Blues, Barbecue, and Haughty Behavior

Cali and I wondered out of our safe suburban Kansas world this weekend and ventured into Missouri. We went to the 1st annual Blues and Barbecue festival in Columbia, MO which turned out to be a great event. Everyone was surprised at the huge turnout. On Saturday night it was packed, especially in front of the main stage where Taj Majal was performing. Paul said he heard someone say that it reminded them of Mardi Gras in New Orleans (at least for a couple of blocks). There were some other great there acts like the Blind Boys of Alabama, Big Smith, Jerry Douglas, and Tab Benoit. Friday night we saw the Blind Boys and then crashed at the Burke's along with Cali's parents. In the night we were visited by the always scary, hand-biting Nora who loved the company, but gave constant reminders that she was not one to be trifled with. Unfortunately, Cali felt ill for most of the weekend and so she didn't join us for most of Saturday. She missed out mostly on bluegrass events, some of which we really enjoyed. We also tried some barbecue which was only okay (we didn't know any better and went to a place that didn't smoke their meat). However, it was still fun to wonder through the streets and look at and smell all the meat that was being cooked for the barbecue competition. One contestant was kind enough to share some of their scraps to all the drooling onlookers.

On the way down, we talked to Holly on the phone and found out that she was going to Columbia this weekend also. She went to visit a friend and to go the festival. We totally could have carpooled. Anyway, she also went to plug her store's coffee beans at a coffee shop in Columbia. The word is the store had nice equipment and good atmosphere, but kind of haughty employees. What is the deal with barista's. How come they gotta cop the attitude. Did I do that? I don't know. Somehow working in a coffee shop does make people feel pretty cool, especially if you are in a college town. I did enjoy being in Columbia and it made me kind of miss Urbana. For now we will just have to get our college town kicks by visiting Holly in Lawrence.