Ahhh....
A big breath of relief after a great weekend that was much needed by yours truly.
A few weeks ago I got an email from Liz & Dave, some old friends of my Wilmington days. They live in VA now, and are connected with a group of folks who throw a private mini-festival at their farm. They get a few groups to play, have a potluck, everyone camps out, and it's a fun little throw-down. This year, Keller and the Keels were playing. Needless to say, I was excited to get an invite to this exclusive little shin-dig!
It was a big weekend for Orion, too, as it was his first sleepover at Grandma's house! Saturday morning we packed up the Subaru, dropped Orion off with Jo Ann, and headed 4+ hours to north VA. We gave our names at the gate (guest list only - how cool are we??) handed over our $20, and rolled in to park on the grass near the barn. We set up our tent (leaving about 2/3 of what we packed in the car - no need for the camp kitchen or screen tent!) and got ready for a good night of music.
Only down note was the appearance of Patrick, that jerk of an ex boyfriend of mine. I swear, D.C. is not far enough away - I keep running into him at events that should be no-worries, all-fun. His presence adds a terrible awkwardness to everything. And this was too small to avoid him. Oh well.
We went up to the barn and took part of the massive potluck, sitting down to eat just as Keller came up to do a sound check. He sang "More Than a Little" for us while we ate. That was awesome enough - but then Russell had the genius to call out, "Keller, have you eaten?" "No!" "Do you want a plate?" "YES!" and off ran Russell to fix a plate for Keller! He took it backstage and got to shake the man's hand. Good for him!
Following dinner we had four sets of Awesome music to enjoy: Keller with drums and keyboards backing him up first, and man did they jam it out! Serious funk-dance set with a lot of my favorites, including "Golden Years" by David Bowie, "Scarlet Begonias>Stayin' Alive" and "Victory Song". What a set! He was so close to us (we were front-center dancing like fools) and he even asked us to help him remember the second verse to a Dead song mid-set. Man I love that KW! After the set, I asked if I could have the song list and he gave it to me, right off his mic! Another little something to add to our growing "Keller shrine" (as Russell calls it).
Then the Keels with Natural Bridge played, then Keller with the Keels, then an all-out jam with everyone involved. It got very reggae late night and was super fabulous!
During that last set we were once again close to Patrick and his girlfriend Rebecca in the crowd. Tired of the weirdness, I decided to make a peace offer and walked over to say hi. He was obviously not happy to be talking to me, but she certainly was. We ended up hitting it off and talked animatedly for a bit before I left them to their devices.
After the show, we went back to the tent and decided to skip the late-night partying and get some sleep. Despite the neighbor in the nearby tent snoring like a bear, the folk a few yards off blasting dub-step techno music, and the general ambiance of late-night campers, I passed out and slept till 8am. Beautiful!
We hopped up to pack up and get on the road... At which point Rebecca came back over to chat some more. I always find it amusing when the new flame of an ex ends up being an interesting person to me; guess it makes sense that we'd be similar and have plenty to talk about. She seemed really nice, super smart, and talented - a playwright, even! Too bad for her, dating him... I hope he manages to get past some of his personal hang-ups before he wastes her time and energy like he did mine. He certainly didn't seem to have dealt with any of his baggage in relationship to me. And he still looks like hell. Oh well! The best revenge is to live well, and I've certainly done that. Not so sure about him!
In any case, that didn't dull the weekend for us at all. I've always dreamed about seeing KW in a small venue again, where we could actually get some good face time with him. He's still our most favorite musician! I love his vibe - so chill, so humble, so ridiculously talented. He plays set lists right out of my head... Thank goodness for the good vibes!
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