A Little Singer Songwriter, Friends, Chick'n & More
My 2-day trip to Langerado last weekend was made with Lyle, without Christy. She was supposed to be here for the entire weekend... at Langerado... with Lyle and I. HOWEVER, due to her family booking an unforeseen reunion during the same time frame as Langerado (AFTER she had the ticket and flight purchased), I only got to hang out with her on Thursday and for the ride up to her family event on Saturday. I really wish it hadn't happened the way it did, but it was beyond anyone's control.
After we dropped her off Saturday, Lyle and I made vows to see her Sunday and made our way to the nearest Church's Chicken and had an amazing $2.49 Chicken Special (complete with honey biscuit, mash n' gravy and friiiiiiiiiiied chicken). We were surprised to find out that they had PHENOMENAL sweet tea. After eating, we gathered our tea refills and headed up to I-75 and into the middle of nowhere. And I MEAN, the middle of nowhere. Big Cypress Seminole Reservation ... somewhere in the Everglades.
After waiting in traffic for about an hour and making our way across the bumpy terrain, we found our way into the festival and started out the night with a bit of Madisyahu (aka Modest Yahoo). Jewish Reggae anyone?
The sun was basically down by the time we got inside. People all around us seemed to be pretty bundled up. Hm. Maybe it really was supposed to get cold. We had a blanket and 2 chairs, but Lyle was clad in shorts and a T-Shirt. Needless to say, his shrooming event was interrupted by rapidly falling temperatures. I was fully dressed and even I was freezing my ass off in no-time.
After about an hour, we made our way to the food area. Lyle had a grilled cheese.. I had an Arepa. Still hungry, we decided on some really awesome Lemon-Peppered Roasted Corn! Some guy told us it was "king" if we were looking to get warmed up. We ate the corn under the brown blanket... at one point even putting it over our heads. Someone walked by and said we looked like a landfill (then again, we were sitting near some trash cans). While eating, I think we were listing to Modeski and something, who really wasn't all too great. We headed over to the Everglades stage and spent a few minutes listening to R.E.M. before realizing that the 40 some odd degree temperature just really wasn't worth "The Man on the Moon." We headed back to the car, to find that Lyle's back window *really* wasn't going to go up. Drove home with the freezing wind pounding us inside the car.
Day two was made for the big event. We got a little bit of a late start.... Lyle was supposed to call me around 10am. I woke up at 11 and realized he probably hadn't called, but I wouldn't have known since my phone was off. I called him up and said "did you call me?" and his response was "maybe. I might have." He was clearly sleeping. So we headed up toward Christy's area and gave her a call. She had no idea how to direct us to her, and since we were already running late, she selflessly encouraged us to just head up to the festival.
Got there around 3:30 or so and got to see some Keller Williams (much enjoyed) who happened to be playing the Sunset stage right before the person we'd really come to see. Parked our asses right in front of the stage when the field cleared after he was done.
Front and center for Ani Difranco!
Say WHAT?
After years of waiting to see her, Ani fucking Difranco was at Langerado last Sunday.
She was more than worth the wait and rocked beyond belief.
It was even more exciting due to the fact that I was with Lyle, who's never seen her live before.
Also got to meet up with Marisa, Jenn & Brandon (not pictured) before the Ani show!
It's all quite simple...
Ani brought the house down.
Song after song...
She was unbelievable.
I'm sure this crowd would agree that they were pretty blown away and/or really stoned!
Including these interesting folks...
She is truly dynamic and brilliant. I could spend a lifetime listening to her sing.
Well then. Enough said.