One of the great bands from this area, Furnace Mountain counts the Barns of Rose Hill as its home venue. They consistently sell out their shows at the barns, and for good reason. Here are some pictures and videos from the Dave’s Birthday Bash show.
A superb song like Suzanne showcases the band’s high level of talent.
Of course there is classic old timey music to play as well.
There were some non-standard parts of this show, it being a birthday bash and all.
Doritos were served, but only to select teenagers.
As the show happened on the Lunar New Year’s Day (welcome to the year of the rabbit), a Chinese folk song or two were offered from the stage. Normally, the band sticks to Americana.
Danny plays a mean mando. Of course he plays everything else too.
The medley.
A crowd favorite and one of the band’s best songs, Bluebell.
So next time Furnace Mountain plays, get your tickets early.
We’ll start in the middle, with a video of the lighting of the summer solstice bonfire of 2022. The weather was absolutely perfect and the crowd friendly and warm. Every year the size of the fire seems to come as a surprise.
This year the weather was so cool that a dip in the river was not in the cards.
Rewinding a day, Aubrey provided another great iteration of the smoked salmon Messerhead feast helping to set the FOOD stage. Speaking of FOOD, Chef Michael was down from Chicago with Astro. That means we were spoiled rotten on the food front for days on end.
Salmon feast table
Any solstice that starts with caviar is destined for greatness.
Before.
Prepping for late night tacos
It seems that Chef Michael can’t cook for less than 700. But that’s OK. We just need to make the solstice party seven times bigger. Pork shoulder in the firepit by the shrine.
We had a mid-day break to tour Eli’s fantastic art show at the Barns of Rose Hill. The show continues through July 2nd.
Then it was time for the pre-game Negroni.
And we were officially underway. Esther and Cora presided over the opening.
The sufferin bastard made an appearance
After an outstanding potluck feast, replete with fresh flowers, it was time for one quick song (thanks guitar week fellers) and FIRE.
By far the cutest thing at this solstice iteration was the jumping of the gun by Brantley the marshmallow boy. The fire was still a bit young. But that did not deter Brantley.
The fire burned for two days. In fact, it is still smoking as I write this.
Thank goodness for Alec, David, and Gina. We had a few hours of music by the bonfire.
Rumor has it that absinthe hour stretched from 3am-6am.
The next day happened fast.
Morning after breakfast
The chef outdid himself three times.
Party cleanup was a breeze with Aubrey in charge. The weather cooperated the entire weekend.
What is left of this fire?
Are there coals down there?
Fresh veggies from the Berryville farmer’s market (thanks to Chilly Hollow Farm)
While the
veggies roast, we hang by the fire.
Donkey Hodie says “sup homey?”
Astro has the best home
The garden
Roast veggies
OMG more food
Even moonshine is in a food coma.
What do you do with recd currants?
You make a fresh tart. Then mezcal straight from Mexico City?! Yup.
Morning never arrived for some of the mezcal participants.
In the end it is a sight to behold. That is, the transformation from a workaday, poorly conceived upper gallery blank slate into a thoughtful exhibition of great beauty and striking talent. Feast your eyes on this…
The (almost) final instantiation of digital psychedelic art by ulluh
This is the first formal showing of ulluh’s art on planet earth, and it is an incredible testament to the power of digital art and artistic vision.
Here’s how the show went up.
Stands for the digital displays (seven of them in the show, all told), five on these rolling stands.
This window required covering, and the space could use some chopping up and conceptual clarity.
That’s more like it. The blue leaks into the great hall like the glow of an old school TV. All intentional design.
Screens booting up. Each of these displays show three pieces in a six minute cycle. They are synchronized. The art gets an opportunity to speak for itself.
Romey’s couch and a 10.5 by 8 feet divider create a space for more intentional viewing. This is where the absolutely stunning builds are shown in an 18 minute loop. Watching the artist’s creative process is both informative and captivating. Wow. Once again, the blue light brings the space an altered reality.
Shadow box frames hover off the wall.
The rest of the space creates a natural eddy, flowing around the room, drawing the viewer in.
The prints go up, each its own reflection of a digital display.
A build caught in early action.
This art is the result of hundreds of hours of painstaking and thoughtful work. Each piece has a deep story to tell. Lean more here.
The show runs at the Barns of Rose Hill through July 2nd.
Eli (aka ulluh) is doing an art show at the Barns of Rose Hill in Berryville opening May 28 and running through July 1st. On the 1st, I will be giving a talk about Machine Learning Security at the same venue (for the art show closing).
Nancy Polo, a Clarke county artist, recently put on a solo show of her work at the Barns of Rose Hill. Lots of hard work paid off. Here are some bits from my visit.
The artist herself gave me a tour (lucky dog)
BORH
Nancy explains a new technique for light
I love how this lady’s crazy hair and the bird have something in common.
I first met Hiroya when he opened a sold out show for the Bitter Liberals in January 2018. We were frankly honored to have Hiro open for us. He was outstanding both in terms of technique and showmanship.
Hiro’s music tells a layered story soaked with emotional significance. Here are some pictures and videos from a recent show at the Barns of Rose Hill in Berryville, VA 10.19.18.
The most remarkable piece of the evening was an improvisation that Hiro put together during the second set. Influences of Eno, Fripp, Japan, and banjo are all evident and are masterfully woven into a beautiful piece.
Gemini Bridge is a core piece of Hiro repertoire. If you like how this sounds, you should buy a copy of the CD Heartland.
Hiro plays one guitar with a set of electronics used for balancing and layering with a sampler. He is a master of his technology (more than can be said for most musicians), and his use of sampling is both subtle and seamless. Masterful.
This song about fire was inspired by peaceful campfires with family in Japan.
I am always in awe of musicians who perform and tour full time and are not associated with a huge corporate act with a small support army. Make sure to go see Hiroya play if you ever get a chance.
We played a show last year. Hah. OK, last year was only 7 days ago, but it’s true. During the show, we dropped a new CD called “diversion” which you can order for yourself. Have a listen to our favorite track!
Collectively, we raised $1181 for Habitat for Humanity’s work in Clarke County, bringing Where’s Aubrey’s all concert total to $15,662.
The concert was a blast to play. Here are some pictures. In each set, we started out with only two people on stage, Gary McGraw on violin and Rhine Singleton on guitar.
Where’s Aubrey performs at the Barns of Rose Hill 12.29.18 (photo Amy Barley)
Eventually (during both sets) we were joined by stunt guitarist Allen Kitselman and drummer Nick Schrenk (both of the Bitter Liberals).
Nick Schrenk of the Bitter Liberals plays drums with Where’s Aubrey 12.29.18 (photo Amy Barley)
The gang’s all here. Allen Kitselman play stunt guitar with Where’s Aubrey 12.29.17 (photo Amy Barley)
Where’s Aubrey plus two Barns of Rose Hill 12.29.17
The highlight of the evening for us was honoring our biggest fan and long time Berryville arts supporter Michael Hobert. Here’s what I said about Michael from the stage.
Michael Hobert (photo Jen Lee)
Rhine Singleton (photo Tom Singleton)
Where’s Aubrey mid-jam (photo Tom Singleton)
Gary McGraw (photo Tom Singleton)
Rhine concentrates (photo Tom Singleton)
Paging Allen Kitselman, Allen Kitselman to the blue courtesy guitar (photo Tom Singleton)
The energy was palpable during the show. Thanks to the 100+ people who came to see Where’s Aubrey perform. We’ll be back.
Where’s Aubrey Jams at Barns of Rose Hill 12.29.17 (photo Jen Lee)
Goofing off on stage (in the middle of a song) (photo Jen Lee)
Yeah, this is fun (photo Jen Lee)
Sensitive Big Boy Music not just reserved for the Bitter Liberals (photo Jen Lee)
