Here's a run down of what we did/who we saw/how the performances were:
First off, Steve and I had the pleasure of going to the Newport Festival with my friend wonderpanther, her fun husband walltack, her cousin Lisa, and their friends, foulpost and ceebeegee. Foulpost's parents had recently bought a house to rent in Newport, so we were able to stay there. It had more than enough room for everyone, and definitely cut the cost of the trip down, which was great!

So, on Friday, Steve and I left Hartford at 3:30, and got to Newport around 5:30. We went to the house, but no one was there. I checked my messages, and Rachel had left one saying they were stuck in traffic. So, we decided to go to the venue for the evening's concert, and get dinner near there. We found good parking on the street, and a nice pub next to the Tennis Hall of Fame (where the concert was). I had Lobster Bisque, Seafood Troubadour (sp?), blue cheese potatoes au gratin and a Newport Storm ale. Everything was great, and I was way to filled up to finish half of my entree. After that we met up with the folk from NYC, who had arrived just in time.

The show started soon after that. It was a sit-down concert with Nanci Griffith and Arlo Guthrie. Walking around, I saw the Mammals, and the Kenndys. I went up to Maura Kennedy and asked her if she remember me as the person who gave her a dress in Glastonbury. She did, and she said that she has worn the dress, and loves it! :-) For the concert, most of us had tickets in the front few rows. Steve had gotten his ticket separately from us, and was way in the back. A minor inconvenience, but no biggie. I sat with Lisa during the concert, and we had fun. Nanci Griffith was up first. I'm not too familiar with Nancy, and I had not seen her before. I can understand why people like her though. Her songs were very touching, she was really cute and animated, and her banter between songs was very well timed and entertaining. She sang this song about her step-father that was very good. At the end of her set, she had the Kenndys come on stage to sing, "If I had a hammer". I could not hear Pete's guitar or Maura's vocals though. Pete used to be Nanci's guitarist, and Maura used to be her vocalist after she started dating Pete.

During the break, I went back to talk to Steve. I encouraged him to come sit in the empty seats near us, but he said he was fine. Arlo came on next. He is amusing. At one point he was telling a story about miraculous people being able to see 1,000 miles or hear 1,000 miles. He then said that there was a guy who could stand on airport runways, and be able to tell which people on the place were carrying drugs. Because of this man, Arlo was forced to eat a large amount of pot on the plane, so that he would not get caught. Oh, Arlo... He also told us about the first time he performed, and the first time he did "Alice's Restaurant" at the Newport FF. At one point he was tuning his guitar, and said he didn't like tuning, but felt that he should because he didn't think he would have a chance to do it for a while. I should have known what was coming next...he started singing "Alice's Restaurant!" It was great! He then invited the Mammals out, and they performed "Won't Get Drunk No More." It was probably the most high-energy song of the night, and the crowd loved them. More songs. Arlo did "City of New Orleans." More songs. He closed with "This Land is Your Land." Two verses into the song, he stops everyone that was singing along with him, and started to tell the story of Joseph (like, the Technicolor coat one, not Jesus' father). It was a rather long story, but the moral was that one person can make all the difference in the world. (In this case, the guy that stood in the field and said, "They went that way!") I have to say that I enjoyed his concert that night a lot more than I had enjoyed his show at Falcon Ridge two years ago.

After the concert we went back to the house. I helped the other folks find the house by talking to them on the cell phone. Some people were hungry/wanted to drink. We walked to several different places, and they were closed/weren't serving/seemed sketchy. We had to settle for snacks and non-alcoholic beverages at Cumberland farms. This was fine with me because I was just ready to go to bed.

Ok, so that was Friday. I'll have to write the rest later. Must work now....