Boat House Row

    Saturday night we went to Plymouth Memorial Hall and saw a "yacht rock" group called Boat House Row. Yacht Rock is basically soft rock from the 70s through the 80s. It is pretty chill music with some complex instruments. You could consider yacht rock a guilty pleasure for some.

   The concert, as I previously said was at Plymouth Memorial Hall. The venue was only about one sixth full and I felt bad for the band. However, the few people that were there were singing along and dancing their little hearts out.

   The show started at 8 pm. There was a fifteen minute intermission at 9 pm and including the encore ran till almost 10:30. Boat House Row was awesome. The band had six people in it. The keyboards guy and drummer took turns as the singers. The guy that played the sax actually played five different instruments throughout the show. They were very talented musicians.

   I knew I'd know most of the songs but not all of them. I don't really listen to soft rock on the radio. There were about six songs I'd never heard. For Laurie, that number was only one. My favorite song they played was "Brandy" by The Looking Glass

                                              My recording sucks. They sounded much better than this but you can still get a feel for the mood of the crowd. 

   The crowd really for into it when they played "Africa" by Toto and "The Pina Colada Song" by Rupert Holmes. Other songs that I very much enjoyed were "Maneater " by Hall and Oates and "Lido Shuffle" by Boz Scaggs which was the last song of the encore.

   I would be remiss if I did not mention the people watching. We were in the mezzanine near the stage. We had a great view of the band, the floor, and the mezzanine across from us. There were a couple gay guys dancing like crazy about as badly as I dance. There was one guy on the floor, a huge man dressed like a cowboy with sunglasses on. He looked exactly like Cole Hauser, Rip, from Yellowstone. The only way I could tell it wasn't Rip was listening to his voice when he ordered a beer.  I was ten feet away and could not tell it wasn't Cole just by looking. Multiple people asked him if they could take his photo.

Google image

   Lots of  spectators had on those white Captain type hats that Laurie says is from the Love boat. Before the show started I had counted twenty seven before I stopped scanning when the show started. One guy was wearing one but also a navy blue jacket. The best part was he was wearing an apricot colored scarf. I didn't realize why until Laurie explained he was being the guy Carly Simon wrote about in "Your so Vain"

"You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht

Your hat strategically dipped below one eye

Your scarf was apricot"

   I wanted to ask the guy if I could take a photo with him but chose not to. When a song came on that I had never heard, I just watched all these characters and others dancing and having the time of their lives

  Boat House Row is from Philadelphia. They aren't playing any other tour dates around here. However, there are multiple yacht rock groups that tour. So any one of them could be playing again soon. They have some original names "Yachtly Crue" "Yacht Rock Review" and all have been in the area.

   I honestly have to admit that going to this concert was one of the highlights of my summer. With both Laurie and I being healthy, we have done a lot of fun stuff  this year. I had so much fun, the only thing I enjoyed more was catching the Brown Shark. There is no question that when another yacht rock group close close enough to go to, I'm going. Call it a guilty pleasure.

Differing views on rods and reels

    Admittedly, what I'm about to write is really about those of us that have multiple rods and reels. If you own one freshwater rod and/or one saltwater rod with no plans to buy others then you may find the following interesting but otherwise useless.

   Most serious fishermen have multiple combos for fishing. Most bass fishermen have spinning rods and baitcasters. From there, it gets broken down to mediums, medium-heavy, heavy, and even extra heavy. Some of these rods are made for special techniques such as swimbaits, dropshot, and Ned rigs. You can't use the same rod for dropshoting as you would frogging. In the ocean it would be difficult to use the same rod to fish chunks on the bottom and also casting small Zoom flukes on the surface. The point is most guys have rods for many situations.

   I have the added issue of not only fishin for largemouth bass and striped bass but everything much smaller and much bigger. I love fishing for many species. I've spent plenty of time casting for three inch Common Shiners. I've also chased sharks and everything in between. While I do not consider myself a gear junkie I do have rods and reels for everything I fish for. 

   While talking with other fishermen there are differing philosophies on how they choose what to buy.  When I am on my canoe I bring four or five rods. When I fish with Adam I limit myself to three and he brings three or four. Many boat guys will bring ten rods all pre-rigged with lures. 

   Many guys will use all of the same brand in different models. Some fishermen believe that if you get all of the same brand then you will be used to the feel when you pick up the next rod. For example, many pros fish Lew's so all of the rods in their boat will be high end Lew's rods/reels. They may have the KVD rod in ten different models from a medium light spinning to a heavy baitcaster. Obviously, many of these pros are sponsored so it is easy to use the same brand when the company gives you twenty five new rods a year. 

   But many working stiffs will also be loyal to one brand and model. They believe if something works for them why change (if it ain't broke why fix it?). Many guys come into the store who only fish St Croix rods. Many are really loyal to Shimano rods and reels. I can't argue their philosophy. If they put down a medium St Croix Premier and pick up a heavy Premier, in theory they should have a good idea of the sensitivity and strength of that model. 

   I had a conversation with Adam about this and he completely disagrees with this choice. He prefers to fish many different brands and has many models. His counterpoint is equally valid. It is fun to fish with different gear. It's fun to put down a Stradic and pick up a Johnny Morris Signature. 

   I think in general, most of us have different brands in our storage room. If for no other reason sometimes we are willing to spend more money and other times money might be a factor. So until we get really serious most of buy based on want and price over brand loyalty. However, there does come a time when you ask yourself "if I am satisfied with this rod/reel do I want another of the same model or do I spend more for the next one up in quality, maybe even a nicer model in a different brand?" 

   I've given this question a lot of thought. My boss makes fun of me and is shocked that I am (at my age) not loyal to one brand or another. Part of that can be explained that much of my gear is old but still in good shape. So until I got this job, I had kept the same stuff for years. But, since I now have access to almost all the brands on the market with a discount, I have tried a lot of different brands. 

  However, now that I've tried a lot of different models I reached the point of knowing what I think is great gear and what is over rated. So when I buy a rod now I ask myself that question of buying a different rod of a model I like or do I buy a different brand? I hate to ever admit agreeing with Adam but I think it is more fun to have differing rods and reels. It's more fun to use my Shimano Stradic for Smallmouth and a Carbonlite for trout than it would be to use two Stradics. 

   There is another catch to all of this... Experimenting with different rods and reels does not come without its own peril. Adam has a buddy that owns a bass boat. His name is Mark and he has multiple Bass Pro Carbonlite rods. He is satisfied with them but he is a gear junkie. He came in the other day and was thinking about buying the Platinum.  The Platinum is a $200 rod and honestly it is the nicest rod I have ever owned ( I did not pay $200 for it). Fishing it for five minutes and I knew it is better than any rod I have ever casted. When I told Mark how much I loved it, he actually went back and bought another Carbonlite AND NOT the Platinum.

    His reasoning was this, if he noticed the Platinum was far superior to Carbonlites then he would then consider his Carbonlites junk and he wouldn't want to use them anymore. This would send him down a rabbit hole of replacing very nice rods with an arsenal of $200 rods because he liked them better. I can not argue with this and I have faced similar circumstances. There have been times where I bought a rod to fish along side a similar power (like a medium) only to find out the new rod was so much superior that I no longer wanted to fish the old rod at all and it sits in the closet as a "spare". 

   There is no right or wrong answer to this question. It is interesting to think about the differimg philosophies. I doubt myself or Adam has ever missed a fish because we were not as familiar with a rod than the guy that has been fishing Daiwa for thirty years. At the same time, if that guy has been using Daiwa for thirty years (I've been using Daiwa reels for twenty for surf casting) who am I to say they are wrong.

Cranberry Cup and the Summer Sizzler

    In mid-August Laurie an I went to the Cranberry Cup figure skating competition like we do every year. Just a week later there was another event at Skating Club of Boston called The Summer Sizzler. The Sizzler had all of the best American skaters from all of the disciplines. They were expected to show their new routines for the upcoming season.

   Cranberry Cup

   

   We had hoped that since this is an Olympic year that the Cranberry Cup would be stacked with probable Olympic athletes hoping to get the season started. Four years ago, during the first Cranberry Cup held at The Skating Club of Boston the competition was loaded with many of the best skaters from all over the world. There almost no fans at the Cranberry Cup. The rink holds 2500 people but I bet there was less than 150 fans each day

   Unfortunately, the depth of both the men's and women's  events was lacking. For the men, Roman Sadovsky of Canada was the only real good skater. He easily won the event. The best American skater in the event was Jimmy Ma. He was leading after the short program but after a disastrous long program he ended up seventh. At his best, Jimmy is probably the fifth or sixth best American. He trains at The Skating Club of Boston and we have seen him many times. 

   For the ladies, Isabeau Levito, an American was the biggest name at the event. She will be in the hunt for an Olympic medal. She came in second at World's last year. Isabeau won the competition as expected. However, the real surprise of the ladies was a girl from Kazakhstan named Sophia Samodelkina. She was in one of the first groups during the short program which is where most of the less talented athletes perform. During the short she was amazing. She did multiple triples and her combination was perfect. After the short she was in second place.

   On day two, for the long, Sophia went second to last. She actually beat Isabeau in the long but Isabeau had a big enough lead to stay in first place. Laurie and I were very impressed and will follow Sophia during the season. 

Summer Sizzler

 

World Champion Alyssa Liu

   The Sizzler was billed as a place for the Americans to show off their new programs for the season. The top men, women, pairs, and ice dancers from the USA were all ther.e The entire rink was sold out with fans. A few of the athletes performed their new routines though for the most part they were watered down. No one did a triple-triple combination. Almost all the men did triples instead of quads and most of the ladies did doubles instead of triples. 

   While a few did the watered down version of their new routines, most of the athletes treated the Sizzler as a Stars on Ice exhibition. Most of them did what would be called their "exhibition" routines. People like World Champion Alyssa Liu did her routine from last year as did others. World champions from the dance comp, Chock and Bates, did their exhibition routine that involved a flowy fabric they wrapped themselves in.

   All in all, the Summer Sizzler was a disappointment. We did not see high quality skating. Anything new was watered down and most of it wasn't new anyway. So in the end, Laurie and I agreed that we would rather go to the Cranberry Cup. Though most of the competitors are not going to make the Olympic teams for their country at least they were giving it their all. I'd rather see someone fall trying to do a triple-triple competition than not try at all. We decided to skip the Summer Sizzler next year because we know we will be disappointed.

World Champion Ice Dancers
Madison Chock and Evan Bates
to the right
World Champion man 
Ilia Malinin  

   

Roman Sadovsky in the middle

Isabeau Levito

Seining 2025 Part 1

Good friends

   I went seining for the first time this year in Charlestown. It took some much needed prodding from friends since I hate the summer traffic in southern RI. I'm glad they prodded. We worked hard to get cool things. Many of our attempts only had Silversides in them. Still, we got some pretty cool stuff. Below are the coolest things we saw. Thanks to Sue Palmer for providing some of the best photos below

Permit

Northern Puffer

Longfin Inshore Squid

I had a macrolens on my camera instead of my big 600 mm. So I took off the macro but this is the best I could get of the most cooperative Yellow Crowned Night Heron I've seen in half a decade.

Crevalle Jack

Winter Flounder

Below are wonderful photos that Sue took. The Night Heron is not yelling at us. It yawned. As you can see from the photo where it is circled in a tree it was really comfortable with us around. We went through all of the fish in the seine and moved to the next little beach. The Heron stayed in the tree until it decided to feed (while walking right in our direction)

The Jesse Liam Band

    A few years ago we went to have drinks and a bite to eat at the Nordic Lodge. There was an outdoor concert going on. We weren't there to get the all you can eat lobster. Outside there was just apps and drinks. We went because my friend Jan from birding invited us. She knew the lead singer of the group (Jesse Liam) because they did line dancing together. We enjoyed ourselves very much and have followed the JLB ever since. 

   The JLB tours all around Rhode Island during the warmer months. They usually play outdoor concerts and private venues like the Dunes Club. They have become a Rhode Island tradition, so much so that the play at The Big E on Rhode Island Day. Whenever they play close enough to make it worth our time we go see them. 

   The band has four members. Jesse is the lead singer. His dad , Jack,is the lead guitarist and does back up vocals. He is actually a two time  Grammy nominee. There is also a bass player (who is new this year and don't know his name) and of course a very skilled drummer named Michael DeQuattro. Jesse is full of energy and dances the whole time. He also manages to jump rope, do cartwheels, and sometimes push ups. Somehow he never seems to be breathing heavy. The guys runs around the entire show and puts on a series of dance moves. 

 

 The band does a bunch of pop songs from The Beatles to Walk on the Moon (Shut up and Dance with me). Most of their songs are from the sixties and seventies. Usually they play "Drift Away" "Joy to the World", "Listen to the Music" and a bunch of other fun songs. They do at least two mash ups. One of them is "Iko, Iko" and "I love candy". It is pretty cool how seamlessly they transition back and forth. 

   Many of their outdoor concerts are at libraries and town commons. Sometimes they draw a huge crowd especially when they have been playing the same venue for years such as Franklin, MA, or Crescent Park. Going to these free summer concerts is really fun. Jesse has so much energy and we never get bored. To the contrary, on a night that we know we can go see the band we really look forward to it. It is getting harder to have our nights match up to when they are close enough to see thanks to working a few evenings a week. So far this year, we have seen the JLB twice. 

   The JLB also has a few original songs. They are really good. My favorite (and Laurie's) is "Ya, ya dance!" It is a really catchy song. They also have about five other originals and I mean it, they are very good. 

Horn Pond and Concord

 

Last week Laurie Lynn and I went up to Concord. We really just went because we both have National Park passports and we wanted to get the stamp. We've obviously been to Concord dozens of times but since we decided to go, we made a day of it. Before we went to the places we usually go, we went up to Woburn and explored a pond I'd heard about for years.

   There is a pond in Woburn name Horn Pond. I've read bird reports for years and I know that it is a hotspot for birders/birds. We decided to check it out. We put Horn Pond Recreation Area into the GPS. Parking was along the street at the pond and there is a 2.8 mile trail that circles the pond. Considering this area is in the Rt 128 corridor in suburban Boston it was still really pretty. The walk is partial woods walking and partially shoreline walking. Though the entire area is public you walk through three parklike areas. We walked by a boat ramp with a couple dozen parking spots and a restroom.

Horn  Pond is pretty famous for its winter waterfowl. Quite a few good rarities also show up in the spring. I didn't expect to see too many birds during our walk on a hot summer day. From what I understand, the pond has the normal bass, perch, and sunfish that you'd expect. Perch are the most numerous fish caught according to Mass Wildlife. It is also stocked with trout. All in all, our walk was pleasant. 

    After we left Woburn we took the short trip to Concord. The first stop was the Visitor Center at the Minuteman National Historic Park. We watch the little multimedia presentation  and got out passport stamped.

   After we left the visitor center we went to the North Bridge. I took another photo of the bridge and "The Minuteman" statue by Daniel Chester French. After we left the North Bridge we went to Great Meadows.

   The goal at Great Meadows was to see snakes and Leopard Frogs. We saw plenty of frogs. Leopard Frog were hopping along the path everywhere there was shade. Getting a photo proved impossible. The grass was tall enough so that we couldn't see them until they were hopping right off of the trail at our feet. We did see one large Garter Snake too. I lifted a rock and we saw it but it slithered to the high grass also. 

We had planned on having a picnic but it was so hot and muggy cooking on the grill did not seem like fun. So we stopped at a store and got a cold drink and a snack before heading home.

   

Barnstable County Fair and fair season

 

 On Sunday I went to the fair. Laurie and I went to the Barnstable County Fair. The main reason that we went was because the band The Buckinghams was playing on the main stage. The Buckinghams were a group in the late 60's. Their number one hit was called "Kind of a Drag". They also had other hits such as "Hey Baby" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy".

   We spent a few hours at the fair before the concert started. We did my favorite thing of course...looking at the livestock. There were far less animals that I remembered. There were only a dozen rabbits instead of an entire barn. We looked at the one pig, the cows and sheep.

 

   We did get some fair food. I bought a doughboy. Doughboys have become a white whale for me. I plan on getting one at every fair that I go to but when I see the prices for a piece of dough I get all cheapskate. This time I pulled the trigger and bought one. It was really good and missed them. They are a treat I'd eat sparingly even if they were half the price that I paid. 

   The Buckinghams went on at 6 pm. they played for an hour and a half. They not only played their songs but many other oldies. They played songs from the Happy Together tour from other artists. They also played a Doors song. In short they were awesome. It blows me away how good a group can be that has been around since 1967. 

   As we were about to leave we heard an announcement for a stunt show called Off Axis. We had to walk by to get to the car anyway so we stayed. I'm glad we did. These guys had BMX bikes, scooters, a half pipe to do tricks on,  and a trampoline. It was all awesome but the best part was the trampoline. These guys were athletes and did some amazing gymnastics. They flew up fifteen feet doing flips and twists. The halfpipe tricks were also really cool. It was amazing to see guys do 360 flips in the air on a scooter. 

Though the Barnstable County Fair is over there are many other fairs in New England over the next three months. I love going to agricultural fairs. I enjoy seeing the livestock and poultry.  Usually I only go to the fairs that have a band I'd like to see so I get a 2-1 in a fair and a concert. Many of them have really good entertainment to attract crowds. 

Here is a partial list from a few minutes of research

Skowhegan State Fair, Skowhegan, ME      Aug 7-16

Washington County Fair, Richmond, RI      Aug 13-17

Marshfield Fair, Marshfield, MA                 Aug 15-24

Woodstock Fair,  Woodstock, CT                Aug 28- Sept 1

Lancaster Fair, Lancaster, NH                     Aug 28-Sept 1

The Big E, West Springfield, MA                        Sept 12-25

Deedfield Fair, Deerfield, NH                    Sept 25-28

Fryeburg Fair, Fryeburg, ME                      Sept 27- Oct 5

Topsfield Fair, Topsfield, MA                     Oct 3-13

Above is just a partial list of fairs in the area. Below are links to a calendar of events for Mass, RI, and New Hampshire. One could easily find fairs, festivals, and carnivals of the other New England states (or any other state) with a little internet research.

https://www.mass.gov/fairs-and-festivals 

https://www.visitri.com/state/fairs-and-festivals/ 

https://www.nhmagazine.com/nhfairs/