On Saturday, we took Owen down to Brewworks for a birthday dinner. The waitresses all fussed over him and brought him out a cup of ice cream with a candle on it. Too bad Owen's not crazy about really cold foods like ice cream yet. (But Daddy enjoyed the ice cream for Owen!)
After walking around a while, we stopped into Brewworks for a nice, dry dinner. Owen really enjoyed his kids meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and veggies. He also had a great time climbing around on Daddy when he was sitting in the booth seat. He even planted a big kiss on Daddy's cheek because he was having so much fun. Mommy watched the kiss from across the table and said that it was so cute that it made her day!
After dinner, we went home to watch the fireworks from our sunroom. They've moved the location where they set the fireworks off slightly and we have an excellent view of the fireworks from inside our sunroom. A great way to end a long week of festing!
That night was our last babysitter night of Musikfest. We went out to watch Enter the Haggis (one of our favorite Celtic-rock bands) play at Volksplatz. The music was great - they played a great selection of their songs! It was a little crowded, and Kathleen had a little trouble seeing at times. So, we eventually retreated to the members section in the back of the tent, where we were able to relax and watch the show!
We had a nice lunch at Mama Nina's again, and then enjoyed a show by the Sarah Burgess Trio at Volksplatz. They're an Australian band that plays upbeat folk music - surprisingly good and lots of fun!
That evening, we walked around Musikfest with Owen and checked out a few concerts, including The Fabulous Shpielkehs (a klezmer band) at Volksplatz, Our Cousin, The Emperor (a country/rock band) at Main St. Stage, and the Eric Steckel band (local blues band) at Liederplatz. We also discovered a vendor selling grass-fed burger and fresh tomato salad, which was amazing!
Owen even made a friend while we were at Liederplatz.
We had another babysitter on Wednesday night, so Mommy and Daddy went out again to watch a few shows at Musikfest. First, we caught a little bit of Red Baraat, a Bhangra (i.e., Indian) brass band, that played some funky music with a dhol at Volksplatz. Then, we checked out a little of Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles (who play Austin-style country rock) at Americaplatz. Finally, we went to see Trombone Shorty play some excellent funk at Volksplatz - probably the best concert that we ever saw at Musikfest!
Red Baraat
Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles
Trombone Shorty
After that concert, we watched Scythian, who are Musikfest regulars. They play a nice hybrid of Celtic, gypsy, and eastern European music, and do an excellent job getting the audience involved with their shows. The highlight of the show was an accordion dance song that included bits of Biz Markie's "You Got What I Need", House of Pain's "Jump Around", and even Kris Kross's "Jump"! That's going way back!
Mommy and Daddy then had a nice lunch at Mama Nina's on Main Street. We were able to get a table outside, and we ordered our normal lunchtime order: a large Pellegrino, garlic knots, two dinner salads, and a garlic marinara pizza. It was all so delicious!! We were talking about it for a few hours later.
Later in the afternoon, we picked Owen up and took him for a walk around Musikfest. We stopped by to see a rockabilly band (The Headers) at Americaplatz. Owen and Daddy had a good time dancing around.
Then, we went down to see Scythian play at Volksplatz. Once again, Owen and Daddy had a great time dancing around to the band... it was a real party in the tent!
After that concert, we had a nice dinner at Brewworks, where Owen flirted with (and got lots of attention back from) his favorite waitress, Hilary. We then checked out a band called Rubblebucket at Volksplatz. They played a kind of funky dance music, and once again, Owen loved the brass instruments!
Saturday evening, we had a babysitter come over to watch Owen, while Mommy and Daddy went out to watch some concerts. We started off watching Spiritual Rez at Volksplatz. They were great - played some funky, reggae music! We also stopped by Americaplatz to see the Dirty Guv'nuhs, who sound a lot like the Black Crowes, and then, met up with one of Kathleen's co-workers, Evan, and his girlfriend. We had a great time hanging out with them, and caught a little bit of a concert by Brother Joscephus & the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra. They played some funky, jazzy gospel music - it was essentially a big New Orleans party! Phil had a good time dancing around to a song "Bury Me in New Orleans"!
Brother Joscephus & the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra:
We then took a walk around to a few platz since it was such a wonderful night. We ended up at Banana Island, where there was a funky jazz band playing (BD Lenz Group). Owen really loved the sax and the bass. He loves funk so much!
After checking out the jazz band, we headed back to Main Street to watch the end of the Fellswoop concert and we ran into some friends from the neighborhood. Owen and Daddy danced around with them to the music for awhile, and then we then stopped back at Liederplatz to check out a few minutes of the Three-Legged Fox concert before heading home for the night. It was truly a great first Musikfest night out!
