Yesterday I got an email from Mariner's Inn that Abbey Lane would be playing there that night, so Travalon and I decided to get a fish fry there while sitting outside and listening to the music. We got there just as the music was about to start, but they didn't have an open table for another hour, so we decided to get an appetizer at the bar and sit on chairs on the lawn until our table was ready. Travalon went to the bar, while I went outside to find a place to sit. To my surprise, Abbey Lane wasn't a Beatles tribute band but one woman playing the guitar and singing songs by women like Sheryl Crow. I told Travalon forget it, and we took our name off the list for a reservation and went to Bear and Bottle. We sat outside and had their coco limeade to start and walleye for dinner, then we went home and I talked to Tiffy. Travalon agreed that it was weird that the musician spelled her first name Abbey, not Abby.
This morning when I took a walk with my neighbor, I told her that the owner of Mariner's told me that "Abbey Lane's" real last name was some German-sounding one, and Lane was a stage name. My neighbor was of the opinion that this singer named herself Abbey Lane on purpose, knowing people would think she was a Beatles tribute band, so that more people would come to see her. I said I should just call myself Penny Fields in that case, and my neighbor said, "Right? It sounds like a real name." There is a shop in Galena that Travalon loves called Strawberry Lane, but it really does sell Beatles stuff, among other things. It's kind of a 60's nostalgia shop.
Travalon and I went to the East Side Club for their 100th birthday party. It was inside for some reason, but we sat where we had a spectacular view of the lake and the Monona Terrace. A local disco band had played there the night before for Dane Dances, and I wondered how crazy it had gotten. I had kind of wanted to see them, but we have seen them many times, and "Abbey Lane" sounded intriguing. The party was free pizza, free beer, and free cupcakes. I thought someone was going to talk about the history of the club, but nobody had started talking by the time we had to leave to get to my gig at the Ukrainian picnic.
I was feeling salty (as my neighbor put it) about the Ukrainian picnic gig, since it was forty-five minutes and unpaid, and Hardingfele had gotten it for us and then bailed on us. Nothing like volunteering other people's time! However, once we talked them into letting us set up on the shady balcony instead of out in the sun, my mood improved greatly. I was a bit buzzed from the beer at the birthday party, and I already feel less confident on the violin than the mandolin. (All these weeks I know the mandolin is just a piece of wood, but I imagined her being hurt that I kept leaving her at home when going to practice. "Don't you want me to come too?") It went fairly well, and Travalon made videos that aren't high enough quality to post, but I could hear that I was basically in tune. Afterwards, the bass player said I sound good when I play with confidence - I guess the first couple of songs I'd been sort of tentative. My understanding was that we would get tickets for free food in exchange for playing, but the organizer was busy introducing the mayor, who made a proclamation about Ukraine, so we just headed home. We were still full from the birthday party anyway. And nobody came up to me all excited to see my instrument after we'd played, because everyone has seen a violin before.
As if there weren't enough things going on today, someone I know was having pie made from berries from his garden that afternoon, but I told him I probably couldn't make it because of the gig. Technically we could have made it, but we were still full and didn't want pie. After the weather had cooled down a bit, we headed to Africa Fest, where we had missed the March of the Nations with all the flags, and our favorite food cart was sold out of baobab shakes. They still had jollof rice, thankfully. Travalon got dolmada from a different food cart, and I joined him there and got hibiscus punch, since the first food cart was out of all their drinks. We looked at all the clothing and jewelry for sale but didn't buy anything, then we went to listen to the bands playing on the main stage.
The first band was yet another iteration of a Mideastern band I used to play in. The last time I saw them, they had lost the singers and guitar player I played with but had acquired a cellist, who is now gone. Now they have a violinist and a French horn player, and they are doing a lot of salsa, but they did do a song I remembered playing with them. The lead singer is well past seventy and still dresses like she's twenty-two. The second band was an excellent reggae band called Sista Sensi and the Buds, and among other things they did a Peter Tosh song. The third group we saw was an African drumming group that includes the son of one of my bandmates, and we have seen them before. The last group was a band doing music from Mali, and one guy played a really interesting-looking stringed instrument that was like a cross between a harp and a banjo. I made a short video, but it's not really good enough to post. Travalon and I both liked the reggae band the best, but we appreciated that there was so much variety. This is a very family-friendly festival with lots of cute little kids running around, including some who were playing soccer with a very cute poodle. I kid you not, this dog was using his paws to move the ball around just like a soccer player dribbling. Everyone behaved well, and it was a happy vibe there. I love Africa Fest!
Famous Hat
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