Duck-Corolla Outer Banks NC 3-27-2010

Last weekend some friends and I took a quick rendezvous to Corolla NC in the Outer Banks. It's been many years since I've traveled to this area and I was actually surprised to see how much it's been built up over the years. The reason for our trip was for some HVAC work that needed to be done for the upcoming season. I went along for the ride and to supervise. This was an opportunity to get in some quality time with a couple of great friends, which I definitely did. I knew it would also provide plenty of scenery to practice with my new camera, which it definitely did. I made good use of my one full day there, and got plenty of great shots. From Currituck Light House to birds and Nor Easter storm damage. I hope you enjoy them. I had a lot of fun doing it. Here is the link to my OBX Photo Album

During my short stay, I was also able to make it to one of my favorite Duck restaurants Fishbones Raw Bar which I'd like to tell you about. If you have not been there you ought to. Excellent raw bar, awesome tropical drinks, great atmosphere, friendly people. It also came to my attention that Fishbones bought the restaurant down the street and turned it into Fishbones Sunset Grill. We tried that one as well. Every bit as good as the raw bar if not better. The Blackened Tuna bites and Mahi Mahi appetizers were unbelievable. The main meals were delicious. The service was a little slow, however they were really busy and it was their first week open. Definitely go try it out if you're in the area.

There is one more place I'd like to mention. We randomly tried First Light for breakfast and Bloody Marys in the TimbukII shopping center. The bloody mary was  absolutely delicious and just what we were looking for. The waiter dropped off the menus and told us that the special was a lump crab and asparagus and provolone omelet. We all had that and asked him why he even gave us menus. The omelet was the best I've ever had in my life. I am not even kidding. I mentioned it to Chuck and he said he was just about to say the same thing. The owner was real friendly. He came over and talked to us and was really excited about the summer that is right around the corner. I couldn't find a website for First Light, but if you've been to  the area you know TimbukII.  I highly recommend you try out the First Light if you're in Corolla this year.

Phish Fest 8 3D Movie and 2010 Tour Tickets

Most of the rumors I hear about Phish usually come true. Don't let this one be different. It has been widely rumored, that Phish recorded their Festival 8 at Empire Polo Field in Indio CA. with Hi Def 3D cameras for a later movie release. Well Phish 3D the movie will be out April 30th and will open for a one week run at exclusive theaters across the US. There will also be an advanced screening on 4/20 in nine cities across the country. All who attend the advanced screenings will receive a Phish 3D poster. The nine cities are listed below.

Los Angeles, CA—Rave Motion Pictures 18
Aurora, CO—Aurora Movie Tavern 10
Rosemont, IL—Rosemont Theatre
Revere, MA—National Amusements Revere
Durham, NC—Wynnsong 15
Brooklyn, NY—Pavilion Theatre
Houston, TX—Studio Movie Grill
Fairfax, VA—Fairfax Corner 14
Williston, VT—Majestic 10

PHISH3D Trailer

Tickets went on sale yesterday for the Fairfax showing of Phish 3D on April 20th. Hurry up as I'm sure they will not last. Here is the ticket link for the Fairfax viewing of PHISH3D. They are on sale now. Check your local listings in other cities for ticket info. You can also go HERE for more information and sign up for email updates for the movie.

One last note: The lottery for Phish Tour 2010 ends today 3/24 at noon. So if you have not reserved your tickets yet I suggest you do so ASAP.

See you at the movie:)

Fresh Vibes: Spring 2010

I just want to say thank you again to all who read Cosmic Vibes. The one year mark has passed and I couldn't be having more fun. The one thing that inspires me to keep writing is all of the feedback I get from all of you. It gives me great pleasure to provide what I believe is useful information about fun things that go on in this awesome city of  DC and beyond. If there were only one of  you to value this information, I feel my writing about it was worth it. I am humbled that there are many more of you and I thank you for coming back to The Vibes.

I recently made some changes to the site including the festival and live venue link columns, outdoor/wildlife photo link column, and live music photo column. I will be adding photos as I take them and taking them down as they become a little older. I don't always write about all of the things that I shoot, but I wanted to make it easier for readers to access new photos without having to look for them.  I am going to try to continue some of the weekly show listings, festival updates and other happenings around town but some times I just get too busy to get to it all while it's relevant. I'll try my best to keep you informed.

Check out the new look and enjoy some of the photos I took over the weekend of an amazing Sunset, Mars-Set, Quarter moon on Friday night from the roof top. An amazing hike at Scotts Run Nature Preserve and The Difficult Run Trail from Georgetown Pike to Rt 7 in Reston.


Enjoy the Vibes and Happy Spring:)

Great Falls VA. Rage After The Storms 3-16-2010

Tuesday 3/16/2010 was the first day the gates were opened at Great Falls VA. since the closure due to the flood over the weekend. The water along the Potomac River at Wisconsin Avenue in The District had reached major flood stage on Monday when water levels rose 10.37 feet above flood stage. I have been waiting patiently since the big snow storms knowing that the snow melt would bring an awesome sight at the falls. I had a chance to swing by there after work today for a half hour or so. Just enough time to capture the violence and rage of the falls. What an absolutely amazing thing to see. I couldn't wait to get over there. I wanted to see it at it's highest level possible before the waters recede back to normal over the next couple weeks. I plan on hiking the trails this weekend to get some pictures of the destruction it caused along the banks and beyond.

To witness the fury of mother nature, be sure to watch some of the videos at the end of the photo album. Or get out to the falls this weekend if you have time, it's supposed to be beautiful outside and you will see some awesome power.

See Great Falls Photos and Videos Here

Remember to be safe and hike with a buddy.

Potomac River and Difficult Run Flood 3-14-10

Picasa Web Albums - Cosmic Vibes - Difficult Run Flooded 2010-03-14

The Mighty Potomac and Difficult Run are raging. After the big snow melt and 4 day rain storm, we tried to go down to Great Falls Virginia. The park was closed due to the flooding. Monday The stage was 12.7 FEET. * FLOOD STAGE IS 10.0 FEET. The pictures here are from Difficult Run trail near Great Falls. Usually this is a smaller less dangerous river. The flooding here was bad as well. The park was open, but they only allowed us to hike 200 yds. The park ranger was there to be sure nobody got too curious. Stay tuned for more pictures as the flood waters recede and  the trails and parks bigin to open later in the the week.


This is going to be awesome.

Be Safe if you venture out near the water. Hike with a buddy.

Potomac Heritage Trail/ Bald Eagles Nest

If you want to see Bald Eagles nest (thanks to my friend Doug for pointing it out.) Hike The Potomac Heritage Trail. The trail head is in the parking lot for Roosevelt Island off of the GW Parkway. Follow the trail for about 1 mile maybe 1.5 mile. When you get to the end of the long stone wall, look up and you can't miss it. You can continue west along the trail that runs in between the Potomac and Parkway all the way to the American Legion Bridge. Follow my pictures right to the nest. The only disappointment was that there were no eagles in the nest this time. However they usually stay in the same nest for years, sometimes a lifetime. They will be back and you will see them if you frequent the area. I'm going back for sure:) Seeing the eagles nest was amazing but the trail provides many other picturesque views as you will see from my photos.

Check out photo links below from our Potomac hikes this weekend . Potomac DC Saturday, Potomac Harpers Ferry Sunday.

It's finally spring:) There were lots of buds in those trees today.

Potomac Heritage Trail 

Harpers Ferry Trails

North Mississippi Allstars (NMAS): State Theatre Falls Church VA. 2/27/2010

The evening started off with a very cool crowd interactive question and answer session with the NMAS before the show. The opportunity was given to a half dozen fans or so to submit their questions to The State Theatre twitter and facebook pages in the days preceding the show. I was one of the lucky ones who got picked. I have to hand it to The State for putting on this session. It was a lot of fun, they got a lot of people in there early to see it and catch the opening band who turned out to be great. It was really cool to hear what the band had to say. This is actually the second time I've seen them do this here, the first time was with Stanton Moore's Garaj a Trois. This is why The State continues to be one of the premier NON Live Nation venues in the DC area, and continues to get great acts and sell out shows. Kudos to The State Theatre

My question was for Luther Dickinson. I asked him what if any differences there are between the writing process in NMAS and The Black Crowes. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "They're very different. In The Black Crowes the brothers write the music and I just pick and play along during the process and figure it out. In NMAS we all come up with the music and work it out, and for future reference NO more Black Crowes questions." It was a little embarrassing, however I got my question answered and a good answer it was. I thought it was a good question and ( I guess) so did the club for submitting it. If they didn't want Black Crowes questions they should have made that a criteria before hand. They were cool about it and I completely understand that he wanted the focus to be on the band at hand North Mississippi Allstars. Either way it was a fun time and I was pleased with the outcome. Some of the other questions asked were, What type of strings do you use? Also a question about their late father and legendary music producer Jim Dickinson and My favorite question was for Chris Chew. What is the inspiration behind the song I'd Love to Be A Hippy, and do you really want to be a hippy? I really wish I wrote down the answer because it was a good one (great reporting huh). Something to the affect of yes but I'm just a good ole down home southern boy and there aint no hippy in me.

After the Q n A, The City Champs out of Memphis Tennessee took the stage to an almost sold out crowd to kick off the show. If you haven't seen or heard of this southern soul jazz/funk organ trio you ought to check them out next time they're in your town or grab their cd The Safecracker. Really funky, nasty riffs, heavy on the organ, no bass, real deep sound, dance your ass off music. Luther joined them for the last two songs to give the now sold out crowd a little taste of what was coming up.

North Mississippi Allstars the blues/rock band from Hernando Mississippi took over the show with a full house packed and ready to rock. The most people I've ever seen at The State. Even the upstairs balcony seats were all taken. The crowd got what they wanted. They rocked the house down for sure. An absolutely awesome performance. Probably the hottest Shake Em On Down I've seen or heard them do, in fact probably the hottest show I've seen them play out of a handful or more shows in different venues and festival settings. They were on fire. A smokin hot Shake em>Eyes> Po black> skinny> Po Black> drums> Sugartown and psychedelic sex machine brought back the feel from their 2001 Hill Country Review era. This part of the show for me was the most enjoyable. Luther took a moment out of the jam to dedicate the show to late blues legends Otha Turner, R.L Burnside, and previously mentioned Jim Dickinson. During Psychedelic Sex machine they brought out the members of  The City Champs to jam with them. Drummer George Sluppick took over for Cody Dickinson while he rocked out on his electric wash board and guitarist Joe Restivo, who holds a BFA in Jazz Studies took over for Luther while he took a break, Al Gamble also joined in on the organ to make for a super Psychedelic Sex Jam. They also covered a nice version of Al Greens "I'm a Ram." The show slowed down a little for Boomers Story but got rockin again for Goin Down South, then a killer "Snake Drive" and finishing off with a four song encore including another instrumental jam with Cody breaking out the washboard again. Overall a fabulous show, great times were had by all.

I was able to track down an audience recording of the show. For a free download click HERE

Thanks to the venue and the band for the easy access on cameras allowing me to get some pretty sweet shots.


City Champs Photos

North Mississippi Photos





Below is a full listing of the setlist from the show

Intro, Drinking Muddy Water, Circle In The Sky, Shake, All Night, I'd Love To Be A Hippy, Keep The Devil Down, Shake 'Em On Down, Eyes, Po' Black Maddie >Skinny Woman > Po' Black Maddie>Drum Solo>Sugar Town, Let It Roll >Psychedelic Sex Machine ( W/Cody on washbord and Al Gamble, Joe Restivo,George Sluppick from City Champs joining the jam) , ML, The Ghetto, I'm A Ram, K.C. Jones, Boomer's Story, Meet Me In The City > Goin' Down South, Hear My Train A Comin'> Snake Drive

Encore:
Freedom Highway, Preachin' Blues, Mean Ol' Wind Died Down, Arkabutla > Capricorn Briarpatch w/ Cody Dickinson on washboard)