Loose Leaf Notes

My Boston Mass cousin Gerry and his wife Marie didn’t expect to meet so many fellow New Englanders in the Floyd County mountains.

They were passing through from a vacation in Tennessee and I promised I’d show them some Floyd nightlife.  After seeing our cabin off the Parkway and meeting the chickens that Gerry had been seeing on my Facebook posts, we had a great meal at Oddfella’s Cantina that included a sing-along of Wagon Wheel and some ale on-tap.

While checking out the iconic Oddfella’s sign (far right), I told Gerry that he had to pick which represented him most, the farmer, the hippie or businessman.  The avid vegetable gardener, chose the farmer and we all cheered him on.

We were disappointed that the Country Store was closed, but our visitors enjoyed the stories of past Redmans that I had talked into flat-footing with me on the Country Store dance floor.   But I never could convince my dad.

At Dogtown Roadhouse, Gerry and Marie met our friend Chris, who grew up in Hingham, Mass, and a couple of friends from New Hampshire.  Our friend Bob, a staunch Yankee fan who is originally from New York and who was collecting cover charge admittance, threatened not to let any Red Sox fans in to the show.

It was a Best of Open Mic being recorded for a fundraising CD to benefit the student Music Lab at the June Bug Center.  We only caught a few of the all original sets and those were highly entertaining.  I explained the who’s who of Floyd’s onstage notables, in this case musician homeschoolers Eli and Aila Wildman, their mom Deb and teacher Mike Mitchell.

Gerry’s phone battery died, so he asked me to get a shot of this new-to-me-band Reptile DysFUNKshen.  A couple of the band members are old friends and the lead singer/sax player is a parent of a student at the Springhouse Community School, where Joe is a part of the leadership team.

We really got a kick out of the above recorded quirky song that was something between a love song about heartbreak and one about Mexican food and heartburn.  Did he really just say, “My Burning Heart and your Big burrito?”  We loved it either way.

More who’s who notables: Abby Bowen, Luke Thomas and Laurel Brooke doing some folk rock with a hint of mountain blue.  And who knew Gerry could dance?

___Our World Tuesday