Summer 2002 Travels
6/7/02
Ithaca Festival Wind blew across Cayuga Lake and into Stewart Park for the Sunday finale of the 2002 Ithaca Festival. We arrived under gray skies, but the sun burned off the clouds and crowds came to celebrate the arts and the community of this colorful college town.

Sunday evening we drove back to Boston through the green rolling countrysides on Rt 88 as the day slowly loosened its grip on the summer sky. Towns line the river in the sinuous valley, and railroad tracks link the sleepy towns.

 

6/15/02
Lamp Thursday night we played at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, PA. Bethlehem has struggled since Bethlelhem steel mill closed, and its strange to see this factory as big as the town sitting there boarded up and empty. We enjoyed sharing the night with Andy and Denise. We caught up with a friend we hadnt seen for a while. He and his wife did a beautiful job renovating their house, and their hard work made for a beautiful home. It was a very sweet house - I especially admired the stained glass lamp in the sitting room.

' Juggling We played the Clearwater Festival again on Saturday, June 16. The grays skies held off from raining. Our set was fun. An expert ASL interpreter, Jody, signed while we sang - I am impressed that the festival organizers for Clearwater and Falcon Ridge make an effort to ensure their events accessible to all. Clearwater is definately the "best dressed" festival we've been to yet. The site is right on the Hudson, and they hang banners and have an activist area, craft area, dance tent, and juggling ring, as well as music and puppet-theatre spaces.

I re-met a friend from college, Kate. Kate and her husband bought land in New Paltz and have a Community Supported Agriculture Farm (www.flyingbeet.com). They work 7 days a week spring summer and fall, and take a few weeks off in the winter. They seemed happy though, and are loving famring and being a part of the community in New Paltz, NY.

That evening we traveled down to Nutley, NJ and played at the Hillside Cafe, then played an outdoor show in Burrilville, RI before heading home.

 

6/24/02
Friday, June 21, we traveled to CT to play at the Acoustic Cafe. Rich, the cafe owner, has made this place into a sought-out venue in the southern CT/Bridgewater area. We shared a fun show with Louise Taylor.

Saturday we traveled to Taunton, MA to play at the Silver City Music Festival. Steve runs a coffeehouse called the Dessert Club, in a beautiful room in this historic church. He told us that this church was built when Taunton was a big "Silver town" (hence the festival name).

Sunday we released our new album Clearwater at Club Passim. We had a very full house, and got 3 encores - our first 3 encore show!! We had such a wonderful time!

 

7/9/02
Anthem We got a chance to sing the national anthem for the Red Sox game on Sunday July 8, 2002. Its the biggest crowd we've sung for yet, over 33,000 people. It was fun!

 

7/15/02
The landscape opened up into green mountains and valleys en route from Boston to Vermont. The land is ocean, rising and falling as the road weaves by the shimmering rivers. This is when the northeast sparkles with emerald gardens and silvery lakes. Vermont's layout tends towards small town centers (Burlington and Rutland being the notable exceptions), farmhouses, and open space.

We traveled up to South Strafford and played at the Full Moon Cafe after a pot-luck dinner. we watched the sky slip into evening's gentle blue light. We stayed with a friend who started a non profit to help connect young readers with mentors called "Everybody Wins! Vermont" (learn more at their website.

Music box Rt 91 took us further north to St. Johnsbury, where we joined Rt 15 to 14 to Craftsbury. Craftsbury Commons hosts Sterling College, a small ecologically-oriented Junior College. The whole commons is white wooden houses with dark green shutters.

The Music Box was a piano workshop before the owner/piano restorer passwed away. Our friend Lisa bought the building and turned it into a performance venue. We played at the very first show in July of 2000. In those two years Lisa has turned this venue into a destination for artists and listeners alike.

House We visited a friend who lives "off the grid" in a solar and wood stove heated house in the woods. She grows most of her food and lives without electricity. Her garden is beautiful.

 

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