Good Friday (?) at Bluesfest

Rainclouds over Bluesfest on Good Friday 2013

I had a fairly good Friday at Bluesfest apart from a few minor things that put a damper on my day.

For one thing, I got caught in stop/go traffic which took me 45 mins to get through at the Gold Coast part of the freeway, so it took me over two hours to get down to Byron Bay, a trip that usually takes about an hour and a bit under normal circumstances.

So I missed Hat Fitz and Cara,who I was looking forward to seeing, so the above song of theirs was really appropriate after that debacle, which was my own fault in some ways for not being as organized as I should have been.

Pirate popcorn sailing the
stormy seas on Good Friday

I love that guy's psychedelic pineapple shirt

My life at the Crossroads;-)

I just got in the gate to Bluesfest took these photos and then the heavens opened up and I had to run for cover.

Jake Shimabukuro at Bluesfest Good Friday

So the lyrics to Hat Fitz and Cara's song Wiley Ways seemed even more appropriate to my day.
Jake Shimabukuro  was the first act I caught and what an act it was.

Jake Shimabukuro at Bluesfest

He played the two tunes above and a few others.

My UK friend King Ute would have loved this session.

Ben Harper playing at the Crossroads tent

Then I checked my program and thought I had better head over to the Crossroads tent to catch Ben Harper, as I had been playing his CD in my car all the way down to Byron on loop. 

I got there 15 minutes early by my watch and he was already on.

Not only that, he seemed to be nearly finished.

I thought that there must have been something wrong with my watch.
And there was.
It was daylight savings time in New South Wales, and in Queensland where I live, we don't have daylight savings, so my watch was an hour behind Bluesfest time.
Doh! 
I forgot about that.
And since I couldn't get anywhere near the tent, I just had to walk away, get a drink and get my bearings right for the next shows.

Joan Armatrading at Bluesfest Good Friday 2013

Joan Armatrading. I need a better camera
 than my 2 meg cell phone:-(

I saw Joan Armatrading play and she was good.
I tried to get a photo of her butterfly shirt with my crappy cell phone camera, but none of them really shows the butterflies on her shirt well enough.

She had butterflies on her t-shirt,
but that's the best shot I got of them

It was probably the shirt in the above photo, I think.
Anyway it was a bit of a synchronicity to see that my friend Trish had written this post at her blog, which I read when I got home from Bluesfest -
DOMA

Lotus Palace, the new stage at Bluesfest this year

It's like being in a spaceship:-)

I checked out the new Lotus Palace stage, which is more like a small theatre, or bar than a stage, but it was a little stuffy in there and I had to get out and back into some cool fresh air.

Sixto Díaz Rodríguez playing at Bluesfest

Next was the performance I was waiting for - Rodríguez.

Rodríguez playing at Bluesfest Good Friday

Searching for Sugar Man

I picked up the DVD Searching For Sugarman yesterday at the Bluesfest shop and was planning on getting it signed by him later on in the day.

If you haven't seen this movie, rent it, you'll love it, even if you don't like his music.
It's probably the only reason he was playing Bluesfest, because this movie resurrected his career.

Unfortunately, I had to miss The Steve Miller Band to see Rodríguez play.

Can't win them all, I guess?

This woman was getting her
boobs signed by this band

After Rodríguez finished his set I headed for the signing table at the merchandising tent, but so did everybody else by the looks of the ridiculous line-up to get things signed :-(

Crazy line up for Rodríguez
signings in the pouring rain

I decided to wait inside the tent and just snap a photo of Rodríguez, rather than get anything signed, as I wasn't going to get soaked waiting.
After waiting at the CD table (above) pretending to be deciding which CD to purchase, so that I had a good spot in the tent to get a photo of Rodriguez when he finally turned up, news came through that he wasn't coming over to sign anything, which made the soaked line up really happy, and I was glad that I had decided not to line up:-)
While I was at the CD table there was a band called 
The Snowdroppers signing stuff and one lady (a few actually) got one guy to sign her breasts ... talk about being in the right place, at the right time ;-)

The Snowdroppers

Red Dog Star Koko Dies 
Now I know what they sing, but I didn't yesterday.
Yet another band I missed because of Rodriguez. Doh!

"Nelson and Koko (Red Dog)" by Adam Cullen

Adam Cullen, Gone at 47

Santana from afar at Bluesfest 2013.
Sometimes it is a blues fest, too:-(

With all the Rodriguez shenanigans the closest I could get to Santana without getting drenched was in the shot above.
At least I could hear him and see the screens.  

Heading past the lights and
on my way back to Brisbane

Well that was about it for Friday, and I'll be heading back down Sunday.

I hope the rain goes away, but the guy I'm heading down to see is Roger Hodgson, and his forecast doesn't look very promising;-)

I might have to batten down the hatches?-)