Yet another awesome weekend of music. Friday night I made the obligatory trip down to the Saint Pius X summer picnic. This was my grade school, and sits directly across the street from my high school, Seneca. When I was a boy scout at St. Pius, we had to park cars over at Seneca for the picnic. That wasn't too bad, except for the embarrassment of your friends seeing you working while they are across the street enjoying themselves. The real kicker was that every night, after all the drunks were run out of the parking lot, we were charged with the Herculean task of clean-up.

We had shovels, brooms, blowers, walk-behind Billy Goat vacuums, wheelbarrows and a backhoe. The parking lot was scattered with plastic beer cups, cigarette butts, and piles and piles of those little pull tab lottery tickets, each one representing another of the night's losers.

But there were no losers like us, the boy scouts sweeping the parking lot.

And so now I go back. I see a whole new group of kids parking cars. I don't knowany of the scouts anymore, not even the scout leaders. But I come back, and I see a few people I know and have a few short, polite conversations. I grab a brat and a beer and enjoy the crowd. But this year I don't really want to stick around. I eat my brat and down a couple of beers, just sitting at the edge of everything and watching. There's really nothing for me here anymore.

This year, however, I have other places to go. So I take off. I head down to El Mundo for the best darn fish tacos east of the Mississippi. I chase those down with a few Falls City beers (formerly made in Louisville, now made in Pittsburg). From there I head home. But on the way I notice that the band 'Roundabout' is playing up at Gerstles. I make it all the way home, but find myself drawn back out to see the band.

Roundabout is a vehicle for one of the most talented guitar players in Louisville; Chris Brandstat. The other members of the band were Brad Flood on Mandolin, Evan something on fiddle and I think another guy named Chris on bass. They rotated between Bluegrass, Western Swing and Django Reinhardt-style jazz. Every one of these guys is a potential star. I look forward to seeing them again on the 23rd at the Bluegrass Brewing Company's first ever "Bluegrass at the Bluegrass Festival" hosted by Bluegrass Anonymous.

Saturday found me driving north on I-65 once again. This time I attended the 36th Annual Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. Saturday started as such a beautiful day. But after a few hours of nice weather, the rain came. And it made itself comfortable, staying for several hours. If anything, it was a good test of the rainproofness of my recently acquired tent and hiking boots. I'm happy to report that they both passed the test with flying colors.

The music was fantastic. Some of my personal favorites of the day: JD Crowe and the New South Band featuring special guest and Louisvillian Mike Cleveland and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Ralph Stanley was also amazing, as always. After a long night of wandering from jam to jam, I slept like a baby. We stopped on the way back for a great and greasy truck stop buffet breakfast.

I had one long nap and a nice cookout visit with my dad today, and I plan on sleeping like a baby again tonight. All that music can take a little out of a man.

Posted 10:24 PM by Jackson Cooper |