Wow....what a weekend...I'm not sure if I can sum it all up any better but I'll try.
Monday morning I was sitting on the beach, watching the absolutely beautiful waves rolling in and going back out. I had stayed up till five the previous night and all I could manage to do was just watch the water, and think about how much the whole weekend was the like the waves, constantly moving and overlapping, reaching out and pulling back in, but always beautiful...quite a contrast to how I arrived. It was rainy as I pulled into Pensacola, and I was tired from having driven the five and a half hours from Atlanta, so I decided to go to the island first, where I was going to camp. It was a long, long way to get to Ft. Pickens, and even longer to get to the camping area. When I finally pull up though, I find out that the camping isn't cheap or reasonable like I had thought ($20 a night), and am also told that there are probably no sites available. Frustrated, I turn around and make the drive back to downtown, by this time, just flat out worn out. As soon as I hear music and see the orange and white barriers, I pull over and park where ever I can find a place. The first person I speak with is no help. But then I find someone on a golf cart who gives me a ride to Pazland, also known as the Pepsi One stage. I soon find Paz and the very first thing he does is take me to the car and pour me a martini. I said something about wishing I could pull Kakki out of a hat, and began to unwind a little. I don't remember a whole lot about the bands that night-nothing particularly memorable-except for the last band, Cowboy Mouth. The drummer/lead singer, Fred, has this amazing energy and ability to really drive the crowd and completely absorb them into the performance. At moments, he seems as if he's completely crazy, but he always knows just what to say. I eat a good meal, courtesy of the production staff, and it works out that I can stay at House a la Paz, so I breathe a big sigh of relief. Though I have no idea where I parked my car...I don't worry about it and get the most sleep I will get all weekend. Over the next couple of days, I meet lots of people, all of them quite friendly, and can pretty much come and go as I please, a very nice luxury to have as I've never liked being in big crowds, so I really appreciated the luxury of being able to grab a soda or coffee and sit down under the tent with the crew. I don't think I can really give this weekend justice in any report but I can try to give some highlights. Top Musical Highlights of Springfest 2002 1. Flogging Molly This band is absolutely unfecking believable. I was a little tired, having just seen the Derek Trucks band, and was just going to try to relax for a little while, when it occured to me that I had no more beer, and I thought I would make a drive to get some. I knew I was no longer in Asheville when I pulled up to a package store and literally all they had was Budweiser, Budlight, Busch, Michelob, and Heineken I think...no microbrews here... so I kept going and got to Food World and for some reason, felt compelled to pick up some Guinness. I must have had some inner intuition as to what was to come next because honestly, I had no idea. I get back , have a couple of Guinnea(plural?) and hear this band beginning to warm up. I hear electric guitar, mandolin, fiddle, flute, and accordian, and immediately think, this is probably a band I should check out. So I make my way up to the stage, and sit in the back on a speaker wedge. This band starts playing and inbetween songs, they keep asking if the Guinness has gotten there yet? Just amazing energy and stage presence. They are all over the place, incredibly tight and dynamic, one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen. And it was so awesome to be able to sit right on the stage, where you could feel all the vibrations and see them playing just a few feet away, and looking out onto a sea of people who had gathered and were passing some people around, up over their heads. This definately boosted up my energy level which was already fairly high. Sunday night, we met up with some of the band at a local Irish pub and had a great time partying...they're going to be doing a European Tour coming up pretty soon, and then will be touring the States, so by all means check them out. You can find them online at floggingmolly.com , and by the way, they're out of L.A.. I picked up their cd "Drunken Lullabies" and they also so have one called "Swagger" and one other I believe. A top class act, all the way around. 2. Derek Trucks Band Simply beautiful music on a beautiful day...achingly beautiful. Yonrico Scott was the drummer, I seem to recognize his name from somewhere. Susan Tedeschi(now Susan Trucks) was the special guest vocalist. I was wearing a "Starbar" tshirt from Atlanta which the band loved, as many of them were very familiar with the wellknown, countryrock, honky tonk bar, with the Elvis vault in the back. Dicky Betts sat in on one song and unfortunately, I missed his band which was next but I saw Flogging Molly instead so I have no reason to complain. 3. Jethro Tull It was almost surreal, seeing Jethro Tull playing outside on a cold, windy night. There weren't a whole lot of surprises...it was pretty much standard fare..Cross Eyed Mary, Thick as a Brick, Aqualung, Living in the Past, etc...I particularly enjoyed Aqualung that night for some reason though...it just seemed to have a magical feel to it. The did do "One Night in Budapest" which is one of my favorite songs from them. I was also particularly excited because I was able to have Martin Barre sign my guitarstrap which really carries an incredible signigicance to me. And thanks to Paz for getting signatures from Robbie Steiner and Gary Wright. ( Already on the strap are Richard Thompson, Adrian Belew, Nick Webb and Greg Carmichael(Acoustic Alchemy), Stanley Jordan, Michael Hedges, Peter Rowan...I think that's it...there's still room for plenty more!) 4. Bonnie Raitt I had never seen her before and am not particularly familiar with her career, but she put on an excellent show, though by Sunday evening, I was thoroughly exhausted...she played a really nice version of "Angel From Montgomery" and one of the encores was "I Can't Make You Love Me"...I am glad I had the opportunity to see her. I have still not made it back to Asheville(I'm waylaid in Athens) and am feeling incredibly tired from it all...I am eternally indebted to Paz for inviting me to what was a truly rich, rich experience...exceeded all expectations...I feel very blessed to have such friends. Despite listening to so much music, we found some opportunity to pull out acoustic guitars here and there...I played a new song called "Boomerang Love" which will probably be in my jonifest set...Michael did a nice "Southern Man" Sunday night, and we got some cool three part harmony going on it...very, very nice though if I remember that was right before we both collapsed and I woke up the next morning and headed to the beach to stare at the waves, which brings me back to the beginning. And I think I'm going to collapse again, so I will send this off now. ooopppsss... 5. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Baritone Sax, tenor sax, trumpet, trombone, guitar, keys, bass, drums...Minnie the Moocher was especially awesome, the whole crowd singing along...everything they did was quite cool! Okay, I believe I am finished. Thanks Paz Victor, looking more and more forward to Jonifest!
