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The Jelly Jam - "self-titled" (2002-Inside-Out Music)...the latest solo project from Ty Tabor, guitarist of King's X..... My Photographs You like photos? I love taking them. Click here, if you wanna see some of my work
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Saturday, Aug. 02, 2003 - 4:56 p.m. You have heard that saying many times, haven�t you? �Timing is everything�. Our short afternoon downtown at the Mohall Celebration had several instances of that kind of timing. We found a parking spot less than 100 feet from the south side of the festival area. I noticed a car leaving the small parking lot just as we arrived on the scene. I whipped the car into the lot, and found the spot that they had just left. There were three cars following me into the lot. If I had been a few seconds later, one of them would have had this primo (and later, safe from the elements) space, not us. We decided to see if the new pasta restaurant a block away was open for the weekend. I thought they might close, rather than have to deal with drunks wanting to use their toilets and indifferent crowds walking past their entrance. But they were open. Had a �No public restrooms� sign out front. Small crowd, too. We were waited on and served in less than 20 minutes. The food was good. Lease had the garlic chicken individual pizza I had a pannini sandwich. We split some breadsticks and minestrone soup. Tab came up to around $20, and provided us with far too much food to finish off, too. We will be back there soon. We left the restaurant, and headed down the old merchant�s street. At the intersection of this street and the next was a small stage. The performers (through the years) on this stage are usually musicians who play acoustic guitar or sing to soundtracks. Some of the more interesting acts that have made the Celebration have put there shows on this small stage. Today was no exception. We arrived at the stage to see a large crowd watching a singer. Smiles were on everybody�s face. We made it there just in time to see the last half of his first set of the day. This young man was singing along to tapes by a famous performer. I will let you look at his photo for a minute, and let you guess who he was impersonating:
You are wrong, unless you guessed Neil Diamond. Matter of fact, his stage name is �Black Diamond�. At least he has a sense of humor about his unlikely choice of career moves. Can you imagine the moment, years back while hanging out with his homeys, when he said,�You guys know what? I can sing just like that Neil Diamond fellow! Maybe I should give up my dream of becoming the next big rapper, and try making a living doing that instead?� After they finished kicking his ass, I imagine he kept his dream to himself until he found a way to get his break into show business. He even broke into a little bit of Nelly, singing the lines, �It�s getting hot in here, � , in Neil�s voice, of course, while commenting on the high temps. We wandered around a little, walked past a couple of stages with far too twangy, old-timey country performers, and heard another band on a side stage that caught our attention. The woman�s voice was belting out a Trisha Yearwood tune (don�t ask me how I know it was a Trisha Yearwood tune), and she sounded really good. When we made it to the stage area, Lease realized something: we had forgot about the regional chilli cookoff taking place in the area around this stage! This has been a favorite Celebration event for us for the last few years. After the cooks send their entry to the judges, they hand out the rest of their chilli (and a few have home made salsa, too) to anyone brave enough to try a taste. She thought that we had missed it, but we hadn�t. The contestants were just packaging up their chilli as we walked into the area. In less than 5 minutes, the samples were were on the tables.
That�s salsa on the bottom. Weird stuff- the cook had about � cucumbers in the mix. Not really salsa- more like a liquid garden salad, heavy on the cukes. Let me tell you- after trying almost all of the 18 contestants fare, I have a badly fire and spice scorched tongue! Most (but not all) were very good. Some had more spice, some more heat. A couple had chunks of meat, instead of ground beef. I really like that style of �red�. We don�t know who won, because the skies were turning dark. A storm was on its way. We headed back from the direction we came, and walked by the small stage just in time to hear the guitar-playing woman say that the organizers wanted her to stop. The bad weather was almost there. I talked Lease into heading back for our car. I snapped this photo on the old merchant�s street, as we worked our way back:
No, the sky wasn�t in black and white only. I just changed the photo to that, to make the contrast visible� As I unlocked Lease�s door, raindrops the size of quarters started pelting us. We made it out of the lot , and onto the road at the exact moment that the skies opened up. I could barely see the car in front of me. After driving for a few block, large hail fell onto the car. Since driving at 25 mph into a hail storm isn�t very good on your car�s finish, I pulled over to the curb under a large tree. It helped break the fall of most of the hail, and two more cars joined us in the next minute or so. I shot this picture while we waited:
We finally were able to drive the rest of the way home after a 10 minute delay. It is now 2 hours later, and the rain is still falling. Lease, Jules and I are waiting it out here until it slows down a little. No big acts tonight (Paul Revere and the Raiders? They�re still alive?), but we plan on hitting the side stages, looking for other good bands�..
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