Despite a lot of ill-advised changes, there is still a lot to love about the festival and though it gets harder to justify the expense each year, we come home quite happy about it nonetheless.
- The Music
The biggie. Although each year is filled with it's fair share of acts that leave me feeling "Meh" and this year in particular, there seemed to be a lack of true bluegrass bands, the music is still great.
The big standouts this year for me, were the Steep Canyon Rangers, a group of traditional bluegrass fellows and Solas, a gorgeous, spectacular band, straight out of Ireland. We listened to Solas on Sunday, my birthday, with a light rain drizzling overhead. It was absolutely wonderful. I was especially flabbergasted watching their accordion player. His fingers were like nothing I'd ever seen!
- The Room
Despite the negatives, our room this year was without question, the best seat in the house. Second floor, closest to the performers, it was just right to sit on the balcony or in the dormer window seat and listen to the bands as a cool breeze blew through the room. The first day, I had a migraine and even held in its wicked grip, I enjoyed lying in the room, listening to the performances. I felt bad for the poor maids that were left to clean our room after four days in it though.... whew!
- The Staff
The resort itself may be doing its part to alienate festival goers and empty their pocketbooks, but the staff at Grand Targhee were still top notch. Every one was friendly and polite, even when delivering bad news.
- Location
Sometimes I think that there is nothing more beautiful in this world than the Grand Tetons in late summer.
- Driggs, Idaho
The tiny town at the bottom of the hill, Driggs, ID has a lot of small town West appeal. Friendly folks, fun little shops and a few decent restaurants. Though a lot of their buildings are being overrun with Realtors. It's clear that in a few years, Driggs will be too cosmopolitan to be enjoyable, but for now, I liked it. We wandered the streets slowly, ate an overpriced and unremarkable breakfast at Milk Creek (Our regular feeding hole was closed for remodeling) grabbed some STELLAR sweets at Pendl's Bakery, got a raspberry malt at the corner drug store and bought a couple of used books from a store called "used books"
- Late nights
Booze, bands, fans, friends, mountains, midnight. You add those up, and every night, after the official festivus has ended, as amateurs and pros gather around in impromptu jam sessions, you get a crazy second life to the party. I rarely hit the sack until 3 or 4 am, wandering around the grounds with my friends, imbibing frosty beverages, joking and chatting and listening to the bands echo through the thin air. Saturday, a couple of friends and I sat in the darkness behind the Teewinot and listened to a jam session until 3am. Very cool.
- Family and Friends
The real reason this festival is such a blast, obviously. Every year, we meet with some folks that we love and spend three or four days together laughing, dancing, relaxing and generally hanging out. Some of them we see very rarely beyond that, but we still feel very close to them thanks to this one weekend. If we stop attending, this will be the thing we miss the most.
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
What is Wrong about the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival
- The all-consuming lust for money.
This shows in all that they do. Some of it was almost embarrassing to watch.
- Ticket Prices
Between 2006 and 2009, ticket prices have gone from $90 to $130 for weekend tickets, which also ignores the standard, unavoidable Internet "Service fees" that they now charge, since switching from selling tickets at individual vendors to selling exclusively through an online service.
- That Online ticket vendor.
Used to be, you could buy your tickets at vendors all around the area, in locally owned, independent record stores. Now, online only, Whys should they support local businesses when they can eat the whole pie themselves and make it far less convenient for fans to get tickets?
- Parking Fees
This is new this year, and ridiculous. While those of us with full weekend passes are exempt, anyone with day passes are charged $10 a day to park. Which, I just noticed, is double what they state on their Myspace page.
- Ice, Ice, baby.
In prior years, while staying at the Sioux Lodge, our motel rooms of choice, you had to get pretty lucky at the ice machines on the first and third floors. The Ice went fast, but it wasn't too hard to get enough to keep your beverages frosty, just don't try and fill your cooler. Recently, they've fixed that. By removing the ice machines. Now, you can either compete with the other 96 rooms for ice from the single machine in the Teewinot Lodge, the equivalent of 4 blocks away, or, as the employees happily offer when asked, you can buy ice from the general store. At $3 a bag. Despicable. Especially when you consider....
- The Cost of the rooms
I love staying in the lodge at the festival. It fills with sounds of live music and laughter from the rooms. You have a convenient bathroom and shower, a place to sleep comfortably and it stays nice and cool thanks to a constant light breeze. Typically, after a year here, we would reserve the room again for the next year with a deposit. While talking with some other attendees, we learned that they had received a call a few months before the show informing them that the cost had almost doubled, and would they still like to hold their rooms? Now, Rich has remained mum on the costs this year, but I can only assume that they increased for us as well.
- The Rooms Themselves.
A few years back, when you stayed in the Sioux Lodge, you were greeted with a cozy fireplace in the corner, a full kitchenette complete with small oven, sink, fridge, battered utensils and dishes. There was a bunk bed, a cozy chair, a table and chairs, a couch and a queen sized Murphy's bed in the wall. In the last few years, they've remodeled all of that, keeping only the fridge, chair, table and making the bed a normal one.
What this does, is makes it hard to spend any long amount of time in the room, frankly. Making your own food is virtually impossible, and if you do, you have to do any cleaning up in the bathroom sink. Which is made even less fun when you consider that these rooms are typically serving 4-8 folks, and that bathroom is already pretty damn popular.
- Resort Amenities
This year at the resort, the restaurant was "Closed for a private event" which, we found out, was actually "Closed due to lack of employees to run it" If you wanted to eat, you either ate at the booths at the festival, of which, there was $5 a slice pizza, some Asian food, some Mexican, and a place that served burgers, jambalaya and other random food. Or you could go to the general store/deli, where you could feast on Starbucks coffee and a $6 burrito that had about a cup of filling in it. Or the Trap Bar, which had typically expensive bar food, but was pretty good, really. We never ate at the restaurant because we usually ate in the room, bringing our own planned meals, but I heard a lot of grousing about it being closed.
The hot tubs, both the one in the Day Spa/ Pool area and the one over in the main lodge were boarded up and shut off. What's up with that?
They removed the cozy porch swings from the main lodge as well, replacing them with huge recycling bins. I'm all for recycling my shit, but there were the same bins less than a quarter block in 4 directions. Apparently, it's blasphemy to walk that far to toss a can, but Ice is not environmentally friendly, so you have to walk a ways to get it.
- The Booths
In years gone by, there were around two dozen various gift booths and shops set up on the way to the festival. You could buy dresses, handmade beads, hats, toys, guitars, artwork, camping gear, face painting, hula hoops, cookies, candies, jam... essentially everything you would expect at a bluegrass festival. This year, they had either raised prices so high or scared off most of the booths, including the Weber guitar one, which was a standby. In their places, there was three clothing booths, all selling the same loose, hippie style tie-dye clothing, only one of which was made by hand, the other two were national brands, made in china. Two jewelry booths, a high end ski gear place and a huge tent that was plugging its cause "SAVE THE WEATHER!" Judging by the 6 inches of rain we got on Sunday, that booth was far more effective than I'd have thought.
The food booths were really disappointing too. Gone were the Cajun guys, the cinnamon almonds, the kettle corn, the turkey legs, all of the individual and crazy different booths, now, they all felt like they were run by the same guys, just with different themes in each tent. There was also three different places to buy your special commemorative Beer mug, which gave you the special privilege to buy beer to put in it. Bah.
- The music contests.
Every year they have a Mandolin and Guitar contest for amateurs, the last few years, the winner has been a kid. For instance, the guitar winner this year was around 11, and the mandolin winner was probably 17 and dropped his pick during the contest and had no stage presence. A sign that the contest runners lean heavily towards giving the prizes to kids rather than adults? The runners-up all got Medium T-Shirts. I know zero full grown men that can wear a medium T-Shirt. Then, of course, they announce the winners so late on Sunday that there are no other shirts larger to trade for.
There was more too, but that's enough, the major things that hurt the experience there. Keep in mind that I'm not asking for them to create a perfect festival experience, every one of these gripes are something that has changed in the last five years.
Next, the GOOD things about the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival!
This shows in all that they do. Some of it was almost embarrassing to watch.
- Ticket Prices
Between 2006 and 2009, ticket prices have gone from $90 to $130 for weekend tickets, which also ignores the standard, unavoidable Internet "Service fees" that they now charge, since switching from selling tickets at individual vendors to selling exclusively through an online service.
- That Online ticket vendor.
Used to be, you could buy your tickets at vendors all around the area, in locally owned, independent record stores. Now, online only, Whys should they support local businesses when they can eat the whole pie themselves and make it far less convenient for fans to get tickets?
- Parking Fees
This is new this year, and ridiculous. While those of us with full weekend passes are exempt, anyone with day passes are charged $10 a day to park. Which, I just noticed, is double what they state on their Myspace page.
- Ice, Ice, baby.
In prior years, while staying at the Sioux Lodge, our motel rooms of choice, you had to get pretty lucky at the ice machines on the first and third floors. The Ice went fast, but it wasn't too hard to get enough to keep your beverages frosty, just don't try and fill your cooler. Recently, they've fixed that. By removing the ice machines. Now, you can either compete with the other 96 rooms for ice from the single machine in the Teewinot Lodge, the equivalent of 4 blocks away, or, as the employees happily offer when asked, you can buy ice from the general store. At $3 a bag. Despicable. Especially when you consider....
- The Cost of the rooms
I love staying in the lodge at the festival. It fills with sounds of live music and laughter from the rooms. You have a convenient bathroom and shower, a place to sleep comfortably and it stays nice and cool thanks to a constant light breeze. Typically, after a year here, we would reserve the room again for the next year with a deposit. While talking with some other attendees, we learned that they had received a call a few months before the show informing them that the cost had almost doubled, and would they still like to hold their rooms? Now, Rich has remained mum on the costs this year, but I can only assume that they increased for us as well.
- The Rooms Themselves.
A few years back, when you stayed in the Sioux Lodge, you were greeted with a cozy fireplace in the corner, a full kitchenette complete with small oven, sink, fridge, battered utensils and dishes. There was a bunk bed, a cozy chair, a table and chairs, a couch and a queen sized Murphy's bed in the wall. In the last few years, they've remodeled all of that, keeping only the fridge, chair, table and making the bed a normal one.
What this does, is makes it hard to spend any long amount of time in the room, frankly. Making your own food is virtually impossible, and if you do, you have to do any cleaning up in the bathroom sink. Which is made even less fun when you consider that these rooms are typically serving 4-8 folks, and that bathroom is already pretty damn popular.
- Resort Amenities
This year at the resort, the restaurant was "Closed for a private event" which, we found out, was actually "Closed due to lack of employees to run it" If you wanted to eat, you either ate at the booths at the festival, of which, there was $5 a slice pizza, some Asian food, some Mexican, and a place that served burgers, jambalaya and other random food. Or you could go to the general store/deli, where you could feast on Starbucks coffee and a $6 burrito that had about a cup of filling in it. Or the Trap Bar, which had typically expensive bar food, but was pretty good, really. We never ate at the restaurant because we usually ate in the room, bringing our own planned meals, but I heard a lot of grousing about it being closed.
The hot tubs, both the one in the Day Spa/ Pool area and the one over in the main lodge were boarded up and shut off. What's up with that?
They removed the cozy porch swings from the main lodge as well, replacing them with huge recycling bins. I'm all for recycling my shit, but there were the same bins less than a quarter block in 4 directions. Apparently, it's blasphemy to walk that far to toss a can, but Ice is not environmentally friendly, so you have to walk a ways to get it.
- The Booths
In years gone by, there were around two dozen various gift booths and shops set up on the way to the festival. You could buy dresses, handmade beads, hats, toys, guitars, artwork, camping gear, face painting, hula hoops, cookies, candies, jam... essentially everything you would expect at a bluegrass festival. This year, they had either raised prices so high or scared off most of the booths, including the Weber guitar one, which was a standby. In their places, there was three clothing booths, all selling the same loose, hippie style tie-dye clothing, only one of which was made by hand, the other two were national brands, made in china. Two jewelry booths, a high end ski gear place and a huge tent that was plugging its cause "SAVE THE WEATHER!" Judging by the 6 inches of rain we got on Sunday, that booth was far more effective than I'd have thought.
The food booths were really disappointing too. Gone were the Cajun guys, the cinnamon almonds, the kettle corn, the turkey legs, all of the individual and crazy different booths, now, they all felt like they were run by the same guys, just with different themes in each tent. There was also three different places to buy your special commemorative Beer mug, which gave you the special privilege to buy beer to put in it. Bah.
- The music contests.
Every year they have a Mandolin and Guitar contest for amateurs, the last few years, the winner has been a kid. For instance, the guitar winner this year was around 11, and the mandolin winner was probably 17 and dropped his pick during the contest and had no stage presence. A sign that the contest runners lean heavily towards giving the prizes to kids rather than adults? The runners-up all got Medium T-Shirts. I know zero full grown men that can wear a medium T-Shirt. Then, of course, they announce the winners so late on Sunday that there are no other shirts larger to trade for.
There was more too, but that's enough, the major things that hurt the experience there. Keep in mind that I'm not asking for them to create a perfect festival experience, every one of these gripes are something that has changed in the last five years.
Next, the GOOD things about the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival!
Friday, August 21, 2009
In the land of Bluegrass, Sun and Hula Hoops
I'm currently fighting the last dregs of a migraine up at the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival. I don't what combination of odd sleeping schedules, being up for 25 hours, new elevations, dry air and high temperatures caused it, but it was a doozy, still is, kind of.
This is the fourth time I've been up here, and luckily, though they have continued to make a tremendous amoount of ill-advised changes, the important thing remains, good music.
It's odd, I'm not even a bluegrass fan, but there's something visceral about listening to it live with the Grand Tetons looming overhead that gets in your soul and makes it happy!
More on the festival later, off to some tunes!
This is the fourth time I've been up here, and luckily, though they have continued to make a tremendous amoount of ill-advised changes, the important thing remains, good music.
It's odd, I'm not even a bluegrass fan, but there's something visceral about listening to it live with the Grand Tetons looming overhead that gets in your soul and makes it happy!
More on the festival later, off to some tunes!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
June 06, 2009 - Sticky Four
Life -
The '4' button on my keyboard has suddenly decided to stick when I use it, yet none of the surrounding buttons seem affected. Why, 4, Why??
It rained all day yesterday. I love that.
Took my first walk around the block with the dogs since spraining my ankle. It's still swollen and pretty tender, but for the most part, I can walk normally and my flexibility is getting better.
Listening to the new Eels album right now, GREAT stuff.
We made Meatloaf for dinner, tried a few things that made for a much tighter loaf, this puppy wouldn't crumble at all, and it sliced very easily. I have no idea what caused it though...
Had a headache most of the day again. Damn headaches.
Writing -
I added about 1500 new words to my second draft of The Whispering Ferns, things are sounding good... I just hope I can keep it below the maximum page count for the contest now...
Speaking of which, if you were one of the people interested in reading the first chapter, I'll probably email that out today, let me know what you think!
I also edited a good chunk on Lindsay's book and downloaded a bunch of soundtracks to load into my Writing Playlist on iTunes...
I love writing in the garage while it pours outside, though the roof has apparently developed a few drips that make me feel like I'm sitting in a little shanty or something.
The Last Sentence -
He's certainly not one of your children!
From - The Whispering Ferns
He's certainly not one of your children!
From - The Whispering Ferns
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