Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Riverbend 2010: Darius Rucker and Charlie Daniels Band

This last week I went to two of the concerts at The Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga - Darius Rucker and Charlie Daniels Band. I don't do musical reviews, but will just say if you ever get a chance to see Darius, do it! I really enjoyed his voice and his choice of music, and it made for a very enjoyable family evening. On the last night, Friday, we went to see the Charlie Daniels Band, and it was just the nicest evening! He's not bad for a 70+year old man - especially because he didn't take some of his better known music and destroy it so that it was unrecognizable (ala Willie Nelson). 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' was a big hit that had the HUGE audience singing along, and smoke was coming off of that fiddle. Immediately after Charlie Daniels was the fireworks display, and it took place on the absolutely most beautiful evening where the horrendous heat of the day (90+) had been replaced by a cool and welcomed breeze.

Whether sitting in your chair and talking or watching people walk by, or walking around listening to other musical groups along the way and eating, or playing at the Children's Village, Riverbend is just fun. Rubbing shoulders with humanity of all sorts. Groups of giggling teenagers meeting up. Teenage girls showing off their boyfriends or their clothes (short shorts or skirts with cowboy boots was very popular this year), teenage guys on the prowl (thank goodness, no 'pants on the ground' like last year). Lots of tatoos! Oldsters sitting in their lawn chairs watching them all walk by or enjoying the antics of their kids or grandkids. Different ages, socio-econmic groups, religions, professions, rockers, country folks, jazzers(don't suppose that's a word), all there to just have a good time. And it appeared that they did.

Here are a few (ok, a lot) of photos from the two nights. I had my camera on the wrong setting, so a lot didn't turn out at all, which is always disappointing on a personal level. However, there were certainly enough to remember the week, and I'm sure Garrett and Conner will be having me pull them up many times over the next year.

Leave it to a four year old to want to put his fingers in the dog's nostrils.


I didn't take note of whether this was a wildlife display or taxidermy exhibit.
Notice Conner didn't get as close to the critter as Garrett did.

This is a view of the stage before the concert. I don't have details, but apparently it's a floating stage.

This area is called Ross's Landing; hence, the plaque.

This is one of my favorite parts of coming here...the river and the boats.

Garrett was actually grounded for the day in that he couldn't ride any of the carnival rides, and no kettle corn or ice cream, which were three things that he had waited for all week. And believe me, he deserved to be grounded! But all was not lost as the playground was cool, plus we did take pity on him and gave him a few bites of our ice cream (though not enough to null and void the punishment!).



No, this isn't the same photo as last week, just the same boy doing the same horns!

The evening wouldn't be complete without a nose bleed, and all we had on hand was a napkin left over from my waffle cone and a fem-wipe. They did the job and all was well.

Boys being boys, these boys found some long weed stems to have a sword fight with when we were out walking.

Conner had a fever all day that ibuprofen was keeping under control. However, toward the end of the evening, the fever was back and he had earned the right to be carried again.

The End.

19 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

I'm so envious! Just the kind of fun evening I'd want on a warm summer eve. You have a lot of energy, grandma! The kids are adorable!

ethelmaepotter! said...

Your festival sounds amazing. The (Nashville) Tennessean did a feature a while back on summer fests in other cities - and how Nashville, MUSIC CITY, pales in comparison! Maybe it's because so many of these people LIVE here and make appearances throughout the year at various functions. But either way, we just don't have that caliber of entertainment at one big summer festival. (Unless you count FanFair, which is basically just for tourists.)

I adore Allison Krauss and Union Station. That must have been great. And I remember seeing Charlie Daniels at the very first Volunteer Jam.

Your sunset pics are fantastic. What a great week!

Jerry said...

What a fantastic, clean, enjoyable evening. I wish I had been there. Next time, invite me!

Jeanie said...

How fun it all looked! I would love to see Charlie Daniels, I have always liked him. The boys will have fun looking back at your pictures, and so will you. I'm glad you got another one of yourself.

Timoteo said...

Lucky for you he's too young to know what a fem-wipe is! lol

yaya said...

This is what Summer is all about! Fun times, fun family, yummy food..(fried snickers??!! well, you had me at fried!)good music (didn't Charlie Daniels have a stroke? Looks like he recovered). Your grandkiddos are really cute and you can see the ornery written all over their faces..to lose icecream priviledges is soooo sad....

Bernie said...

I can tell you had a wonderful time and I am so happy for you. You made memories with your family and everything looked so enjoyable.
I would of loved those 2 nights listening to the music, I am a country music fan....so love Allison Krauss.
Always love your post....:-)Hugs

Midlife Roadtripper said...

Grounded - never fun, although sounds like a most fun place to be grounded. I like that the venue has chairs. Much better than standing at our age.

I saw that moon!

Deep Fried Oreo Twinkie Snickers. Sounds good to me.

Charlie Daniels Band - fun.

Bernie said...

From the other Bernie--I enjoyed your account of this lovely summer evening. You made it real for the reader I felt like I had seen and felt all the humanity about me like you did. Thank you for sharing.

Michele R said...

I love the space distance of the two boys posing next to the critter!
I would have loved to have been there at the concerts! Looks like a great time, and good for people watching and grand watching.

Unknown said...

Conner does look a tad frightened of the stuffed critter, and I don't blame him. It's kind of creepy. I'd be up for sticking my fingers in the statue's nose, though! Glad you had a good time.

Wine and Words said...

You get to do all the fun stuff!!!! (whine...wimper...pout)

Sounds wonderful. I enjoyed the pictures as they spoke volumes of your experience!

Holyoke Home said...

Shoo the critter!!!!

Stuffed critters are scary!

Stopping by from MattyLou's site - On Larch Lane.

glnroz said...

this looks like so much fun. They have nothing like that around here. Waaa Waaaa Waaaaaaa,, lol..I did go to Luckenbach, though,,lol

glnroz said...
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CHERI said...

So glad you found my blog! Come back anytime! We do have a lot in common. When I was a freshman at GA Southern (many years ago!) one of our dorm proctors was from Ringold. I don't remember her name right now but remember exactly what she looked like! Sounds like you and your family enjoy music. We live in the middle of nowhere (Fitzgerald) and don't have many such events anywhere closeby. I look forward to checking out your blog!

Cheryl said...

Hey there and thank you so much for becoming my 30th follower. It's much appreciated! This festival of yours looks fantastic and I love "The devil went down to Georgia". Also that photo with the dog - classic - enter it into a comp. Great we are fellow followers. Best wishes.

Wendy said...

How fun. Some of those pictures are hilarious!! My favorites ... Conner with his fingers in the dog's nose, Conner leaning waaaay away from the stuffed animal and the nosebleed. Ummm, now I'm craving funnel cakes. Cause I do love me some funnel cake.

CHERI said...

Thanks so much for wishing me a Happy Anniversary. We went to Jekyll Island for the weekend to eat at our favorite restaurant...it was DELICIOUS!!! Hope we get many more years together!