i'm home...

and there will be one, big, final post to come complete with pics and video.

just lettin' you all know.

-b

so tired

just got back from more than 5 hours in the sun.

yonder's set was great. as was jerry douglas's.

i think i'm going to go sit in the hot tub for 15 minutes, take a shower and nap until later tonigh for sammy bush's set.

koto.org for the stream...

late night...

so, i tried thinking of a way to describe yonder's late night show last night and i really can't.

they opened with Terrapin Station, only had one guest the whole night and played until 2:30 a.m. so I really don't have to say much more.

06/20/08 (Fri) Sheridan Opera House - Telluride, CO

Set 1: Terrapin Station> Steep Grade Sharp Curves> Mothers Only Son> Left Me In A Hole, Hill Country Girl, Must've Had Your Reasons, Fine Excuses, Angel, Crooked Hitch, Big Spike Hammer, Going Across The Sea, Part 1(Lord Only Knows)> High Cross Junction> Cuckoo's Nest> Bolton Stretch

Set 2: *If There's Still Ramblin In The Rambler(Let Him Go)> *Raleigh & Spencer> *Ramblin Reprise, *Crow Black Chicken, New Deal Train, Boatman's Dance> Midwest Gospel Radio> My Gal, *Peace Of Mind> *Kentucky Mandolin> *Peace Of Mind E: ???, *Two Dollar Blues

Comment: *= Ronny McCoury on mandolin & vocals, acoustic encore

i will say it got real crowded towards the end, but holy crap -- that was hands-down the best yonder show i have seen in years.

afterwards, about ten of us came back here for a super-late-night dance party in the condo until an hour i probably shouldn't disclose.

how i made it down to the festival grounds today already to drop off chairs is beyond me -- though i realized i'm wearing a t-shirt with my own picture on it about 10 minutes after getting there and everyone was calling me champ. (the shirt says champ as well)

video and other stuff to come.

as for now, I think i should get some sleep. no, i know i should get some sleep... so i'm going to go have a beer in the sun of the festival with greg and sara and pass out in a lawn chair.

more later...

wow.

things are a bit hazy still... I haven't slept much.

Yesterday started out late, with Josh and I walking over to the festival in time to see drew and billy play.

walking over, we went past a guy playing banjo for a bunch of little kids. I saw the cutest little girl dancing with a balloon on the way and had to get a picture. It was so cute I wanted to puke. or maybe that was the hangover.

you judge. i'll post the picture.

we got to the tarp and clearly some people haven't been to telluride before. I get it that it's GA, but what are people thinking when they set up their chairs on a tarp they didn't put out... whatever.

we were also joined by two lovely ladies from Ft. Collins. It was the difference between cool tarp crashing and not cool tarp crashing.

Nershi/Emmitt was introduced by Jeff from Yonder, and hearing SCI songs played on stage at Telluride was just awesome. black clouds, restless wind and tangled up in blue were the highlights. billy's solos are so unique, it truly is a voice only he has.

"little kids with squirt guns are rad"

"#4 - Spray Bottle"

walked over to hang out with a friend I work with for a bit, met some more good festivarians and got a good view of peter rowan on stage - he opened with midnight moonlight followed by panama red.

Afterwards we went to elks park to see Billy and Tyler Grant do a flatpickinig workshop. Hung out with Phil and Andrea for a bit, but had to come let people in the condo ...

so i napped it up until about 8 p.m. and started getting ready for Yonder's latenight show....

btw...

you can stream the main stage set at www.koto.org.

(ended up enjoying the morning listening to bela on the radio. headed over in about30 for emmit-nershi though).

the camera is fixed.

::Willie & Family Live plays in the background as people sleep under tables::

it's amazing what beating a camera up against the side of a couch and digging into it with a rusty leatherman will accomplish....

btw, no-go on the hike, so shower then off to the festival for:

- 11:30 bela fleck duos with friends
- 1:15 Emmit-Nershi Band
- 3:00 Peter Rowan and the Free Mexican Airforce
- 4:00 Tim O'Brien

If I'm still able to stand the sun, i'll stick around to check out Paolo Nutini, as i've heard good things... but tonight is Yonder's nightgrass show at the Sheridan...

also, I have been trying to upload the several videos I have (including two great little minute-long shots of Uncle Earl on stage), but the connection here is horrible and I'm not really going to walk somewhere to find a wireless connection. Its vacation, and have to draw the line of being a complete nerd (albeit an undercover one) somewhere.

day two begins...

with my camera refusing to turn on.

"wt fucking f." - Ryan Adams

::a Lasko rotary fan hums in the window, blowing a cool breeze across my toes::

really, the second day of the festival and I can't take a damn picture other than on my phone. great.

whatever, we'll make the best of it... by starting the day with a glass of Jameson and forgetting I have a camera all together.

so, i decided that i'm not a music critic, and me trying to talk bluegrass in any sort of critical form just reads painfully.... so while i'll keep up with that, there's plenty of other stuff i'm more capable of writing about.

like the guy out of his head on mushrooms in front of us for Ryan Adams set last night.

Had the camera not broken, I could have gotten a picture of this guy scooping up dust in his hands, throwing into the air and laughing. Oh, and he sang along at the top of his lungs with Adams as he sang Oasis's 'Wonderwall'.

At least he was a nice kid. He offered to roll my friend a cigarette. However, I"m sure it would have taken him an hour and it would have turned out in the shape of a question mark or something like that.

Adams' set was great. You could see the look of 'oh, i'm not going to tlike this' on some of the more docile festivarians faces as the soundcheck guys cranked his amps to 11 (sadly over a recording of Crooked Still from last year).

In what I am to understand is typical, he popped out on stage late, mumbled something incoherent and then blasted into his rock/folk/emo mix of tunes.

btw, don't try and walk from east to west across the festival grounds at night. the light from the food booths WILL blind you, and you WILL walk into the back of a lowback chair. this happened to me twice.

ended up near the stage at the end for a tiny glowstick war. i'll post some vids of it later.

After the show, i decided not to do any night grass concerts and instead went for a classy drink at the Sheridan Bar (which is under construction, but opened up for the festival - hence the overflowed toilet).

Somehow ended up in a condo watching some 23-year-old playing a drinking game where they duct-tape their beer cans together as they finish them. needless to say the guy with the longest beer-can-cane was torched and making an ass of himself as he tried to be the funny guy at the party.

came home around 1:30, passed out and feel like a damn champ thismorning.

off to Bridal Veil Falls for a hike with greg and sara, then on to the festival!

music to check out while i'm gone: Paper Bird. They aren't playing the festival, but dear god they should be. These three girls voices are like honey dipped in melted glass dipped in pixie farts -- and the trombone/banjo/bass/guitar instrumentation is amazing.

www.myspace.com/paperthebird

(in the pics: Max the Team-Awesome Telluride mascot and shots from Ryan Adams)
(more to come later)