Bedford BluesFest 2019

Another Labor Day Weekend and another Bedford Blues Festival. As usual, it did not disappoint. It was hot, but not unbearable. It is summertime in Texas. 

Saturday night we slummed it with general admission tickets. That meant watching from a blanket spread on the hill. We first checked out the craft vendors, nothing exceptional. Amazingly, no jewelry was purchased although it was checked out. We also checked out the food vendors. It is always heavily weighted to BBQ although there are some "fair food" choices too like corn dogs, funnel cakes, even fried Oreos. We stuck with Green's Texas BBQ, a local Euless food trailer and a spinoff of the famous North Main BBQ. I had a pulled pork sandwich that was fine. Nothing special with average sauce. My companion had a brisket plate with beans and potato salad. The brisket was tender, moist, and flavorful. The sides were not great. The potato salad was very bland and the beans were about like canned pork & beans. 

Then it was on to the music. We saw part of Charlie Musselwhite's set.  He is an old-time blues musician, in the Blues Hall of Fame, who sings and plays guitar and harmonica. It was a solid set by an old pro. Charlie has been at BluesFest before and hopefully, he'll come back again. 

The Saturday headliner was JJ Grey & Mofro. This band is from my hometown of

Jacksonville, FL. Their origins go back to the '90s with their first recordings in the early 2000s. JJ is the lead singer and songwriter. He also plays guitar and harmonica. They play a mixture of music, some blues, some southern rock, some soul. The band includes brass which is a change of pace at a blues festival. Many of their songs are about places I am familiar with. One song is about Lochloosa, a small town, and a lake between Ocala and Gainsville. Another was about the St. Johns River which flows right through Jacksonville. JJ has a very powerful voice and the volume was turned up to "11". Probably too loud. He also has a tendency to talk a lot between songs. Cut the volume and cut the talking and the set will be better. They were good, but not outstanding. 

Sunday we got there early because some friends we were meeting were taking part in the BBQ sample/vote event. We passed on that. BTW, Green's won the event. After some food, we migrated to our preferred seats. We were in the first five rows in front of the stage. We watched Nikki Hill's set. She was good, if not exactly the blues. She is a good singer backed by a good band. It was an energetic performance. 

The Sunday and festival headliner was Boz Scaggs. Boz grew up in Plano and attended school in Dallas where he met Steve Miller when he was around 15 years old. Boz was in good voice even hitting the falsetto notes. Of course, he had a good, tight band. He played all the hits except Look What You've Done To Me. What's with that omission? Boz did rely on some prerecorded help on the background orchestration like the horns and the backup singers on some songs. He definitely wasn't lipsyncing. He did about a five-minute version of his big hit Lowdown.  It was a very good performance. Boz still has it after all these years. 

I have been going to this festival for years and have never been disappointed. There is always plenty of good food, cold beverages, and often great music. The price is right too. 16-ounce beers are $5 or $6, food is reasonable. General admission has been $10 for the past few years. That includes eight to ten acts per day on two stages. They always manage to get a name headliner. If you missed the 2019 version, make plans for Labor Day weekend 2020. You won't be disappointed. See you there. 

wjh

Very Random Thoughts - August 2019

• We now have bulletproof school backpacks. Seems we are going in the wrong direction. 
• Do those Facebook, Twitter, and other social media petitions really have any effect or are they just clickbait to collect personal info? No, and yes.
• Why do politicians need my donation by some artificial deadline? Does my money expire at midnight? 
• Our stories are only memories unless they are told. 
• It seems to me that all the good writing and interesting characters are now on TV and subscription networks. Most of the movies are just special effects and one-dimensional characters.
• Assault type weapons and large-capacity magazines should be labeled weapons of war or weapons of mass destruction.
• I hate the phrase "you know what I'm sayin'". It has become another crutch like "you know", "I mean", and others. Why don't you just say what you're saying?
• I wonder when people ask a simple question on social media. Do they not know about the internet and Google, are they helpless, or are they just looking for company? 
• Does anybody play the drums with brushes anymore? It used to be a staple of jazz drummers. 
• Sometimes shit just happens without the benefit of any mass conspiracy. 
• Most stuff is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Real estate, stocks, art, etc. It's all subject to a burst bubble.
• I sometimes get stuff delivered that I forgot I ordered. Not so much the Amazon stuff that comes in a day or two. The items that standard (slow) ship from China or a Kickstarter product. It's a nice surprise. 
• We could ban the selling of guns right now and still have a more than adequate supply for the next 200 years. 
• Heard a guy on a food podcast mention cerveza beer. That's like pizza pie. Redundant.
• It's funny how much new stuff was going to ruin the world, especially music. Rock & Roll, the Beatles & Stones, boys with long hair, jazz, hip-hop, etc. Civilization usually survives just fine. 
• It's amazing how much technology you can accumulate. Chargers, cables, dongles, adapters, phones, tablets, etc. Technology changes leave a trail of obsolete equipment behind. 
• Every time a Tom Petty song plays, I still can't believe he is dead. Free Fallin' is playing now. 
• Shouldn't Rambo: First Blood Part II be named Second Blood or even More Blood? 
• It seems to me that stupid people get way more TV time than they deserve. 
• I'm always amazed at how may TV news and personalities are inarticulate and ill-informed. I might expect that is the 113th size market. DFW is the #5 market with over 7 million viewers. 
• It is almost impossible to have a logical disagreement with someone's religious beliefs. Regardless of how illogical those beliefs are. 
• Israel is a country that makes mistakes and has some questionable policies. Criticizing that country's government is not anti-Semitic.  
• Let's remember, when folks bring up religion as a point in an argument, the church excommunicated Galileo for saying the earth orbited the sun. 
• Why do politicians on news programs allow themselves to be shown patiently sitting by while the network says "coming up after the break" will be what's her name? It is often several segments before the actual interview takes place. 
• Gillette has some new spiffy razors that won't irritate or cut you. Just like all their previous versions promised. 
• My youngest son surprisingly replied to two of my texts that didn't absolutely require a response. One was "thanks" and the other was 👌. Short but it's the thought that counts. 
• Just saw Clint Black on TV. He looks like Roy Rogers reincarnated except for the black hat. 

wjh