California, PA in the rain. Jozart is one of the finest places to watch storms from. So Lovely – huge windows showing stalking lightning and sheets of rain thundering down from the sky. A beautiful night.
Today I heard my first cicada of the year. It whined on like some horrible invasion and then vanished, embarassed when no-one joined in. That, to me, is the sound of summer – especially here at home. I feel sort of like those sounds and sights are coming a little early this year – I associate locusts and cicadas and even fireflies with something more of an August flair, but who’s to know? If I don’t write it down I’ll forget it.
Remember? This year I saw my first firefly at College Perk while on stage at Perkapalooza.
Kimmy poses and Alex practices at Jozart Studios in California, PA. They’re both such very pretty people. If he had a million dollars, he’d be rich. To the left you can see my poor broken Seagull. I’m back to playing my Takamine for the moment (that night i played Bish’s Tak, as can be seen here – http://arghyle-steward.livejournal.com/32284.html) because I’ve truly ripped my guitar asunder. I’m shopping.
Life is good. A couple of interesting things recently, some private, some public. I totally ripped my Seagull apart in Illinois and have been begging, borrowing, and occassionally stealing guitars…. well, actually, I’m mostly playing my old Takamine, which means Heather’s playing her old Yamaha, which means neither of us are all that happy. Still, with the new CD out and some pretty decent gigs in place, I have high hopes of replacing my guitar soon. Heather and Rowan and I are going to go compare the two I’ve got in mind tomorrow evening. I’m looking at an Alvarez up in Reisterstown at this great little shop called Reisterstown Music Center – best price I’ve seen on them anywhere… and then I’m looking at this Breedlove Atlas at Rowan’s House of Musical Traditions. I want to see if I can compare them ight up next to one another, and I’ve got to try them plugged in and whatnot, and of course take a really careful look at how they’re braced. I’m learning… slowly… slowly…
Our friend Lauren demonstrates her nimbleness at the Mountville Folk Festival in Mountville, VA. A Lovely festival on a Lovely day. The rain and the steam comes and ruins my hair and makes me sticky and make me slow, but Lauren can still demonstrate anti-gravitational capacities. We spent a lot of the day petting her short shorn non-locks.
Last Saturday, Rowan and Heather and I played at the Mountville Folk Festival – we had a great time, and it was one of the first times i felt really embraced by any of the folk communities we’ve brushed past. Of course, I’m totally aware of the fact that alot of that has more to do with my attitude rather than any actual alienation, but I’m naturally moody and kind of weird about groups of people, and unwilling to be quite as… HAPPY as all these folkies seem to be! It’s totally a self-fulfilling prophecy and I’m trying to be less vocal about how I often feel I don’t fit in. It’s a little statement that veritably deserves its very own violin.
In any case, I’m Loving Life – the thunderstorms are electric and wonderous, and I’ve gotten to spend some good time with Rowan. There have been good gigs and I’ve got a new penpal who’s an absolutely exquisite writer. Tomorrow I go guitar shopping and that’s just ALWAYS fun. Twrr.
Andrew McKnight on the above, host of the Mountville Folk Festival. He’s rockin’ out with Doug Brouder as an Incredible Ocassional. Above, Tinsmith. They are such Lovely creatures.
Doug Brouder and some more Incredible Ocassionals at the Mountville Folk Festival in Mountville, VA. It was cool to finally see Doug play, as i’ve been talking to him via email for almost a year (I did his CD artwork) and I was really startled by just HOW apealing he was on stage. Here’s a guy who’s an excellent performer, good at playing with the audience and good at interacting with his band. I was really impressed.
Erik Balkey kept whacking me in the back of the leg with a ball till I came and played soccer with him. It was cute!
