Anyway, being snowed in here in Beacon, and wanting to get out for some culture, I am recalling one very musically busy weekend I had a few years ago, back in the summer of 2002.
Seeing live outdoor shows has long been one of my favorite summer activities. When I used to live in Boston, I would occasionally attend the Lowell Folk Festival. In 2002, I was back living in NJ, Several weeks later, I ventured in to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, to check out one of my favorite all time bands, Yo La Tengo. It was, I think, my first time seeing them.
Anyway, in August 2002, here was one memorable weekend.
First off, on a particular Saturday, I went to Damrosch Park, which sides to one side of Lincoln Center, to experience a free show, part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors free music festival. It was a nice night to be outdoors, surrounded by the lights of Manhattan. The opening group was Liam Clancy from the Clancy Brothers, his son Donal Clancy, and nephew, Robbie O'Connell. They strummed acoustic guitars and played mostly Celtic folk and traditional songs (what sounded like pub songs and/or marching songs). I discovered that Liam Clancy is a very charismatic performer and a terrific singer. They were then followed by the Greenbriar Boys, who were back together doing a series of reunion shows. They had started in NY in the late 50s during the pre-Dylan folk boom, and then gravitated toward bluegrass and became master bluegrass musicians, remaining as a group through the 1960s and then disbanding; their lead singer, John Herald, has a real Appalachian twang to his voice, and one of their other members is Eric Weissberg, who later had big success composing and playing on "Dueling Banjoes." In fact, they did a rather fantastic cover of that particular song. Finally, the last act was the legendary Doc Watson,
who came out on stage, initially accompanied by his grandson, and later by another musician. He and each partner each played acoustic guitar, and each sang, though Doc did most of the singing. He sat on a stool, played, sang, and talked with the audience, and just gave the audience a completely soulful performance. At one point, he did a very moving cover of the Moody Blues "Nights in White Satin." For the encore, the Greenbriar Boys came back out, and they and Doc Watson jammed together. It was a great 3 hours of music; and it was free. On Sunday, I ventured to Central Park, for another free show - NY's own Sonic Youth, back home from touring. The first act was a German techno group called Monolake,
who produced a kind of cool, pleasant, minimalist techno sound as the crowd was entering into the enclosed bandshell area. It was good chill out music, which helped a bit given the 90 plus temperature in Central Park. I kind of stood, initially, looking at the stage and at the crowd, and then I walked around the perimeter of the frontstage area and sat with part of the crowd on the ground and just waited and listened to the techno. The crowd kept getting bigger and bigger. The second group then came out on stage, and they were some kind of modern jazz supergroup called Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet, 
featuring a pair of legendary jazz guys, Jack DeJohnnette 
, on drums and Anthony Davis 
on keyboard. They reminded me a lot of fusion era Miles Davis, and after moving much nearer to the stage to watch them from a more up-close perspective, I found myself becoming very engrossed in their deep, fusiony sound, filled as it was with complex harmonies and shifting polyrhythms.
Finally, Sonic Youth
- now a five member band with the addition of guitarist Jim O'Rourke - came out to a heroes welcome, and played for about 70 minutes, and then did two sets of encores, including an early classic, "Making the Nature Scene." They played songs spanning their entire career, with an emphasis on such "hits" as "Kool Thing," "Eric's Trip," "Candle," and "Bull in the Heather." They seemed to be in a really good mood and happy to be playing, and they played with quite a bit of intensity, periodically breaking guitar strings, playing their guitars like percussion instruments, and producing gusts of their patented feedback/noise sounds. They seemed a tad mellower than when I last saw them live, around 1987 or thereabouts, but in generally good form.
One other thing; while not a live show, I went, in that same week, to see the British rock music film "24 Hour Party People,"
about the band Joy Division and the city of Manchester, UK's role in the world of rock, rave, and modern music, and thought it to be one of the best music history films I'd ever seen. Great film.
Memorable week, that was.
Finally, here's a fine Sonic Youth video
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