When my main man Dan Flan rode a bicycle from New Jersey to Maine, it wasn't just a whimsical windmill-tilting excursion. Dan was traveling North with the express purpose of reconnoitering a new life for himself. He came back to Jersey so enamored with New England that he promptly packed his belongings, quit his job, and moved to Maine.
Before I go any further, let me assuage your concerns... I'm not quitting grad school, I'm still actually rather pissed at New England as a whole, and I sure as hell am not moving to Maine. It's a romantic notion, but it's not for me.
In one of his far-too-infrequent reports, Dan mentioned that the weird thing about the Maine is this: you've gone so far North that you actually find yourself in the Deep South.
Mark, who is a New Hampshire native, had said something to that effect in the past. I think it was when we were talking about NASCAR and how it's inexplicably popular up there.
Dan, however, was talking about the music scene. There's probably more to it than that, but the music is what really caught my attention. When Dan Flan talks music, it is best to listen. Trust me.
...need I remind you what happened then?
A ukulele-strummin' fiend and owner of a genuine electric piano, Dan's tastes can be a little, um, eclectic. For example, he's pretty much the only Karaoke civilian, so to speak, who has the cojones (or desire) to sing Prince or Hall and Oates.
To his delight, Maine has turned out to be a hotbed of Dan's sort of music. Specifically, the Bluegrass scene is top-notch. I'll go so far as to infer that Bluegrass' popularity is less about the redness of Maine-iac's necks and more about the prevalence of hippies. But that's only ancillary to the point.
...but it has something to do with Karaoke
Dan's excitement about Bluegrass has become infectious, and I had to check it out for myself... and, well, I liked what I found. Here's Yonder Mountain String Band singing "40 Miles from Denver"
I don't think they suck. It's okay if you do, though. Maybe you'll like this better.
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1 comment:
shucks don, that's really sweet. I'm a little veclemped. . .for the record, my comment about being so far north i was south wasn't exclusively about the music. . .though it was DEFINITELY included. The radio up here has 1 pop/hip hop station, and everything else is country.
everything.
anyway. . . See u this weekend.
Cheers!
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