Bruce and Bela

We were offered free tickets again, this time for Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the Crossroads in Kansas City. It was a no-brainer for me, since I grew up on Bruce Hornsby and the Range's "Scenes from the Southside". We had our doubts about the show because of the heat and the outdoor venue. The temps at 9pm were 91 degrees, so it was a sweltering night. In the end I was really glad that we went. My highlights were Bruce doing "Standing on the Moon" and when Bela joined him for "Valley Road". Here's a great article about the show from the Kansas City Star (plus photo credit). The encore was a jam with both bands, so I was really glad that the heat broke a little and we stayed until the end.

We stayed at the Hyatt Crown Center for the second time. I completely forgot my camera, but I managed to take pictures of the "Buckyball Sculpture" with my phone.


Andrea split the room with us, and we spent most of Saturday morning in the pool. As she put it on facebook, "I don't think there's a better way to start a summer day than with a dip in a pool. The whole weekend was a giant win!"

Since we wanted to make the most out of our Kansas City journey, we traveled over to 80 acres, formerly known as Doolittle Farms. The Central Plains Jamband Society crew (who also run the St. Bernards program) is having their 10 year anniversary party out there. We met some of the CPJS's board members and the sound guy to look things over. There is a very simple stage, camping areas, and a kitchen. It is going to be the perfect place for food (pot-luck style), camping, and music (5 local Kansas City bands).

Since we were detouring all over the place anyway, on the way home we stopped by the Lexington, MO airport dropzone to see our friend Chris jump out of an airplane. He's a tandem instructor, so there was talk of going on a tandem dive. I think I'll save that for another weekend.