This year’s Blue Plumb Festival in Johnson City was a bit surreal for me. I’ve got a list of rants and raves later, but for now, let me just say I was pleasantly surprised about the new happenings in downtown Johnson City.
Usually when you attend outdoor music festivals in East Tennessee, you’ll hear an up-tempo acoustic or bluegrass song, but not this time.
‘Round Midnight’ was drifting in the heat of the June evening as the 9th Annual Blue Festival got under way last Friday Night. Named after an old post office, this festival attracts thousands each year for a celebration of art, food and music in the historic downtown.
Before the weekend was over, we braved the excessive summer heat to be a part of an interesting weekend of entertainment and discovered a new business interest that may alter the landscape in Johnson City.
Lots of pictures too…
It was about 6.00 when I made my way to that street-side scene with thousands of people, but I was seriously disoriented when I recognized one of my favorite Monk tunes coming from outside on “The Jazz Stage.”
This was the first year for this genre of music at Blue Plumb and the stage located near Nelson’s Art Gallery was the scene great musical performances over the weekend.
In the middle of the road was a man in his mid-fifties wearing a t-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes – dancing alone in a euphoric state.
The police weren’t certain about his performance, but the audience seemed pleased by their applause and it seemed appropriate for the light vibe that drifted along with the sounds of conversations and live music.
‘Round Midnight’ is probably my favorite jazz title by Thelonius Monk and hearing that song is good any time of day, but it’s not what I expected on the streets tonight.
On stage, a tall, slender young woman in a blue sequined gown held a silver flute to her mouth. She was working through a solo ahead of a carefree rhythm section including an upright bassist and guitarist. When they were finished I offered up unabashed – “Thelonius would be proud!”
I would meet the band, Blue Trillium on the street later that evening. Originally from Western North Carolina, they now make Carter County their home and they seemed giddy about their performance at Blue Plumb.
As I walked down the streets shoulder to shoulder with Blue Plumb fans, it was clear something unusual was happening in Johnson City.
Usually the city has a lot of empty buildings on the South side of the street and not much new to talk about. This year that’s not true – quite the contrary.
Dick Nelson’s Art Gallery was busy with lookers and there wasn’t a seat in the house at Russo’s where even the tables on the streets outside this New Orleans themed restaurant were crowed with patrons dining on the best jambalaya in town.
Kay McClain’s Atlantis was so busy that I mentioned it looked like Christmas as she hurried to wrap gifts and packages that were placed on the counter. Her store is a metaphysical wonder and trance-like with an inventory of incense, music, books, jewelry and one of the finest collections of natural mineral specimens around.
Main Street is where most of the activities are though. The new jazz stage had a more diverse audience, but it was obvious as you walked toward the main stage there was a different atmosphere in the middle of the street.
That’s where clubs like The Hideaway crackle with a blend of electricity and hormones as young teens and 20somethings gather to hear punk and metal bands that traffic through this tiny venue – as many as 5 a day. They have one of the most active stages in town and it certainly stands out amid the Johnson City nightlife.
Next door, Capone’s had their bullish bouncers out front checking ID’s while Numan’s had plenty of people sitting at tables out front drinking $4.00 beers. Halo was thick with college folks too who hang out at this cool downtown bar run by “bar angels.’
The Roan Street stage is off to the side and featured a more traditional form of Roots based music. That’s where Steve Bailey was running sound. We see each other almost every week in the summer as he produces the stage rigging and sound for Kingsport’s Twilight Alive and several other outdoor festivals in the region.
On the west side of Main street, near the main stage, I spotted Carson Waugh. He was in the doorway of the new Freiberg’s German Restaurant, one of the newest businesses to open its doors – in the heart of the city.
We heard about this new development in the winter from Michael Mancy – the owner of Stir Frye Cafe. We’ve been so excited about the new thai restaurant in Kingsport, I wasn’t sure what to make of his ideas about this place in the old Mel’s Coin Shop.
Carson’s brother works for Stir Frye and together they had been watching the crowds from the upper-loft office spaces – in a historic building built in 1888 that serves as the unique centerpiece for Johnson City’s redevelopment.
At street level, Freiberg’s has a brown and tan European architecture like a corner pub. Inside, high ceilings accent a dark wood environment, a dining room on the second floor and crowds of people moving through a line to get Warsteiner and Yeungling Beer (the official Blue Plumb sponsor) on draft from beautiful young women dressed in Swiss Miss outfits.
We walked upstairs around back just as the train whistled it’s way along the street.
On the second floor we saw gorgeous hardwood floors, high ceilings and large windows on two sides of the room. At the end, Carson’s sister in-law was nursing a 3-month-old baby girl and other than the soft sounds of Dave Brubeck’s ‘Take Five’ coming from the Wayne Henderson Quartet down below it was surprisingly peaceful.
I took a few pictures from this perch above the crowd and turned to see Raffael – the manager of Stir Frye Cafe. We’ve seen a lot of each other lately, as they build out the new store here in Kingsport and it was good to see him celebrating a night off. We talked for a few moments about the business, the commercial space and he invited me upstairs to the see the personal offices of developer Michael Mancy.
We walked up another dark flight of stairs to the third floor and Mancy was talking on his cell-phone – at the same time – pointing to several new ornate antique fans he had installed in the high rafters.
Walking around the rooms of this unfinished space, we were amazed by the architecture, the design and the two huge wooden doors that looked like a church entrance carved into the walls between two rooms.
Mancy is a focused and intense developer who’s going to be fun to watch over the coming months.
“It’s a big gamble,” he told me as we looked out upon the roof of the building. “We believe this is going to be the beginning of great opportunities here in Downtown.”
He also shared with me about several other restaurants destined for this undeveloped district and he may very well be forecasting the future.
While we were watching the sunset above the crowd, Carson looked at me and said, “it doesn’t get any better than this does it?”
For a moment, he was right, but my response was to point at the main stage down below and answer, “Yes it does.”
I was referring to my memory of playing the main stage down below during Blue Plumb with Reagan Boggs a few years back.
It was a hot afternoon much like today and the memory of an afternoon monsoon is still easy to recall. It literally cleared the streets when sheets of rain threatened to electrocute all of us on stage.
It occurred to me later when I was sharing this story with Carson’s girlfriend Lauren that I’m a stage whore and still romanticizing that one night long ago.
Nevertheless, it was thrilling to see the Blue Plumb Festival from Mancy’s office and I appreciated the tour, but I was really interested in a beer, so we went down below to Freiberg’s to get a couple of beers and a better bead on those gorgeous faux Swiss bartenders.
Later in the night, we walked back down the street for a bit and was overwhelmed once again with the business owners and friends who stood out among the thousands in attendance that night.
One of my rants at Blue Plumb – pit bulls on a leash!
The free Blue Plumb newspaper I picked up on the streets clearly said “No pets allowed” and it puzzled me to see several pit bulls waddling through the streets. It’s one thing to bring a lab or another small dog to an outdoor festival, but what does a pit bull say to a crowd?
Any outdoor musical event is social. Here’s the roundup from the two nights;
Tony Seaton was in a bright red shirt and shorts and I explained to him my theory that we ought to conduct business like this more often.
Bob Cantler with the band ‘A Bag of Cats.’ He used to be the marketing director at MeadowView and was dining with friends outside Russo’s.
Earlier in the day, I had returned a delayed email to Dave Cook with Kid’s Our Age. To see him that night was a bit surprising, but appropriate for an apology. I wish I had seen him earlier with Mike Williams at the jazz stage and we made no haste to talk about old retro keyboards.
New musicians Shake it Like a Caveman and Kevin Light stopped me outside Freiberg’s and we talked about life on the road for these young artists.
Clay Prewitt and his girlfriend Megan were snaking their way through the crowd too as Doc Watson performed and we spent several minutes under the night sky exchanging thoughts on philosophy and poetry as hundreds walked back and forth near the back of the crowd.
Two more rants;
I was disappointed with the sound at the Doc Watson show. It’s probably hard to carry an acoustic guitar and a legendary old man’s voice across a busy audience like the Blue Plumb, but what I could hear made me think of my papaw Frank. Watson’s voice is authentic and honest and conjures plenty of old-time family memories sitting around the living room singing old songs.
Finally, I was a bit frustrated with the cost of food at Blue Plumb and the beer situation.
The beer situation was silly. You could buy a bracelet for $4.00 that allowed you to drink beer on the street. You could also buy $4.00 draft beers at many locations (in a 16 ounce give or take 4 ounces less depending on whether or not they had enough cups).
A trip to the carnival of food vendors was a dent on the wallet too. I had an ice cream cup that cost $7.00 and my friends had stir-fried chicken and rice for $10.00 – Ouch!
It had been threatening to storm all evening and as we left the first day of the festival, there was lighting in the air. At a distance and streaking across a backdrop of dark cloud this was a great landscape to drive home with the windows down and realize what we have here in Tennessee.