Six Days and a Festival
Change and good stuff is afoot!
It’s been an interesting week.
I’m a big Wilco fan, and every other year I attempt to attend their Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts. This is different than most music festivals. It’s held at MASS MoCA, a huge art museum in an old electric components factory and its land. For three days, on three stages and a bunch of museum rooms and an auditorium, bands of all varieties play. And of course, there’s a lot of Wilco. Two full shows, a Jeff Tweedy and Friends set to end the festival, and all of the side projects from other band members.
My first Solid Sound was in 2019. My knees were bad, but I was still able to take full advantage of all three days, which were magical. I mean, it rained during “Let’s Go Rain” and there was a stupid rainbow! (One of my absolute favorite concert moments ever.) My friend Donna invited me to stay in a huge house—an old parsonage between two Catholic churches and probably not super-haunted—with a bunch of people I didn’t know. I made friends, including one of my favorite people, Jonathan. You’ll find him in most of my New Orleans posts. It was an all-around great trip.
My second Solid Sound was in 2022 when we reconvened post-lockdown. And, for me, shortly after my knee replacement surgeries. Too closely. I was in pain and exhausted the whole time. Plus, it rained (it always rains at Solid Sound), making my tender knees, legs, and feet super swollen and painful. I spent a lot of time napping in my room, and was mostly just happy to be off my couch and among friends.
I didn’t spend much time at the festival since I was too sore to do much walking and had zero energy. But, on the last day, while driving up Mt. Greylock, Jonathan called and told me to get my ass off the mountain because David Byrne had just shown up on stage. I was able to get back in time to see him play my favorite song at the end of Tweedy’s set. That alone was enough for me. Just perfect.
Last year was weird. Not just for Solid Sound, but just in general. I spent most of 2024 having an extended come-to-Jesus moment after crashing out hard around this time two years ago (another great birthday!). I booked an Airbnb apartment for myself in Bennington, Vermont, which was only 20 minutes or so from the festival. I arrived on the first day as the gates to the festival opened and was paralyzed by anxiety.
I had heard from very few of my old friends from ‘19. Jonathan had opted out. My body still wasn’t cooperating, and I was in a lot of pain. The festival, once I looped around the museum, was just too much. I scrapped my plan and spent a lovely solo weekend in Vermont.
No one seemed to miss me, which just reinforced my social anxiety.
But Vermont was pleasant. When I put the festival out of my mind, I had fun. Bennington is home to an excellent creative writing program, and I spent a lot of time parked at a coffeehouse and writing poetry.
When the dates for Solid Sound 2026 were announced a few months ago, I booked a place to stay just across the New York state line, but made sure I could cancel. When tickets went on sale last week, I didn’t buy. This year’s plan was: wait until the lineup gets released. If someone I absolutely can’t miss is going to be there, I’ll go. If not, pass.
And then yesterday happened.
The first night of Solid Sound, Wilco closes the day with a themed set. Sometimes it’s an album played live. One year, it was cover songs chosen by fans. Fun stuff like that.
Some hints had been dropped about the ‘26 theme. Exciting hints. But I didn’t believe them until I knew for sure.
For the uninitiated: Mermaid Avenue is a set of three albums, recorded by Wilco and Billy Bragg in 1996. The project was the first where musicians (Billy Bragg and Wilco) were invited into the Woody Guthrie Archives to set some of the thousands of songs and poems Guthrie had written to music. Woody didn’t know how to write musical notation, so it was just words with the occasional instruction on how it should sound.
These albums are important for many reasons, and a lot has been written about them. For me, they’re extremely important. Life-changing, because Mermaid Avenue led me to learn more about Woody, which led me to write about him.
Without Mermaid Avenue, I would not have written a book about Woody Guthrie that’s finally entering the publication process. I wouldn’t have my Woody Guthrie family. I wouldn’t have had many of the experiences that shaped and changed me into who I now am—a person I love.
Bragg and Wilco never toured with the albums, other than playing a couple of songs live occasionally. There were some hard feelings about the recordings. But feelings can soften in three decades. Soften enough that, finally, the concert I never dared to dream would happen is happening.
Fuck yes, I will be there. I will be at the rail. I’m going to train for that night like I’m running a marathon. It’s that important.
My birthday was on Wednesday. I was supposed to be in New Orleans, but my finances kept me home. I’d scheduled a tarot reading at Bottom of the Cup, and they let me switch it to a phone reading. We had talked about my book and moved on to other subjects when Harriet, the reader, paused and said, “Your book will have an agent two months after spring starts, and a publisher five months after spring starts.”
That’s May and August. Solid Sound is the last weekend in June.
I don’t know what it means, but it feels huge.
Speaking of huge …
Remember how I mentioned in my last post that I might be venturing into the world of being a travel advisor? It’s happening. 6 Days Travel is coming your way sooner than you can imagine. Are you ready to hit the road with me?
I need some coffee to fuel all this. Wanna buy me a cup?