2003-12-15 - 10:54 a.m.
We get to Jacksonville Beach mid-afternoon. We’ve beaten the equipment truck so I take the opportunity to take a quick look at the beach. It’s pretty deserted and a little windy but it’s beautiful. I grew up on Long Island, less than a 1/2 mile from the L.I. Sound. I spent many a summer day on the beaches of the Hampton's. I love the ocean. It’s what I miss the most living here in the Pocono Mtns.
The Freebird Cafe is a great club. They have a great staff and a really nice P.A. system. There’s about 60 or so folks in the audience and we have a great time with them. Most of them seem to be going to Magnolia Fest, which starts tomorrow.
We stay at the Days Inn, right on the beach. Our rooms overlook the ocean and we spend some time just chillin’ on the balcony, looking at the stars before we hit the hay. For some reason I am awake at dawn and get up and take a few really cool photos. ( The sunset photo plus others from the tour will be up on the gallery at timcarbone.com in a little while.) We have breakfast at a real local place. You know the kind. The waitresses seem to know everyone by their first name. It’s real homey.
Off we go to Magfest. When we arrive at our hotel, some of us go down to the festival site, and some of us stay to watch game 7 of the American League Championship series. Carey is a Red Sox fan. Mike and Grubb are only interested in the Yankees losing. Todd and I are diehard Yankees fans. Andy and Skehan could care less although Skehan has memorized some of the Yankee names. Unfortunately he was still sarcastically saying to me, “Brosious can’t hit a lick.” a year after Scott retired!
Todd and I were ensconced in the room adjacent to Carey’s, glued to the TV. As the game progressed I could hear a yell or two coming from Carey’s room as the Sox took the lead. Then in the eighth inning with just five outs to go, Derek Jeter doubled. Bernie Williams singled him in. The Sox manager came out with a lefty heated up and waiting in the bullpen and amazingly didn’t pull Martinez! I turned to Todd and said, “This will come back to haunt them.” No sooner did I say it then Hideki Matsui ripped a double down the line in right. Martinez still stayed in!! TheYankess wore Martinez down, tying the game up on a broken-bat, two-run double by Jorge Posada. Todd and I were going nuts. Rivera came in and shut the Sox down for 3 innings while the Sox countered with Timlin and Wakefield for 2 1/2. Before the bottom of the 11th, Todd went down a few doors to get some ice. The network came back from commercial break just as Wakefield was making his first pitch to Aaron Boone, who was leading off the inning. As soon as he swung the bat I knew it was gone. I jumped up on the bed and started screaming at the top of my lungs, “IT’S OVER! IT’S OVER! IT’S OVER! “I ran out of the room and yelled toTodd, who still wasn’t back from getting ice. It was the most incredible baseball game I have ever seen! The Yanks were going back to the World Series and even if they didn’t win a game, all over New England, the Yankees third baseman will be forever known as Aaron “fucking” Boone!
In the morning we head over to the festival site. I love this place. The main stage is an amphitheater nestled in a 200-year-old grove of live oaks. They’re huge! Massive, Spanish moss covered limbs spread over the entire audience area and the canopy above shades people below. It’s a great mix of families, hippies and bluegrass nuts. It’s too bad we’re only to be here one day. My brother George and his wife Kathy are coming for the weekend along with their son Matt and his wife Terry. I love hanging with these guys. I get the lay of the land and then get a cell call from my brother. They’re close and I hook up with them presently. We head over to the dance stage because Vassar Clements and Joe Craven, two of the finest fiddlers around are playing with one of the promoters. Randy’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and he’s a got a good old band he brings over from Jacksonville each festival. This year he’s got a couple of real ringers playing with him! I’m blessed by playing on the same stage as some really great fiddle players. I was watching a show on PBS about the great classical violin player, Isaac Stern. In it he said something that pretty much sums up how I feel about my place in the fiddling world. He said, “Most of the great fiddle players I’ve known are far better fiddlers than I am. They play better. They’re more disciplined. I guess, perhaps, I can share my own inner thoughts rather than my outer more visual thoughts a little better than others.” I’ve always felt that it’s very special to be a performer. To know that people expect you to give them a little pleasure. A little solace. A little laughter. To be happily and unashamedly human and to share that humanity with others.
We catch a little of Randy’s band and then head over to the indoor venue to catch The Reeltime Travelers. They’re great! Right out of the last century. Then we quick run over to catch The Old Crow Medicine Show. They are also really good. Great songs and great singing! We’re up next on the dance stage. The crowd dissipates after Old Crow and there’s that familiar little voice in your head saying, ”Will they come back?” As we get closer to being ready to play the crowd starts to filter back. It’s a sun stage so I keep my sunglasses on as I play. I’m pretty fried by the time we’re done. It was a great crowd and I think we played pretty good. When we’re done loading off we have to get the stuff over to the main stage for the evening show. We just get to see a little bit of our friends Emma Gibbs Band. I love these guys. The evening performance is wonderful. I love playing on that stage with the huge torches way up in the air on either side of the stage. After the show I eat some dinner and catch up with some old friends. My family has gone off to bed by the time I try to find them. The next morning I hook up with my brother and his wife for breakfast and we are soon off to the last show on the tour. “Cumberlands” in Charleston, SC. I don’t want to go. We’ll miss some good music and times but what are you to do?
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