One of our favorite summer traditions is attending The Green River Festival. We have been going to it for over twenty years and while it has changed in many ways, one thing that hasn’t changed is that you never know who is going to blow you away. Several years ago the Duhks were that band. They opened the festival on Friday night and they were amazing! We were so disappointed when we heard that Jessee Havey had left the band which was followed by other line up changes. When we saw that they were playing in the tent at the festival this year, we knew we would go see them but we didn’t know what to expect. I could hardly believe my eyes when I got to the tent for surely that was Jessee Havey and Tania Elizabeth on stage. Soon Johnny Memphis was announcing that these were the original Duhks and they blew us away again!
Last year, JD McPherson was the one who blew everyone away when he performed in the tent. This year he performed on the main stage to great acclaim!
A change this year was to have the Local Hero stage run during the daytime too and it was great on Sunday to stop by and see two of my favorite local bands play this stage and get such a warm reception. I knew the Boxcar Lilies had a new album out so I was glad I got to hear one of the songs from it: “Six Ways to Sunday”.
Even though we had just seen the Salvation Alley String Band a few weeks ago, we stopped by to hear a few tunes including the Brandee Simone and Ryan Quinn duet “Misery Pines”.
For Christmas a few years ago I gave my husband a picture by Donna Estabrooks of 4 musicians. We hung it in our living room under two other musician pictures that we had paired. It fit in but it did look a little lonely. This year, for his birthday , I was pleased to find another musician print by Donna Estabrooks
On Thursday I went to the Norman Rockwell museum to see the Disney Snow White exhibit and attend a lecture on Fairy Tales by Ruth Bottigheimer. Both were very interesting but also fascinating was the glimpse I got of Maya IV by Jarvis Rockwell. Since the exhibit hadn’t opened yet, I only got to peek at what the museum describes as “a vast toy-embellished pyramid inspired by Hindu temples adorned by sculptural deities”.
From my position behind the guard ropes, I saw that it held many action figures and an Indian matryoshka doll set. The exhibit opens today through October 20 and I will definitely schedule a trip to further examine the pyramid that, in Jarvis Rockwell’s words, “support(s) the toys, the representations, or material gods and goddesses of our society”.
This overflowing bookcase houses our music books – books about music and musicians. There are many books about the blues and blues musicians, books about folk and country music and musicians, and books about tin pan alley and show music composers and musicians. There are several books about Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis. There is a book about rockabilly, a book about gypsy jazz and a rock and roll encyclopedia. It is a book collection that is a perfect complement to our record (ed music) collection.
In the upstairs hallway of our condo, there is a paperback bookcase that houses three of our book collections. The first three and a half shelves are comprised of the paperback part of my collection of mysteries that are set in New Orleans. It is amazing how many of these there are. There are the well known series like the Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke and and the Skip Langdon and Talba Wallis novels by Julie Smith or the stand alones by well known authors like Tami Hoag. There are also the shorter series (some of my favorites are by O’Neil DeNoux, Dick Lochte, J.M. Redmann, and the Corrington’s) as well as single books in well known series or stand alones by well known mystery authors that are set in New Orleans.
These are followed by Nero Wolfe mysteries. I have almost the whole series but I am missing Curtains for Three, one of the books of short stories. I finally purchased it as an eBook since when I was on a Nero Wolfe reading jag recently, I craved one I hadn’t read a million times! I must say though that while looking at my Pinterest boards satisfies my collecting urge, looking at my eBook shelf does not, so I am still on the hunt for that final volume. The Nero Wolfe books fill up most of the next shelf too. They are followed by a few other favorite mysteries.
The Nero Wolfe reading jags are unpredictable. They can be set off because I am fresh out of library books or because of an urge for comfort reading. The last shelf holds books for a predictable reading jag. I used to love reading the short stories in magazines at Christmastime and really missed them when they stopped appearing. So I began buying Christmas romances (this is the only time of the year I read romances). I prefer the ones with four short stories and one called Blue Christmas which takes place in Memphis and references Elvis is my favorite. Unfortunately like magazines there seem to be less and less of these published each year so it is good that I’ve kept some favorites for rereading.
The last time I mentioned my music posters I wrote that they had to follow two rules. I just broke the rule that I had to have actually gone to the concert because this poster really met the second rule – I have to find it graphically appealing. I love the flower guitar and the title of the show. A reporter said he would have put it in his list of must sees for the title alone – The Day the Music Thrived!
I have become quite enamored of buttons lately so when I saw these button blocks by Lisa Bates at the Country Living Fair, I just had to have them. When they caught my eye Lisa wasn’t in her booth and the women who were filling in didn’t know how much they cost, so I reluctantly left without purchasing them. Luckily after hearing a great set by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, we headed back to the booth area so my sister could pick up a birdhouse she had purchased. We found Lisa Bate’s booth again but didn’t see the button blocks which had been packed up. Lisa was glad to unpack them and I happily picked out these two.
One of the collections featured in the guest bedroom is the Peacock Collection remaining from the time when it was our bedroom. A subset of the Peacock Collection is the Peacock Fan Collection.
It was a beautiful day today for the Memorial Day parade in our small town. My husband came downstairs dressed in blue jeans and a red and white striped shirt so I donned my patriotic socks and we set off with our small flags for town.
Saying hello to friends, checking out everyone’s patriotic wear (red and blue shirts, star earrings and scarves, red tights, and lots of Red Sox t-shirts and hats), clapping when the veterans march by, waving to all the kids in the parade, and dodging the flying candy are all essential aspects of the half hour parade.
I was listening to a radio show the other day and the DJ and his son were talking about a bluegrass festival they had gone to. “You enjoyed it right?” said the Dad. “Yeah” said the son, “but you wouldn’t let me buy the stuff I wanted to buy because you say experiences are better than stuff.” Actually, he said it backwards but after they straightened that out the father said that some stuff was okay to buy at the festival like ice cream. His son and I exclaimed in unison “But eating ice cream is an experience!” They stopped talking to spin some tunes but I continued to muse on the stuff you could buy at music festivals. Like CD’s, but then isn’t it an experience when you listen to them? And hats, but isn’t it an experience when you wear them? And toys, but isn’t it an experience when you play with them? And stuff to hang on your walls or put on your shelves (the things I like to buy at festivals), isn’t it an experience when I look at them?
