It’s been three days since I posted. That’s what happens when I go out early two days in a row. Now I have to write this before I go out today. Even I can’t call leaving a 2 o’clock early. It is early but if I admit that, you’ll think less of me. I’ve now procrastinated so much that I’m pressed for time. It isn’t easy being me.
On Friday I had to leave the house at 5:20 AM to volunteer at WFUV’s Member Day. Even you have to admit that’s early. I went from there straight to therapy in Harrison. A miracle happened and I made the early train back from therapy. I always miss it by just a few minutes because of the way the bus and train schedules work. Most weeks that would be great and help me, this week it meant more time to fill before I went out again for the evening. My plan was to see the Bumper Jacksons at Rockwood Music Hall at 8:30. I had so much time in between I decided to head home and go out again. I was extra lazy and ate at Checkers as they mailed me a discount coupon I couldn’t resist and they are two minutes from the train station. I walk by it on the way home. I was good afterward and walked home instead of taking the subway. I’ve been reaching my 6000-step goal most days. Damn, for the week I averaged only 5745. A few days of not going out is a lot to make up for.
When I got home I decided to rest and take it easy. I did. When I was about to leave for Rockwood I got up and realized that I had run out of gas and sat back down and fell asleep right after writing Jess that I couldn’t do the merch as I had promised. Even though I’ve fully recovered from my surgery I’m still taking extra care to listen to my body.
Yesterday Fred and I went up to Caramoor for the American Roots Festival, a musical highlight every year. During the day the bands I love were Our Band, Oliver the Crow, and The Bumper Jacksons. I got to see them anyway. I knew that when I canceled, otherwise I would have willed myself to go. The nighttime lineup was The Milk Carton Kids and Amethyst Kiah.
Our band played the Festival Welcome at the entrance. That was convenient as I could walk over and see them right after I helped The Common Ground and WFUV set up their booths. I was officially there as a Common Ground volunteer but I’m a permanent WFUV volunteer and it helps so much to have four hands when living the booth roof. Janeen from WFUV came to the rescue of Common Ground. Our booth was missing one of the pegs that holds the support in place when you lift it. Janeen MacGuyvered a solution. She substituted the clip that comes with the WFUV hand-sanitizer for the peg. Carter, remember to get a replacement peg before the next time you set up.
This was my first time seeing Our Band since Sasha gave birth. The last time I saw her was two weeks before. The baby was there too, this time in a place I can see her. Our Band is one of my projects, a band I love that most of my friends are not familiar with. That means I tried to get everyone I know there to see them. I was very happy to see that John Platt posted a video of them
All of my bands knocked it out of the park. I did some bad planning and saw Bumper Jacksons twice so I missed some acts that I would have liked to have checked out. Caramoor is a great place for me to discover new music as Maggi who books it has impeccable taste, in other words, similar to mine. My great discovery of the day was the Rainbow Girls. They have become an instant fav. They are a female harmony trio. There are plenty of those around but few as entertaining. Sure they have great harmonies, that’s the ante you need to get into the game. They also write great songs and are as funny as all hell. They come at you from unexpected directions. A song that starts as a paeon to the rock music they grew up with makes a 180 and complains that there were no women in their favorite bands growing up. This was not done as a rant; it was a complaint but one made in a lighthearted and funny way. It was both effective and entertaining.
I found time to catch up with Justin & Sasha from Our Band, and Kaitlyn and Ben from Oliver the Crow. The only one I got to spend time with from the Bumper Jacksons was Jess. I loved that she heard the Rainbow Girls from backstage, they were on next, and came out front to check them out and take pictures.
The Social Music Hour is always a highlight of the festival. There was less audience participation this year, it was all the musicians from the festival joining each other on stage as they did a tribute to Odetta. The surprise performer was Mark Miller from Spuyten Duyvil. He has always led this, but Spuyten Duyvil is no more and he’s taking a break from performing. He did his usual bang up job. You can see how much he loves doing this.
I was not as taken with the evening performers, The Milk Carton Kids, and Amethyst Kiah, as most. I had heard one song by Amethyst at the New York Guitar Festival and liked her. I had heard great things about her. It isn’t that she isn’t good. She’s very good; I can see why people love her. She just doesn’t resonate with me. The same can be said of the Milk Carton Kids. They are the very favorite band of friends that have similar musical tastes to me. I had listened to their music but had never seen them live before. Everyone talks about how entertaining they are live and how funny they are. Their songs didn’t connect with me any more live as they did on the recordings and their humor was confined to two bits they did. It’s not spontaneous jokes, it’s planned bits. It’s a less spontaneous version of the Smothers Brothers humor. They even seemed to play with that with their set design. I grew up loving the Smothers Brothers so that is my wheelhouse. They were good but not blow me away good. If a band I wasn’t familiar with was going to headline I’d have preferred the Rainbow Girls; they are funnier and have far more varied songs.
Part of the fun of a festival is hanging out with my friends. I had so many there. I drove up with and sat with Fred but there were so many more. The stretch of sponsor booths near the entrance were all manned by friends, WFUV with Janeen and Linda, Carter at Common Ground, Coco, Jeff, Carol, and Brianna at First Acoustics, Gidge and Kay at Hudson West, Peter from River Spirit, and the booth that was right there that I’m blanking on. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you. There were plenty of more friends in the audience, Richard and Viki sat right by Fred and me.
The people behind us found me the most entertaining part of the day. Fred got up to check out another stage and I moved over to his chair as my back was not happy. I sat down and it tipped over backward. I was stuck like turtle on its back. I was leaning left but there was a chair there and couldn’t get up that way. I had to shift my wait so I could roll me and the chair right. The gentleman behind me gave me an 8.9. The Russian judge gave me a 6.2.
The evening ran later than scheduled. I was hoping to be home by 11 but we didn’t leave till 10:45. That’s still not too bad as I was home by 11:30. There was one shadow on the day. This was Maggi’s last American Roots Festival. She’s leaving her position of Caramoor’s artistic director. I’m not confident that the new person will do as great a job at booking as she does. She’s exceptional. The Music at Madison Square Park was never the same after she left.
OK. Now it’s late. I have to get this posted and leave. I’m off to Clifton NJ to see Carolann Solebello and Joe Iadanza at Bri’s house! I’ve already failed at my promise as I will not have time to pick up the S’more’s fixing before I get there.
Wise Madness 