Sunday, September 13, 2009

tea party, Rosslyn Jazz Fest, and Mike Gordon

On Saturday I got a good night’s sleep for the first time in awhile and woke up a bit before noon. About that time I got a text from “DC Alert” saying a few streets were closed in DC because of thousands of protesters. The protests are always an amusing aspect of DC so off I went on my bike. Estimating the size of protests in DC is a notoriously difficult thing to do. The cops, Park Service, media, and the groups involved all have different opinions and have all been blasted in the past for incorrect guesses. So now the cops and the Park Service refuse to give any numbers. It was somewhere in the tens of thousands.

I saw a few people with protest signs in Arlington before I got across the river. I didn’t see much on the west side of the mall or at the White House but once I headed down Pennsylvania Avenue I ran in to the crowd. This was mostly an anti-government protest with people who drove and flew in from all over the country. Conservative groups did most of the organizing and no part of government was spared. Signs blasted Obama, public healthcare, taxes, gun laws, “big government” in general, the bail outs, and anything else you can think of. Signs compared Obama to Stalin and Chavez. Lots of people claiming the US was turning in to a socialist country. I thought it was interesting how many pro-capitalist signs there were after the financial collapse. Regulation? Must be a bad thing! And I’m a very capitalistic guy. Unlike most DC protests, which are mostly people my age, this one was a bit of an older crowd with families. Lots of little kids holding anti-government signs. A very white crowd as well. They filled up the west lawn of the capital and overflowed in to the streets and mall. It went on for most of the day. DC protests are always good for a laugh.


On my way back I stopped by the Rosslyn Jazz Festival. I wanted to see a jazz harmonica player named Frederic Yonnet as I’ve never heard a jazz harmonica player. At this time around 1:30 a sweet latin influenced band called The Spanish Harlem Orchestra was jammin’ and they were rocking out. People were getting down.


I ran home to shower, eat, and see if I could recruit someone for Fred Yonnet at 4:00. My friend Sarah, George Will’s neice, was game for relaxing at the fest. Somehow I managed to bike there with both my outdoor festival chairs. She biked down all the way from north DC. Apparently she had seen Fred play with Stevie Wonder last year. It was a cloudy day with a chance of rain and it wasn’t as packed as it was two years ago. Last year was rained out. They have food and beer and the show is broadcast live on the radio. Fred played pretty well. There were a few songs that weren’t my style but the solos rocked out. I enjoyed it. He ended his set with Georgia. Sarah and I boogied after that.

After the jazz fest it was time to see Mike Gordon at the State Theater. I’ve seen Mike play solo before years ago and wasn’t so impressed. He played at the 9:30 Club with one person accompanying him. It wasn’t the jam I expected. This was a completely different show. And the State Theater took on a different feel as well. There were more staff walking around then I have ever seen. For the first time we were searched upon entry. They took out all the table and chairs so they could fit more people. Mike had an acoustic guitarist open for him and he wasn’t bad. Then Mike came on with his quartet. They immediately rocked. Similar to Phish they had some sweet band dynamics and each musician played a key part. I’m sure it helped that I was rollin’ for the first time in years thanks to a friend of a friend who drove us there. There were no long spacey jams; just great rockin’ from all members of the group. It was upbeat with a groove you could get down to. The crowd was pleased.

Setlist:
Another Door
Andelmans' Yard
Emotional Railroad
Can't Stand Still
Spiral
Ain't Wasting Time No More* >
La La La*
Sound
Sarala^
Couch Lady >
15 Step
Only A Dream

Encore:
Sugar Shack
Taking It To The Streets

Show Notes:
* Allman Bros cover, Reid Genauer on guitar & vocals
^ Craig Myers original


No comments: