Boy o boy was Sunday a better day for us in Rhode Island. We decided to spend the afternoon in town, walking the streets, hopping in and out of stores and having a delicious lunch (lobster pizza with roasted red peppers, green onions and a lobster sherry sauce in place of tomato sauce – yum!). We knew we would miss some terrific music, Calexico specifically, but we wanted to give the kids a break and see something else up there. What a great idea! The girls, which for this weekend included my 10 year old niece, had a very enjoyable day. My niece asked to come along for the ride while at my parents on Friday night, battling with her parents for the right to go away with her uncle, aunt and two cousins. I couldn’t say no, figuring it was a cool chance to expose her to some different music and a new kind of traveling experience.
We arrived at the Festival at 4:10 exactly, just in time for the start of Levon Helm’s set. Then we headed over to the medium-size Harbor stage for The Avett Brothers who have just launched themselves into my top 5 favorite bands. Holy crap what a great show! They played a song that, as it turns out, has been around for a while in their live shows but just recently made it on to a record, their new, quieter affair called The Second Gleam. It’s called “Murder in the City” and it’s amazing. Check out the brothers performing it a few months ago in Atlanta.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HysLT0ueJck&hl=en&fs=1]
We then headed back to the main Fort stage for a full-fledged Parrothead event as Jimmy Buffet closed out the 2008 Newport Folk Festival. My niece finally got to hear some stuff she actually heard before, as her parents are big-Buffet fans.
Back at the hotel, we ordered a pizza and the mouse wore the bear’s underwear on her head. That’s it.