Halloween 2010

Another successful snowy Halloween come and gone. Boo.



And of course we made our regular Halloween stop at the neighbor's house of horrors. The one house we always check out but never ask for candy. This freak show is worth more than a bag of chocolate hands down.

First snow 2010

Finally a splash of snow. Sara couldn't wait til morning and quickly rushed outside to make a vampire snowman in her pajamas. Happy Halloween!

Strolling the Jack Pine trails

A spot of warm sunny weather made for a relaxing 2 hour stroll through the local green space. Birds were a bit of a bother but luckily we were able to fend them off with seed raided from the various homemade feeders hanging along the trail.

Thanksgiving weekend 2010

Once again Thanksgiving weekend was spent back on my folk's hobby farm. We did a lot of visiting (including some face time with new baby Luke), some hiking, loads of eating, and very little relaxing. All said and done, we had a good time.

Here are a few photos snapped over the 3 days (some were taken by Sara and Emma, can you guess which ones?).

moe.down at Moe.hawk, NY

[To skip directly to a slideshow of moe.down 11 photos, click here.]
moe.down XI
Gelston Castle - Mohawk, NY
Festival schedule

moe.down 2010 rocked it out this year. And to think that I very nearly skipped it... what a moe.ron.

As it turned out it wasn't until the very last possible minute that I finally decided to go for it. By Friday morning I had rented a car, packed up, and was driving straight south to Mohawk, NY for moe.down 11 (yeah, moe.hawk, how appropriate eh).

I arrived without a ticket and as I was waiting for the maintenance dude to fix the ATM, somebody started yelling "Tripper!" from the long line of cars. Enter Sean and Maria (and crew). Sweet. It was truly great timing (Sean lent me the cash) and an excellent start to the weekend.



After 10 years of moe.down at Turin, NY (Snowridge) this was a new location. Between the two my preference is obviously Turin - it's an hour closer and much more convenient in terms of proximity between camping, stages, and the parking lot. I do admit the views here at Gelston Castle are somewhat nicer but if it was views I wanted I'd be hiking another 46er in the ADK. For me it's about the music, the people, and the convenience and for that Turin gets my vote.

The weather forecast was sketchy but in the end it only rained the Friday night making for some very cool effects while moe. was jamming late into the night. I certainly got wet but I was by no means soaked.




The number of bands at moe.down this year were a little scaled down compared to previous years. I would have loved to have seen Perpetual Groove, Particle, Donna the Buffalo, Railroad Earth, and Nate Wilson added to the venue but instead they were on the list of attractions the week prior at the first (and doubtfully annual) Snowridge Jamfest aka moe.down's old location. Apparently it was a flop with only about 100 attendees (read news article here). That said, moe. still managed to nail down some solids with Grace Potter, Black Keys, Built to Spill, and Lotus among my personal highlights. Some of the smaller stage bands also impressed - Turbine, Orgone, The Brew to name a few.



And then there's Grace. Grace Potter not only rocks hard, she's extremely photogenic - she can even make a wanker with a cheap camera look like they have some talent. Thanks Grace, you were amazing. And no worries, just because I saw you a few months ago at Mountain Jam doesn't mean I'm stalking you. (Or does it?)



And finally moe., a band that never fails to impress. They played six sets and nearly 10 hours of pure jam adrenaline. Awesome. Thank you.







Cheers to the gang - Sean, Maria, Timmy, Nicole, Eric, John, Mark, Brad, Kate, Lewis, Heidi, Jessica, Jessie, Randy, Michelle. Thanks for a great weekend and see you next year eh...



PS: Check out a slideshow of photos here.