Saturday night has been a dead night lately. Actually, not dead, just no entertainment. This is how it is as a self employed animator. I get a lot of highs and lows as far as business. A friend of mine, Steve, had tickets for the annual Funkfest at Toad's Place, so of course, I went.
Just like our teenage years, we planned our evening around arriving when the event is really going. Not too early, for obvious reasons, yet not too late, and end up missing anything good. We didn't.
I had been to a few other Funkfests, and they were usually quite packed and lively pretty early on. Or was that Reggaefest? Toad's has quite a few of them year in and year out, and you would imagine that after a while they would start to blur.
Anyway, we arrived a little over an hour into the program. Steve thought we missed most of it, and it would probably be cut short to make way for the Saturday night dance thing. I enjoyed all of the bands, although a few of the names escape me. The event started pretty slow. The first group was a pretty cool trio, and met the guitarist after his set. I never did ask why he sat the entire time. While the next group set up, in love for his art fashion, got out his mini amp, and played for the passersby in the front.
The crowd stay pretty small, but was slowly picking up. At this point, I lost count of my trips to the snack cup. Then again I wasn't counting. Mr. Council got a few up to the stage including myself.
The evening continued on with a strange atmosphere. One one hand, it felt like a group party. As if the hall had been rented for store employees or some corporate division. Yet the room moved to the music.
RearView Band rounded up the evening. No one seamed ready to go, including a few colorful characters, who just couldn't get enough of the Funkfest. I had fun, and beers I'm sure didn't hurt. I've been to better Toad's "Fests". It didn't feel like it that night.
New Haven, CT - The Elm City
