Of course, the best thing about covering the NEWPORT FOLK FEST is that fancy-pants press pass they give you, which comes down to one thing: access. And by access we mean the Media Tent, where a fun little circle-jerk emerged right away among Boston-based music writers, bloggers, tweeters, photogs, radio weirdos, and rando others. This weekend, in patricular, had it all -- alt-weekly bro-downs... new age DIY web kids sharing a brew with jaded print scribes who miss the Abbey Lounge... friendly elbowing among actual, trained photographers and jackasses that twitpic everything with an iPhone while both wait in line to grab a 56th free turkey wrap. Yes, Newport Folk is just as much about the self-aware, ultra-important journalists who cover the event than the performers. After all, we have Lower Level parking passes and free booze, too
In all seriousness, being between the back of the main Fort stage and the quad has its advantages (though wi-fi is, inexplicably, not one of them). For the pic above, I snuck up on Rob and Kelly Ribera of SLEEPOVER SHOWS while they watched M WARD -- on their wedding anniversary, no less. That's pretty romantical, especially for folk fests.
At one point, we all rushed away from our charging cell phones and back massage stations to catch this little impromptu jam session with the MIDDLE BROTHER bros, right behind the ice cream truck (ahem, free ice cream truck). What did we learn? That anyone can pick up a guitar, strum a few notes, and have a thousand journos camera-phone-pic your way to fame.
The aforementioned Sleepover Shows talked CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS into doing a three-song session right behind a bank of portable toilets. Don't read into it.
More of the Drops, with the portas in the background. Based on SOS' usual video turnaround time, this footage should be posted just before the 2012 Newport Folk Fest (LOL JKJK). Let's hope CCDs are invited back.
Because we couldn't let SOS have all the "exclusive show" fun, The Phoenix's Liz Pelly got BROWN BIRD to answer a few of our own hard-hittin' questions and play a sweet jam just for us... and the immediately assembled crowd of media folk. That video should be posted sometime after SOS gets theirs up.
More of the Birds. I love the people in the background who are all "Oh, cool, but we are NOT leaving our sweet round table." Actually, they don't care, they're actually watching television.
And finally, no better way to sum up 2011 Newport Folk than with this cool Lego lion. It wasn't in the Media Tent -- it was in the Kids Zone, and the only reason I made it that far out into the cluttered mass of common people is because I heard David Wax Museum was playing a set for the kids. But I guess Amos Lee's Fort stage set ran late or the iPhone notification was sent out too early, because when I rolled up the stage was empty (just a few bummed out dads in Tommy Bahama sitting indian style in the general vicinity).
So anyway, I took a pic of this bad-ass lion. Because when you have a press pass and think the internet is not merely a passing fad but a dumping ground for everything -- and I do mean everything -- well you twitpic it and get it on the internet.
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