Anything's Possible

You only live once.

One of my favorite bands, Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS), was playing at a music festival in the Netherlands.  And some other bands and musicians I really liked were going to be there too.  In a conversation with Chris, I said, "I'd be stupid not to go" (even if I was by myself).  His response, "I'd be stupid not to go with you."  Five minutes later, he had a ticket to fly to Germany so we could enjoy the some of our favorite bands.

The Take Root Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands was indoors and began at 4 pm.  Given that the theme was "Americana" and included a lot of bluegrass, I was looking forward to what the Dutch and other Europeans would decide as the appropriate dress.  I know someone who saw OCMS in Scotland and he saw a lot of overalls, flannel shirts, and hats.  I didn't see any overalls, but there were a few cowboy shirts, and one guy who wore what he probably thought was a cowboy hat, but was really a hat from the Australian outback.  An A for effort, though.

Even if you don't like bluegrass, you have to appreciate how amazingly these people can play a guitar, fiddle, banjo, or mandolin.  And you can tell they love doing it.

OCMS was awesome.  We were right up on the stage.  And later, Chris and I met Cory, a member of the band, who called me "darlin."  He's the one with the cap, second from the right.




Chatham County Line was a band we'd only listened to on iTunes and they were amazing in concert.  At the beginning you can see us right up against the stage on the left hand side, next to the guy in the white hair using his camera to video.



Dave Rawlings Machine and his wife Gillian Welch were beautiful and members of OCMS joined in with them too.

Crocodile Rock

Elton John was playing on the lawn in front of the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden Tuesday night. I decided over the weekend to invite people over for a cookout and then to walk down to listen to him, since it's just down the hill from my house. There were 9 people, including one newborn and one 3 year old. I cooked brats on the grill and we sat outside on my back patio. I really enjoyed having people over, especially now that I have furniture inside my house making it no longer embarrassing. I had a really good time and look forward to having people over again soon.

Justin and Melissa, who just got to Germany last week, and LukeKim holding Carrie's baby EmmaJack, Kim and Brian's son, who hated that Kim was holding a baby.Pete and KimBrian and Naymar

I tried uploading the several videos I took of the Elton John's concert that we could hear, but they're not uploading. I could hear the concert from my house and it actually sounded like he was inside my bedroom, because the sound was bouncing off the buildings behind my place. He sounded great.

Walking to the concert.

Peeping through the fence and the covers, we could see the crowd and sort of the see the jumbo screen.There he is. A little blurry, but zoomed as far as my camera would go, stretching high above the barriers just to get a shot.

Next adventure...the bulls in Spain, starting July 10th!