kris blogs

As a quick update on the missing luggage, I finally let myself be convinced to buy new clothes that night. After purchasing them, and also new toiletries, I went back to my hotel room only to find my luggage had been delivered while I was shopping. One of the bags was ripped, but they were there.

On to the fun stuff..

I spent 3 nights in New Orleans so you can bet we went around the corner to Bourbon Street every night. There was a fun little blues club not too far up where we got to see some good music. The one night this guy named Rooster played there. He walked around the place with his wireless mic and guitar singing to all the women present. I bought his CD because of one song he wrote called The Mirror – “I wish you was a mirror baby, I’d like to see myself inside of you” was the first verse, and they just kept getting better from there. The next night a band who I think was called The Soul played, with a guest singer named Eunice. They were really good as well:

A friend met me in New Orleans and we drove down to Lafayette to stay at the Blue Moon Guesthouse, which was fantastic. It was my first time staying at a hostel and I was surprised by how nice it was. We met some fun people to hang out with there, although there was this one crazy older woman who would walk around talking to herself and anyone in the vicinity, regardless of whether or not they were busy or already in a conversation. I would definitely stay there again though. They turned the back porch into a bar, the Blue Moon Saloon, a few years ago and now have live music and dancing most nights. So we got 2 nights of music there before moving on to the festival.

I’d been looking forward to the Blackpot Festival for months and months so I was way excited for it to finally be happening. It was held at Acadian Village, which was very nice but much smaller than I was expecting. Someone later told me that the festival was actually 3 or 4 times as big as last year (the 1st one). I can’t imagine them still being able to hold it at the same place if it gets any bigger though. This festival was great because it was set up by some of the musicians there, and they just camped right along with everyone else, and partied with everyone else too. But the best part by far was the dancing. No one does Cajun dancing where I live. I already knew the basic steps for most of it from one other festival and an Allons Danser concert I went to once. I finally got to actually do a lot of it here though, which made me extremely happy. Someone even told me I dance like a Cajun, which since he was Cajun was a great compliment. I loved every single band there and had the most amazing time. I am definitely going back. Some videos I took:

Last weekend was my second time at the festival down in Woodstown and it was even more fun than last year. We had some great camping neighbors who we jammed with. I actually bought a mandolin and the one woman who lives near me is going to help me learn to play it.

The one band on the main stage who made an impression on me was Cherryholmes. They’re a family who went to a bluegrass festival around 7 years ago and decided to form a family band afterwards. And then they did it. I tried to tell my family we were going to form a family band after last year’s festival but they didn’t go for it. We could have been famous already! Cherryholmes was fun because they also break up their music with Irish dancing.

I was at Grey Fox last month and it’s definitely something I’m going to be going to every year. They had a dance pavilion for one thing which was so much fun, especially since the Red Stick Ramblers played on it every night. Also lessons during the day. Corey Ledet and the Wilders were on that stage too. Some interesting acts on the main stage – Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Sam Bush, among others. Marty Stuart lives next to Johnny Cash’s property. The house was bought by one of the Bee Gees before it burned down. Now the guy’s rebuilding and is going to have a big party once it’s done. Marty Stuart’s been practicing doing a bluegrass version of Stayin’ Alive for it – it sounded great, very funny. Sam Bush is an excellent mandolinist and he did some fun covers too – Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley, not stuff you’d normally hear at a bluegrass festival.

Another cool band who was there, although not booked to be there, was the Powder Kegs. They just played at various places around the campground, they always got a big gathering around the portopots.

One of the best things about these festivals is all the jamming going on in the campgrounds. This particular festival lets people camp out in line up to a month before it starts so there are line parties as well. Example:

This festival was on someone’s farm on a mountain so they used the 45 degree angle of the hill to their advantage – amphitheater seating for the main stage. Walking up and down and across the hill was hell on my ankles for the first day or so though until my joints got used to it. It was like getting sea legs, except slanted legs. All the campers and vehicles had to be chocked up or dug in on one side so they wouldn’t go rolling down the hill into other people’s campsites. When I got there the night before it had been raining so they weren’t even letting people up the hill since they kept sliding back down. I had to wait a while and then they started letting people up one at a time as long as they promised not to stop or slow down at all on the way. The view from on top of this mountain was incredible too since it was next to the Catskills. Any way, lots of fun.