It Started with a Text Message….

September 20, 2024

On September 1, 2023, the music world lost one of its living legends, when the great Jimmy Buffett passed away.  Many of you were probably like me and saw him in concert at least once.  It was a rite of passage for anyone who loves going to concerts every summer.  I was fortunate to see him twice.  The first time was almost thirty (!) years ago, when my wife and I attended a show during our first few months of dating.  The second was five years ago at the New Orleans Jazz Festival for a performance that showcased the love his fans had for his iconic music. 

The day after he died, Jimmy was honored by the Dave Matthews Band who opened up their show with a beautiful performance of A Pirate Looks at Forty.  This concert was the second of their three night stand at the Gorge Amphitheatre, where they have played every Labor Day weekend for over twenty years.  A video of the performance appeared on my social media timeline the next day (an example of the “algorithm” being a good thing) and I sent it to my close family members who are also fans of the band.  You can watch the video on YouTube here and why wouldn’t you?  It’s a beautiful song performed at a beautiful location by an iconic band.

That text message started some back and forth among a few of us where we talked about going to the Gorge.  One may say that the seed was planted with that text message, and in some respects it was, but my son and I have been talking about going to the Gorge for several years.

We’re not a cult – we’re just diehard fans

I’ve written many times before about my love of this band, who I started listening to almost twenty-five years ago at the suggestion of my sister.  I’ve been fortunate to see them dozens of times all over the country, including my home state of Connecticut, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Jazz Fest, and several other smaller venues.  Five years ago, my son and I went to see them play two shows in Saratoga Springs, NY, one of the band’s favorite spots.  They usually play two great shows there, breaking out rare songs as a treat for their diehard fans.  Their cover of AC/DC’s Back in Black and the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive at the end of their song Jimi Thing brought the house down during the first show. 

We had a great time that weekend and were glad we made the trip up there.  I remember during the encore break of the second show we were talking to two guys next to us who had come up from New Jersey.  We were discussing different places we’d all seen the band.  “Have you been to the Gorge?” they asked us.  “No, we’ve talked about it, but…”  I couldn’t finish my response before they both exclaimed, “You gotta go to the Gorge!  You have to go – it’s incredible!”  I (obviously) never forgot that conversation.

After the text exchange last September, I started wondering if maybe 2024 would be “the year.”  Who in their right mind would travel from Connecticut to the middle of the desert three hours from Seattle to see a concert?  Scratch that.  Three concerts?  By the same band?  Are you crazy?  No, just a fan.  Maybe a very dedicated fan, but we’re not alone.

Part of the experience of going to the Gorge is not just the music.  Yes, you see your favorite band play three shows with no repeat songs, and with the changing setlist every night, you (literally) have no idea what they will play next.  But you also get the incredible setting.  The Gorge is located on a property that overlooks a beautiful desert and mountain landscape that surrounds the Columbia River.  You get to watch the sunset while looking at nature’s beauty and listening to talented musicians playing their greatest songs, surrounded by thousands of fans who are just as passionate as you are.  A few months later, I decided to get us organized.  We quickly got a group together, booked a rental house and our flights, secured our concert tickets, and we were off and running.

Joining my son and I on this trip were his girlfriend, my sister and my cousin.  I’ve seen shows with all of them over the years and we each are at different levels of fandom (obsession?)  But we all share a passion for the band’s music and were excited for the uniqueness of this trip.  We all made it out to Seattle without any major travel hiccups, and embarked on the three hour journey to our rental house.  It was fascinating seeing the landscape change from dense forests of pine trees to a desert wasteland that looked like something out of Mad Max Fury Road (a movie that would come to mind later in this trip.)  Along the way, my wife and I stopped to pick up food and supplies for our group, and made a slight detour to do a little television nerd exploring.

A few weeks before I left, I accidentally discovered that the 1990s television show Twin Peaks filmed some of their episodes in a Washington town along our route from Seattle to the Gorge.  When I realized we could make a quick stop to see the waterfall and hotel featured in the show’s opening credits, along with a visit to the diner that inspired the show’s Double RR diner, I was downright giddy.  Thank goodness my wife doesn’t judge my nerdiness, which I said to myself a few times during this trip.  We had a fun time checking out the little town and having lunch at the diner where we had a cup of “damn fine” coffee and a piece of cherry pie for dessert.  If you were a fan of Twin Peaks, you know the history.  We then got on our merry way, where we saw a few other cars on the way to the same adventure as our crew.

“Hey, we’re at the f*cking Gorge!”

Once we got settled in and knew the logistics were figured out, it was time to enjoy the shows.  Having seen the band so many times, I knew the music would be fantastic, but I was most anticipating the venue and the views.  We got a little taste of the mountain views at our rental house, on the drive to the venue (which included a brief stop to take the “tourist picture” in front of the highway exit sign for the Gorge) and at the vineyard we parked at each day.  Cave B Winery is located right next to the venue, so it overlooks the same view of the mountains and river, and we were able to meet a number of people who were in town for the shows. 

That’s the thing about this weekend.  This isn’t a “local” show for anyone.  Virtually everyone travels from all over the country – the Gorge is the ultimate destination venue for DMB fans.  Over the course of the three days, I met Canadian fans from Vancouver and Nova Scotia, fans from Oregon, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Boston, a couple who flew in from Hawaii for their first DMB show, not just their first show at the Gorge.  I met a few people who came to the show together because they met each other in the campground the night before.  When you’d meet people throughout the weekend, you didn’t even exchange names – it was all about where you traveled from, if it was your first time at the Gorge, where else you’ve seen the band, and how excited you were for the experience.  I connected with a couple from just outside Vancouver who bought an extra pair of tickets I had and we shared our love of music over a cold beverage while standing next to the most incredible view I could imagine. 

My favorite interaction happened before the last show.  I ran out to the merchandise tent to try to find one last souvenir for my wife and me when I glanced back to gaze at the sunset.  I noticed a few guys sitting on a small brick wall doing the same.  I said “Quite the view,” and one of them said, “Have a seat and enjoy it.”  We got to talking and he told me that it was his 59^th DMB show, all but one of them at the Gorge, since he lived a few hours away.  He thought it was fantastic that we traveled from Connecticut, and offered me one of his bracelets.  Oh yeah, on the first night, we learned that one of the Gorge traditions is to exchange DMB themed bracelets with other fans, most of which had song lyrics on them.  Not exactly like Taylor Swift friendship bracelets, but pretty close, and really cool.  Of course, we didn’t know about this tradition in advance, so we didn’t bring any with us (maybe next year?), but that didn’t stop generous people from sharing theirs.

The feeling of community was probably the biggest surprise of the weekend for me, but nothing can top the feeling of seeing the view the first night.  The amphitheater is located at the very end of the property, so you make your way through one of the campgrounds, past security and ticket scanning, stopping for another obligatory picture in front of a Gorge sign, through the concourse with food, beverages, and merchandise, and finally to the concert space.  The stage itself is set at the bottom of a huge hill and you enter at the top of the lawn, so you crest the top of the hill to see a view that will literally leave you speechless.  If you don’t believe me, my son’s girlfriend captured a picture of us as we grabbed our first view.  Of course pictures can’t do it justice, but we tried our best to capture what it was like to be there.

As much as we planned this trip for almost a year, it was still kind of unbelievable to be there.  I was definitely feeling some emotions when the band took the stage and opened the weekend with one of their beloved songs, Two Step, which resulted in a loud cheer from their devoted fans.  I’m not sure who was the first one in our group to say it that weekend, but after that first song, I yelled out, “Hey, we’re at the fucking Gorge!!! Let’s gooooooo!!!”  It became a running bit throughout the weekend, especially as each of us heard one of our favorite songs, or were stunned by the band playing a rarity or crushing one of their classics to the crowd’s delight.  Of all of my concert memories over the years, this is definitely at (or near) the top, just a perfect combination of everything you want in a fun weekend.  A true once in a lifetime experience.  Well….come to think of it…..as my son’s girlfriend put it, when you have a trip like this be so amazing, how can you not do it again?  Might need to start planning….

“Well, you know, since we’ll be in Washington….”

The Gorge weekend was the impetus for the trip out west, but once we booked the rental house, my wife made a great suggestion.  She’s not into concerts and is not a fan of DMB’s music, but we had plenty of room in the rental house for her to join us.  She did some research and learned that Olympic National Park was not too far from Seattle and could make for an exciting part two of our trip.  We went to Yellowstone last summer and had an amazing time.  It was like nothing we had ever done before, and Olympic seemed like a great sequel.  Since we were already going to be in Washington, why not extend the trip?  And it worked out well that she was with us, as she got to experience the beautiful landscape near the Gorge, even if she didn’t go to the shows, and her organization skills at the house saved our ass many times.

On Labor Day, while all of the other DMB fans were headed back to their corners of the country, my wife and I made the five hour drive up to Olympic National Park for the first of five days exploring a completely different side of nature than we had just experienced.  We started that leg of the journey going to the top of Hurricane Ridge, which featured stunning views of the surrounding mountain peaks and forests.  We were lucky to be there on a clear day, so we could see for miles and miles.  We decided to take the hike up Hurricane Hill, where we quickly learned that the Olympic National Park definition of a “hill” is a little different than ours.  We’re in pretty good shape, but needed to push ourselves to get to the top, but it was worth it for the view, and the laugh out loud moment when my wife got a text message from Verizon welcoming her to Canada.

That hike was probably the highlight of the week for me, but the next few days also saw more stunning displays of nature as we hiked around both sides of the beautiful Lake Crescent, through forests with massive trees to see waterfalls tucked away, just waiting to be discovered, rainforests with moss-covered trees, and the amazing beaches overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  We’ve been to the beach many times in our lives, but had never seen anything like the sea stacks and enormous trees washed up on the shore of these beaches.  We had the funny realization that we had been to the Atlantic Ocean (in York Beach, Maine) and now the Pacific Ocean in less than a month. 

As we wrapped up our exploration of Olympic National Park, we headed back to Seattle for our next flight.  Home to CT?  Not yet.

“Well, you know, since we’ll be on the West coast….”

Once we started to map out our trip to Washington, we had another idea.  Hmmm…. How far is the flight from Seattle to LA?  Only a few hours?  That could work.  We’ve only recently started traveling outside of New England, and not knowing when we would be on the west coast again, we decided to pop down to Los Angeles for a few days.  Our daughter’s girlfriend and her family live near the city and we thought it would be nice to meet them for dinner.  We’ve gotten to know her over the last couple of years, but not her family.  We had a wonderful time, exchanged some funny stories, tried not to freak out about a recent nearby earthquake a few days before we arrived, and got to know them well.

This portion of the trip was kind of challenging as we were running on fumes from being on the road so long, and it was so freaking hot there.  Over 100 degrees each day and one time on the highway, the temperature reading on the car said it was 115 outside.  And don’t give me any of that “dry heat / low humidity” BS.  It felt like you were in an oven.  But we managed.  Oh yeah, another thing about LA – the traffic.  Not just the inevitable traffic jams, but the absolute insane way people drive.  I thought New England drivers were bad, but I literally felt like we were in one of those scenes from Mad Max Fury Road, where everyone is weaving in and out of each other’s lanes and you expect a massive crash in front of you any minute.  Yikes!

Movie Fan (Nerd) Alert

Now, being a movie fan in Los Angeles, I obviously needed to do some movie nerd stuff, right?  This was another reason to make the quick stop there before going home.  I’ve had my eye on the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum since it opened a few years ago, and my sister-in-law raved about it after her visit there.  We made our way there Sunday morning, which was nice because it wasn’t too crowded.  The museum is beautiful and features a number of permanent exhibits of movie memorabilia, as well as a few rotating exhibits honoring certain movies and filmmakers.  My favorite section was the Oscar wing, where they displayed statues from winners dating back to the early ceremonies in the 1920s, dresses and suits that people wore to the ceremony, and a summary of each year’s awards that you could read while listening to various acceptance speeches from over the years.  Very cool.

The other big highlight for me was the two movies that are currently spotlighted at the museum – Casablanca and The Godfather.  We got to learn all about the making of each movie, while seeing props from the films, including Sam’s piano from Rick’s Café, and an infamous horsehead.  I think you can guess which one was from each film.  I think my favorite part of this section was the annotated novel for The Godfather, which included all of Francis Ford Coppola’s notes.  Naturally, I had to buy a replica book of the screenplay with the director’s notes in it from the gift shop.  And of course, you couldn’t go to the Academy museum without catching a glimpse of the Hollywood sign – they sure knew what they were doing when they chose the location for the museum.

Our journey through Hollywood history wasn’t done as we took a trip over to the Warner Bros. Studio to take the backlot tour.  It was insanely hot during this one, but we managed to stay hydrated and not pass out, as we saw some cool locations where famous movies and television shows were shot.  It was amazing to see how small some of the sets were, and learn how the way scenes are filmed can make them look much bigger.  A small location can be filled with water to make it look like a swamp for Kermit to sing The Rainbow Connection in The Muppet Movie, or for George Clooney’s character to save a drowning child in an episode of ER.  Of course, one of my highlights was the café where Emma Stone’s character in La La Land worked.  You think I was going to visit Tinseltown and not see some La La Land locations?  I wanted to stop on the highway where they filmed the opening song and dance sequence, but my wife decided it wouldn’t be safe.  I guess she was right.

One last movie nerd story.  This one is super sicko movie nerd, but thankfully when I told my wife about it, she didn’t hesitate encouraging me to do it.  I’ve written before that I am trying to see every film nominated for Best Picture, going back to the first ceremony over ninety years ago.  Now technically, I can’t complete the task because there is one film (1928’s The Patriot) that is lost to time – there is only a third of a copy in existence at the UCLA Film Library.  But that’s ok, I can see everything else, but there is another film that is very difficult to see. 

As I started this little project, I learned from a fellow movie fan that I met at the Philadelphia Film Festival that there is only one copy of 1934’s The White Parade and it is located at the UCLA Film Library.  After some online research, I learned that they let you watch a scanned copy of it if you make a reservation in advance.  Well, since I’m going to be in LA, and the movie is only 80 minutes…..you know where this story is going.  The process to reserve the movie was super easy, finding the campus was a little tricky, mostly due to more crazy drivers, especially the one who almost hit us on Mulholland Drive (it all comes back to movies, doesn’t it?), but the most difficult part was getting into the building.  You could only access the research wing I needed to get to through one entrance that was closed for security reasons.  The officer told us he couldn’t let us in because of some politician coming to an event next door.  I almost burst out laughing when my wife said (in all seriousness), “Well, he needs to get up to the film lab to screen a film today.”  God, I love her with all my heart.  We eventually found our way in and watched the movie.  I have to say, it was pretty good, especially for a 1934 melodrama.  Most importantly, I checked it off the list.

A Trip to Remember

As we wound down our time in Southern California with visits to Santa Monica and Malibu to admire the beautiful beaches and homes amongst the mountains, we reflected on what a fun adventure we had.  Of course, we did this all from the comfort of our air-conditioned car, keeping us cool from the insane heat.  From the kernel of an idea a year earlier, through all of the research, emails, budgeting, flight changes, hotel arrangements (we stayed at six places in fourteen days), rental cars, tickets, meals, and most importantly, a lot of laughs (particularly when I imitated the Google Maps navigation lady), this was truly an adventure to remember.  As I was contemplating whether to write about this whirlwind trip for my blog, I came to the realization that I had to for one simple reason – it was the convergence of everything I love in life – family, music, and movies.

Thanks for indulging this personal detour away from my usual topic.  I’ll be back next week with thoughts on some more new releases and news from the movie world.  Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below.