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Sorry I've been AWOL on my scheduled diaries the past few weeks. I've been on the run and to be honest the rest of the month doesn't look too good for keeping my schedule either. Its just that time of the year where I've got a lot of activities that when it comes right down to it I don't even think twice; I just go.
And to be even more honest I haven't been doing all that good on not smoking either and that's probably the last thing I want to talk about.
But I can give you an example of it.
One thing I had to get geared up for and cancelled at least a couple diaries was the Snowy Range Music Festival right outside of Relapse City with the full fledged Alibi Crew. Its an annual event over Labor Day Weekend featuring mostly the Blues and as close as you're going to get to Woodstock in Wyoming.
Its also more like two festivals in one. First there is the Snowy Range Music Festival. It consists of three different stages. Starts about 4 pm Friday night and runs (pretty much non-stop) through Sunday night. And the one question veterans of the festival never ask is who's playing. Because it doesn't matter. All of the bands and performers are going to be good, some of them great, and some the likes of which you might not have ever seen before. The music plays non-stop from about noon to about 10 pm and then after that is what they call the "after party" which might be the best show of all. Because the "after party" is more of a jam session hosted by one of the bands but open to anyone willing to get up there and blow.
Then there is the second aspect of "festival" which we call "camp Alibi" and is where we stay the rest of the time. And when I say camp I mean that literally with one major plus. It is a camp in that the Alibi Crew actually sets up tents and sleeping bags (and a cot for my old bones) and we just stay there from Thursday (when they actually set up camp) until Monday morning when we break camp with festival still ringing in our ears. But the plus side is its kind of the end of the season for the Alibi Crew and the Alibi Pub (hence the name of the Alibi crew) and the owners of the Alibi Pub host kind of a customer appreciation end of summer party and we basically have an overstocked bar on wheels. And since I'm on such an honesty kick Camp Alibi is not one of those places where we drink responsibly. Oh no. Its more like sipping Ale, and an occasional shot of Crown Royal, with a Fireball chaser, until the term "shit-faced" comes to mind and its time to stagger off to your tent.
Then the next morning we get up and do it all over again including attending things like harmonica lessons where this year in addition to the Blues experts teaching the class they were actually handing out free harmonicas as well which I don't think you can beat at any other festivals I've been to.
Three days of that, and its not like we had to worry about crappy weather as in wind, rain, and cold temperatures. We could count on it and got it. So, when as I say as close as you can get to Woodstock in Wyoming that was true right down to the rain and the mud. But it was a small price to pay and it didn't last long before it was beautiful again.
And during those times I was seeing things like this. This is Otis Taylor Band playing in Barcelona a few months ago but I saw it live at festival. But even if you don't look at it though there's a guitar player named Taylor Scott (on the right) and the first time I saw him at festival a few years ago he was literally a kid. As in teenager. And look at him now on a world tour with Otis Taylor and Anne Harris (on the fiddle.)
http://www.youtube.com/...
But Taylor Scott was just one of the "kids" performing at festival. Another was Nic Clark who the first time I saw him he was also a kid playing with Scott in "Another Kind of Magick." And I've had the privilege of watching these semi-local kids grow up around this festival which actually only exists because of the vision of one man, Carl Gustophsib, and what was at one time another semi local band called Blind Dog Smokin.
And out of that grows these kids until its Taylor and Nic singing about being "Just Kids."
http://www.youtube.com/...
That may be the most amazing thing about festival to me because over the years its one thing to see Dr. John, Canned Heat, Huey Lewis and the News, Macy Gray, Travis Tritt and stars like that but it seems so much more rewarding to see their rivals develop right before my eyes. Or I should say at least in my eyes.
And then if that isn't bad enough there's always just falling in love again .... sort of at least because I ran into something as amazing as Anne Harris which led me to Gravity and Faith.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Because you see I still have not mastered things like taking great pictures and posting them here. Or have a mastery of excellent recipes. These are my pictures and my best recipe is this is how I measure to make sure I have not died until I am dead.
And next up (I hope I'm not offending too many people here) is hunting camp. Where I don't even know when we are really leaving nor when we will be back. Except it will have to be by at least the 23rd because then I have a babysitting gig coming up in Relapse City again.
So count me as totally unreliable and if that's a good enough reason to replace me I'd be the first to second that motion. But short of that I don't know when we will see each other again.
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