Saturday night - A Letter

Dear Mr. Marty Stuart,

I believe the following may have escaped your notice, as per tonight's performance at the bluegrass festival. I submit it now for your consideration:

"Country" is not "bluegrass".

Thank you,
Ms. Kisha Yayer

Sunday morning

We had someone coming to see the Cavalier at 10:30 this morning. This person neglected to show up, but we were still forced to get up early. That was okay with me, as I was tossing and turning by the time it was morning anyway, but M is still pretty sleepy. Turns out that the battery is dead again. There's been some trouble with that since the wreck, which we didn't really have before.. but didn't really pay much attention, since it's just sitting up there, and cars don't like sitting. M realized today what the problem is. See, the trunk doesn't close anymore (as the C. was hit from behind and all). But the light in the trunk doesn't realize that, and it just shines until there's no battery. *giggle* Pretty funny, really.

Yesterday was actually pretty nice. We ddn't set up after all, but lazed around here until around two in the afternoon and then went up and watched the show and stuff until nearly midnight or so. We didn't stay for the entire Marty Party (as they were calling it) because M is utterly uninterested in country music.. see previous post. There were sooo many people there.. I'm guessing around 40,000. It's utterly unbelievable to be surrounded by so many people in such a way. I mean, sure, go to a concert and there are lots of people. But this is different. This is everyone at ground level, walking and standing and sitting and dancing. The main area is covered with lawn chairs. We had pretty good seats, actually.

Just two more things worth mentioning.

Dr. Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys were there playing. You should have heard the roar that went up when he sang O Death and Man of Constant Sorrow. There were two encores (though he himself was actually gone by then), both of them deserving the name, as the audience refused to stop cheering until they came back. (One encore is expected. Sometimes the people don't even leave the stage.) I heartily approved. The man is a legend. He's still touring at 75 years old and has released over 200 records.. and from what I understand, is a nice guy.

At the close of IIIrd Tyme Out's performance, they mentioned last year's festival, which began on Tuesday, September 11th. Most people come to this every year, so a lot of us received the news during the day by word of mouth.. people who'd be in their cars with the radio on. Everyone was supposed to be having a good time, but instead we were upset and angry and scared.. so our memories of Sept 11 are somewhat linked to the festival. Last night, they began the close of their act by singing a variant of God Bless America... and everyone stood. Standing there, among 40,000 quiet people was moving beyond words.