Blues and Brews: Serendipity and the Lizard

September 19, 2011

Part I: Friday

ser·en·dip·i·ty/ˌserənˈdipitē/

Noun: The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: “a fortunate stroke of serendipity”.

This weekend I truly experienced a serendipitous event. I was given the opportunity to cover the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival for San Juan Parent. I did some research prior to the event and figured out who/what I really wanted to see. Hats off to Steve Gumble and staff for creating one of my most memorable festival weekends EVER! So, I knew before the festival even began that I wanted to see Fitz and the Tantrums-do yourself a favor and check them out. They are a band from LA and they had so much energy, not to mention after the show they were signing autographs and they were quite possibly the nicest people ever to my 6 year old daughter.

Okay, okay enough about Fitz (there is more about them later).

Friday began with the Sugar Thieves, a band from Arizona. They kicked off the festival with a lively-get up and dance set.

Then OMG- Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights takes the stage- I thought I did my homework-but apparently I did not do it well enough-all I can say is that it’s like Lenny Kravitz met with the Black Crowes and out came Jonathan Tyler and his band. So much fun- I couldn’t stop dancing.

I thought to myself WOW- Blues and Brews is not holding back this year-way to go! Typically on Fridays, it is not terribly packed-the kids are in school-and it is fun for Mom and Dad to hang out and just take in the music and the people. So I looked at the schedule and who is next- Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band-oh yeah baby! We had the privilege of seeing this band a few years ago, SO MUCH FUN. Check out “2 bottles of wine” and “Mommas Fried Potato’s”, and ” Your Cousin is on Cops”, just to name a few. I mean with titles like those, how can you not have fun?

The kids were getting out of school and Fitz was coming on in 20 minutes. It was time to go into ”Mom mode” and run to the school and get the kids and have them walk really, really fast back to town park. They did it, and in walks my knight in shining armour-my husband. He takes the kids to the best play area around – the Blues and Brews Rainbow Kids area, while Mommy goes to see her band. They were so much fun and I danced a ton. Can’t get enough of the dancing!

I have to say I was a little leery of seeing Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa. I think I kind of missed the Frank Zappa era. Maybe it is my age, but clearly I was a minority. The crowd got super tight-and out comes Dweezil and his band and the crowd went crazy. Alright I thought, I will go with this and stay and watch. It was so different, but in a good way. I think the most enjoyable part for me was watching the crowd and their reaction to the music.

It was not quite at the end of Zappa that a flash popped into my head. The dog! The dog was at home and had been at home for the last 6 hours without being let out once. Normally you would think, alright that is a long time, but who cares, he can hold it, right? Actually, no – my dog is 13 and he can’t hold it-so I had to leave the show and race home. It was a good call. There were no accidents, but it gave me time to get myself together and get warmer clothes on and head back to catch the last show, The Flaming Lips. I have never seen anything like it! It was an experience, and I would go and watch them again.

Most of you would think my night ended there, but no, no it did not. My husband, being the gracious man that he is (partly because I could not find a babysitter and partly because I had to go out- I was working), stayed home with the kids while I went to my first ever Juke Joint night. Telluride Blues and Brews offers a Juke Joint Pass for $25, with this pass you can go to various venues to see bands that played in Town Park earlier in a much more intimate atmosphere. How to choose, how to choose. I am pretty sure you all have figured out that I went to go see Fitz and the Tantrums at the Historic Sheridan Opera House. I also of course took some girlfriends with me, because if I am staying up that late, I need some reinforcements. Juke Joints do not even open until almost 10:00 PM. When was the last time you went out at 10:00 PM? It has been many, many years for me, but it was oh so worth it. My friends had never been to any of the Juke Joints in the past, and they went with me because I promised them they would have so much fun, and did they ever. We danced, we sang and then danced some more. It was a late night, but so much fun.

Part II Saturday and Sunday:

I would love to make my life sound glamorous, but I woke up Saturday morning with a headache, stomach ache and really no desire at all to get out of my bed. Of course, being the Mom that I am, I did get up, made breakfast, walked the dog, drank copious amounts of coffee and went and ran a 4 mile race. No, I am not joking. Needless to say I did not make it back to the park until moe. came on stage. I can’t really tell you what I did during those hours prior to moe., but I can tell you it involved the couch and a lot of TV. moe. was great! Those guys absolutely had their groove on and it was rather enjoyable to watch, a little chilly, but very enjoyable. I did watch a few songs from Big Head Todd and the Monsters, who were awesome,

but alas my bed and my children were calling me home. Which in the end turned out perfect.

Sunday was beautiful! Beautiful in every way possible. There were hardly any clouds, blue skies were out in record numbers and I was feeling good. Which is good, but even if I wasn’t feelin’ good I was by the time Mavis Staples appeared on stage. For me, that show, my friends, was the entire weekend. Truly a gift to be able to be a part of that show. My new favorite day is Sunday. If Sundays can bring you Mavis, Eric Bibb and the glorious sounds of Marcia Ball, I will take Sunday everyday. Marcia Ball and her piano are a spectacular show for the ears, my can that lady jam. As I and everyone else in the crowd were still talking about Mavis, Marcia and Eric but who should appear but Robert Cray.

Robert Cray was phenomenal. I had heard him on CD before, but live, baby live. So good.

At this point and time I must comment on my children. For the entire Sunday they hung with us, listened to music and played with each other. During this time, my son found a lizard. This poor lizard, he was stuck in the mud in the middle of the park in front of some chairs. The best I can figure is that the lizard hitched a ride from Arizona or New Mexico on someone’s tarp and thought he had scored and was free, but totally changed his mind when he discovered he was in the middle of snow, rain and freezing temperatures. Well, thanks to “operation lizard rescue” we had hours of fun just playing with the lizard and listening to really fantastic music. It was a social gathering for many people, lots of people stopped to admire his lizard, he even had several offers of giving the lizard to someone else.

Now, I know what you are thinking, do I really want a lizard? No, no I do not, but really the lizard provided me and my children with much entertainment for an entire day. So, the lizard is now in my son’s bedroom along with the guinea pig. We are going to Moab next weekend, and I think we will take “Speedy” for a ride to the desert.

So as the day was winding down and we waited for Willie to make an appearance, my husband gave the kids a little education on Willie. I had to laugh, I think he (my husband) built this man up to be larger than life, and then he walked out on stage. My son, said “he has long hair mom, but he is singing Whiskey River which Dad told me about”. We listened to this amazing Americana music and I have to say, it was fun. Willie brought Trigger out, his trusty guitar and I felt like I was watching poetry in action.

What a great weekend! The reality is that school started again today and my week begins, but I will always remember this Festival as being the most fun for our family and for me. Thank you Blues and Brews!

Musicmama: One of musicmamas’s passions is music in all its forms. Based in Telluride and surrounded by excellent music, she is falling in love with new sounds every day. When not immersed in the the music scene, she loves to hang out with her two kids and hubby. Constantly surprised with what life brings to the table, the adventure continues with good music, food and family.