Zappa Plays Zappa - January 15 - Ram's Head Live

This was my fifth time seeing Dweezil Zappa and his band perform his father's music. Each time has been a superb evening of live Zappa music. In past tours, ZPZ has included guest performers who are alumni from Frank Zappa bands (Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, Ray White, Napoleon Murphy Brock, et. al.), however on this short tour it was pure ZPZ with no guests. But that was fine since Dweezil has assembled a band of very talented musicians who can play the heck out of a wide range of Zappa tunes. They had a new singer, Ben Thomas, who I had not seen before. He did a very good job with the challenging vocals and the improvisations that always made Zappa music fun to watch live.

The band started out on time and seemed almost in a hurry as they whipped through "Broken Hearts are for Assholes", "Bamboozled by Love", and "Dirty Love".  Then a very nice version of "RDNZL". Dweezil introduced "You Didn't Try to Call Me" saying that it was a rare arrangement that was only used briefly in the mid seventies when Frank had a female vocalist in the band (I missed her name). Scheila Gonzales handled the lead vocals this time and it was really nice. That was followed by "Road Ladies", a gem from the Chunga's Revenge album and version of "T'mershi Duween".

The band seemed to loosen up some and relax as they went back to the Joe's Garage album and played "Catholic Girls" and "Crew Slut" (with a superb guitar solo by Jamie Kime and some nice harmonica work by Ben). By now Dweezil was joking with the crowd, asking where to get good crab cakes.

It was recently announced that the City of Baltimore had selected a place to put a statue of Frank Zappa that was being given to the city by some dedicated fans in Lithuania. You can read about it here. Dweezil improvised the lyrics to "Pigmy Twylyte" to say that he'd be glad to attend the dedication ceremony if someone would tell him when it would be.

They closed with an encore including "Stinkfoot" and "Muffin Man" (which is a great song for an encore).  We grabbed a bite to eat before the show at a Mexican restaurant/night club next door to the Ram's Head where Vanilla Ice was scheduled to perform. I don't know why I'm mentioning that, it just seemed weird. My complaint on the Ram's Head is still that unless you're packed in the front, your choices are places where you can see well or hear well, but not both. Otherwise it was a good crowd with a high percentage of females for a Zappa show, the Bird suspects that Dweezil is gaining a following of his own with the ladies. In fact when Dweezil asked the audience in "What should I eat for dinner tonight?", one girl in front answered "Me!". Dweezil said his wife wasn't fond of that recipe.

A couple of other notes. Someone named Fred Midgett posted a very nice review of the show earlier in the week on the Zappa Plays Zappa web site. Fred is a huge Zappa fan and he wrote a loving note of thanks to Dweezil. You can read it in its entirety here. Scroll down to find Fred's posting.
Dweezil also mentioned a new web site called dweezilzappaworld.com that has a bunch of cool stuff on it, especially details on DZ's guitar rig and a great video of Dweezil playing with Tenacious D!

Finally as I look at my first three concerts of 2010 I notice an interesting common thread. They're all shows with bands playing music from the sixties and seventies, dare I say "re-creating". My next concert is Yes, with some original members, but the keyboard player is the son of the original keyboardist (Rick Wakeman) and the lead singer is a replacement (who sounds exactly like Jon Anderson). That will be followed by Furthur, which is Bob Weir and Phil Lesh and several other talented musicians playing Grateful Dead songs. And of course I just saw Dweezil, faithfully performing his father's music. I'm not sure what it all means, I'll share my perspective over the next few weeks. Perhaps a few years from now all the shows that I go to will be cover bands consisting of sons and daughters of the original artists. But at this point I'm happy to see Dweezil any time he wants to bring his band to town and play some tasty Zappa tunes.

City Farm - January 9 - Tiffany Tavern

Last Saturday the Tiffany Tavern and City Farm teamed up again and provided a warm refuge from the frigid winter with great music, drink and friendship. Brother Ed was absent due to another commitment, but the remaining five members stepped up to the challenge and provided a evening of fine musical entertainment. Without Ed on guitar, Paul had to keep the mandolin mainly in the case and take out the six string. But Paul is a really fine guitar player so while Ed was sorely missed, it was nice to hear Paul's tasty finger picking style.
The atmosphere is always that of a neighborhood bar, though the neighborhood is thirty years ago and two hundred and fifty miles away. The bar was full (as normal) with a healthy representation of Danville expats and I was especially pleased to find a couple of pals from my college days in attendance. When City Farm plays at the Tavern there is a definite synergy between the band and the patrons, with everyone enjoying the music and making requests, and the band (I believe) getting inspired and motivated by the warmth and positive feedback from the crowd. The cramped, er.. well let's call it "intimate" space at the Tavern encourages you to strike up a conversation with those sitting or standing next to you. Saturday night a guy said to me: "These guys are great! What's the name of this band?"
"Why, they're the City Farm," I said. And while I didn't get his name, I expect I'll see him back there again real soon.

2009 Year End Summary

Now that 2009 has come to an end I thought that I would look back and review my live music experiences, which after all was the primary reason for starting this blog at the beginning of 2009. Live music is one of my favorite “hobbies” or “recreational activities” and this tool has turned out to be a good way for me to document and somewhat preserve my memories. I look forward to continuing this blog in 2010 and I hope that I create some great new memories to save here. I’m toying with adding new features, perhaps live “tweets” from shows, certainly adding more photographs, and I would like to figure out how to add relevant music downloads.

Looking back at 2009 the first major highlight is definitely our seven show Dead experience in April and May. We caught the first show of the tour in Greensboro, NC only hours after returning from our Jamaica vacation and we finished five weeks later in Mountain View, California. This was wonderful for me on so many levels. The band reinvented itself for this tour with new energy and provided some of its best performances (I believe) in over 20 years. As I noted in the blog, I finally realized how the tour is really one long show and that is why so many people make the effort to see as many concerts as they can. I also saw my first show at the historic Madison Square Garden and one of the last shows at the venerable Philadelphia Spectrum (“we’re going to tear this old building down!”). It was a great experience to share with my wife (“The Bird”) who loves the Dead so much and I think it was an excellent new chapter in the continuing rock music education for my son (“The Boy”) who went to the first and last of our seven episodes.

Music festivals have always been great fun for us and an excellent way to experience many different bands in a beautiful outdoor setting. As is tradition for us, we went to the All Good and the FloydFest Festivals again in 2009. These two festivals are very different in their character and environment, but both deliver a nice mix of new bands and old favorites. We went to DelFest this year for the second time, and although a near tornado ripped through the festival site on Saturday afternoon the spirit and the music prevailed. In October of 2009 I went to the Crozet Music Festival (just outside Charlottesville) and had a wonderful time at this small local event. The weather and setting were perfect and there is plenty of local music talent to keep this festival on the “repeat” list.

The concert with the most “star power” for me in 2009 was probably Steve Winwood/Eric Clapton in June at the Verizon Center. For some strange reason I had never seen Eric Clapton before, but his performance with his old partner from Blind Faith was top notch professionism and a 2009 highlight for me.

Other musical artists that truly impressed me in 2009: Old Crow Medicine Show at the DelFest. After the storm, everyone was sort of wet, down, and wondering if the festival was going to go on (the main stage took major damage). The OCMS moved to the indoor rec center and created a positive storm of musical energy that got everyone dancing and back in the zone of good vibrations. Jackie Greene at the All Good Festival. I would love to see him again soon, he’s got just the right combination of original songwriting and musical skills that leave you wanting more. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at the FloydFest. This performance made a big impression on me and I made the effort to see them again (a short set at the Rt. 29 Revue at Merriweather Post and a rocking show at the Ram’s Head Live). She is a very talented performer and continues to win fans nationwide. Mark my word, she’ll have a hit single someday and Grace Potter will be a household name.

Another super highlight for me was the City Farm Benefit show in August, seeing so many Danville friends, young and old (well I guess old and older!) in such a positive setting was a ton of fun. My parody of the event in my blog got a lot of favorable comments, except from the band members who thought it was a factual report of the event.

There were many other highlights, seeing Dave Matthews in California with the Boy after touring the college where he’ll be for the next four years, a killer Allman Brothers performance at the Merriweather, watching Donna the Buffalo from the shelter of the VIP seats at FloydFest while it poured down rain (thank you John!), the list goes on and on. In fact, by my count I saw 29 shows (counting each Festival as one “show”) and over 90 bands this year. I’m afraid to run the total on my Quicken account to see how much $$ I spent on concert tickets, that’s a number that’s probably best left unknown.

As I look over the 2009 list a few things are missing. No shows at the Birchmere or the Strathmore! This is a sin to live so close to such treasures and not take advantage of it. I still have yet to see Bruce Springsteen live and I missed his tour again this year. My calendar didn’t line up this year with Bob Dylan’s never ending world tour. These things will be addressed in 2010. And speaking of Bruce and Bob, check out Jon Stewart's tribute to Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors. It's brilliant.

We finished 2009 in Austin, Texas (“the live music capital of the world”) and I was able to catch a few sets (the Evans Johnson band played some rockin’ rock-a-billy at Antone’s and I saw a fun bar band on Sixth Street but I forgot their name). Austin is a town where you can hear great live music every night if you want so we’ll have to get back down there again soon.

It looks like 2010 will start off with some good music, I have tickets already for Zappa Plays Zappa in January, in February it’s going to be Yes and Furthur. And I have tickets for DelFest and FloydFest, and I’ll pick up my All Good tickets as soon as they go on sale. Thanks for reading this, I appreciate your comments and I hope to see you at the next show.

On the Bus - December 12 - Rockville, MD

I haven't been able to get to see much live music in the last few weeks, so I was intrigued when an ad appeared on Facebook for a Grateful Dead night at the Potomac Grill. Then when the Bird suggested that we try a new sushi restaurant that was right across the street, fate seemed to be directing us to a Saturday night in Rockville. On the Bus is a Grateful Dead cover band that I know little about but it seems they've been playing in the area for 7+ years. Saturday night they did an admirable job of playing a variety of songs from the Dead catalog, including "China Cat Sunflower", "Eyes of the World", "Cassidy", and "Ramblin' Rose". A pleasant surprise was "Peggy-O", one that you don't hear very often. Their lead guitarist, Darrell Bailey, played some excellent solos and their instrumental improvisations were very nice. Another added bonus was the frequent additions of friends from the audience to sit in on a song or two and sing, play guitar or harmonica.

The Potomac Grill is in a small strip mall and seems to be your typical American cuisine restaurant/bar. The band was set up in the bar area and the remaining seats and tables were all taken by the time we arrived. We were able to get a table in the restaurant area, but our view was blocked by the room layout, and we were reminded of City Farm nights at the Tiffany Tavern. Friends of the band get there early and secure the seats with good sight lines and the late arrivals are relegated to the back room. From their website it appears that On the Bus plays regularly at the Potomac Grill, so next time we'll have to arrive early to get a good spot among the regulars.

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - November 16 - Baltimore, MD

This show was billed as Grace Potter and the Nocturnals "co-headlining" with Brett Dennen. I was most impressed by Ms. Potter's performance at Floydfest this past summer and I saw her again in August at the Rt. 29 Revue. So I knew that I was guaranteed at least 50% of the show was going to be good. They snuck in another band to start things off, Pete Francis. He sucked. Just too much of a pop, soft rock, smooth sound for my taste. But Grace and her band came out next and they put on a fantastic show. She seemed truly happy to be in Baltimore, said she found some great tapas restaurants in the area and had so much fun hanging out in Charm City that they decided to stay over an extra day (they were performing the next night at the 9:30 in DC).

The Ram's Head Live was only about 2/3 full, which makes it a much more enjoyable space compared to when it's sold out and we were able to get right up front. They played several new songs which will be in their new album scheduled for release in the spring. One new one was "Oasis" which really rocked and I really liked "Medicine", with the refrain "I got the medicine that everybody wants". Indeed!

The current Nocturnals includes two great guitarists (Scott Tournet/Benny Yurco), their new bass player Catherine Popper (who is very easy on the eyes), and drummer Matt Burr. And of course there's Grace alternating between the Flying V guitar and the Hammond B-3 organ. I was standing close enough to the organ to see several labels on it that said "Customized for Grace Potter". Would be interested to learn more about that. A young guy next to me was looking quizzically at the Leslie cabinet with the spinning speaker, I told him it was a Leslie speaker and it was commonly used with the Hammond organ. He said "I have no idea what you're talking about". Darn kids with their iPods, where is their appreciation for musical heritage?

Anyway Grace puts so much energy in her singing and playing it is truly infectious and you really don't want her to stop. Couple that with her ability to write songs that are full of hooks and memorable lyrics and I imagine that she will be at the top of the charts and a household name in another year or two.

Based on what I've read, it seems like the project that she was working on with producer T-Bone Burnett has been cancelled and instead she's teamed up with another producer for the new album. I had high hopes for what T-Bone could do with her, but in the meantime she's still tearing up the concert circuit.

But don't take my word for it, take a look at this video from the show that my buddy Dan made or better yet, go see her the next time she's in town. I'll be there!

Oh, and Brett Dennen? We left after 1.5 songs, just a little too cutsie for my taste, but the 15 year old girls seemed to be enjoying him.

Dark Star Orchestra - November 13 - Washington, DC

Just 48 hours after seeing a sort of lackluster performance of DSO I decided to give them another chance and tagged along with Davis to the 930 club to see them again. The club was completely sold out and I luckily found someone with an extra ticket. What a difference! They totally ROCKED the house with one of the best musical performances that I have ever seen from this band.

The setlist was from the June 27, 1976 Grateful Dead show and each song was performed better than the one before it. Special kudo's to the second set In the second set they played a spectacular version of "Wharf Rat", followed by "Samson & Delilah", and a "Help on the Way->Slipknot->Franklin's Tower" sequence that whipped the crowd into a real frenzy. All of the hippies, yuppies, and college kids were dancing and singing together as it should be. Then they finished with a very powerful "Sugar Magnolia". For the encore it was "US Blues" which was the end of the '76 show. But DSO showed their appreciation by playing a few more, "Midnight Hour", "Easy Wind", and "Brothers and Sisters".

We left hot, tired and fully satisfied from a night of great music, it's just amazing how different a band can be from one night to the next. I'm really looking forward to celebrating another New Year's Eve with this band, this time they have promised an acoustic set as well as special guests Jeff Mattson and Donna Jean Godchaux.

Dark Star Orchestra - November 11 - Hagerstown, MD

It was cold and raining when we headed west on I-70 to Hagerstown. But as we crossed over South Mountain the rain stopped and the sky lifted so when we pulled into downtown Hagerstown it turned out to be a lovely evening. Last time we saw Dark Star Orchestra it was at the AllGood Festival and we still had fresh memories of seven live Dead shows. So Dark Star seemed a little too much like "let's pretend this is a Dead show". But now it's five months later and we're ready for some live Dead music, even if it's not being played by the real guys.

For this show DSO was celebrating their 12th anniversary, certainly a longer run then they must have envisioned when they started. As with any DSO show you spend some time trying to guess the period, year, and date (if you're really good) of the Grateful Dead show that they are "recreating". On Wednesday night it was pretty tough as they played several older tunes that were not part of the regular repertoire and they finished with some songs from the 1980's. They also threw in a very nice version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The guessing game ended at the conclusion of the show when they usually announce the date of the original show, this time they said "I guess if it's your birthday you can play whatever the fuck you want". Well of course, you should be able to play whatever the fuck you want on your 12th birthday.

But the music still seemed a little lackluster, not much energy, nothing really wrong, but just didn't get us moving.

The real star of the show was the Maryland Theater in downtown Hagerstown which is almost 100 years old and restored to beautiful condition. As their web site says, "The marvelous acoustics are only surpassed by the wonderful ambiance" and I could not agree more. The room was beautiful, the sound was perfect, there was a great bar in the lobby and the little old ladies taking tickets at the door were enjoying the music as much as the audience. It looked like there were several nice bars and restaurants in the same neighborhood, I will definitely have to get back up here soon to more concerts.

So we headed home not really musically satisfied and as we climbed South Mountain the rain started again and it was back to the real world.

As for Dark Star Orchestra, see my more recent post for the rest of the story....

City Farm - October 24 - Tiffany Tavern

We popped in to catch a couple of sets of the City Farm Band at their "home court", the Tiffany Tavern in Old Towne Alexandria. The band was in great form, with each member making solid contributions. Paul's vocals and mandolin playing was spot on. Don was eliciting exciting solos from his new Stelling banjo (lovingly handmade in Charlottesville). Holly's singing was beautiful, while singing lead but especially on the harmonies. Ed periodically steps from the back to whip out a great song (either written himself or a Dylan tune). Fred, fresh back from the IBMA, seemed especially inspired. And finally, I was particularly impressed with Marcus' singing. It was the most animated and musical singing that I had heard from him. Of course there was a good turnout (which seems to always be true) and they were in fine "spirits", both literally and figuratively. City Farm plays regularly at the Tiffany Tavern (next show is December 11) and I certainly recommend that you check them out.

The Allman Brothers Band - October 6 - Merriweather Post Pavilion

It's taking me some time to get this entry out, but that's not because this wasn't a great show. To the contrary I think that every time I see the Allman Brothers it's a better show than the previous. I believe that each of the band members are are in the peak of their musical form (despite the fact some of them are old enough to be collecting Social Security), so when they crack open the deep ABB song catalog you know you're in for a night of great music.

The Allman Brothers Band is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, and the first song "Trouble No More" was accompanied by a nice photo montage, showing the band in their early days. Their story is really pretty interesting, a few years ago I read a biography of Duane Allman ("Sky Dog") that does a good job of telling that story. Pick it up here or I'll be happy to lend you my copy. Anyway, "Trouble No More" was followed by "Leave my Blues at Home", a nice blues number by Gregg, then they did a rousing version of "One Way Out" with an excellent guitar solo by Derek Trucks. During all of these songs Gregg was playing the Hammond B-3 and they had Danny Louis sitting in on piano.

Next up was "The Sky is Crying" a song that was made popular by Stevie Ray Vaughn, then a great version of the Allman's classic "Dreams". Next up was a song originally done by Dr. John, called "I Walk on Gilded Splinters". According to Wikipedia ("it's got to be true"), Johnny Jenkins recorded this song in 1970 with Duane, Jai Johanny Johanson, and Butch Trucks. Joining them for this song were John Bell and Sonny Ortiz of Widespread Panic.

Then they did "Woman Across the River", which was the only song they did from their last CD (Hittin' the Note). I love this CD, to the best of my knowledge it's the only one with Derek and Warren on guitars. Come on guys, what about a new one?

Next Susan Tedeschi (Derek Trucks' wife) joined the band and she sang the Dylan classic "Don't Think Twice". That went straight into "Southbound" the straight ahead rocker from the "Brothers and Sisters" album. Also sitting in at this point were Jimmy Herring on guitar and Todd Nance on drums (both from Widespread Panic) and Ron Hollaway on sax. The highlight for me was a stinging guitar solo by Susan that seemed to say to the other guitar masters on the stage, "this lead guitar club is not just for boys".

The fun was just beginning as next Gregg took an acoustic guitar and sang "Melissa". Then another great tune "Stand Back" again featuring Holloway on sax. Butch Trucks moved over to the kettle drums and they began the familiar strains to "Mountain Jam". And jam they did! Somewhere along the way Derek broke a string and completely retuned his remaining strings to compensate, it was very spacey and improvised. But then they morphed into a screaming version of the Led Zeppelin classic "Dazed and Confused" with Warren handling the vocals, then back to "Mountain Jam" and then they left the stage with the audience whipped into a wild frenzy.

But the crowd wanted more, I was screaming "Whipping Post" and sure enough they came back on ripped into the classic to finish the show.

A couple of postscripts. Widespread Panic opened the show, those that were with me thought they were really good but they didn't do it for me. Too loud and the songs sounded too ponderous to me. Actually they did a couple of nice songs when Warren Haynes joined them on stage. Second note, I'm continued to be impressed with the job that Seth Hurwitz has done with revitalizing and improving the Merriweather Post Pavilion. The service is excellent, plenty of food and drink (although rather pricey), they've added some high def video screens that enhance the experience, and this is a super place to see shows. Hopefully next year they'll book more exciting acts.

Crozet Music Festival - Oct.2 - 4 - Crozet, Va.

I went to the first Crozet Music Festival two years ago, it was a one day event that was fun, but it had some start up problems and I wasn't sure it would carry on. But after attending Crozet Music Festival 3 this year, I'm convinced that this will be a must see event for years to come. The festival is now a three day event and the venue has moved to a beautiful setting called the Misty Mountain Campground. The organizers did an excellent job of filling three days and two stages with a line up of musical performers with a wide variety of styles, mostly artists from the talent rich Charlottesville area. This is a non-profit event with all proceeds going to the Western Albemarle Life Saving Crew.

I arrived early Friday evening and set up my pop-up camper in a nice camping spot that I had reserved earlier in the week. Through the woods I could hear the Kings of Belmont playing some spirited rock and roll. After the camp was set up I strolled down to the open field where the music and vendors were, just in time to catch the performance by William Walter & Co. We last saw them at Floydfest (check my entry from late July). These guys play an original mix of infectious tunes, led by their energetic frontman. He reminds me of Keller Williams in some ways, mainly his enthusiasm and liveliness. And it turns out he lives just a few miles from the festival site. Afterwards I was able to meet Mr. Walter and have a beer with him, he seemed pleased with the way the festival was going. I dropped in on an after show party in the campground rec center, where another band was playing for festival volunteers, then it was back to my campsite where my neighbors were celebrating a reunion of the 1979 Western Albemarle High School class. My friend and cousin John (also a promoter of the festival) of course had many mutual friends with them so we sat down and had several late night drinks and listened to their view of the world.

The next morning after a breakfast sandwich I checked out the merchandise tent that was being sponsored by a local record shop to benefit The Music Resource Center, a facility that helps teens learn and practice their musical skills. The merchandise tent was chock full of t-shirts, hoodies, CD's, DVD's, and other musical memorabilia with yard sale bargain prices. There was a ton of Rolling Stones stuff and folks were buying it up quickly. This had an odd side effect as I noticed later in the day there were many folks walking around wearing Rolling Stones clothing.

Saturday's music started off with a band of "youngsters" named Chick Tragic and the Roosters. Singer/songwriters Carleigh Nesbit and Carl Anderson are backed by a very talented group of musicians. They sounded great, but a little something was missing, and I'm thinking it's experience. The songs weren't sung with much conviction and there was some rather embarrassing between song chatter. But they are very good musicians and I'd love to see them again.

Next band was the Hogwaller Ramblers, a Charlottesville band since 1991. They're named after an area in Charlottesville where the stockyards used to be. In contrast to the previous band the Ramblers have a ton of experience and they were one of my favorite bands of the festival. They played songs with plenty of swing and rhythm and their leader, Jamie Dyer, got the afternoon crowd up and dancing.

The Hogwaller Ramblers were followed by Alex Mejuas who was a little to "pop" for me. Then it was the Atkinsons from Richmond, Va. My notes on this one say they were "sort of a Railroad Earth wannabe". I'm sure that I meant that in a nice way. I liked this band's spirit and when they had three electric guitars going it kind of had a Lynyrd Skynyrd feel to it.

The next band I saw was called Six Chasing Seven, they are a reggae band from Lynchburg. The reggae music was a refreshing change and they did a really nice version of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". Their web site says they have released an album that was produced by Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band. They were followed by a "tweener" act to play while the stage was being prepared for the next band. Adrienne Young is a musician from Charlottesville who we had seen before at FloydFest. She had brought her Backyard Revolution to the Crozet Music Festival which is a project to preserve and celebrate some of the region's cultural heritage (both agri- and other). For example they were cooking up some delicious brunswick stew over a campfire and showing how to make your own bow and arrow to hunt down the ingredients for your stew. She's a very good singer/songwriter and her web site says she was just named the "Virginia Garlic Queen" for 2009! Congrats to her!

For Saturday evening, my notes and memory get a little hazy. There was "Tim be Told" who I recall were quite good, followed by the Downbeat Project and then the Saturday headliners "Trees on Fire". Trees on Fire is an ecologically minded rock band from Charlottesville and the crowd was very supportive. There were songs they did that I didn't like (being too "pop" then there were other songs that really rocked out). I'm pretty sure they did a nice version of the Stones' "Miss You", but my reviewing of the local microbrews at this point was influencing my ability to review the local music.

I finished off the evening at the volunteers' after party, which featured a Pink Floyd cover band. They played the entire "Dark Side of the Moon" album and a very good version of "Comfortably Numb". What a great way to end a full day of music in the sun!

Sunday we got to get up and do it all over again, the first performer was Katherine Caine and she had a fine band playing behind her. She did a very nice "Angel from Montgomery" and her sweet vocals mixed with the fine mandolin playing (Andy Thacker) was the perfect soundtrack for this sunny October Sunday in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Midway through her set she pointed out a bald eagle flying directly over the festival. Now how cool is that? The "Blues Farm" played some great rocking road house style tunes with very nice harp work. By the time they were done, I was too, even though there were plenty of more bands to play on into Sunday evening. I particularly wanted to see Alligator, a Grateful Dead cover band, with some of the local musicians I listened to as a college student in Virginia. Oh well, that will have to wait until next year.

In summary the Crozet Music Festival is now a fantastic event that has all of the necessary ingredients for a great festival experience: deep and varied musical lineup, beautiful setting with onsite camping, tasty food and beverage vendors (I forgot to mention the superb quesadillas from La Cocina del Sol), and no hassle promoters who deliver on the promise. I'll definitely be back next year, I should really take Friday and Monday off for the full experience. The only thing that could mess up this festival is its own success. If too many people come then it may become too crowded or have to move to a bigger venue. We wouldn't want that to happen, in fact maybe this positive blog entry will inspire my legion of followers to overrun this peaceful and serene event. I better not publish this as it's written... where is the delete key?... Is this it?