Mountain Jam and Arm Chair Review

I would first like to thank all the folks at Mountain Jam for letting us who could not be there, for one reason or another, the ability to experience Mountain Jam from the comfort of our own homes via the web. The quality of the broadcast was outstanding! Mountain Jam is on Hunter Mountain among the rolling green Catskill mountains in upstate New York. Rolling Stone Magazine has named Mountain Jam one of the top 8 festivals in the country and this years', the 7th, did not disappoint.
The festival includes the two main stages, the East Stage and the West Stage, that are positioned next to one another, so that the music rotates non-stop, without any over-lapping. An indoor stage and the Awareness Village are also featured. The awareness Village features an Acoustic Music Stage, Children's Entertainment Area with music and interactive fun, a beer and wine garden, not-for-profit exhibitor tables as well as performance and sculpture art.
The festival actually started Thursday evening, however for this review we will concentrate on Saturday and Sunday.
12:30 East Stage - Ryan Montblaeau proved to be a great early act beginning at 12:30. Ryan, a Massachusetts Native and his band brought some fresh acoustic funk.
1:15 West Stage - Zach Deputy, self-described "Island infused Drum 'n Bass Gospel Ninja Soul" show left no one guessing. He is the good time one man band. Sitting behind a group of microphones with his, black framed glasses, full beard, truckers style baseball cap and brown t-shirt he infused the crowd with some early afternoon energy. Zach pulled out a funky Magic Carpet Ride into James Browns' Sex Machine into Parliament Funkadelic's (Tear the Roof off/ We Want the Funk) that would make George Clinton proud. The crowd responded with yells of "one more song". The first encore at 2:00 PM - the beginning of a great day.
2:15 East Stage - Mavis Staples and her straight 3 piece band (drums, bass, guitar) plus three background singers opened with some beautiful gospel band, all dressed in black the band soon went into The Weight - can anyone do The Weight like she can anymore? After giving homage to The Band she went into her newest release, produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. Soon after we heard Freedom's Highway. Mavis and her band looked and sounded great. I'll Take You There was exceptional with excellent crowd participation - still so good 40 years later.
3:30 West Stage - Portugal, the Man, a high energy piece (2 guitar drums bass, keyboard) from Oregon and Alaska, kicked it up a notch with some high energy psychedelic rock and roll. I found them to be more high energy than psychedelic and found them to be fun to listen to and easy to follow for not knowing any of their music.
4:30 East Stage- The Avett Brothers came out to enthusiastic applause and gave it all back with a high energy Tin Man. Paul Difliglia (sp) was standing in on bass and they added a drummer for some songs. Soon they were into Shame, And it Spread, Paranoia, January Wedding, an a Capella duet on "Down to the River to Pray."and a mesmerizing Headful of Doubt. Heart Like a Kick Drum, Go to Sleep and I and Love and You ended the set leaving the audience to sing the last line - I and love and You. The crowd demanded an encore from the Avett Brothers who replied;"We might have one or two more in us". The encore started with a sit-in from Simon Felice of the Felice Brothers on Dylan's "Just Like A Woman". The Avett's owned Saturday - until Mule came out.
5:45 West Stage - North Mississippi Allstars Duo. No Chew, just Cody and Luther who have been opening up for Robert Plant's Band of Joy. The Dickinson brothers went right into Shake em' on Down, Poor Black Maddie and Skinny Women. They both sounded great, Luther had his cigar box slide and Cody also had his guitar and washboard time. The Dickinson brothers also played Shake What Your Mama Gave You, Jelly Rollin Over heaven, Goin' Down South and Mean ol' Wind Died Down. Great mix of old and new.
6:45 East Stage - Michael Franti and Spearhead. George Carlin's brother introduced the band and everyone was immediately jumping together singing "Everyone deserves Music Sweet Music" and that is how the set went - a high energy open exchange between band and audience.
9:00 East Stage - Government Mule. Absolutely Amazing! This may be the only time they will be playing as Mule this summer and they made it count.Highlights included the Who's Won't Get Fooled Again and Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." The second set started with Pink Floyd's Money and Have A Cigar. Hook Carrera, Cody and Luther Dickinson, and Ron Holloway joined the rest of the band for a lengthy rendition of 32-20 Blues, John Lennon's Working Class Hero, Who Do You Love, Whole Lotta Love, Norwegian Wood Jam and Thank You Fa Lettin' Me Be Mice Elf...again. WOW!
Sunday
12:00 West Stage - Wiyos, a 5 piece with great harmonies great hats, nice lap steel, harmonics, stand up bass and harmonica - off we go.
12:45 East Stage - Civil Twilight, a trio from South Africa is nice three-piece who shows a strong U2 influence.
1:30 West Stage - Dawes comes off just as clean and approachable as their CD. Great instrumentation and clean sound. These guys are only going to get better and better.
2:30 East Stage - Who wants to do a song now? The Bohemian 9 piece Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes started with a fantastic "new song" featuring the lead vocals of Jade with harmonies by the rest of the band. They always seemed a bit unorganized but the band offers fantastic harmonies and fine contributions from all of the nine members. Is it just me or are they just way too happy. Dig the hand painted upright piano!
4:00 West Stage Preservation Jazz Hall band - missed them - my apologies. I have seen different incarnations of the Preservation Jazz Hall Band and I have love them all. They provided a great musical mix to the afternoon.
5:15 East Stage - Grace Potter, in a super short dress and super high heels with her 5 piece band whipped the crowd up quick frenzy. The highlight of the set was Warren Haynes sitting in for a song. My favorite was the gal on the side signing (no not singing - signing - for the deaf) and dancing to the crowd.

Hagemeister Park Restaurant Review in Green Bay, WI

I went to eat at the newly opened restaurant, Hagemeister Park. The new restaurant and bar is located in downtown east Green Bay, right next to the children's museum. The front of the restaurant has floor to ceiling picture windows and as you enter there is a very roomy lounge area to the left with an eye catching massive floor to ceiling black and white picture of the first Packer football team in Hagemeister Park, the park where the team first practiced and played. There is a hostess stand to the right and directly behind is a very long large bar. To the left are booths and tables for dining. The restaurant is very large with the capacity to seat 300 people. It has vaulted ceilings and the decor is contemporary, all done in black and white and accented with dark wood work. The flooring is cement painted black, with black vinyl booths, black iron tables, black painted vaulted ceilings, with many large black and white historical pictures adorning the walls. There are twenty flat screen TVs hanging above and throughout the restaurant. Towards the back of the restaurant are more cocktail tables with a few dart and game machines. The back of the restaurant also has massive floor to ceiling doors which lead out to a huge outside patio on the city deck. The patio has large and comfy sofas, iron tables with iron chairs, and features a heated canopy. The outside patio offers a pretty view of the Fox River and the Neville Museum, which is located across the river.
There was a wait to eat so I sat at the bar and ordered one of their special cocktails, a Bloody Mary, which looked very delicious as I glanced around and saw other patrons drinking them. I was asked if I would like a beer chaser with that which I replied that I would. I was confused and disappointed for my Bloody Mary looked nothing like the other Bloody Mary's that I had seen. I checked the drink and food menu and there was nothing printed regarding different choices of Bloody Mary's. A manager happened to be walking by behind the bar and I asked him why my drink was so different. He told me there are two different types of Bloody Mary cocktails: mine which was just a regular one in a tall glass with a lemon wedge, pickle, and house vodka for $4.00 and the other type is called their Ultimate Bloody Mary for $7.00 with three shots of Absolute vodka in a tall hurricane glass with more garnishes like a pepperoni stick. Both Bloody Marys' have the same mix which I saw is just a store bought mix. I questioned him how would I know there is a difference and he said that all the bartenders are to inform each customer of the difference and ask which one they would like to order. This never happened in my case so he just apologized and just walked on about his business.
When my table was ready I was sat at a booth and given a menu. My server was soon there to take my order. Their menu is an upscale version of bar food and is very across the board, ranging from salads and pastas, to broasted chicken, to gourmet burgers, to chili and booyah. While sitting at my booth I noticed that the acoustics of Hagemeister Park echoed and were very loud. In addition the overhead lighting was very dim which made it difficult to read the menu. I decided on the Meister Burger for $9.50 that comes with a choice of crinkle fries or homemade potato chips; I chose the fries. As I waited I noticed that they were busy and they did seem to have enough staff on hand for the crowd. The Meister burger consisted of a half-pound of Angus beef char grilled with beer braised mushrooms, a duet of German cheeses, Dusseldorf dijonaise mustard, and topped by sweet and sour slaw, which I requested to be put on the side. The food arrived soon. The fries were hot, lightly browned, with a good flavor, and not greasy. The burger was definitely a half pound. The red slaw was served on the side like I requested and it was very fresh and crispy with a sweet sour taste. The burger was juicy and very flavorful on a large pretzel bun with one slice of Jarlsberg (a Norwegian cheese) and one slice of Gouda (a Dutch cheese), but there were only two small slices of mushrooms. I went to put ketchup on my burger from the squeeze bottle on the table but it was empty so I had to flag down a different server and was quickly brought out another one. Except for the lack of mushrooms my Meister burger was delicious and very satisfying. Hagemeister Park restaurant also has a separate room for private parties of 25 to 60 people.

Movie Review - Norwegian Wood (2012)

A Gloomy Coming of Age Drama
Norwegian Wood is dreary, unfocused, and unreasonably slow-paced. It involves characters so dour and unlikeable that investing in them takes nothing less than sheer will power. They each find themselves in relationships so emotionally complicated that never once do we see a process of connection at work; we can only marvel at the fact that these people have somehow found their way into each other's lives. Not only do we not understand their reasons for being together, but on the basis of what unfolds, no one is the better for it. Here is a coming of age drama so confused and needlessly drawn out that we're anxious for the moment when the hero finally grows up - which, in this case, has nothing to do with witnessing a beautiful act of transition and everything to do with ending two miserable hours sitting in a theater.
Adapted from the novel by Haruki Murakamki, the film has been structured by writer/director Tran Anh Hung in the most curious of ways, namely to make every single scene play like the finale. When you have a movie filled with ends, you will inevitably invite speculation as to how it all began, and it's incredibly unfair to deprive audiences of answers. Some scenes are just plain awkward in their length, pacing, and exploration of characters that have no bearing on the central plot. It's almost as if clips from an entirely different movie had been randomly spliced in by editor Mario Battistel, perhaps because he was feeling a bit mischievous and wanted to get audiences off of what narrow a trail there was to follow. If that was his intention, he succeeded. This story leads us nowhere in particular, except in circles.
It takes place in Japan during the late 1960s, the era of the Vietnam War and a time of great social unrest. You'd think that, given this rich history, the filmmakers would actually make it a part of the plot. But no - history is reduced to a handful of brief shots, all of disorganized student protests that immediately fade into the background. Because it's barely a backdrop for a soapy story of love and loss, this movie could have taken place anywhere at any time. It's told from the point of view of nineteen-year-old Toru Watanabe (Ken'ichi Matsuyama), who moves to Tokyo and enters college following the inexplicable suicide of his best friend since childhood, Kizuki (Kengo Kora). Why this is left unexplained, I have no idea. I, for one, would have appreciated knowing what made Kizuki so unhappy that he felt the need to poison himself with exhaust from his own car.
Toru forms a relationship of sorts with Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), who also knew him since childhood. Ever since his death, she has not only fallen into a deep depression, she has also lost all traces of her sexuality. She will make repeated attempts to find it throughout the movie, at first by submitting herself to Toru on the night of her twentieth birthday, the rest of the time through sexual advances she initiates. Alas, it's to no avail; she's incapable of feeling anything physically, while emotionally she retreats further into herself. Her mental state has landed her in a sanitarium buried in the forested mountains of Kyoto. I use the word "sanitarium" loosely, as it isn't made to seem like one. If anything, it comes off as a spiritual retreat for the musically inclined.
Toru occasionally visits Naoko, and will even exchange letters with her. He might even have feelings for her, although you'd never know it by looking at him; as Toru, Matsuyama gives a performance so statuesque and soft-spoken that never once does an emotion leap off the screen. Regardless, Toru finds himself torn between Naoko and one of his classmates, a young woman named Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), equally as soft spoken but far more outgoing. At times, she's developed to the point of oddness, and if you watch the scene where she calls Toru after the death of her father, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. The worst thing about this character is that her interest in Toru stems from nothing made clear to the audience; she, like everyone else in this movie, has no clear purpose apart from being doing and saying miserable things.
In spite of the characters, the plot, the structure, and the performances, a connection still might have been possible had it not been for the horrendous soundtrack. On the one hand, we have samples of sleep-inducing folk rock hits of the era, including the Beatles song the film derives its title from. On the other hand, we have Jonny Greenwood's score, which is comprised of depressing and emotionally manipulative violin dirges. Most of it plays during the latter half of the movie, at which point the story goes from solemn to outright devastating. Listening to both the score and the songs, one wonders if anyone involved in the film has ever laughed, or even knows what laughing is. For films like Norwegian Wood, joy and happiness are treated as foreign concepts that get lost in translation.