8.19.2004
Lowell, Beautiful Lowell
Some people view Lowell as a dank post-industrial shithole. Granted, out of the many stankholes that mass-a-two-shits has to offer (Worcester, Framingham, Natick, Lawrence, to name a few), Lowell has a certain aura of disdain among the chowdaheads i have talked to. Personally, I have been chtarmed out of my pants each time I have visited Lowell. The Lowell Folk Festival was brilliant fun. We saw some performers that I have long admired - Might Sparrow, Huun-Huur-Tu (yes I jumped on the Tuva throat singing bandwagon when it was popular ten years ago) and JD Crowe and the New South. And JD and the New South played my favorite bluegrass song ever, which namechecks my dear old Charlottesville. Only two bad things about the Festival: the Nigerian food gave me the runs later (the goat stew was pretty awful and the dodo (fried plaintains) were cold; and the canal could have been cleaned up for the festival. This was outweighed by the fun we had at the spoolcar races, the Native American exhibit, the music on every street corner, the trolley ride (Margot's first) and the train museum. We will go back every year.
The second time I was charmed by Lowell was at the Lowell Spinners game. We were there on Peter Gammons Bobblehead Night, but, lo, we showed up to late to receive the bobblehead of the nattering grey-haired ninny of ESPN fame. He threw out the first pitch, and for some reason he was wearing a hawaiian shirt. The stadium itself is beautiful, and reminded me of the Durham Bulls stadium in North Carolina. The Spinners lost to the Tigers class A team, and they belong to the same league as my hometown (almost) Hudson Valley Renegades. Go Gades!
Some people view Lowell as a dank post-industrial shithole. Granted, out of the many stankholes that mass-a-two-shits has to offer (Worcester, Framingham, Natick, Lawrence, to name a few), Lowell has a certain aura of disdain among the chowdaheads i have talked to. Personally, I have been chtarmed out of my pants each time I have visited Lowell. The Lowell Folk Festival was brilliant fun. We saw some performers that I have long admired - Might Sparrow, Huun-Huur-Tu (yes I jumped on the Tuva throat singing bandwagon when it was popular ten years ago) and JD Crowe and the New South. And JD and the New South played my favorite bluegrass song ever, which namechecks my dear old Charlottesville. Only two bad things about the Festival: the Nigerian food gave me the runs later (the goat stew was pretty awful and the dodo (fried plaintains) were cold; and the canal could have been cleaned up for the festival. This was outweighed by the fun we had at the spoolcar races, the Native American exhibit, the music on every street corner, the trolley ride (Margot's first) and the train museum. We will go back every year.
The second time I was charmed by Lowell was at the Lowell Spinners game. We were there on Peter Gammons Bobblehead Night, but, lo, we showed up to late to receive the bobblehead of the nattering grey-haired ninny of ESPN fame. He threw out the first pitch, and for some reason he was wearing a hawaiian shirt. The stadium itself is beautiful, and reminded me of the Durham Bulls stadium in North Carolina. The Spinners lost to the Tigers class A team, and they belong to the same league as my hometown (almost) Hudson Valley Renegades. Go Gades!
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