Day two started off a little soggy.  After grabbing a little lunch in downtown Chillicothe, we made our way into the festival, over to the VIP tent where Floodwood was playing.  Floodwood is a string band with a bluegrass flavor.  The band consists of Al Schnier and Vinnie Amico of moe. On guitar and drums respectively, Nick Piccininni on fiddle and banjo, Jason Barady on mandolin and Nigel Felony on bass. The tent was pretty full because the rain as coming down, and everything was starting to get muddy.  Apart from great music, things weren’t looking too good on the weather front.  They played for about an hour, and even did a cover of I Know You Rider, made famous by the Grateful Dead. 

After Floodwood, I headed to the other side of the park to the Starshine Stage to see Tea Leaf Green,  The weather still wasn’t cooperating, with the mud and the puddles getting a little deeper.  Tea Leaf Green is touring in support of their new CD, In the Wake.  Most of their setlist featured songs from the new CD, including Someday, Penny Saved, Space Hero II, and they closed the set with an old favorite, One Reason.   By the end of the set, the rain had stopped.  It was still pretty sloppy, but at least it wasn’t raining (for the moment).

Our luck with the weather didn’t hold up for too long and precipitation started back again.  Not heavy, just constant.  Slipping and sliding from one side of Three Sisters Park to the other was getting difficult.  The shoes were already a couple pounds heavier with mud.  The VIP tickets were really paying off today, with a nice big tent, a relatively dry refuge, and some great music.  We were now looking forward to the Victor Wooten Jam Session.  This year, Victor is considered an “Artist at Large” mostly holding clinics and sitting in with other bands.  This set included Janis Wallin and Jordan Wilkow of Family Groove Company, and Roosevelt Collier of the Lee Boys on pedal steel guitar.  The set was about 90 minutes of improvisation and a couple of change outs of musicians.  Toward the end, Matt Butler of Everyone Orchestra fame took up his position on the drums.  It was a lot of good music and by the end, the tent was jam packed.  Probably because of the music, but I’m sure the rain caused a few extra people to seek shelter.

Thievery Corporation was just starting over at the Moonshine Stage.  They play an interesting blend of electronic, dub, jazz, reggae, and Latin music and their show got the crowd pretty energetic even though the elements weren’t cooperating.  I watched them for about 45 minutes, and then decided to move over to the Sunshine Stage to catch Umphrey’s first set of the day. 

This is when things started to go bad.  First, security wouldn’t let me into the photo pit for the Umphrey’s McGee set.  They said I needed a special pass, my normal photo creds wouldn’t work.  OK, I guess I could live with that.  I wouldn’t get any good pictures, but I would still be able to enjoy some good music.  Then things got worse, the skies opened up and the downpour started.  There wasn’t anything left to do but run for cover.  It was very windy, cold, and with the sheets of rain that were falling, we weighed our options.  After about an hour of rain, deepening puddles and mud pits, we decided to head back to the hotel.  Visions of 2011 Summer Camp reminded us that the parking lot was soon to become a primordial ooze and we didn’t want our car to get stuck.  That would’ve sealed our fates for the duration.  We got out with a minimum of spinning and fishtailing, and headed back to the hotel, foregoing two sets of moe., and another Umphrey’s set.  What a huge disappointment, but who knows?  Maybe the weatherman is completely wrong and tomorrow will be better.  We’ll see, but we’re not too optimistic.

Food recommendations:

Today, I’m going to recommend a restaurant outside of the festival grounds.  In Chillicothe, a little north of Three Sisters Park is a place called Grecian Garden.  It’s a great place to go for breakfast or lunch, if you want to just get away from the festival for a little while.  Get either the Gyro Platter or the Open Face Turkey Sandwich.  Both will know your socks off.  Also, I went back to Minglewood Pizza for another mini-pie.  When you find something you like, you need to stick with it.  Not only is it a good pizza, it’s only $5.