Sunday: Coda
Well… after I managed to pry myself from the sofa and actually get moving, I had a fun evening.

I headed downtown to check out the Utah Arts Festival, as I mentioned earlier. I went with a little trepidation: Last year’s festival seemed dull and unexciting, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band providing the event’s only saving grace. OnlyAly, and went Saturday afternoon and said that it was good, but still…

I got to Library Square a little after 6:00. There seemed to be a good mix of exhibitors in the area between the library and The Leonardo. That was a hopeful sign. I browsed through a number of the booths. I next checked out the ones on the southeast side of the City and County Building. Again, good selections. Checking the time, I found that I still had time to spare before Desert Gypsy went on…. so, I wandered through some of the booths set up along 2nd East. Some of the artists whose work caught my eye included:

I headed back over to the City and County Building to watch Desert Gypsy; my friend, Georgia, dances in one of their troupes and I told her that I would come down and check out her performance. It was fun. You could tell that the dancers – and the audience – were enjoying themselves. When they were finished, I hung around for a few minutes to talk with Georgia before she went to get changed.

Next up, I checked out the Salt Lake Alternative Jazz Orchestra. They were fun. I missed out on seeing them last year. I’ll be on the lookout for them from now on, though. When they were done, I headed back over to Library Square, with the intent on checking out Samba Fogo. Unfortunately, the best spots had already been taken. So, I headed up to the walkway that overlooked the square. Not much better; I could only see the tops of the dancers’ heads. But, I was in a good spot to watch MASS Ensemble‘s performance… with their 700’-long “Earth Harp” – stretched between the library and the Amphitheatre Stage.

There is a marked difference between “watching” a performance and “hearing” it. Let me narrow that down a bit: I saw and heard Mass Ensemble; what I did not hear was the harp. Hopefully people who were sitting/standing directly under the strings could hear them. I did enjoy Mass Ensemble’s performance otherwise.

Another band kicked off at 10:00 on the Park Stage, so I wandered over that way. The band was Way Way East Bay, a funk band (with horns!) from Logan, UT. That’s right, I used the words “funk band” and “Logan” and “Utah” in the same sentence. They were pretty good. They did some covers (including Tower of Power’s Dont Change Horses (in the Middle of the Stream) and Delbert McClinton’s Standing on Shaky Ground) as well as some original songs. They were having a good time and they sounded good, too. The crowd wasn’t large (most were still watching the MASS Ensemble performance), but it was of a decent size and they seemed to enjoy the music.

Around 10:30, I’d had my fill of the festival and decided to call it a night. But, the overall experience far exceeded last year’s disappointment.

On the way home, I dropped in and chatted with for a bit.

Stray Toasters

  • Ten months
  • , I was sorry to hear about the fire/water damage, but glad to hear that you and the Mrs. are okay.
  • This still makes me grin:

  • , I think that you’ll like this. (Let me know if the link doesn’t work for you…)
  • I need to allocate some time for watching Space: Above and Beyond.
  • Earth-D
  • Eridani Light Horse

Methinks, that’s good for now.