Jumpin' At The Woodside

As Hurricane Irene bore down on the Carolina coast, thankfully all we saw here in Charlotte were some clouds on the way to the sold-out Grace Potter & The Nocturnals show at The Fillmore. Last week I was lucky enough to make the acquaintance of the enchanting Jennifer, who I invited to the show. She's from Chicago, naturally a Bears and Cubs fan, but originally hails from Buffalo, NY. We had dinner at Hawthorne's and then made our way over to The Fillmore , which is part of the NC Music Factory . On the way we encountered a nice arrangement of the aforementioned clouds. Not much has changed at The Fillmore since my last visit a couple years ago to see Gov't Mule. Still long bar lines as some patrons ordered mixed drinks instead of just grabbing a quick beer. We found a spot in back while the opener finished up their set. When Grace and the boys came on, we moved up and got a spot on the floor. The crowd was well behaved and everyone seemed excited to ...

Last weekend, I drove up to Richmond, VA, and the home of Lazy Acres North (LAN). We had tickets to see the Warren Haynes Band in Charlottesville on Saturday night, but not for the Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds acoustic show beforehand. We hoped they would make a guest appearance at our show, and we were not disappointed. Friday evening, we hit the Capital Ale House for some pre-dinner brews. Had my first-ever cask conditioned Victory Hop Devil IPA . Dinner at the LAN is always good and the marinated grilled skirt steak and corn was no exception. The next day we hit the road due west for Charlottesville, but not before a stop at the Blue Mountain Brewery for lunch in Nelson County, VA. Afterwards we checked into the hotel and then hit the Charlottesville downtown mall where we hoped we might be able to hear the Dave & Tim performance at the outdoor pavilion. Unfortunately due to the cicadas and distance, this proved to be minimal at best. Finally, we decided to s...