We had a blast at the ACLFest !! So much to see. literally hundreds of bands. It was overwhelming. I have tons of videos and pics to upload. Yea, I know, I am about 6 months behind, blah, blah, blah …

Hey - Better late than never, right??

 I will get on it and get the pics up first. I am in the process of changing my server for my videos. It was overwhelmed and needed upgrading so the vids will go up last.

FYI: We will be making a trip to Chiapis, Mexico in July if all goes well. I will keep you posted on that. Also, because we had such a great time at ACLFest in ‘07, we will be doing it again this September ‘08 !!

Well that’s it for now. I will try to do better about keeping things up to speed around here.

Be sure to check back when you can and watch for the ACL pics !!!

Later,

Chuck

I know a whole lot has been said about New Orleans and the hardships of the recovering city, but I am here to tell you that there is plenty to see and do and the city is coming back!!

We  started at the riverwalk where things are jumping. Lots of people from all over the world shopping and having a blast. The stores are all open and things look the same as always. An outsider would have no idea that this area was hit by such a devistating hurricane.

We spent most of the day there soaking in the fun and music of the 4th of July celebration! There were several live bands performing and they were very good. There was a mob of people so getting a good place to see and hear the groups was a bit of a challenge.

I had never heard of any of these groups, but they were all very good.

As you can see from the schedule, the music started at 3pm and went all the way up to time for the fireworks. I shot the fireworks on my mini-vid camera and it looks pretty good. I will be putting it up in our Video Gallery as soon as I sort through all the pics and vids we shot on this trip. I also have several videos of the music and that too will be up soon. I am slow, I know it. But I will get it all done very soon.

I will be posting more on our trip to give you all the details on where we stayed, where we ate, and what we did in the next couple of days. Check back. There is a whole lot more for you to read and see.

We plan on staying in the Uptown area first to take in the trolley ride, Zoo, Park and food. Lots of photos and video will be forthcoming. Then we will get into the French Quarter and enjoy the Riverwalk, Bourbon Street and all that goes along with it.

There should be a whole lot of music and we plan on having a ball of a time!

We will be letting you know…..

Later,

 We left Cozumel on March 19th headed for Atlanta (yes, we live in Cozumel - and yes, I know boo hoo, poor us). The air part of the trip was quick and we thought the arrival and passing thru Atlanta Airport would be also. We were so wrong. I doubt we will ever fly into the Atlanta Airport again as international passengers. We spent as long getting thru the airport as we did getting to Atlanta by air from Cozumel (3 hours). We had to go thru all the usual trappings of arrivals and when we thought we were done, the headaches really started. After passing thru Customs and Imigration, we and our bags  were headed for the door. Instead of an exit, there was a guy telling us we needed to put our bags on the belt for another scanning. Then he pointed to a mile long line of people going back thru all the scanners. We explained that we had just arrived, we were not transfering to another plane. He said it did not matter. We had to go thru the whole shoe removal and emptying of pockets as if we just entered the airport.

OK, after that headache, we proceeded to the car rental. We usually go with Dollar, but this time we tried Budget. We got a Dodge Avenger. I do not know how many of you have driven this car, but, as for us, we did not care for it. The car seats were hard as a rock. The visibility out the side and rear view mirrors was minimal at best. The rear end of the car sat up so high that you could not see what was right behind you. And if you turned to look out the back window, the sides of the car blocked your view. The stearing wheel had very little adjustment.

Now to be fair, it did get good mileage and had good power as well as a good stereo. The trunk was a nice size and you could let down the seats if needed. The A/C worked very well although the controls were a bit confusing.

We stayed in Atlanta our first night. The morning of the 20th we headed for Live Oak, Florida. The drive was about 5 hours.

 Once in Live Oak, we checked in to our room at the Econo Lodge.

Nice room, free wireless internet, mini-fridge, nice shower and TV. We had a Huddle House next to the hotel and a WallMart across the main street. The town is small. It is a typical small town. Not much to see or do except the Springfest.

 The 11th Annual Suwannee Springfest Guide 

Now, for the festival. The Meadow Stage was the main stage for Thursday. There was some stuff going on in the Music Hall, but the Meadow Stage had the fullest schedule. It was an easy day since things did not even start till 4 PM.

4:00pm - 5:00pm     David Gans
5:20pm - 6:20pm     The New Traditionals
6:40pm - 7:40pm     Seth Walker Band
8:00pm - 9:20pm     Ollabelle
9:40pm - 11:00pm   Bluegrass Underground
11:30pm - 1:00am   Donna the Buffalo
We were there the whole day. We did not leave till Donna the Buffalo wrapped up their set. That was a great day. No crowds. We were up front for all the acts. We did not get back to our room till about 2am.

Needless to say, we did not greet the sunrise. We managed to get over to Huddle House for breakfast at about 11am. We got to the park at about 1pm ready for Fridays’ entertainment.

We checked the schedule and decided that the Meadow Stage was still the best place to be for who we wanted to see. This is the Friday Schedule on the Meadow Stage starting at 2pm. There were other performers before Darrell, but we were slugs and did not get there early enough to see them.

2:00pm - 3:00pm   Darrell Scott
3:20pm - 4:20pm   Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
4:40pm - 5:40pm   Jorma Kaukonen & Roy Book Binder
6:00pm - 7:00pm   Ray Wylie Hubbard
7:30pm - 9:30pm   Donna the Buffalo
10:00pm - 11:00pm Joe Craven & Bobby Lee Rodgers Duo
11:20pm - 12:40am Dan Frechette & Friends
1:00am - 2:00am   David Gans & Friends

Be sure to check our Photo and Video Galleries for snippets of these entertainers. I will mention that the Duhks did not make it. They were represented by Tania Elizabeth.  She carried her weight. She is a great entertainer in her own right. Everyone was great. We stayed till the last. Another fantastic but long day. For us, there were many acts that we were not familiar with, but we enjoyed them all and decovered new musical interests.

Now for Saturday. Once again, we chose the Meadow Stage. We did not get there till about 1pm and we were getting hungry so we popped into the Music Hall for a bite. There was a variety of artists coming and going while we ate. Once we were done, we headed for the Meadow Stage. We took our time checking out the crafts tents and just doing some people watching. I also had to par-take of an iced coffee. I got hooked on those. Tastee !!

3:40pm - 4:40pm   Ollabelle
5:00pm - 6:00pm   Jim Lauderdale
6:20pm - 7:20pm   The Avett Brothers
7:40pm - 8:40pm   Blueground Undergrass
9:00pm - 10:00pm  The Lee Boys
10:20pm - 11:20pm Gandalph Murphy
11:40pm - 12:40am Seth Walker Band
1:00am - 2:00am   Big Cosmo & The New Traditionals Jam

I gotta tell ya: The Avett Brothrers, The Lee Boys and Seth Walker were our favorites that day. And Gandalph Murphy was something else, literally. A mix of Pink Floyd and Hillbilly music.

Sunday was an easy day. We sat up our chairs at the Amphitheater Stage at a little after 10am in the morning. The main body of performances took place there. The day was a short one also. Things were scheduled to end at 7:30pm.

10:00am - 10:20am     Tania & Kids Set
10:20am - 10:40am     Vassar Memorial
11:00am - 12:00pm     Verlon Thompson & Shawn Camp
12:20pm -  1:20pm     Bluegrass Set
1:40pm -    2:40pm     Jim Lauderdale
3:00pm -    4:00pm     The Lee Boys
4:20pm -    5:30pm     Tania Elizabeth & Friends
6:00pm -    7:30pm     Donna the Buffalo

To tell ya the truth, it was pretty much a free for all on stage. Everyboby jammed with everybody else. Don’t get me wrong, it was great, but you never quite new who was with who most of the time. The Lee Boys, as always, stood out. Same with Donna. Every set was a little longer than scheduled so the days entertainment did not end till almost 10pm.

There were several entertainers we did not see at all. There is so much going on that it is impossible to enjoy all the musical entertainers participating in the Springfest. We had a great time. Shot many photos and got alot of video clips. The pics are already up in the Photo Gallery. Be sure to have a look. The videos will be up shortly in our new Video Gallery Section.

Our return to Atlanta was uneventful as was the flight home to Cozumel.  We are very interested in doing this again, but we will probably do the Octoberfest next time. The weather might be a bit cooler then. It was a bit steamy in March.

Our next trip is New Orleans !! We will be there in a few weeks so stay tuned. Also we are booked for Austin City Limits Music Festival in September. That should be a blast.

In case I have not mentioned the stages before, here are the names:

Amphitheater, Meadow, Music Hall, Old Florida and The Spirit Stage.

Music started at 10am on Saturday and went till after 2am the next morning. Some of the performers we saw were Ollabelle, Jim Lauderdale, The Avett Brothers, Blueground Undergrass, The Lee Boys, Gandolph Murphy, Seth Walker and Donna the Buffalo.

Again as with past days, there were so many performers on so many different stages that it was impossible to see everyone. And there were some very interesting workshops that I would have liked to attend, but the music where I was kept me from leaving.

Sunday was a bit more relaxed. There were only 2 stages being used: The Amphitheater and the Old Florida Stages.

Sunday was Vassar Clements Day. If you are not familiar with VASSAR CLEMENTS, he was an incredible fiddler. The Amphitheater had a Memorial for him followed by several jam sessions featuring Verlon Thompson and Shawn Camp along with Tony Rice, Joe Craven, Jim Lauderdale and many, many more.

Also on the same stage were The Lee Boys and Donna the Buffalo.

 I must say that of all the talent, I think The Lee Boys and Donna the Buffalo got the most lively reaction to their performances. It has been a long time since I have seen such reaction from an audience to a set of performers. Everyone went wild for both of these groups. People were on their feet cheering and jumping up and down. The enthusiasm was very contagious.

The Old Florida Stage had a guitar workshop in the morning followed by Quartermoon and Sloppy Joe.

Sunday’s schedule was very light. Music started at 10am and the festival was scheduled to be over at 7:30pm but Donna the Buffalo ran over by an hour and a half. With the Lee Boys and Donna on the same stage, it really got crazy.

Since there is so much to tell about our trip and this festival, I will be writing a follow-up post that will cover the whole trip including hotels, car rentals, music and all other tidbits of interest. I will get to the Summary Post in the next few days.

Stay Tuned !!