blue monday & the feathers

What a weekend! Saturday was the 350 show and it was an all-day event for me. I got up super early to get dressed and upload photos but it took much longer than I expected it to so I couldn't go shopping like I had planned.

K and I headed out to my parents' house for rehearsal around noon and got there at 1 pm. We played for a while and then all drove out to my old high school to set up for the performance (which would commence promptly at 3:50 pm).

Without our usual sound supervisor (my mother), my father struggled to get the equipment working in a timely fashion. We weren't able to do a sound check and because we were the first group to perform our set was a little shaky at first (at least the few songs I sang on).

However, things started to smooth out and the show was a smashing success. K and I stayed for all 350 minutes (nearly six hours!), and although my seat was a little sore after all that time, it was definitely enjoyable. There were some really great acts--it's incredible how many talented people populate these green mountains. It's probably because there isn't a whole heck of a lot else to do around here, so people have time to practice & learn an instrument.

Although banjos and fiddles were the most plentiful by a landslide, other instruments appeared in a variety of forms: concertinas&accordians, upright bass, coronet&ukelele (one of my favorite acts, the "Plank House Band"!), harmonica (an incredible performance by the prodigious Jan Meese)...one man even played the saw!... and of course your standard-issue guitars. The supreme vocal stylings of Andy Gagnon were a reminder to everyone that the voice is perhaps the most powerful instrument of all (and that he is much more than just a drummer)!

My friend S played some of her original songs which are awesome... I wish I could link to her website so that everyone could hear them but she doesn't have one (yet).

As far as 350 fashion goes, plaid was overwhelmingly influential. Most of these people looked like they had just rolled in out of the forest where they had been chopping firewood for the past few hours (some of them probably had been!). The members of my family were no exception.

All-in-all, it was a great show for a good cause. Well done, dad!

The next morning, however, starved for shopping, I drove to the other side of the state for some good old-fashioned consumerist fun. I ended up buying a LOT more than I had intended because a trip to Michaels for some Halloween-costume feathers turned into a $50 spree when I discovered their fantastic pendants and decided that some DIY necklaces were definitely in order.

A trip to TJMaxx for a brown shirt to sew said feathers to turned into $109 in tights (exhibit A above... exhibits B, C, D and E to come), a sweater, a holiday-red thermal and this new plaid dress (maybe the logger-style rubbed off on me a little bit...). Oh, and a brown shirt, on which I am sewing wings and feathers for my Halowleen costume. Did you catch that sneaky trick? If not, all will soon become clear...

TONIGHT: Andrew Bird and St. Vincent at Higher Ground!