hearing so much good fiddling in one place at one time.
Friday it rained. And rained. And rained. We slept in, and went for a late "brunch" at a diner a few doors down from our hotel. I ordered an egg cream, and realized one of the reasons why I stray so infrequently from the metropolitan area. The waitress returned, and said, "Well we�re out of seltzer, but the cook said he could make it with Sierra Mist instead�." Thanks, but I�ll pass. I bet they use Hershey�s syrup instead of this. Grrr.
Trudged through the muck at the farm, found our friends and made camp. Wandered around for a bit, and managed to snag some WFUV rain ponchos from John Platt.
The muck was worth it, because I got to hear The Nields live for the first time. They�re like�the cool girls I would have wanted to be friends with in high school. Next was the Friday Night Summer�s Eve (why�d they name it after a douche, I ask?) Song Swap, with Greg Brown, Lucy Kaplansky, Richard Shindell and Eliza Gilkyson. During which we got rained on the most, which wasn�t much. Didn�t even need to break out our 'FUV ponchos. Not really a song swap per se, more an �And then I wrote�.� The theme was bouncing back and forth between political and family oriented songs. Stayed up late, and slept in again the next day.
My poor muddied Keds, mostly dried out the next day.
Saturday afternoon.
Arrived in the early afternoon. Heard the tail end of Vance Gilbert�s set, Lucy �How do you like this baby I bought?� Kaplansky, John Gorka,
Richard Shindell (with Tracy Grammer [left, on her new violin] and Lucy Kaplansky) (I like the stuff off his new album � it�s now on my Wish List)
and had my first experience with Eddie From Ohio. Very energetic, funny, and great harmonies. We left after their set because it was just too damn cold. Yes, I missed out on Richie Havens. I managed to survive without seeing Richie Havens. Life goes on.
Sunset, Saturday evening.
We were up early Sunday morning to do breakfast with
John and Sheila
and their friends Mike and Robin, who are actually Broadhollow subscribers. The place was called Earth Foods, and I had huevos rancheros (with a little avocado thrown in) that were insanely good. And fresh, sweet, orange juice. And a healthy side of food envy, because everything everyone else got looked delicious, too! Homemade granola with huge, plump blueberries, avocado omelettes, fresh fruit salads. . . bliss.
Hudson is big on antiques...
and shopping.
Sunday afternoon, the view to the left of the Main Stage.
Sloan Wainwright � I could wrap myself up in her voice. One more talented member of that family. Greg Brown was his grouchy Greg Brown self (oh, the stories I got to hear about him from Bonny!)
Eliza Gilkyson (with her son on drums). Really liked her as well. She managed to be political and eloquent at the same time, and still made good music.
Afternoon sky.
Jim Henry and Tracy Grammer. Her new song, �The Verdant Mile,� written in memory of Dave Carter, was just beautiful.
Sunset over the hill.
And this...
pretty much sums up the experience.
It was a lot of fun, but exhausting. I think I�d like to be a bit more autonomous next year, and not have to rely on other people toting me around.
And it hit me yet again, that if you�re lucky enough to be able to make a life, never mind a living, making art or music or theatre you love, then you�re lucky indeed.
I�ll be thinking of that tonight in Sag Harbor tonight, doing this.
Have a great weekend.
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a very fine cat indeed - Friday, Jan. 17, 2014
happy new year! - Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013
this is where i am - Saturday, Jun. 30, 2012
this is how it is - Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
a very late last year's wrap-up - Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
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