We had never been to Musikfest (*GASP!*). Even though Mama went to nearby Kutztown University and we have family in Bethlehem – Carter’s cousin actually plays Musikfest every year – we had never gone before. There is no excuse. We’ll be going every year from here on out.
Musikfest is a 10-day festival featuring more than 300 performances representing pretty much any musical genre you can imagine. It takes place each year in downtown Bethlehem, PA, on 14 platzes (stages), 11 of which are free. The festival began in 1984, with 182,000 attendees; it now draws over 1 million people.
Anyway, we were planning to see Counting Crows on Musikfest’s opening night on their main stage. A few weeks before, Mama landed a sweet freelance project and had the opportunity to write about NOTAR, the rapper who is on Adam Duritz’s record label and touring with Counting Crows. Over the weeks leading up to the show, the project expanded a bit and the article covered NOTAR, the overall concept of the Traveling Circus & Medicine Show, and the Greybird Foundation, Counting Crows’ charitable outreach arm.
As it turned out, Mama interviewed NOTAR via phone the day before the show. He was very gracious with his time, and Mama was even more excited to write her story after speaking with him – he’s very quotable, but also comes across as very genuine.
On the day of the show, Carter and Mama left early in the afternoon to begin what’s usually a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Bethlehem. When we stopped to get Carter a slushey and some beef jerky (his favorite road trip snacks), Mama checked her email and found out Adam Duritz had agreed to speak with her, but that he only had five minutes. He’d be calling her directly at 4 p.m.
At a few minutes before 4, Mama pulled off the highway, opened her laptop, and the phone rang. When she looked at the clock 45 minutes later, she apologized to Mr. Duritz and explained that if she didn’t get back on the road, they were going to miss the show.
Mama: We got back on the road and Carter had already finished the slushey, the entire bag of beef jerky and half his book. We immediately hit rush hour traffic near Harrisburg, and pretty much everywhere else between there and the Lehigh Valley. Our tickets said the gates opened at 6 and the show started at 7, and I was really worried we were going to miss the first half.
Carter: That beef jerky was good.
Mama: I can’t believe you ate the whole bag while I was on the phone.
Carter: Well maybe you shouldn’t talk so much to famous artists.
Mama: That interview was really a dream come true for me. I’m a pretty big Counting Crows fan. [understatement of the century]
Carter: Yeeeaaah…trust me, I know. We were going to Mama’s friend’s house in Bethlehem to catch the shuttle bus with them.
Mama: There’s a shuttle system to get people to the festival. We got off the shuttle bus around 7:15 and still had to walk all the way through the festival to the main stage at the other end. I was really upset about missing so much of the show. Rather than having an opening act, then the second band, then the headliner, the Traveling Circus & Medicine Show features all three bands playing all evening. When the curtain goes up, everyone is onstage playing Van Morrison’s "Caravan," and from that point on, everyone comes and goes, playing their own songs, sitting in on each other’s songs, and doing covers. I had seen the show several times last summer, and once already this summer, and I knew we should be there from the very beginning, but the phone interview and traffic had made us late.
Carter: I had to pee, and I wanted food tickets [food and beverages at the festival are purchased with tickets rather than cash], but Mama just rushed ahead to get to the stage.
Mama: As we got closer to the stage, I said, “I don’t hear any music.” We arrived to find out that there was a misprint on the tickets, and that the start time wasn’t until 8 p.m. So we hadn’t missed anything!
Carter: I got pierogies and they were even better than the beef jerky!
Mama: I skipped dinner, but after another chain of misadventures and serendipitous timing, I ended up in the pit in front of the stage. The website for which I was writing the story didn’t have any photographers available, so they asked me to take my point-and-shoot camera and try to get a few shots to accompany my story.
Mama: I ended up meeting a very nice photographer in the pit who graciously offered to send me a photo that Tri State Indie could use as long as they gave her photo credits.
Carter: I personally think the show was amazing. I loved it every time I saw NOTAR come out. I like the song "Matador."
Mama: Me too! I also like watching the people around us as he wins them over. I think many of them don’t think they’re going to enjoy a rapper’s performance, but he’s so engaging, and his band is so talented, that people just can’t help but love it.
Carter: When Augustana sang my favorite song, "Sweet and Low," NOTAR came out with his trumpet. I play the trumpet, too.
Mama: NOTAR told me on the phone that he plays for at least an hour a day. I was really excited when he came out onto the stage with it. To me, it just underscored what reverent musicians everyone on that tour is to see the rapper come out and play his horn like that.
Carter: It was kick-butt. At the end, they sang "This Land is Your Land."
Mama: I always love that part, because everyone sings along, and everyone leaves with a big smile on their face.
Carter: As we were leaving, we saw NOTAR, MGeezy, and some other guys from NOTAR’s band standing outside. Mama said, “Hi, I'm JJ,” and shook his hand. He said, “Nice to meet you, JJ.” Then Mama said, “We spoke on the phone yesterday.” NOTAR was like, “Oh, my God, JJ!!” and hugged her. Then he said, “Where’s your son?” and then he saw me and grabbed my head and said, “You have to practice your trumpet for an hour every day!”
Mama: He was serious, too. That’s good advice and I hope you listen to him.
Carter: I have!
Carter and NOTAR.
Mama: It was really great to meet him. The whole day, everything just fell into place so perfectly. I was so happy. I couldn’t wait to get home and write the story. [You can read Mama's story over at Tri State Indie...it also ended up on the home page at countingcrows.com for several weeks.]
Carter: I slept the whole way home except for a stop at Wawa.
Mama: I was wide awake and couldn’t stop smiling.
Carter: I’m tired just thinking about it. But it was a great show.
Check back soon for our reviews of these live shows: Deer Tick and Mountain Man at the Capitol Theatre, The Traveling Circus & Medicine Show at the Wellmont Theater, Hot August Blues in Cockeysville, MD, featuring Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Keb Mo, and Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, and Lee Harvey Osmond at Ourhouse in York, PA.
Nice!!
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