What's a Bunbury?

We took a quick weekend road-trip up to Cincinnati to check out a new music festival called Bunbury.  The decision to make the trip was easy due to the fact that several bands were playing that we wanted to see and our friends, Derek and Laurie from Wisconsin, who we met on a music cruise last year, were going as well to celebrate Laurie's birthday.

Thursday, July 12, 2012:
Maui? Fiji?  Nope, just Horse Cave, Kentucky on the drive up
after work tonight.After leaving Tennessee and rain,
the weather cleared for us for most of the weekend.

Friday, July 13, 2012
We got a hotel room at a Hilton in Florence, KY
just south of Cincinnati across the Ohio River.
We slept in since the music didn't start until after noon.
We had brunch at Izzy's, a popular regional sandwich shop
featured on Man Vs. Food.  We didn't have the guts to
order the 5 lb. reuben,, but my pastrami on rye with
accompanying potato pancake were plenty filling and delicious.

The Bunbury Music Festival takes place right on the banks of
the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati.  There are six stages
in total set up along the river.  This is the mid-sized Landor stage.
Some of the better performances we saw during the afternoon
hours included Brent Kirby, LP, The Airborne Toxic Event
 (in the short video below) and The Henry Clay People.

This is another mid-level-sized stage sponsored by Bud Light.
There was plenty of room for viewing and the crowds were tolerable.
The evening performances included a great set by one of our
favorites, O/A/R, ( short video above) and a festival-best performance by local
favorite, Foxy Shazam (the video below is just a brief part of their
wild on-and-off stage antics).  The headliner, Jane's Addiction, was a
bit disappointing as it seems time has caught up with these
once cutting-edge rockers

Saturday, July 14, 2012
After arriving back in downtown Cincinnati before the music
started on Day 2 of Bunbury. We walked across the Ohio
River via The Purple People Bridge, a converted auto bridge
connecting Cincy with Newport, KY.  We had brunch at
another Man vs. Food star, Tom & Chee's, a gourmet
grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup restaurant.

This is the"BananaRama."  A dessert concoction at Tom & Chee's
consisting of a grilled glazed doughnut surrounding fresh
caramelized bananas and melted Gouda cheese.
Yes, it was outstanding.

The weather was a bit more threatening today and one of the first shows we saw
by Imagine Dragons (video clip below) was in a light rain shower.  However,
it didn't last long and the sun broke free of the clouds and left us with a fairly
nice, albeit steamy, afternoon and evening where we caught other
good performances by The Gaslight Anthem (second video clip below)
and headliner, Weezer.

Sunday, July 15, 2012
Since no bands we were interested in were playing until
late on Day 3 of Bunbury, we decided to head home a bit early
after having a delicious birthday brunch for Laurie at Virgil's Cafe
in nearby Bellevue, KY, which has been featured on Diner's,
Drive-Ins & Dives.  We enjoyed our brief visit to the
Cincinnati area.  Above is another nice view across the Ohio
of a neat, new condo building in Covington, KY called The Ascent.

We are going to keep the Bunbury Festival on our list of things to possibly do again in the years to come.  For a first-time festival they had a great line-up, were very organized and reasonably priced.

The boys from Chelsea vs. the boys from Shepherd's Bush

No, this blog entry title isn't about a soccer match in West London.  It's just the only way I could think of linking two events  together that we attended in Nashville over the last couple weekends. 

Saturday, June 30 - They "boys from Chelsea" are the comedians,  Jiffy Wild and Josh Wolf' from one of our favorite TV shows, Chelsea Lately.  They were at Zanies Comedy Club tonight.  They were both great and we even got to meet them after the show.   We had dinner beforehand at the always-delicious Whiskey Kitchen.   Thanks to our friends, Chris, and Tarryn (pictured above with Ashlee and the Chelsea boys), for coming along with us.

 

Saturday, July 7 - The "boys from Shepherd's Bush" are probably better known as the rock band, BUSH, who were at Marathon Music Works tonight.  After a long hiatus, the iconic band from the 90's is back with lead singer and front-man, Gavin Rossdale, looking and sounding as good as ever.  The one and half-hour set included all their old hits from their masterful debut album Sixteen Stone as well as new stuff from their most recent project The Sea of Memories  plus a damn fine cover of The Beatles' "Come Together."  During one of the songs off the new album called "The Afterlife" Gavin even came singing through the crowd and popped up right behind us before we even knew it.  The show was excellent from start to finish. Below is a brief clip of some of the first single "The Sound of Winter" off the new album. Our faith is restored somewhat in MMW as a venue now as the sound was pretty darn good.  We were much closer to the stage than the previous show we attended which might have helped as well.  We will definitely give this venue another try as they keep bringing in great acts.

"So ya, thought ya..might like to...go to the show..."

Tuesday, June 19, 2012:  Tonight, I dragged Ashlee to see Roger Waters perform "The Wall" Live at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.  This was my second time seeing the show, but Ashlee's first.  Beforehand we had a delicious dinner at Suzy Wong's House of Yum.

I knew the theatrical nature of the show would keep Ashlee interested.
And it did.  She wound up really liking the show.  Our seats were good
and almost center, but unfortunately they were high up enough to get
a bit of stage blockage by speakers and projectors.
In the shot above local school kids join Roger on the stage and the
evil schoolmaster for Another Brick in the Wall Part 2.
Below is a little of Mother with Roger singing a duet
with a younger version of himself from the 1970's.

ABOVE:  "Surrogate band' time!
BELOW:  I believe there are a lot of people out there, Roger.

Run Like Hell to see this amazing show!

No more waiting, the worms are here!

Goo Goos and Boom Booms

Friday, June 15, 2012 - We headed down to Chattanooga to catch a show by one of our favorite bands over the years, The Goo Goo Dolls, who were headlining tonight in the city's annual Riverbend Festival.  The guys are showing their age a bit, but still sounded great.   It was also nice to catch up with a couple of our friends including Mollie who we meet up with at the festival before the show, and then Elizabeth after the Goo Goo Dolls show for some late-night food and drinks at The Mellow Mushroom.

Goo Goo Dolls front-man, Johnny Rzeznick, "works the rail"
of the giant Coca Cola Stage at Riverbend 2012 in Chattanooga, TN

Saturday, June 16, 2012 - For the last night of Riverbend 2012, we headed down the Tennessee River on the sweet hand-restored boat of our brother-in-law, Andy, to catch a little of the headlining show by local American Idol star, Lauren Alaina, and the always-awesome fireworks conclusion to the festival.  We picked up our sister-in-law, Paige, at the festival later on  as well as our friend, Elizabeth, for an enjoyable evening on the water.

Heading out from the Rivermont Boat Dock
upriver from downtown Chattanooga.

A beautiful evening was developing as we passed
under the Walnut Street Bridge in downtown Chattanooga

Let the fireworks begin!  An amazing site from the river.

The best vantage point for the Riverbend Festival's
signature "Waterfall of Fire"is from the water.

ROO 2012

IT'S TIME TO ROO THE DAY(s)!!

After taking a year off to enjoy a couple of music cruises instead of attending Bonnaroo in 2011, we were lured back to Manchester this year to this amazing music and arts festival that takes place in our own back yard.  It also helped that we had an open schedule around the time and that there was a decent line-up for the festival including a headliner we have wanted to see play live for a long time, The Red Hot Chili Peppers!

The crowds were back but the usual high temps and humidity were not so much.

Thursday, June 8, 2012 - Man, did we get in quick!  Unlike the nightmare of two years ago (7 hours in traffic and missed all the music on the first night), we slipped right into the Bonnaroo campground this morning and were set up before noon thanks to an earlier than usual departure from home and the fact that the campground now opens the night before.  Smart decision, Bonnaroo.  We had an easy camp set-up with some friends sharing our RV space.  There was Bridgette. who we meet here a couple years ago, and three young guys from Chattanooga:  Ryne,(the son of a friend of ours) and his friends, Jason and Gage.  We started the music-listening after lunch by catching a little funky bluegrass from the band, Rollin' in the Hay,  then it was off to see one our favorite regional rock bands, The Dirty Guv'nahs.  After dinner, we caught a portion of the show of a young rapper named Kendrick Lamar as we waited to get a good space to see that band after him and our closer for the night, The Alabama Shakes, a relatively new rock band on the scene with the amazing, old-soul lead singer named Brittany Howard (check out a little of the band and Ms. Howard's bluesy vocals in the clip below).


The boys from Knoxville played for a huge crowd under This Tent.



Friday. June 8, 2012 - We started the day just after noon with the hilarious comedic musical duo, Garfunkel & Oates, in the Comedy Theater (yeah, it's a tent).  Sadly it was only 15 minutes worth since these funny ladies were just one of three comedic performers in the set.  Later we got to hear a little of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings on the big What Stage just before The Avett Brothers took the stage with a huge crowd gathering to hear them despite the heat and no shade to speak of.  They were definitely the musical highlight of the day to us.  What a great band!  We even got a cool poster commemorating their show this year at The Roo.  Can't wait to see it framed and hanging in our home.  We then caught most of the set of The Infamous Stringdusters at our favorite small Bonnaroo venue, The Sonic Stage.  The big acts of the night were Foster the People and Radiohead, and we caught a little of both shows, but couldn't really get into either one.  Just not our kind of music, I guess.

The Avett Brothers perform before a huge crowd braving the warmest day at Bonnaroo 2012.
We are to the left about 40 rows back.  I caught this cool shot off one of the big TV monitors
they have set up on each side of the gigantic What Stage.
Below is a quick clip of one of their livelier tunes from our vantage point.

Saturday, June 9, 2012 - We got up this morning and got another quick dose of Garfunkel & Oates to start our day.  Still funny despite them playing three of the same funny ditties we heard the day before, albeit this time in only a 10-minute slot.  We did enjoy another 10-minute set beforehand by comedian and  amazing juggler, Marcus Monroe.  After splitting up for a little while, we met back up at the Miller Lite Great Taste Lounge, a smaller stage for up-and-coming bands where we found some actual rare non-grass seating (in comfy Adirondack chairs nonetheless) with some much-needed shade overhead.  While we relaxed there, we caught a good set by a young rock band out of LA called Cosmic Suckerpunch (great band name).  In between sets we could also hear (and "see" thanks to a big video screen next to the stage) the indie folk band, Blind Pilot, on the large Which Stage nearby.  Next up in the Great Taste Lounge was Wild Cub, a young band out of Nashville.  We left about halfway through that set to catch a few tunes by one of our favorite Irish folk and rock bands, Flogging Molly, in That Tent.  These guys should have been on one of the bigger stages because the crowd for them was huge (and raucous).  They sounded great, but we were so far back we could never really see them (see the short clip below for evidence of both of these facts). 

Next we moved past the main What Stage and heard The Temper Trap end their set with their biggest hit, "Sweet Disposition" on our way to Cafe Where (another tent actually) to catch Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, another great band name and the artists who easily won our personal award of "Best Newly Discovered Band at Bonnaroo 2012."  This nine- (yes, nine) member funk and soul band of young Caucasians (yes, white folks) tore up the place with some amazing sound (see the second video below for evidence of all three facts).  After a brief rest back at the campsite, we moved back down to the main What Stage to find our spot for the much-anticipated headliner we wanted to see most of all, the recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, The Red Hot Chili Peppers!  Beforehand, as we waited for TRHCP,we also caught about an hour of The Roots performing on the What Stage as well.  The Peppers were awesome to say the least.  Bassist, and band spokesperson for the most part, Flea, was genuinely honored to be on the stage and said so to the huge crowd on more than one occasion.  He also acknowledged his admiration of several other artists that he saw perform at the festival himself showing that he is not only one hell of a bass player, but also a real lover of live music which he also urged the crowd to continue to support.  We couldn't agree more.   With tired legs and sore feet, we headed back toward our campsite after the show, but did take time to catch a few tunes by the still-rocking, Alice Cooper, who started a set a midnight...yeah, he's 64, and it didn't seem to faze him a bit.  Talk about inspiration!  You go, Alice!!

This is technically an illegal picture (no photography in the Comedy Theater-
shhh! don't tell!!) of the great Garfunkel & Oates doing their funny, funny stuff.
Google them if you are curious and want a good laugh but be forewarned,
their stuff is NSFW and could offend some folks (but not the good folks).

Ahh, the sweaty youth of rock-n-roll.
Fabien Hameline (left) and Ari Welkom of Cosmic Suckerpunch push on through their first encounter
with Tennessee humidity.  Welcome to Bonnaroo, boys!

Kudos to Ashlee and her new Sony pocket-sized camera for this stunning
shot of The Red Hot Chili Peppers doing what they do best
as the Saturday-night headliners of Bonnaroo 2012.
We were close to the stage, but nowhere near this close.
Below is a quick sound clip of TRHCP from our true vantage point. 

Sunday, June 10, 2012 - The rain started in well after we got in from out long Saturday night at Bonnaroo and didn't let up until well into Sunday morning.  After much debate and consternation that morning, we decided to play it safe and get out of The Roo while the getting was good, and pass on the Sunday line-up which had some interesting acts we wanted to see, but nothing we couldn't live without.  Since we are already pushing the towing limits of our Honda CRV with the pop-up camper, we just couldn't risk the chance of getting stuck in mud and putting too much strain on the engine based on the forecast for the rest of the day calling for more rain and thunderstorms as well.  We reluctantly bid farewell to our camp-mates and headed home without incident.    But with music still in our heads and the images above and below still in our minds, we felt like we had definitely gotten our money's worth this year at Bonnaroo 2012.  More importantly, our faith has been restored in this festival after a rather tough time of it two years ago.  I can definitely say now that we will be back to ROO the day again!!

The 2012 Roo Crew  (Bridgette, me, Ryne, Ashlee, Jason and Gage)



Flower-power takes over the Bonnaroo aerial tower at night.



It's a truly "green" festival with recycling taken very seriously.

Free light show above the giant main What Stage courtesy of Mother Nature.

Our sweet campsite set-up with our pop-up camper on the left,
Bridgette's tent in the middle on the end, the boys' tent on the right
and our "common area" of chairs under a tarped awning in the front center.

Toddle-loo to the Roo...see you again real soon!

WAR-MIL-AMS: Days 6,7 & 8 - The Netherlands

Tuesday, May 22, 2012:
After having to fly back east to Warsaw and suffer a long layover, we headed back northwest
to Amsterdam as the sun was dropping in the west setting the dikes and canals that
The Netherlands are known for aflame in the reflection.

The payoff for the long day of travel was the view from our bed on the houseboat we rented
on one of the Amsterdam canals.  Simply awesome!
Here's a link if you are interested:
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p905374

This was the view to the right (or west) from our small deck on the houseboat. 
Since it doesn't get dark until 10 PM or so local time,
we still had plenty of time to enjoy the atmosphere.

This was our view to the left (or east) from our houseboat deck showing a couple
of the beautifulsmall bridges that connect the streets over the numerous canals.

"Dinner" tonight consisted of a walk around the corner to a great little grocery store
for three kinds of cheese,fresh bread, summer sausages and tomatoes.
I grabbed some high gravity beer and Ashlee sipped on some wine that the
lady we rented the houseboat from had left for us.
The ambiance on our deck could not be beat.

Completing our "Duck Trifecta" for the trip was "Chuck the Canal Duck" in Amsterdam as we named him.  He was quite the beggar for bread while we sat on the deck of our houseboat and in this shot I discovered him sitting on top of our houseboat one morning.  We were also visited by other ducks, coots (one we named Sylvia) and a swan in the canal while we sat our on deck, but Chuck was the definite mascot of our stay in The Netherlands.

Wednesday, May 22, 2012:  On our first full day in The Netherlands we took a day tour of Amsterdam to see some of the rest of this small, but beautiful country which is only the size of the state of Maine.




There used to be 10,000 of them in The Netherlands, now there are only
about 1,000 left.  Their purpose to pump water replaced by machinery.



Our first stop was the amazing FloraHolland, the largest fresh flower auction house
in the world.  This was actually a "slow time" for them since the tulip season
had just ended, but there are auctions every day on flowers from around the world.

Too bad this picture doesn't have a scratch and sniff option.

The drive through the Dutch countryside was similar to the scenes in Amsterdam, only bigger
houses, bigger canals and bigger boats.

We made a brief stop in Rotterdam, the country's biggest port which is filled with interesting
architecture including this extremely cool bridge over the bay.

Our next stop was The Royal Delft Pottery factory.  These guys are still hand-painting
all theirproducts just like they did when they started  back in 1653.  Beautiful stuff.

We had lunch and some time on our own in the city square of the town of Delft. 
We had a lunch that included some good beer and a Dutch traditional wurst sandwich
 that we learned later was actually horse meat...yeah,that's right, horse meat. 
We found a great cheese and chocolate shop as well where we tried a lot of free samples
to get the thought of horse meat out of our minds.

After a driving tour through The Hague, the political capital of The Netherlands,
we arrived at our last(and strangest) stop.  This place is known as Madurodam,
and it's basically a miniature versionof the entire country??  I
t's all automated and perfectly to scale and you walk through at your
own leisure and pace.  Pretty inventive and kind of weird...so yes, totally Dutch.

The kids love this place and Ashlee was no exception although she did have a lot of envy
as a Christmas Village addict herself.

Did we mention we really loved the houseboat we stayed on in Amsterdam?
Here's a shot of it from across the canal.  We were staying in the far left side.

Thursday, May 24, 2012:  Our second full day in Amsterdam was without much plan.  We wanted to explore the city - the good and the bad - the famous and the infamous and decide for ourselves what all the hub-bub is about this free-wheelin' city.

Did we mentioned we really love the canals?  Especially the more quiet ones away
 from the city centerand the touristy melee of the Red Light District.

We found a recommended little cheese shop called Reypenaer and signed up for an afternoon cheese tasting.  It was held in an actual classroom in the basement of the store and we were allowed to try five of their best products (as much as we wanted) and we were given red, white and port wines to try with them.  This is serious award-winning cheese.  All of it was delicious. Not a bad way to spend an hour in Amsterdam!



Yes, yes, yes, of course, we checked out the "seedy" side of Amsterdam.  We walked through "The Red Light District" and saw the ladies in the windows.  We walked through a few "coffee shops" and even talked to owner of one who was very interesting.  But once the curiosity is over, the sadness of basic human trafficking and the reality that people are spending whole days in these coffee shops wasting vast amounts of time and in some cases their whole lives makes the whole thing fairly unappealing.  Thank goodness for the canals, and the cheese and the warm bread from around the corner from our houseboat!!



Bikes, bikes everywhere!  This city lives on bicycles.  It's the quietest "rush hour" you will ever
experience at about 8:30 on a weekday morning as hundreds of people are pedaling in all directions
to get to their work.  Here's a shot of a

 few hundred bikes patiently waiting for their riders outside
the central train station one night.

The canals after dark are magical.  THIS is Amsterdam.