This was the best gig ever!
Here's a summary of the event in numbers.
96 hour trip
26 band members
10 performances
7 performance locations
6 sound equipment set ups
2 fourteen hour bus rides
1 visit from the Governor
countless new fans
and one charter bus full of exhausted CHO members and chaperones.
I was able to hear a few other performances while we were at the festival. Mother Grove, EJ Jones, and Ed Miller - all great performers.
One of the highlights of the trip was walking across the Mile High Swinging Bridge on Grandfather Mountain. Some of the kids took their instruments and played "The Kiss" from the film The Last of the Mohicans as they walked across. I went ahead of the group so that I could photograph them. It was fun to hear the drum and fiddles as the kids emerged from the cloud into view.
Visibility on the mountain top was nil while we were there but we did enjoy scrambling around on the rocks and the kids played a few more tunes. M took the drum to the mountain top because he played the violin on the bridge when they went last year and he wanted to hear the drum echo off the mountain.
There were a few blips along the way on this trip. On the way to the first show we had a detour and then a long delay because of an accident backup. We arrived at the country club two hours later than we intended - and then the bus was too large to cross the bridge to the club house where we were to perform which then required us to be shuttled to the event in golf carts. The kids had the quickest set up ever and the show still started on time, but we didn't get dinner until after the show.
Then there was the excitement on the way home when the bus stalled on the highway and required a "regen." We left at 4 am last Thursday and returned at 4 this morning. Whew.
This trip was a great end to our time with the Chelsea House Orchestra. M has one more gig next week right here in town. I am sure that will be an emotional one. P has assured me, though, that I will be able to chaperone trips when she is in CHO.How was YOUR weekend?
