The Summer Of Fun Rolls On

The wife and I went to the New Boston Blues Festival on Saturday.

What a magnificent day.

The weather was perfect. Deliciously warm, nice breeze. The surroundings are beautiful - nestled in the woods, so to speak.

We went primarily to hear the James Montgomery Blues Band, and the Skip Philbrick Blues band.

Montgomery was disappointing. He was the headliner but his slot got moved to the middle of the afternoon because he had to go to another gig that night.

He didn't play much blues. He covered The Stones, played some fifties stuff and other things, but, man, we were there to hear him wail the blues.

He even started "Same Thing", a deep, bluesy Muddy Waters song........and stopped a couple of bars in - said they were going to change it up and play it ZZ Top style.

What?

James Montgomery is 65 and one tough looking dude. He strikes me as the kind of guy who is going to do whatever he wants to do. Just seems odd to me to choose a blues festival to decide not to play the blues.

There were a couple of more bands after Montgomery and they were excellent. Erin Harpe & The Delta Swingers bluesed up the place quite tastily; they were excellent. Then, The Undaunted Professor Harp - magnificent.

Closing the show was Skip, a friend of mine. His band tastes like chocolate. He kind of got screwed by being re-scheduled to close because by then a lot of people had left. The shindig started at 12:00; Skip came on at 7:30.

Still they rocked that crowd and delivered the easy flowing, rich blues they are known for.

It was a quintessential summer day. Blues in the sunshine, hawkers hawking their wares - T-Shirts (got me a gorgeous tie dye), jewelry etc., food vendors.

And the crowd.

Dancing. Everybody dancing. There was room in front of the stage for people to dance, but people danced everywhere. Everywhere you looked you'd see people swinging their hips. People in conversation, people dancing their way to the bathroom and back, little kids dancing, people jumping up out of their chairs to dance to a tune that grabbed them.

People who were there alone dancing in the middle of the field.

It was a real celebration of people away from work, away from life, expressing themselves, just being themselves, cutting loose a little bit, sharing the company of friends and spouses and like minded blues lovers. Gatherings like that create their own vibe that becomes its own universe where the only things that can thrive are happiness, contentment and peace.

Fucking amazing.

Relaxing too. Sitting in chairs. Eating. Sipping beers and harder stuff. Laughing.

Carol and I had a perfect day. Sitting side by side, she crocheting, me sipping an occasional beer, a touch of whiskey. I was a good boy for a change and drank responsibly.

Easy, easy conversation. Being married for 36 years does not guarantee perpetual comfort. We are human after all.

But on this day a lifetime shared revealed itself through the simple pleasure of each other's company. We talked a lot, listened a lot, took a walk around checking out all the vendors. Laughed a bit.

We were both so comfortable, so happy to be there and digging that beautiful summer day in the sun and the blues.

Perfect.

I thought to myself that I could spend the rest of my life in that field with Carol and the blues and summer and be perfectly content.

But end it did. Even the ride home was cool. It was that time of summer night when it is dark but not completely so. Around 8:30, when it is dark around the edges and light enough to see.

Beautiful ride through beautiful country back to the peace of our home.

The 2014 New Boston Blues Festival was a magnificent thing, a perfect summer day.

Can't ask for more than that as summer begins to hasten its exit.