July 21st-26th: Yazz Flutes and Jazz Hoops
We arrived in Ithaca late Monday night and were met by Sylvie who had cooked us Indian food in true Froncek fashion. The whirlwind week began the next day when we woke up in our basement bungalow and started to prepare for Grassroots, Jazz Hoops, Yazz Flutes, whatever you want to call it. Lydia and Maddy took the Leydies on a tour around the hometown that included a field trip to Mount Pleasant and nachos and Viva Taqueria.
On Wednesday, after a stint at the thrift stores, Kate, Emilie and Jessi hiked Taughannock while Lydia and Maddy helped set up at Grassroots and set up the tents that would be our home for the next few days. That night we played a show at Stonecat, a change of pace from our last few intimate shows in Massachusetts. We arrived back in Ithaca late after filling up on some delicious food and soon enough, it was time to head out to Grassroots.
Grassroots felt like a dream as usual, a synchronistic gathering of all the Ithacans we had met along our journey. We lived for four nights in a gypsy palace. Our disco ball and plethora of scarves finally came into use as we settled into the new and familiar Jazz Hoops life style. It’s hard to explain the magic and beauty of the festival so here are some reflections on our weekend:
Dirty feet and dusty lungs
Bagels and bagels and the night of too many sandwiches
The Cheeta Girls meet the Indigo Girls
Kate hears Sim Redmond and Donna the Buffalo for the first time
Trading CDs with Orlando Julius
Playing Tama on stage with Kinobe and the Wamu Spirits
Trumpet lessons, borrowed basses, jamming with the Ithaca Bottom Boys
Random encounters with childhood friends
Love and Justice and African dance class
Some of us don’t have a black belt in Zydeco...
But others do and we danced until the Sunday morning sunrise
And fell asleep to the sound of 6am kickball
Happiness parade, straw hats, Mexican Mezcal
Reuniting with our original Grassroots crew after 16 years of
Running barefoot around the fairgrounds
And now the Leydies are hooked
See you next year Jazz Hoops!
Today we swam at both first and second dam, ate at both Viva and Shortstop and nearly got arrested for chalking up the commons to advertise for our Thursday show at Casita de Polaris. Tonight we played for a Mighty Yoga class and then hustled up to Ithaca College for an hour-long interview on WICB. Now we’re lying around Kevin Kinsella’s living room listening to old Sugar in the Raw songs and reminiscing about that time we played at Grassroots back in 2006. If we could do it when we were 14 than I think we’ve got a shot at playing next year.