Well here we are again. It’s that time of year again, the Wintergrass festival. This year is one of great changes. The festival has had 16 years in Tacoma, and this year, its 17th year, it packed up and moved up north to Bellevue, for a variety of reasons. This was very traumatic to those of us who have been loyal fans for years. It’s always been convenient for us since we lived twenty minutes from the previous venue. As I’d already purchased tickets when they announced the move, we decided to go for it. Of course this means a three-night hotel stay, and figuring out pet arrangements, and a house-sitter. I went into this figuring nothing could be as good as the old Wintergrass. Bluegrass, at the upscale Hyatt, in upscale Bellevue? Hmmph. I was prepared to be disappointed.

Boy, was I wrong. This is a fabulous venue. All of the concert venues are in the hotel complex itself, instead of being scattered all over downtown Tacoma. There are literally dozens of good restaurants and shops within a few blocks, if you choose to leave the hotel. The staff at the Hyatt have just taken this on as a mission, and could not be more welcoming. The public spaces for vendors and the multitudes of jammers are much more spacious.

The festival runs Thursday night, Friday night, and all day Saturday and Sunday. We had tickets to the Seattle Symphony on Thursday night, so we missed the first evening. Last night was terrific. My favorite group from yesterday was the Infamous Stringdusters, but a close second was the Steep Canyon Rangers. My only complaint so far is that there are too many fine artists here, and it is impossible to see them all. Oh, and one of us forgot to put the camera cord in the bag, so there will be no Wintergrass photos posted to the blog for now.

I also brought numerous knitting projects with me on the trip. You can’t have too many knitting projects when you’re away from home for a few days. So far all I’ve worked on is a spindle project. I’ve gotten most of the way through a half a pound of natural-colored Blue Faced Leicester over the past few months, and I brought the spindle and fiber to the Ballroom with me last night. If I thought knitting was an oddity here, you should see the looks I get while spinning in between music sets. I’m certain that I’m the only one with a spindle here, but I’m hoping to start a trend. I’ll have John get photos so I can post them later, when we get that camera cord. We’re off to find breakfast, then to stalk some banjo men.

Well, it’s all over. I still have banjos ringing in my ears, but Wintergrass is done for another year. 2010 tickets are already on sale, and though I haven’t gotten mine just yet, I will soon. Gotta get those early-bird prices, you know!

Highlights of Saturday and Sunday? The festival Saturday ran all afternoon and evening, at five different venues in and around the hotel, including the Rialto, an early 20th century movie house that has been restored as a performance hall. That venue, as well as one of the oldest Baptist churches downtown, are likely everybody’s favorites, both audience and performers.

My favorites on Saturday included another Mike Marshall group, Choro Famoso. He had a Brazilian mandolin player, Danilo Brito, playing with him. They played a whole set of mostly choro music which was just fabulous. Another one of those surprise groups was Cody Bryant and the Riders of the Purple Sage, playing good old fashioned cowboy music. They were a lot of fun to listen to.

Sunday’s festival was just at the main pavilion, and started out with a bluegrass gospel show, then finished up with Laurie Lewis, the Isaacs, and Blue Highway. I would have trouble picking just one of those as a favorite, though I’d never heard the Isaacs live, and they are just terrific performers.

Best of the weekend? This year it’s nearly an impossible choice, which is a good thing. In the not-quite-bluegrass category, it would have to be Mike Marshall and Choro Famoso, though there were a lot of very close seconds. In the more mainstream bluegrass category, Blue Highway is my favorite, though again, it’s a tough choice!

In the category of festival knitting, here are my winners:

I finished one sock and grafted the toe on Saturday (during Choro Famoso!), and then got the whole cuff of the second sock done yesterday. Since John likes his socks a little longer, I knitted the cuff of the first one as long as I dared. Yesterday I started getting a little concerned about yardage, so out came the trusty scale. I weighed the first sock, then the second half-done sock and the remaining yarn, then subtracted the weight of the needles.

Enough to finish the second sock, with several grams to spare! Whew!

Just a quick post, since I’m headed out the door. Last night was yet another spectacular WG evening. Lots of good music, bad festival food, and mindless knitting.

Picks of the evening for music? Three Ring Circle, with Rob Ickes on dobro. They were so good that I listened to two sets. And Scythian. They’re at best a distant cousin to bluegrass, but if you ever get a chance to hear them live, just go. Somebody should figure out how to bottle their energy.

Later!

As usual, the first evening of Wintergrass brought some great entertainment. The festival starts Thursday night, then continues Friday evening, most of the day and evening on Saturday, and all day on Sunday. Thursday is sort of the “warmup” session, but there are always a couple of “sleeper” groups that turn out to be great. Last night the Tallboys, a string band from Seattle, were my favorite. It’s an old time string band, and as they point out, are neither all boys, nor all tall. They have fiddle, banjo, bass, and a clogger girl. What more could you want in a group?

The other hit of the evening was Mike Marshall and one of the many group iterations that he plays in. This particular group was the Big Trio, playing acoustic string music that is difficult to pigeonhole into one genre. Mike is also playing with a Brazilian acoustic group tomorrow, and that should be terrific as well.

As to knitting, I worked on True Blue last night. I’ve finished the back piece, and cast on the front so I was ready for the evening. I managed to just finish the bottom ribbing and the increases last night, so now I’m ready to just knit mindlessly back and forth on the body without having to pay much attention. The ribbing is a twisted rib (P1, K1tbl on the front, K1, P1tbl on the back), so I had a bit of trouble with it in the dark, but from here on it should be easy. Here are photos.

The back, done.

Those little clips holding the extra yarn on the shoulders? They are from a set of bag clips that we got at Ikea. The smaller ones are just a little too small to work well on food bags, but are perfect for this application!

Ribbing done:

What? You don’t have a pirate pencil case??

I suppose you want to see inside, too.

Well, of course it came with the pirate pencil sharpener and the pirate eraser.

Arrrgggh, matey. I’m ready for the weekend.

I got a couple of requests from my Oodles of Yarn post, for more yarn porn.

For Chris:

Oooh, shiny! It’s nearly impossible to photograph that accurately. It’s much more, well, black, with hints of color as you turn it in your hand. It is just lovely. This is the color Grawk. I could not possibly resist a hank of yarn with the name Grawk. It’s Socks That Rock Raven series Silk Thread, enough to make something lacy (perhaps this?).

And for Debi:

That’s Shoefly sock yarn, from Angora Valley Fibers. Yes, it really is that bright. The color is labeled “One of a Kind”, and I don’t see this yarn on their web page. They do have some fairly wild colors, though, Debi, including a lime mix in their Lacewing fingering sock yarn.

Last night was the first night of Wintergrass. Thursday is often sort of a ho-hum night. It’s not terribly crowded, and usually the bands are less well-known, and sometimes, um, a little dull. This time was different. The place was packed, every group was great, and the last half of the evening was devoted to Black & Bluegrass, with some outstanding music from a few African-American old time string bands.  Old time string bands are my favorite, so I was sad it was over. My favorites tonight were Laura Love & Harpers Ferry, and the Ebony Hillbillies. The rest of the weekend has a great line-up too, so I’m looking forward to what’s next!

Just a quick post. Yesterday one of the great ones passed. Baldemar Huerta, better known as Freddy Fender, died. I was lucky enough to hear him perform live one time, last year. He was a legend, and will be greatly missed.

If all you know of his music is Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, pick up his La Musica de Baldemar Huerta. It’s one of the classics.

Adios, muchacho.

Two posts in one day. What’s this world coming to?

Damn, this one was a hard one. I got tagged by Wendy for this, and it’s been sitting in my email “to-do” folder while I was thinking. I’m still thinking.

My music taste generally would be described as psychotic by most of my friends and neighbors. I prefer the term “eclectic”. So these songs are by no means representative of my entire playlist. I’m just going to randomly pick ten songs out of my ITunes list that I’ve listened to recently and hope it gives you an idea.

1. Blue Railroad Train, by Jorma Kaukonen. The album is Blue Country Heart. You know the guy, I know you do. Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna. His solo albums are great acoustic blues.

2. Shenandoah, by Dave Alvin, from his Public Domain album. I love everything that man sings, but this is one my favorite albums of his.

3. OK, I can pick two by the same artist. From Dave’s album Interstate City, the track Jubilee Train/Do Re Mi/Promised Land.

4. Let’s shift gears. Memories Are Made of This, by Dean Martin. Very corny, I know. That’s me. This music comes on, I want to go make myself a martini.

5. Jessica, by the Allman Brothers. This one makes me want to get in the car and drive. Or Blue Sky. Or Statesboro Blues. Anything from their live albums will do (don’t get me started on which one’s the best. Who cares?).

6. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, by you-know-who.

7. Beethoven’s 7th symphony. My favorite version is from Leonard Bernstein’s Final Concert album. This one just makes me happy.

8. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, by the Andrews Sisters. Really. It’s impossible not to tap your toes while this one is on.

9. Smoking Panetelas on the Blue Mediterranean Sea, by the Aqua Velvets. Gotta have some surf guitar, and this is very seductive surf music. And I love the title.

10. Last but not least, what’s a playlist without the Greatest Honky Tonk Singer Of All Time? We’re talking Vern here, Vern Gosdin. Set ‘Em Up Joe gets played around here a lot, especially when the bourbon comes out.

11. OK, it’s my blog, I can do 11 if I want. I realized there is no bluegrass in that list. That lapse is not tolerated around here. Hmmmm, how to pick just one? OK, from Jerry Garcia, the best bluegrass picker and singer there is/was. That Grateful Dead thing was just a side gig. I’m giving you a three-fer. Shady Grove, from the album of the same name he did with David Grisman. Arabia, from an album entitled David Grisman & Jerry Garcia. It’s an incredible over-16-minute jam. And really, last but not least, Teddy Bear Picnic, from the album Not For Kids Only. I had to include that one for Sweetpea.

12. Really, just one more, just because I love the movie it came from, and it just came up on the random ITunes playlist. Belleville Rendez-Vouz, from the movie Triplets of Belleville. If you like animated movies, go rent it. It’s in French, but it doesn’t matter, because there is little dialogue.

The list goes on and on.

OK, to tag ten bloggers. These are again just randomly selected from some of you, just because I want to hear what you listen to.

1. PJ

2. Kris

3. Theresa

4. Deb

5. Lynda

6. Jane

7. Laurie

8. Dorothy

9. Vera

10. Lee Ann

Consider yourself tagged. No go read my other post from today. I wouldn’t want you to miss it just because I got carried away and did two.

Here are a few more pictures from our bluegrass excursion last weekend. The Columbia river area is just spectacular, and Stevenson is a fun little town. Saturday before the banjo fun started, we stopped at a local watering hole for a little lunch and some fine Columbia Valley wine. Of course, I took my knitting. I was the only knitter at the bar that day.

After lunch, I continued on with the sock. A woman at the next table was fascinated by the sight of all those needles. I might have converted a new knitter.

Lest you think that I have lost my touch, the coffee was after lunch, so I could stay awake until after midnight. I did have wine with lunch.

After lunch, we joined the festival at Skamania Lodge. The afternoon concert was on the lawn behind the lodge.

Here was the view from the stage:

One lucky couple had planned an outdoor wedding here on Saturday, not realizing that there was a bluegrass festival going on. Apparently they didn’t want banjo music during the ceremony, so the festival organizers were nice enough to stop the music for half an hour so they could get hitched. There they are in the distance.

My sweetie was nice enough to go get us some wine.

The festival moved to the county fairgrounds for the evening show.

Not a bad view there, either. Country Current, the Navy bluegrass band, played in the early evening.

After the show I played groupie and got my picture taken with the banjo man, Keith Arneson. Yes, banjo players can have groupies.

I had my picture taken with another festival favorite at one of the food stands.

One of my favorite things about this festival was the cookie people. They came around every evening with trays of warm homemade cookies, giving them away to the crowd.

There were a few knitters at the festival, but I didn’t get very good pictures of them. I also had two different women come up to me Saturday night to ask “Is that Rogue that you’re wearing?”. I love knitters.

Next post, the trip home, with (gasp) a project update.

Or,

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

First, the Ugly. As the ticker shows, the Volkswagon went in reverse this week. I got all rebellious on the point-tracking system this week. “Points?? I don’t need to count no stinking points!” And it showed on the scale. I think part of the gain was a major hormonal fluid-shift-salt-binge attack. All I can say is that it’s just not fair to have hot flashes and PMS at the same time. The Good news is that I went to that meeting even knowing I’d probably gained, sat through the meeting, and came away knowing what I need to do to fix it. We’ll see what happens next week.

The Good? We’re at a bluegrass festival this weekend. The same folks that do Wintergrass do a summer festival in Stevenson, WA, called Adventure Bluegrass. Stevenson is located on the southern border of Washington, on the Columbia Gorge. If you want to know what heaven looks like, drive along the Gorge from I-5 east. The river is spectacular, the mountains are lovely, and it is a perfect setting for a weekend of fine bluegrass, including my favorite bluegrass band, the US Navy Band, Country Current. We arrived yesterday, and the first evening of bluegrass was as fine as it gets. Early in the evening it was sunny and warm, then it got cool as the sun went down. Cool enough, in fact, for me to wear Rogue. Yes, an Aran weight wool cabled sweater with a hood. In late July. That’s the beauty of the weather here; it can be shorts-and-sandals hot during the day, and wool-sweater cold at night.

Our cabin is right on the Gorge, and here is my Saturday Sky:

One really Good thing about bluegrass festivals is all the free knitting time. I finished the first STR Rainforest Jasper sock last night, and started the second.

I only saw one other knitter last night, though she wasn’t actually knitting. She had a t-shirt on that said “Knitters Have Balls”. Let me tell you, I was tempted to hit her upside the head with my knitting bag when I ran into her by herself in the bathroom, just so I could steal that shirt. She better not show up anywhere unaccompanied today.

The Bad? A big old Douglas fir had to be taken out of our back yard this past week. I’ll post some pictures later when I’ve had a chance to sort through the ten thousand photos we took to document its demise, but I’ll leave you with a couple of Good pictures. Doug and Zeb are our new “foresters”, and they were in my backyard all day, which is not necessarily a Bad thing.

Yes, they really are that cute.

I hear the call of the banjos, so I’m off!

Or, 364 Days Until Wintergrass 2007

I’ve learned after four years of going to Wintergrass that it just isn’t over until the final band has performed “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, complete with audience participation, and until George (the emcee) says it’s over.

John always gives a big sigh of relief when they play that song. It means he can finally go home and not listen to banjo music for another year. For the record, I don’t make him go to the whole thing. We get two weekend passes, I sit through every note, he drops in and out when he feels like it, using the “I have to go home and feed the dog now” excuse.

Highlights of the last day? Sunday morning is always the bluegrass gospel show, and only the diehard bluegrass fans, or the ones who got some sleep the night before, show up. Everybody else starts drifting in to the pavilion around noon. Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum gave a fine performance, including an impromptu number called “The Vice President Has A Shotgun, and He Can Shoot Whoever He Wants”, that brought down the house. Mountain Heart had the whole pavilion crowd tapping its feet, and Del McCoury did a long set that was pretty good. He’s a little too much “high lonesome” sounding even for my taste, but puts on a good show.

I have 6642 bluegrass songs lined up on Rhapsody to tide me over for the next year. And I already have tickets for the next festival in July, the Adventure Bluegrass Festival in Stevenson, WA. My favorite bluegrass boys will be there; the US Navy Bluegrass Band, Country Current. And yes, John knows we’re going. It’s an outdoor festival, so he can take a book, or his Ipod, or wander around the Columbia Gorge area.

There was knitting going on yesterday. I got the heel turned and picked up the gusset stitches, and am on my way down the sock foot.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like that picot edge instead of ribbing, but now that I’ve gotten part of the sock done, it looks pretty cute. I have no high hopes of matching the stripes for the second sock, but I like how they’ve turned out on the first one.

Congratulations to all the Olympic Knitters out there! Whether you finished or not is not the point. There’s been some fine knitting going on, worthy of gold medals all around!

Added Later, Almost as an Afterthought:

I almost forgot, I needed to pick the favorite artist of the festival. I loved Uncle Earl the best. They play oldtime music as well as great bluegrass. Their banjo player, Abigail Washburn, also does many of their vocals, and has her own solo album. She also speaks fluent Mandarin. This may be the first time ever that there have been bluegrass songs sung in Mandarin at Wintergrass. If you like old time music, go buy their group album, She Waits For Night, as well as Washburn’s album. Their fiddler, Rayna Gellert, has a solo album out as well, and that one is a keeper also.