For those of you Cornellians unfortunate enough to have high-powered internships in Manhattan, D.C. or wherever you may be, let me assure you that you've been missing out on a shit-ton of fun here in sunny Ithaca (as difficult as it is to believe the words "sunny" and "Ithaca" side-by-side, it's true). The Grassroots Festival in Trumansburg was just the latest event that made me happy I've stayed up here, away from the hustle and bustle of real life. Unfortunately, your unreliable correspondent has less in the way of specific details than he would like — Grassroots is a BYOB affair and he's never been given to doing anything in half measures, particularly when it comes to bringing beer. In short, your correspondent came loaded for beer and consequently did not take comprehensive, or even comprehensible notes. That being said, some overall impressions still came through the self-induced haze of drunken bemusement:
Grassroots is set up on a big tract of land in Trumansburg, not too many miles away from Ithaca. While the official name of the festival is the Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance, your correspondent didn't do much, or any, dancing (for those who know him, this is unsurprising). He did however enjoy the music. The prevalent sound for the festival was a soothing blend of folk and roots-rock that provided the soundtrack throughout the fair grounds. The bands clearly were having a great time playing to a receptive audience. In fact, I would have been hard-pressed to find anyone having a less-than-stellar day. Camping tents abounded, as did more ingenious modes of housing: one particularly memorable accommodation was a large touring bus that was, according to the destination sign above the windshield, heading to Heaven.
Well, that's all for this installment of Jared's Summer of Music. Next up, the Newport Folk Festival, where your erstwhile journalist and raconteur (the word, not the band) hopes to stay more sober and, hopefully, more lucid. Also, the U.C. has completed all the necessary forms to procure the funds to purchase a serious camera, which means there ought to be pictures coming out of Newport.