Since I wasn’t working this past weekend, Vanessa and I got to got to the Nelsonville Music Festival, hear some great music and catch up with some friends. We also had to retrieve our daughter who had been camping with her friends for the weekend. Ah… summer vacation… if you’re a kid!
The Kaukonens... showing the flag!
Photographer lost in antiquity
This is an amazing regional festival, well supported by the community and filled with great artists! I was fortunate enough to do a solo set here a couple of years ago. One of the first people we ran into yesterday when we parked was my old friend ScareKrow who brought us over to say ‘hi’ to Ani DiFranco.
ScareKrow, Ani and me
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
We wandered around and I ran into the Henna Faerie.
Here I am with the Henna Faerie
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
the HF turned us onto Bridget Punsalang who tattoos out of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. from the Neeledwurks parlor. Check out Bridget’s work. I’ve got a little… Nessa’s got a lot from her. Good stuff.
We headed up to the main stage where the Blind Boys Of Alabama were just starting their set. I noticed that the bass player… whose name I didn’t get, was playing a Jack Casady Bass.
The JC Bass on the main stage...
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
The Blind Boys were awesome… as they always are!
A line of greatness!
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
Paul Thorn sat in with the Blind Boys and it was like a revival right there in our own Nelsonville!
After that great performance, Nessa and I collected Izze and headed back the the Fur Peace Ranch.
Stage right at the Bind Boys Of Alabama set!
Selfie by Vanessa Kaukonen
What a great weekend!
My cousin lives in Naples FL. He’s ecstatic that Acoustic Hot Tuna is coming to Bonita Springs FL next January. Tuna still gets around the country with no signs of slowing down. Can’t wait til September when they come to the site of Woodstock in upstate NY. Then I got 3rd row center at the Beacon in November in NYC. You keep playing – we’ll keep coming.
Just saw this photojournalism feature of southeastern Appalachian Ohio in the Sunday June 10th Washington Post. Athens and Nelsonville are mentioned in the photo caps.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2018/06/08/what-life-is-like-in-the-coal-mining-boomtowns-of-appalachia/?utm_term=.254e23603bfc
Jorma and his family certainly do reside in the heart of America where not all is big city hustle and bustle. At the same time it is not as bleak as the photos depict but they serve a purpose to convey certain truths nevertheless. Never been there but have friends on staff at the university and at Stew-Mac and of course Jorma’s Fur Peace certainly adds to the commerce there.
Thanks for the heads up…Don’t go on sale for a couple of weeks…
Hey you Florida boyz….’Coustic Tuna coming to Florida in January!
https://jormakaukonen.com/tour.html
My mistake..not highdef just big screen..Ha Ha…Analog sounds better anyway..
Nothing better to bring my mood up but watching HT on highdef TV on You Tube on a cloudy day..Only thing better is live of course..But not till the Beacon show..Cant wait!!!
Wow. Vanessa got you to go a music fest? Way cool. Love those old time vocal gospel groups. Heard a lot in the neighborhood growing up: The Harmonizing Four, The Sensational Nightengales….and The Blind Boys…..
Must be nice for you to be in the audience every so often and enjoy a show like the rest of us. First show I ever saw was Louis Armstrong at the New York Worlds Fair, it did turn me on to What a Wonderful World. Speaking of love of music, flying back from our summer vacation I caught this movie CoCo, Pixar stuff is always great, I am sure this one would appeal to all the guitar players out there. Enjoy
Founding member Clarence Fountain died Sunday in a hospital in Baton Rouge. Fountain was 88. RIP.
Saw the Blind Boys of Alabama unexpectedly at the Brooklyn Academy of Music some years back. I got taken to Dr. John concert there for my birthday – it was a tribute to Louis Armstrong with all sorts of great guest artists. The BBA opened the show with an a capella version of What a Wonderful World. Wow. Electrifying.
My curiosity is getting the better of me….did Izze watch the P-Funk set, and did she enjoy it?