Okay, I will accept that I am a terrible blogger but I've finally acquired the time, motivation and purpose for a post! This past weekend I took off from work so I could enjoy a series of music festivities and friends around my region of New York!
On Thursday I went to Trumansburg near Cayuga Lake (one of the longest in the Finger Lakes) for the Finger Lakes
GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance. It's a four-day long gathering of people of all ages, local artists, musicians, vendors and good vibes camping on the grounds. I was volunteering with the festival in the kids tent so I received free admission. I only stayed for the first two days with my friends Tucker and Eamon (who camped in the woods, rigging hammocks to trees under tarps) but I fell in love with the kindness and happiness of everyone there.
Working in the kids tent was really low-key, we were right next to one of the stages at the Infield and the kids were adorable! I'm not sure if it's just the nature of the type of attendees at GrassRoots, but these children were polite and actually knew how to share.
I manifested my inner hippy and wore long skirts, had my face painted, went bare foot in the mud, frisbee'd with random 12-year old boys, hula-hooped, twirled and danced and gave away bracelets made from the twisted bark of a basswood tree. No doubt, I will be attending this festival every summer as long as I am home. If anyone's interested in going, check it out, especially through volunteer opportunities!
I was really at peace there and having a good time, but alas, I had to leave because Saturday harked for another musical opportunity. I spent the afternoon down at Keuka Lake and went swimming and boating, then met up with more of my housemates and friends from college. We went to the South Wedge district of Rochester (it's a trendier area catered for those under 30) for Boulder Festival! It was a Friday through Sunday event sponsored by Boulder Coffee Company, right in their back parking lots. It was filled with craft makers, vendors, wood-fired pizza, pink liqueur, fancy coffee drinks, smoking hipsters from around the area and two petite stages. So I skipped out on the rest of GrassRoots to see Saturday's headliner, my faaavorite band, Rubblebucket!!! Their music is quite fantastic to listen to, but their concerts are a whole new experience. Yes, I have total groupie status and I was shamelessly singing and dancing so hard in the front row their entire show. We were literally a foot from the lead singer, Anakalmia, whom I also have a girl crush on-- she's amazing!
My goodness, it was one of the best shows I've been to. I was electrified with joy to be right there with my friends and Rubblebucket on a spectacular night, and it only cost $5! This was my fourth concert and they just blow me away every time. The band even came into the crowd and danced with us, and we talked to the trumpeter Alex for a while when we were on our way out. They are hard-working, quirky people who are truly dedicated to their fans and craft. Alex described how they've been touring strenuously since January (which I also saw them then in Rochester!) but they are almost finished with a new EP. After they take a break at the end of August they'll be back throughout the Northeast this fall... I can't wait! And the hype is well deserved,
they played on Jimmy Kimmel last Wednesday (they're part of Artists against Fracking)!!!! Haha, I hope you can feel my excitement burning through these webpage pixels because I am absolutely thrilled for Rubblebucket and the credit they are receiving.
I noticed that the keyboard/synthesizer is really pronounced and Kal has a lot of makeup on (must be a tv thing, she usually is natural), BUT otherwise this performance is pretty accurate to the type of show Rubblebucket plays! The streamers, dancing, crowd surfing and all! No giant robots, unfortunately. They also played their single, "Silly Fathers."
Afterwards, we drove alllllllllll the way back to the Finger Lakes to a beautiful cottage on
Keuka Lake. More star gazing, bonding, and bluebuerry-eating ensued. The next morning we went tubing and boat riding before a very reluctant departure. Nonetheless, I spent the evening with some of my favorite friends from high school at a long-overdue dinner party together.
I basically had the best Thursday through Sunday in a while. I should post about San Francisco, though, that was a pretty fantastic trip from June. I hope you're taking care, this summer is whirling by!
Listening: Rubblebucket, duh.
Oh, and the new Ed Sharpe CD that I mentioned a few posts ago is amazing! Amazon offers the mp3 download for cheaper than iTunes. I definitely recommend it.
These are only photos from Friday night! Saturday was more outrageous because our hosts at McGill University rented out a club for all the teams in the tournament.
There was a lot of nudity-centered antics, but hey, who's to expect less from a group of 18-21 year olds who are hammered the entire weekend.
It was an epic bonding experience, to say the least. Although we weren't the most eccentric team there, the frisbee culture proves to be a band of raucous misfits, and we were no exception.
