08.24.06

All Muckled Up!

Posted in cory branan, hot live action, lucero, mucklewain, steve earle - August 24th, 2006 at 11:05 am by Cricket

Mucklewain has been done. I came out of it without bug bites or sunburn. Mimi survived a chupacabra bite and I think she has some magical powers now. Okay, she didn’t get bit by a chupacabra, but she does look like she was mauled by a mythical beast. We’ll get to that in a bit.

So we rolled into Harriman, TN late as ever. Stupid time zone changes get us every time. Well, that and the whole not being ready and leaving late, but no one needs to know about that, right? We found our hotel (HCT girls don’t camp; it would be a disaster you don’t want to see) and hooked up with Sarita and Lulu (Cookie was already with us). We packed our bags up and headed up the road to Whicker Park where we were shuttled from the parking lot and summarily searched. Though not searched very well, thankfully. *cough* [Apparently the cloaking device on my huge orange backpack functions just fine.--Sarita]

We came over the rise into the park to find a nice sloping hill going down to a stage on either side at the bottom. There were hay bales around for leanin’ on, food vendor carts and an oddly out of place huge tour bus covered in Gibson guitar promotional images. We laid our blanket out right in the middle of the hill, between the stages and proceeded to get our drink on. [By the way, it is really hard to get the bourbon smell out of a Nalgene bottle. Or so I hear.--Sarita]

Looking down the hill to left.
Yes, it was more like being at house party in a field than a big festival.

Now I know this is about the music, but let me tell you, even though the sun never really came out and even rained a little (don’t let Mimi lie to you it barely rained, though to hear her tell you it was torrential–that was saved for when we were driving home through the mountains the next day)… Um, where was I? Oh it rained a little but it was hot. Sweat beads all over me. Sexy really, only, you know, not. It was so hot that we couldn’t be bothered to walk down and watch the bands for a bit, though we could hear them and discussed what they might have looked like, we can only report on the music for most of the show.

But before we paid attention to the music something magical happened.

I transformed into an actual cricket and jumped on Mimi’s hat! Okay, I didn’t, but it was kind of weird in a “Hey, there’s cricket on your hat” kind of way. And apparently all Crickets like Mimi ’cause he actually hung around for quite awhile.

Due to our tardiness we missed Mic Harrison & The Hi-Score, Dash Rip Rock, Brian Waldschlager, Caddle, Glossary, Patty Hurst Shifter, and all but one song by Less Honky More Tonkies. Kids, we’ll have to catch up with you later except Glossary, we’ll see you on Saturday. I’m sure something awesome happened at each of those shows we missed, but luckily for us there was plenty more to come.

Southern Bitch was great, though we all agreed we were expecting more girls in a band with a name like that. The Tennessee Rounders roundly rocked, [Man, that is a lame joke, doofus.--Mimi] as did Garrison Starr, who think got a bunch of new fans from the girls who were sitting with us. [Hell. Yes.--Sarita] We also missed The Katies, (and ah! Tragically) Jason Ringenberg, and Trent Summar & The New Row Mob, in favor of going over to the song writer’s stage for the Daddy Hour with Will Kimbrough and then a little set by our boy Cory Branan. [I’m pretty sure I was smiling like an idiot throughout Cory Branan’s whole set. His songs make me just that happy.--Lulu] [Me, too, even when I was getting clocked in the head by the fangirls behind me.--Sarita]

Cory Branan sings like he enjoys it as much as we do.

It’s a wonder that we were even standing up at this point. There were $2 Miller High Lifes to drink and I heard a rumor that some people might have snuck whiskey in and possibly even gotten us to drink some without us knowing. [Aww. You two are so trusting!--Lulu] We managed to hook up with Troublesome Girl and stagger back to our blanket on the hill and catch a bit of The Yayhoos, who I think I need to see more of.

Next up, Scott Miller and the Commonwealth whose drummer was wearing cut-off overalls and black socks. Who we perhaps roundly mocked for it when we saw him before the SM&tC set. Scott rocked, the crowd went wild. But wait, did Scott leave in that giant Gibson tour bus? Has he ascended to hitherto unknown levels of fame? Or did the bus just happen to split when he drove off?

Kevn Kinney’s set was sadly sacrificed in favor if bathroom trips and food and beer gathering for ♥Steve♥ Earle’s set.

Now you know what we were really at Mucklewain for: ♥Steve♥. It was, shockingly the first time Mimi and I have been together to see him play. A holy grail of songwriterly goodness for us to share. Lulu came down the hill to revel in the greatness with us. [It was completely freakin' great. What else can be said? It’s ♥Steve♥--Lulu]

Yep, we were right there, up close. *swoon*

♥Steve♥ tragically did not tell his usual stories between songs, he said, because of the narrow timeframe, he gave up the stories in favor of the songs. So, indeed, my only complaint is that ♥Steve♥ did not play for a million hours. He did however play many of the song we really wanted to hear. We danced, shouted, held hands, nearly cried at the mini tribute he did for Townes Van Zandt before “Fort Worth Blues” and generally enjoyed the hell out of ourselves, while surely annoying everyone around us. [Man, we were obnoxious as hell. Way worse than usual, and stop telling people I cried at a concert.--Mimi] [I teared up a little, too. Shh.--Lulu]

Things begin to blur after that. A whole day of drinking in the heat takes a toll on even the most hearty of us. I know Todd Snider put on a rocking set. American Minor and Will Hoge, sadly faded off into the background. They too will have to go on the list of folks to check out in the future.

The Lucero set was damn incredible, though the chupacabra attacking Mimi during it was possibly even more spectacular. [I was there, it was ginormous! Teeth like razors!--Sarita]

Brian Venable and Ben Nichols of Lucero, unaware of chupacabras in the dark around them.

Okay, so it wasn’t a chupacabra so much as it was a hay bale. [Sorry, Mimi, I tried.--Sarita] And maybe it didn’t attack her so much as she went flying over it, only to be unwillingly rescued by a bunch a frat boys. But man, you should see the marks that hay bale left, you’d think it was a chupacabra, no lie. [I had blood all over me when we got back to the hotel. Oh well, it was a Lucero show, what can you expect? Much like the people standing near me who were feeding me Jim Beam from the bottle. Which might have had some little bit to do with the chupacabra attack. They are attracted by sweat and bourbon fumes.--Mimi]

Somehow we stumbled back through the dark, made it back to the car, were driven safely back to the hotel and fell down comatose. [We were not driving, don't get all self-righteous up in this bitch.--Mimi] [Backseat driving, now that’s a different story.--Sarita]

The next morning, we stopped for gas and had the following conversation with the overly friendly gas station attendant, who had a thick east Tennessee accent and something of mullet, or perhaps leftover 80s rocker hair.

Gas Lady: Y’all out for the show? From where?
Cricket: Nashville.
GL: You know Todd Snider came in here this morning for coffee!
Cricket: Oh really?
GL: Yeah, I don’t know who he is but my kids tell me he’s famous! (She did too speak entirely in exclamation points, you don’t know.)
Cricket: I guess he’s kind of famous.
GL: Honestly though, at first (here she whispers) I thought maybe he was little queer!
Cricket: *chokes a little* What?
GL: Well he did have an earring and all, but what do I know. I mean he’s famous!
Mimi: *walks up* What?
Cricket: Todd Snider was here for coffee this morning.
Mimi: Oh?

And then I abandoned Mimi and Cookie to the poor lady and ran off to pump the gas and laugh myself silly. [She continued to regale us with background information on the event, such as the fact the show was put on "on the Sheriff's land," like it was maybe Nottingham Forrest or something.--Mimi]

The important thing here is we saw ♥Steve♥. [He sang "Tom Ames' Prayer," which is my very favorite song of his, and let me tell you, you're glad you weren't there.--Mimi]

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