Last night, the Twilight Alive concert series presented it’s fourth concert of the season and I noticed two things that seemed a bit unusual – the ladies are looking great in their new summer attire and a question about what happened with the food vendors.
The Twilight Alive concert series is one of the best things that’s happened to Downtown Kingsport in decades, but this week, the entertainment was a bit flat for me.
The Hacienda Brothers were the headliners this week and there were scheduled last year but had trouble making the gig. Although they all seemed to be very talented and their Tex-Mex tunes were worth tapping a foot – there weren’t too many dancers in front of the stage tonight and the mood was a bit relaxed – kind of like the weather.
I did enjoy the scenery last night and kept good company while I was listening to the band.
Before I go any further, let me say the women looked wonderful on the street last night. The cooler temperatures have brought out the summer dresses and my oh my, what a wonderful day. I’m not the only one who noticed this either and if it gets any better, we’re going to have to give fashion awards away.
Up till showtime, I wasn’t sure who the opening band was because the promoters haven’t said much about the local boys. Most of these bands perform for free to get on the stage, but this year, we haven’t heard much about these acts as the headliners get all the press.
Earlier in the day, we were recording the Buzzcutz podcast with Steve Bailey who’s company runs sound for the Twilight Alive events and he told us about a new group named Northfork Switchgrass who were appearing before the Haciendas tonight.I could hear them from my window working late and although the vocals need a bit more pitch exercises, the guys sounded like they had a pretty good jam band and some well written original music.
It was a crazy day yesterday too. I misplaced my keys and by the time I located them in Lora’s car, she was getting ready for a softball game, hanging out at the “V.’ Thankfully, it didn’t take long for me to get everything back in order and I arrived on Broad Street right before the Haciendas.
I could hear John Patrick with WQUT introduce the act from the stage as Tom and I walked up to the crowded street. The band had a good Tex-Mex blues sound, but not much that I found distinctive. Others seemed to enjoy the blues-based boogie with slide guitar and their music provided a groovy backdrop to the night’s festivities.
I talked to John later. We met each other on the street and I finally had the chance to admit to his wife that she looks more radiant than the first time we met some thirty years ago when John and I both worked at the Kingsport FM station – WZXY. John – you are a lucky man!
Besides the streetside beauties, I still have one serious question though – why did all the food run out?
The crowds may have been a little bigger than the week before, but 12 Bones was completely out of food by 8pm. Stir Frye had already packed up before the opening act and even Tom at TK’s was out of food by 8.15. We were lucky and got in the door just before they announced the outage.
Still not sure what happened here and it seemed planned– perhaps they’re trying to clean up the streets earlier. Who knows? I watched alot of folks scratch their heads on this one and we’ll see what happens next week.
For myself – I wish they had more vendors anyway, but I’ve heard the space is reserved for Downtown merchants only and for the moment – there’s not too many businesses in the food category. Whatever the case, there was lots of missed opportunities and several people were leaving early because of the outage.
The crowds were polite though and everyone seemed to be having a good time otherwise.
As I mentioned, I love the new casual dress downtown and I’m seeing lots of younger folks checking out the scene. There’s still a lot of older folks too and so far, there’s not been a single incident reported during the weekly festival.
It’s clear to me that there will be ups and downs during this concert series and it’s not up to me to wax a coat of pollyanna whitewash, but the mood was a bit mellow this week compared to the past few weeks and I sure hope they rethink the food scenario. Lots of folks get off late and look forward to coming downtown. The food’s good too, but running out early is a bit of a buzz-kill.