Tag Archives: Festival

SCA Conference 2019

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I once envisioned the 2019 Society for Commercial Archeology conference being bracketed by leisurely drives to and from, but as time passed the schedule on both sides of the event filled in and squeezed out most of the leisure. The first day included just enough time to check out the freshly painted fellow in the picture. He’s not part of the conference but he is exactly the sort of thing that the SCA is all about. The conference itself is being held in Wisconsin Dells and has been given the name “Wacky Wisconsin”. It’s a four-day affair running June 5-8.

This entry is to let blog only subscribers know about the trip and to provide a place for comments. The journal is here.

Burning Man at CAM

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I have never been to Burning Man but I’ve a son who has. I texted him while attending the recently opened “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” at the Cincinnati Art Museum. “Those things aren’t supposed to make it off the playa”, he said. “Burn it. It’s in the frickin’ name.” Those aren’t angry words. They’re amused words. In context, he seemed to be chuckling at the idea of people trying to understand the annual gathering by looking at some things that had once been there. I’d already picked up some sense of how silly this was from the exhibition’s title. “No Spectators” comes from Burning Man’s “radically participatory ethic”. “Participation” is one of the community’s ten principles. No one attends the actual event as a spectator. The joke (possibly even intentional) is that, regardless of the name, the majority of people viewing the objets d’art at the museum are 100% spectators. Silly or not, I spectated profusely.

As is apparent from the first photo, the Burning Man pieces are not shuttered off in an isolated gallery but share space with the museum’s permanent displays. The Truth is Beauty standing at the top of the main staircase is a third the size of the original 55-foot tall sculpture that appeared at Burning an in 2013. A description is here; Another view here.

Although several examples of the art of Burning Man are unavoidably encountered on the way, there is a gallery devoted to Burning Man history which is a good place to visit before actively seeking out the rest. Burning Man of today bears little resemblance to the original 1986 event. Today it is well organized and scheduled far in advance. The “city” that is created annually in the Nevada desert now has a population near 70,000. Given the name Black Rock City, a Department of Public Works exists to operate the city and a group called the Black Rock Rangers patrols it. A large part of the Ranger’s success is credited to the fact that they are not outsiders but participant volunteers helping keep other participants safe and enjoying themselves. There is a brief description of the DPW and BRR here. The jacket belongs to DPW founder Will Roger Peterson.

The history display includes some actual artifacts from past events. Starting in 1998, Crimson Rose, one of the organizers, has collected remnants of the Man on the morning after the burning. The keys were found on the playa by organizers Michael and Dusty Mikel between 2005 and 2012.

The guy on the right of the first picture is Thorax, Ambassador of the Insects. The mutant vehicle in the center picture is from 2008. It is named Tin Pan Dragon. I liked it so much that I grabbed a full side view and a shot of the video playing nearby. The big screen visible beyond the dragon show a loop of various Burning Man scenes with seating for a small audience.

The capacity of this theater is much higher with three rows of four seats each. Although No Spectators officially opened on April 26, several items, including this self-propelled theater were in place when I visited another exhibit just about a month ago. On that occasion, I took this picture of the screen with my phone. This time I took no screenshots but did sit through the entire presentation of silent shorts.

While some of the Burning Man pieces appear a little bit awkward in makeshift settings, this piece and this circular room seem made for each other. Gamelatron Bidadari is comprised of 32 bronze gongs played by computer-controlled mallets. There’s a better explanation here.  The few minutes I spent in this room were the most pleasant of my entire day.

Photos of Shrumen Lumen appear in promotional materials for this exhibit including the program cover. It is one of the few items that require a little participation and at least slightly supports the “no spectators” idea. As explained here, each ‘shroom is activated by stepping on a pad at its base. In the third picture, a non-spectator steps on a pad then steps back and back again to watch the show.

Phase 1 of “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” opened on April 26. Phase 2 additions will be made on June 7 and everything will remain through September 2. I’ll be back for Phase 2 and to listen to those gongs some more.

ADDENDUM 4-Aug-2019: As promised, I returned to the museum for Phase 2 and reported on the visit here.

Horns Aplenty

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The 27th Bockfest parade has come and gone. There’s still plenty of festival left, but the Friday night promenade is the highlight for me. Precipitation of just about any kind will keep me away but this year was dry and the mid-40s temperature was downright balmy compared to some years. I drove, parked, and walked to the parade start point at Arnold’s Bar and Grill to meet a friend who works just a couple blocks away and can stroll over in a few minutes.

There was no shortage of folks in full-body Bockfest garb, but there seemed to be quite a few with nothing Bockish except fake (I assume) horns. It was only while editing pictures for this post that I noticed Clyde, the friend I’d just connected with, peering from behind the horned hat.

Clyde had stepped into the street to talk with some members of FC Cincinnati support group Die Innenstadt. He had marched with the club in last year’s parade and was seen in a story WCPO recently broadcast to promote this year’s event. When he spotted WCPO’s Evan Millward, Clyde approached the newsman and the two talked about the broadcast. For some reason, Evan was carrying Mayor Cranley’s Bockfest proclamation which I took advantage of by snagging a photo.

I was really just joking about the balmy temperatures but it appears that kegs, whether being carried on your bare shoulder or concealing your bathtub’s propulsion mechanism, will keep you warm.

Like Arnold’s self propelled bathtub, these three are long time parade regulars. By the time this is published, 2018 Sausage Queen Luis Balladares will have been replaced by a new queen selected on Saturday. Both the Sausage Queen and Beard Baron competitions are gender neutral. No one ever seems to follow the Whip Lady too closely but the same cannot be said of the Trojan Goat.

Some people may wonder why the Kentucky Chapter of the Association for Gravestone Studies has a parade unit and why they are participating in an Ohio parade promoting beer. But those are the same sort of people who question the presence of dinosaurs or a Krampuslauf group. Bockfest does not need those people.

I missed getting a picture of Aaron Sharp when he first passed in the parade vanguard. I’m glad he circled back. Aaron was one of the key individuals at the sorely missed WNKU radio station where good music could always be found. He is now part owner of Lucius Q where good BBQ and beer can always be found and often good music, too. I’ve never sorted out what his official role is with Bockfest but he’s been doing it a long time and I know he is really good at it — whatever it is.

Although they’ve been around since 2016, this is the first time I’ve seen Dance Flash Fusion and realized it. They have been in at least one previous Bockfest parade so I must have seen them but either they’ve improved considerably or I wasn’t paying attention. I was impressed. Die Innenstadt is the FC Cincinnati support group that Clyde belongs to. I’m pretty sure they set off one of their colored smoke bombs somewhere near MOTR on Main Street, but, even though I was moving with the parade at that point, I was way too far behind to hear or see it. Stuff like that does linger, however, and I put other senses to use as I passed through the area.

Here’s the group with the large goat head featured at the start of this article but I don’t know who it is. The base of the float is covered with album cover reproduction but I saw no identifying markings. They were preceded by a truck with banners reading “Crocodile Bock” and “Crocked on Bock” and this musical duo. I’ve no idea whether or not they’re connected. The Red Hot Dancing Queens have been favorites of mine ever since I first saw them in 2015 not long after they had formed. I think the RHDQ have a slight edge on DFF but it’s really exciting to have two dance troops having so much fun and so much talent.

Not long after the RHDQ passed by, I headed north with the parade. The sun was setting faster than I was traveling which contributed to none of the pictures I took along the way amounting to much. These three were taken at the last turn to the parade’s conclusion at the Moerlein Malt House. With little light, I notice even fewer details through the camera viewfinder than I do in the light. I failed to see a rather major feature of the “Bock on with Your Bock Out” float. It’s pretty obvious but even easier to see here. The name I used comes from the shirts being worn though I’ve no idea whether there is any connection with the beer by that name from a Chattanooga brewery. The Rabbit Hash General Store float is always near the end of the Bockfest parade and I have several pictures of it at this corner. There was a large gap in front of the entry in the last picture and, if it hadn’t been for people staring down the parade route, I’d have assumed the parade was over. A large plastic tarp was carried by a van with walkers holding up the edges and fog filling the space under it. The combination made for extra slow travel and thus the gap.

I walked on down to the crowded Bockfest Hall where bands were playing and bocks were flowing. I had one from the Alexandria brewery then, after meeting up with an out of town friend, another from Hudepohl. I’d had a single Moerlein Emancipator back at the parade staging area. Apparently my current Bockfest beer quota is three. 

Fire and Ice in Hamilton

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This was the weekend of the Hamilton Ohio Ice Festival. The festival takes place every other year and I go to every other festival. The biennial schedule for the festival is intentional. My quadrennial attendance is not. In fact, I didn’t realize my attendance was so infrequent and regular until I started to write this post. I believe the festival is always a two day event with activities beginning Friday evening and wrapping up on Saturday. I was there in the bright sunshine of the event’s second day in 2011 and in the cool of Friday evening in 2015. This year the theme was Games and several Monopoly pieces were on display. This post opens with my favorite: the race car.

When I can’t get the race car, I go for the other wheeled marker, the wheelbarrow. It was there, too, along with the Scottie dog an Rich Uncle Pennybags.

More recent games were also represented including Dig Dug, Pac Man, and Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots. I’ve always wondered if my sons knew that the robots they played with on Christmas morning had received a few practice punches before going under the tree.

Most of the carvings are strictly hands-off, but there is an area where games are meant to be played. How about some chilled checkers or frosted tic-tac-toe?

All outdoor events are affected by weather and those involving ice doubly so. Good weather with high temperatures can be nearly as bad as foul weather. This year’s festival was faced with both. One of the reasons I chose to attend on Friday was that rain turning to snow was predicted for Saturday. Friday’s temperatures weren’t exactly balmy but they were above freezing and carvings that were to be judged on Saturday were keep inside so as to be in the best shape possible for the competition. That’s very sensible but does result in some disappointment.

One festival activity was a Friday night only affair. Fire and Ice action started a few minutes before 7:00 when three lead carvers and several assistants went to work on three giant ice blocks on the courthouse lawn. I arrived a little later with no chance of a good view so I took some shots over people’s heads. In just about an hour, the blocks had been transformed into Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser the fire breathing dragon. The carving was impressive not only for the speed at which it was accomplished but at the details in the finished work in spite of the speed. The fire came in two forms. Mario was tickled by flames coming from Bowser’s mouth with the aid of a propane torch, and some unidentified fiery liquid erupted in intricately carved ice bowls beside the figures. There is a glimpse of Bowser breath in the second picture, and the last picture, which I took after the crowd thinned, shows one of the bowls of fire.

Carillon Christmas

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For the fourth time, the giant bell tower that gives Dayton’s Carillon Historical Park its name has been turned into a tree of light rising 200 feet above the park. The tree is quite visible from I-75, and I’ve seen it every year as I drove through the city, but this is the first time I’ve stopped for a closer look. The 20,000 bulb tree is merely the biggest feature of a month long celebration involving the entire park.

I obviously knew about the big tree but I encountered the rest of the party more or less by accident. I entered the park to enjoy some of its historical aspects and took a few pictures during regular hours. Regular hours means before 5:00 PM when the park normally closes.

I finished up my daytime stroll a little after 4:00 and headed to Carillon Brewing for some ale made the old fashioned way and one of the biggest mettwursts I’ve ever seen. When I entered the brewery, the crowd was sparse. When I left, the place was completely full with a line at the door. The parking lot, which had been nearly empty at 4:30, was packed an hour later. Sunset was at 5:14. The Christmas related activities begin and all the lights go on at 5:00. I took the picture at the start of this article just before I reentered the park roughly half an hour after sunset.

During my daytime walkabout, I’d noticed smoke coming from the kitchen behind the bakery, and paused to visit with the lady stirring up gingerbread cookie batter. I now stopped in to wash down one of the  cookies baked in the wood heated brick oven with cider heated over an open fire.

Every building, bridge, and other structure in the park was decorated for the occasion. A small train took passengers, including me, on a tour of the large open and decorated area behind the buildings. This tiny engine pulled over a dozen passengers, more than half of whom were full sized adults, through the arches and past the trees without even a hint of struggle. I was impressed.

Other activities included a puppet show, Christmas cards being printed on a 1930s era press, a place to write and mail letters to Santa Claus, and a place to talk to the jolly gent in person. I paused inside the main building to warm up and listen to these talented carolers before leaving the park.

I snapped the first of these three pictures when I arrived at the park around 2:30. The second one was taken about a quarter hour after sunset at 5:38. I didn’t actually see it, but my understanding is that those 20,000 white lights came on at approximately 5:00. The sun had been gone a long time when I took the third picture about 7:15. The carillon rang out Christmas songs throughout the evening. It had been completed in 1942 and the first official concert took place on Easter Sunday of that year. That was not, however, the first time the bells were heard. Although work remained, construction of the carillon was nearly complete by the winter of 1941 and Dayton was treated to an impromptu concert on Christmas Eve 1941; Just 17 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

A Carillon Christmas continues through December 30. 5:00 to 9:00 Sun-Thu, 5:00 to 10:00 Fri-Sat.

Fish Farm Fun

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I like fish… and I like shrimp… and I’ve lived my entire life in Ohio. Why, then, did it take me 17 years to get to the Ohio Fish & Shrimp Festival? Is a puzzlement. It becomes an even bigger puzzlement when you add in the fact that I like music and this is a festival with a reputation for putting some of the best local and regional entertainment available on its stage.

I don’t know about previous festivals but this year’s event covered three days. I made it on Saturday, the middle day, and I made it in time to catch part of the day’s opening performance. The very impressive Devil Doves are based in Columbus, Ohio.

I hung out near the stage until the set was finished then headed up the hill to check out the festival’s reason for being. There are multiple food vendors present but the Fresh Water Farms is the host and naturally has the biggest stand in the best location. I’m a sucker for coconut shrimp so that’s what I picked from an extensive bill of fare. That’s kale Caesar salad in the box and it was delicious. So was the shrimp.

I was eating at one of the tables when Mustards Retreat began their set. The group from Michigan served up some excellent vocal harmonies. This would be the last group I saw. The next group was still on their way when Mustards Retreat finished and I decided not to wait out the delay although I’m sure it was a short one. There would be a total of five bands on Saturday ending with the outstanding Teeny Tucker. Check out the full festival lineup here.

Beer and wine are available but there is an alcohol free zone that includes some of the food vendors and a children’s play area. Speakers at the back of the stage means the live music can be heard through much of this area.

Some of the actual farm facilities lie just beyond the play area and were open for exploring.

On the way back to the festival’s main area, I grabbed some pistachio gelato for dessert. I finished it as Mustards Retreat finished their set. Then, as mentioned earlier, I headed home happy to have added another fine Ohio festival to my experience.

18th Century Flashback

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The Ohio Renaissance Festival began its 2018 run on Saturday as did the Fair at New Boston some twenty-five mile to the north. The Festival will last two months, operating every weekend in September and October. The Fair will last two days. The Festival celebrates 16th century England. The Fair decidedly does not. The Fair represents a settlement in the Ohio territory in the year 1798 when the England of any century was anything but celebrated. The war that had ripped thirteen of England’s colonies away from her was a very fresh memory in the fledgling United States of America of the day.

I’d attended the Fair at New Boston once before, in 2010. As it did then, the day began with a parade…

…and some opening ceremonies. The flag was raised to the top of the pole then lowered to the halfway point in recognition of the 21st century death of Senator John McCain.

With the fair officially open, the entertainment commenced immediately. Pictured are Johnathon Hagee, Jack Salt & the Captain’s Daughter, and the Clockwork Clown.

I’d essentially jumped out of bed and headed straight to the fair, then followed the parade through town and paused to be entertained. It was now time for breakfast. Freshly peeled peaches and pound cake were just about perfect.

I then headed to Cheapside Theater for the world premier of Bard of New Boston, a play comprised of Shakespeare excerpts. Volunteers from the audience fill out the trio of witches from Macbeth. Complaining about the lack of a Romeo, Juliet begins the balcony scene by herself before the town rat-catcher steps up. This guy roams all about the fair with a couple of live rats in a cage and a stuffed one in his hands and in your face. His general griminess and very audible flatulence adds to the image. He spent the first half of the play heckling the actors before bringing a dash of romance to the stage. The whole company appears at the end in a curtain-less curtain call.

I completely missed out on the preparation and just barely arrived in time for the hot air balloon launch. A strong cord between balloon and owner kept the two from being separated as the former led the latter though the fairgrounds before cooling and landing.

Authenticity and historic accuracy is stressed at the fair and that includes the nearby Kispoko Town. I eavesdropped a bit on the fellow drying pumpkin rind and heard the two young observers getting what I suspect will be a rather memorable history lesson.

I missed out on this year’s historical speakers, which included Simon Kenton, Chief Blackhoof, and Daniel Boone, and I took off before the reenactment of the Battle of Picawey. Clouds were gathering and I had things to do so decided it was time to leave.    

Doo Dah with a Capital Boom

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I’ve made multiple starts on detailing how plans for this outing came together, but they became twisted so quickly that I’m just going to tell what I did with no attempt to explain why. I left home fairly late in the morning on Tuesday, and leisurely drove US-42 and US-40 to Columbus, Ohio, where I checked into my motel near downtown. The first floor was not an option, and when asked “high or low”, I picked high. I would regret that.

I relaxed a bit, then made my way to the banks of the Scioto River just over half a mile away. Columbus celebrates Independence Day with an event called Red, White, & Boom. It includes a street festival, a parade, and fireworks and is apparently never held on July 4th. This year it was on the 3rd. With the temperature in the 90s, it didn’t take a lot of street festival to meet my needs. I found a couple feet of unoccupied curb in the shade and spent some quality time there with an $8 Icee.

As parade time approached, I moved up to the route and found another shady spot to hang out in until a police car and marching band approached. Ford was an event sponsor, and a group of Mustangs made up one of the early parade entries. I don’t really know what the passengers had done do gain their seats, but the line of red, white, and blue convertibles was pretty cool.

I do know what the passenger in this Jeep did. He lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor. Other veterans followed in other vehicles from Motts Military Museum.There was a half dozen or so of these three wheelers in the parade, but this one looked almost custom made for it. I once watched an Independence Day parade in our nation’s capital and remember being impressed with the diverse groups participating. This parade in my state’s capital didn’t have quite as much diversity, but there was certainly a respectable amount including a sizable group of American Sikhs and a yellow dressed Falun Gong group with a lady in a lotus.

When the parade ended, I had a tough decision to make. Just watching people march in 90 degree heat can make an old guy tired. There were virtually no restaurants or other businesses open in the immediate area, and I did not look forward to another three and a half hours waiting on a curb for the fireworks; Nor did I really want to make what was now a one mile walk back to my motel. But I decided that the walk to the motel was the lesser of the two evils and set out in that direction. Near the halfway mark, I found Elevator Brewing open and ducked in for a couple beers and dinner. Sufficiently fueled and cooled, I proceeded to the motel. Remember that game of high/low I’d played earlier? The regret came when fellows sitting in the lobby informed me that the elevators were not working. Climbing to the sixth floor was not what I needed but it was what was required.

I napped for an hour or so then headed out for the fireworks. I wasn’t initially certain that I would walk all the way back to the river but in the end I did exactly that. In front of me, the arches of the Broad Street Bridge were outlined in LEDs (I assume) that switched between red, white, and blue. Above me, LEDs on LeVeque Tower did the same thing.

The Red, White, and Boom website proclaims this “Ohio’s largest Fireworks display” and it’s a dandy. 48,750 pounds of fireworks, they say; Roughly twenty-five minutes long. As seen in this articles’s opening picture, the rockets were launched from the other side of the river on the other side of the Broad Street Bridge and on the near side of the Rich Street Bridge. I suppose people watching from between the bridges had a somewhat better view but I was more than happy with mine.

Before the echoes of the last boom completely faded, people were moving out of the viewing area. Although things were initially quite congested, it was never stifling and motion never really stopped. In fact, the crowd spread out on reaching the streets and I was able to take the first picture. The second picture was taken from my motel room. It seems the main staging area for event buses was about a block away.

I went to Tuesday’s parade because I was there. Ditto the fireworks. This, the 35th Annual Doo Dah Parade, is why I was there. I don’t know who the lady in the lead golf cart was but she was probably about as close to a parade official as I actually saw. She used her bullhorn to thank everyone for coming and offered thoughts and prayers for any trauma caused by what we were about to witness. She was immediately followed by The END. Fortunately, there were lots of stragglers.

I’d met young Groucho earlier in the staging area. He initiated the conversation because I was wearing an American Sign Museum shirt. I did my best to encourage a future visit, and think I did OK. The CHILL! guy was just too friendly to ignore.

Captain Ohio rides a Honda. I believe Honda was the only motorcycle manufactured in Ohio in modern times, but I can’t say whether this particular specimen is local built. The factory in Marysville operated from 1979 to 2005. I also “met” these three art cars in the staging area. The first one may have been here in 2010, or maybe its owner just knows someone who was. A friend of mine sells Route 66 Wine Corks, and often calls his van the Cork Wagon. I earlier shared this staging area photo to get him thinking about an upgrade. The car in the last picture also has some corks but its best feature, in my opinion, is its legs.

I’ve nothing in particular to say about what’s in these last four photos. They’re entries that caught my eye for some reason and there’s plenty more where they came from. My first Doo Dah was certainly a good one. I couldn’t help but think of Cincinnati’s Northside Parade which is also held on the 4th of July and which I’ve attended once. The Cincinnati parade is a little older (1970 vs. 1984), a little more rambunctious (no skateboard or bicycle stunts in the Doo Dah), and a little less political (Northside actually has entries that aren’t political at all). There’s no nudity in either but Doo Dah finds it necessary to specify that in the rules and it got this close. Spectators at both can be part of the show. At the Doo Dah, I spotted this guy across the street who may or may not have just burned his NFL season tickets out of concern for disrespecting the flag.

A Week Late and Several Photos Short

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I planned on last week’s post to be primarily about the Tenderloin Throwdown in Greensburg, Indiana. I arrived in early afternoon and bought my set of four sample tickets. A fifth contestant was a no-show. I tried them all and took several pictures including one of each sample with the associated booth in the background. When I did the same thing at the homemade ice cream stand operated by the local historical society, the shutter wouldn’t cooperate.

There was an error message displayed on the camera’s screen, but there’s just no way I’m going to read those tiny letters without glasses. I don’t need no stinkin’ glasses, I may have said to myself. I went down the list of common problems. The mode dial was not out of position and the lens was securely seated. Must be something with the SD card. I popped it out and back in and clicked off a couple shots. The problem returned and I “fixed” it the same way. When It happened a third time, I began to get concerned but I was ready to leave so didn’t investigate.

I’d kind or forgotten all this until I moved the SD card to my laptop in preparation of producing a blog post. It contained just four pictures and one of those was of my feet. Subsequent tests have revealed no errors with either camera or card although I don’t intend to ever use the card again. Sure wish I knew what that error message said.

So last week you got a canned My Wheels post and this week you get one picture of the back of one of the tenderloin stands with the famous tree-in-tower in the background. It is the winner of the grilled category, so there’s that. Obviously four entrants does not a major showdown make, but all four were top notch and tasty, and the homemade ice cream was excellent.

Even when I anticipated a photo spread from the Tenderloin Throwdown, I was considering tacking on a paragraph about the one concert on my schedule. I ended up attending three concerts during the week and, in light of the Throwdown’s vanished visuals, I’m including cell phone photos of all three. Remember, if you want a picture real bad, I’ve got a real bad picture.

On Wednesday the 20th, it was the LSD (Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam) Tour at Riverbend. This is one I hadn’t planned on, but when a friend’s significant other fell ill the day before, I got her ticket. It really was almost like three concerts with each of the artists doing nearly hour long sets. That’s Steve and his band in the first picture. I didn’t get a picture of Lucinda during her own set but the second picture has her and Steve flanking Dwight for the Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music) finale.

Thursday’s concert was the one I had planned for a long time. I’ve been sort of focusing on long time legends I’ve never seen. I saw Jackson Browne last month and Steely Dan, Van Morrison, and Paul Simon over the last year or two. This time it was possibly the ultimate living legend with Tony Bennett at Fraze Pavilion.

The quartet opened with an instrumental then Tony’s daughter, Antonia, did three songs. At that point, Tony came on and for the next hour he was on the stage, on his feet, and singing essentially non-stop. He performed basically full songs for the first half then commenced doing one or two lines from hits like Rags to Riches, Fly Me to the Moon, and I Left My Heart in San Francisco. I can’t remember everything he did but there wasn’t one I didn’t recognize at the time. It’s kind of astounding to realize that this guy could do a full concert singing just a line or two from each hit and probably have enough left over for several encores. Yeah, he’s 91 and didn’t hold every note as long as he might have a decade or two back, but he hit them and he was having fun. The Good Life for sure.

The other unplanned concert was a freebie at Miami Valley Gaming held as part of their Rhythm and Brews Festival on Saturday the 23rd. Knowing friends would be there, I stopped by on the way home from the Tenderloin Throwdown and caught the performer I was most interested in, Tinsley Ellis. I also saw part of Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials’ set but don’t have even a real bad picture of that.

Trip Peek #72
Trip #111
2013 OLHL Meeting

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This picture is from my trip to the 2013 Ohio Lincoln Highway League Meeting near Mansfield, Ohio. The meeting itself filled just a few hours in an evening so most of the journal involved the going and coming. On the way there, I spent a night in Columbus so I could see the Lone Bellow in the process of becoming stars. On the day after the meeting, I headed to Georgetown, Ohio, for Ulysses Grant’s 191st birthday. I spent the night at a B & B across the street from Grant’s childhood home where I shared a bathroom with Abe Lincoln. This particular Abe Lincoln’s real name is Fritz Klein and I not only got to chat with him over breakfast, I got this picture taken with him in front of Gran’ts home.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the associated trip journal.