We had a great first day at Bourbon & Beyond! The festival is about twice as large as last year. The five music stages are much further apart than before. And there are usually three stages active at any one time so lots of places for people to be so it never feels crowded. After a "walk around" we headed to get some lunch at Prince St Pizza. I use a recipe that is modelled after their pizza. The pizza was really good. It's similar to a Detroit style. I like my sauce better but this was a top notch pie!!
At noon we saw a Fork & Flask presentation hosted by Chris Santos from Food Network's Chopped and other programs. He was also here last year in the same capacity. Chef Claudette Zepeda was going to make her Death Row Cheeseburger. Its signature features were pickled tomatillos and a parmesan cheese sauce. She worked with Katie Crutchfield from the band Waxahatchee. Chris passed out samples and the burger was really tasty. Afterwards we watched several bands from a shaded area with comfortable seating.
Later we saw another Fork & Flask presentation with Terry Bradshaw and his son-in-law who were making Texas Twinkies. These were cream cheese and chorizo stuffed poblanos, wrapped in bacon and then smoked. Terry was also promoting his bourbon which is 51.9 proof which also "coincidentally" was his completion percentage in the NFL. Terry likes to talk and I think he would have spent another two hours just chatting it up with the crowd.
We saw a really good Bluegrass band named Chatham Rabbits. The lead singer was a school teacher only a few years ago and her husband convinced her to give the band a try. They had some great original music.
After that we saw Marshall Crenshaw. He had a disjointed set of some new music, an extended period of changing his guitar and then finally getting to his big hit from 1982, "Someday, Someday". It was a disappointing 45 minutes of music. What I've liked about other artists we've seen at this festival is they understand the job. You have a short set and you need to get to the songs people want to hear.
The highlight of the day for me was seeing Pat Benatar and her husband Neil Giraldi. They had an amazing 60 minute set with almost all the songs you'd expect. Including a finale mashup of "Heartbreaker" and "Ring of Fire". Although I really thought she'd also work in "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". But definitely a great set. We headed back to the hotel after that. We're staying at the Crown Plaza which is only a fifteen minute walk from the festival.
Today we'll head over to the festival around 11. Today's highlights will be 10,000 Maniacs (sans Natalie Merchant), Robert Cray, a Fork & Flask with Elizabeth Banks, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Marc Cohn.
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