Summer IV: Lips, Tomatoes and Dreams

Last week Dan and I drove out to Lewiston, NY to see my absolute favorite rock band of all time THE FLAMING LIPS! Lewiston and Youngstown are in a beautiful part of the state, right on the Niagara River below the falls. We got there, ahem, substantially early, ahem ahem, (I may have perhaps over estimated our time needs just a tad) so with 4+ hours to kill before the gates opened, we decided to visit Fort NiagaraTurns out visiting Fort Niagara is REALLY expensive. Like $28 just to get in and walk around. And history is lame anyway. So we went back to the Artpark and watched tour boats going up and down the riverThe Lips put on an awesome show. Wayne has always been and will always be my personal hero. They played a decent mix of stuff from their most recent couple albums. I like the tracks from Embryonic much better live but I kind of expected that. Confetti cannons, crowd-surfing space balloon, giant mirror balls. Best moment of the show for me was a beautiful and pretty emotional rendition of In the Morning of the Magicians, my favorite song off of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Certainly one of the best shows I've ever seen...So then we all went to Falcon Ridge, had a great time, hung out with friends, played with the A&N Band and GRD, danced to Notorious, sat in with an extra expanded 11-piece Clayfoot Strutters, pioneered new personal highs of grossness in both the mud and sweat departments. Noah, Rachel and Kailyn went on to Ashokan. Dan and I made it home Sunday night. Sarah had yesterday off from work so we actually got to spend some time together which was truly wonderful. Weeded the garden, went to the bank, got caught up on stuff at home. Lunch was especially noteworthy...That's an heirloom striped-German tomato with mozzarella and fresh local basil on Sarah's homemade whole wheat bread, sprinkled with a little salt and pepper. WHOAH! Then in the afternoon we had another totally mind-bending experience...

What a movie! Christopher Nolan is a frickin genius. Dreams within dreams within dreams. Everything about this movie is amazing. I can't wait to see it a hundred more times. We capped off our big day by visiting Sarah's family. Anna just got back from her internship in California. Becky, Gretchen and Alan just got back from scuba diving in Bonaire. And Grandma and Grandpa are visiting for a couple weeks. We shared stories, looked at pictures and had a great dinner (with delicious fresh-out-of-the-garden roasted potatoes). Yum

So to sum things up...

Things are good :-)

Summer Part III: Random pics and stuff

The summer continues to motor right along for me. Got back from Grey Fox a few days ago. Del was awesome (as always). Been having a terrific time playing with the band this summer. We've got a bunch of new material that's really exciting and we're off to Falcon Ridge this weekend. Here are a few random pics...

Rachel and Kailyn modeling their respective parasols Noah briefly considered a new style of headwear from a
vendor at Grey FoxWe really enjoyed visiting Middlebury, VTBefore Grey Fox Sarah and I spent some time vacationing with her family up in the Adirondacks. One day we rented this big pontoon boat and did some exploring around Cranberry Lake. This was the much fabled jumping rock...And these were the equally much fabled Chocolate Chunk Pancakes... This is just a shot of a totally happening jam session back at Ashokan a few weeks ago. The gal in tye-dye is Eva Frishberg; a terrific songwriter and guitar player from New Orleans. Think she's got an album coming out soon (?) with her dad Jonno (who's playing the accordion)Sarah, Dan and I have been really getting into the German board game Alhambra. We picked up the "Big Box" edition (which contains all FIVE expansion packs) at our favorite game store in the universe, Goody Goody's in Saranac Lake, which apparently does not have a website I can hyperlink :-( Anyway, so far we've made it through the first two expansions. The original game was a blast to begin with but I'm loving the additional strategies that we're adding on now. There's a gazillion pieces and cards and rules but it's not really all that complicatedThis evening Sarah and I used a gift certificate for our anniversary (back in May) to have dinner at the Elderberry Pond Restaurant. It was a wonderful evening. The food was terrific; local, organic, delicious and free! I had a sirloin with pesto and Sarah had sea bass with blackberries. If you've got a minute and live in the area, check out the Elderberry Pond website. They've got a really neat vision for the place. After dinner we were treated to one of the more spectacular sunsets I've ever seen in central New York. Here are some pics...Doesn't do it justice, but pics rarely ever do

Summer Part II: Ashokan and Wisconsin

Back last night from a wonderful 9+ days of music and dancing! I got to hang with a bunch of friends at Ashokan last week which was awesome as always. Check out Facebook for pics. Jon Gersh also posted a bunch of pics here. Below is a little video of me during one of the staff performances...

The song is called Poor Rebel Soldier and I learned it from my good friend John Rossbach. The banjo tune at the beginning and end is one of mine called A Song For Reverend P.D. Midgett III and it's on our new album All The Good Summers.
After Ashokan I drove to Newark and then flew to Wisconsin; GBT played for the IndepenDance Daze Weekend and we had a great time. Lots of friends, great dancers, beautiful place, etc. My first time in Wisconsin! Then yesterday I flew back to Newark and picked up my car, drove to Ashokan and picked up a bunch of gear that I left there, had a late lunch with Jay and Molly then drove home. Would have been a much more tedious car ride if I hadn't had my brand new 4-disc Ray Charles box set! Woohoo! Anyway, now I'm just trying to get everything set for the rest of the summer. Really looking forward to Grey Fox and Falcon Ridge. Maybe I'll see you there???

John-Michael just sent me the finished version of the Great Bear Groove music video we shot last month. Check it out...

I'm totally stoked about the way it turned out. Share it, post it, forward it, then get your butt out on the dance floor this summer! And actually, along those same lines, did any of you catch the NPR piece on Youth in Contra Dancing? Another totally "share" worthy link. Okay, I need to go vacuum and clean the house up a bit. It is soooooo frickin hot :-/ Uhgg... I think one of Dr VanOrstrum's Famous "Elixir of Love" Milkshakes might be in my immediate future...