Now on to Sunday at The New Bedford Folk Festival. We started with breakfast at a Latin American café. As a good Jew I had the Cuban Sunrise Tortilla, slow-cooked pork shoulder, fried ham, fried egg, and Monterey Jack cheese and of course coffee. Life begins with the first cup of coffee.
We got an early start so had time to visit the New Bedford Waterfront. I had never been there before. That was fun and it was a beautiful day to be outside. Then we headed over to the Zeiterion for Great Songwriters: Claudia Russell & Bruce Kaplan, Peter Mulvey, and Catie Curtis. They weren’t calling themselves great songwriters; they were largely covering great songwriters. John Gorka followed them. John requested that everybody wear masks. Most of the audience didn’t. He is always worth a listen.
Then I was off to the National Parks Garden Stage where I spent the rest of the day. You could be forgiven for thinking that I booked it. The artists were The Kennedys, Abbie Gardner, Crys Matthews, and Alisa Amador. On the way there I found out that on Saturday I hugged someone who just tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. No more hugging for me and I wore a mask even outdoors. As I knew I would be I was joined by the Van Merc Clan, Joe, Emily, Maggie, Cate, and Genevieve. Eight years ago, when Maggie was 8, Cate 6, and Lynx 4, they went up on stage and joined Pete and Maura for Stand. Genevieve was not born yet. Lynx could not make it this year. This year Maggie and Gen joined the Kennedys, Cate was recovering from a voice issue. Sadly, Cate’s dog Millie didn’t sing either. She doesn’t know the words yet. I told Cate that they have a year to teach Millie to sing. This will always be my festival highlight. They aren’t my kids but I still kvell. They count as family.
I haven’t seen Abbie in forever and now I couldn’t hug her. That was quite unfair. Do I need to tell you that she was marvelous and charming? I’ve known her forever, but this was the first time I heard her explain how her Occupational Therapist training helped her realize that the dobro was easier on her wrist tendonitis than the guitar. I should have realized that myself. I had all the pieces.
After Abbie’s set the people sitting next to and behind me were discussing what stage to go to next. I told them to stay right here, they don’t want to miss Crys Matthews and Alisa Amador. They enthusiastically thanked me afterward. I didn’t even think of the possibility, but they thought Crys was Kris, so they expected a man. When are people going to hear how I’m spelling things in my head when I talk? Crys had new songs I hadn’t heard, and I see her often. I got to hug her on Saturday.
I had only seen Alisa live at NERFA, in the anteplaga era. Since then I saw her streaming many times and got to talk to her when she did John Platt’s On Your Radar. She is special. She won the NPR Tiny Desk contest. When you are done here check out her performance on YouTube. I think of her as a new discovery, but it was way back in 2019. I still think of Crys as new, and I’ve seen her more times than I can count and can count her as a friend. I’m just a bit slow at transitioning from new to old.
That was the end of my music day. I went off to join Emily, Maggie, Cate, and Gen for dinner at the Moby Dick Brewing Company. Part of Moby Dick takes place in New Bedford, so the book is big there. It was the center of the whaling industry. As I discovered at the waterfront it was the richest town in America back at the height of whaling. I highly recommend their Nashville chicken sandwich. I’m still enjoying the memory.
We always stay for the Celtic Extravaganza, but Benoit Bourque wasn’t there to lead it and Cheryl Prashker wasn’t going to be with RUNA and we didn’t know if they’d even play so we headed home early. Thanks to that I was home before Midnight instead of at 2 AM. I did not go right to bed as I knew my computer missed me. As I was exposed to COVID-19 I got myself tested on Monday, it was negative. It was negative when I tested at home on Tuesday. I have a doctor’s appointment today, a routine annual physical. I’m still symptomless.
Maybe I’ll be able to write about Tuesday’s Cyclone game later today and be caught up in my blogging. I’ll just ahead a bit and mention that I set a new record for the amount of garlic I put in my mash potatoes last night. I don’t use garlic powder, I dice garlic and put it in with the milk and butter. It might better be described as mashed potato garlic. Any more garlic would have been too much, but this was perfect. I better hurray and make breakfast. I have to get to the doctor early to fill out paperwork. It’s my first time seeing him. I won’t post this till I get back.
Wise Madness 