The Sassjoy Forums

[LeeP]

Hello Everyone,

The 2010 Three Rivers Arts Festival wrapped up last weekend, and we got to see some good free performances at Point Park. I'll discuss those in a moment, but first I'll mention that Suzanne and I got to see Sam Bush and his band perform with songwriter Jeff Black at the Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio, on June 4, 2010. Here's a picture I took of Sam Bush playing a Gibson F-5 mandolin:


As many of you may know, Sam Bush is considered to be one of the fathers of New Grass Music. This style, rooted in bluegrass and named after Sam's old band New Grass Revival, takes the musical genre farther than the traditional song structures and imports various styles into the mix, such as jazz, contemporary singer-songwriter folk and rock, to create a progressive and more modern form of pickin' and grinnin'. Other examples of this genre include Tony Rice and Peter Rowan, Béla Fleck, and the Yonder Mountain String Band, to name a few. The main advantage I see with this type of music is that it can include the classic traditional songs, but is not limited by them or to them. This expands the repertoire and opens up seemingly endless eclectic musical possibilities. So, I like New Grass as well as Bluegrass.

Not only was Sam really nice in person, but he met with people out front before the performance as well as after the show. We got three old records signed as well as an old New Grass Revival CD, two Béla Fleck albums that Sam plays on (ones we had signed by Béla at the 2005 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island), a poster advertising the Kent Stage performance, and Sam's latest CD (Circles Around Me). Sam, of course, is a virtuosic musician of great skill. Sam's band was excellent too, especially the banjo player, Scott Vestal, and the guitarist and backup singer, Stephen Mougin. Todd Parks played bass, and Chris Brown played drums. These guys really help push Sam to the limits of his musical abilities. Songwriter Jeff Black opened the show, and he played guitar and sang on a couple of songs with Sam and the band near the end. Overall, it was a very good performance. If you would like to see some more pictures that I took of this show, click here.

Now I will discuss the Three Rivers Arts Festival, which takes place here in Pittsburgh every June (since 1959). The musical performances held in Point State Park are free and open to the public, and there are some good names on the roster too. The first free performance we saw was the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on June 6, 2010:


The Dirty Dozen Brass Band play funky New Orleans jazz and fusion in a soulful and celebratory fashion. The crowd danced and pranced around while the band played, and it was a really good time. The group consisted of the following: Roger Lewis - baritone sax, Kevin Harris - tenor sax, Efrem Towns - trumpet, Gregory Davis - trumpet, Kirk Joseph - sousaphone, Jake Eckert - guitar, and Terence Higgins - drums. To see more pictures that I took of this performance, click here.

On June 11, 2010, we got to see legendary songwriter Kris Kristofferson perform for free at Point State Park. This was a real treat, and Suzanne and I had good seats too. Kristofferson played many of his classics, such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "Help Me Make It Through the Night", "Sunday Morning Coming Down", "Darby's Castle", "Here Comes That Rainbow Again", "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends", "I Won't Mention It Again", "For the Good Times", "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)", "From the Bottle to the Bottom", "Billy Dee", "Jody and the Kid", "Nobody Wins", "The Silver Tongued Devil and I", "To Beat the Devil", "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33", "Jesus Was a Capricorn", and others. These songs are good, and they still resonate today. Kristofferson apologized for his voice and for being old repeatedly, but the crowd said he was fine and cheered him on. The songs shined through, as did Kristofferson's good personality. There's an honest and true quality about him and his songs.

Here are two pictures I took of Kris Kristofferson performing on June 11, 2010:




Justin Townes Earle opened the show, and here's a picture I took of him:


I thought Justin Townes Earle was pretty good. He's the son of Steve Earle, and he was partially named after Townes Van Zandt, so he has some big names to live up to, perhaps, but I thought his voice was really good and his songs aren't bad either. He really attacked the strings of his guitar, sort of like how his father does. Suzanne and I got to meet Steve Earle on July 17, 2009, and he was a really cool guy. When I heard that Steve Earle's son was opening for Kris Kristofferson at the Three Rivers Arts Fest this year, I knew that I had to be there to see it, and I wasn't disappointed. It was a good show, and I'm glad we went. To see more pictures that I took of Kris Kristofferson as well as Justin Townes Earle performing on June 11, 2010, click here.

On June 13, 2010, the last day of the arts festival, Suzanne and I went down to Point Park to see Patty Griffin perform with her band. Suzanne likes Patty Griffin, and I think Patty is all right, so we went. Her band was good, and the sound got better (there were some slight issues with audio adjustments and levels early on). It's clear she's trying to do the Bonnie Raitt thing with the soul songs and whatnot, but she's not bad at it and her voice seems to fit that style. Suzanne thought that Patty played too many songs from her new soul album, and would've liked to have heard more from her previous albums. Nevertheless, her band was good, and it was an entertaining free performance. Here's a picture I took of Patty Griffin:


Griffin's band consisted of the following: Doug Lancio - guitar, backing vocals; John Deaderick - hammond organ, keyboard, backing vocals; Frank Swart - bass; Marco Giovino - drums. To see more pictures that I took of this performance, click here.

My mom and dad visited on June 15, 2010, and we went to PNC Park and saw the Pirates lose 6 to 4 to the Chicago White Sox. We should've waited to see the Pirates beat the Cleveland Indians last weekend, but then dad and I would've been rooting for different teams, so it probably was better this way. It was a good game though. And, beforehand, Suzanne and I took my parents to Kassab's on the South Side, and they tried their first falafel. They liked it, of course, because Kassab's is a good place.

Though my dad is retired, he keeps busy and has fun working with wood in a shop in central Ohio, and he brought us a neat little wooden candy bowl that he made. Also, my mom makes baskets and quilts, and she brought us two baskets she weaved (one is a waste basket, and the other is a pen and pencil holder).

First, here's the candy bowl that dad made:




And here are the baskets that mom made:


On Saturday, June 19, 2010, Suzanne and I went up to Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, to a Greek Food Festival at the Kimisis Tis Theotokou Greek Orthodox Church. There we tried all sorts of food, some of which we had never tried before (or tried to pronounce before either). Of course, most people know about gyros and baklava, but perhaps not everyone knows about spanakopita, moussaka, dolmades, diples, bougatsa, galaktoboureko, kourabiedes, and loukoumades. The spanakopita is excellent (spinach and feta cheese wrapped in phyllo pastry), and so was the moussaka (eggplant sautéed in olive oil and layered with ground lamb and spices). The kourabiedes are really good butter cookies, and the loukoumades are excellent deep-fried doughnut balls soaked in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. They also had some Greek booze: ouzo, an anise-flavored liqueur, and metaxa, a blend of brandy and wine. We tried both, and preferred metaxa.

So far we've had a pretty good summer (though yesterday was officially the first day of summer), and hopefully there's more fun to come.

Take care, and I'll write more later,

- Lee