I am off to Portland, Oregon for work today. Before leaving for this trip, me and my nephews had planned a trip to North Adams, MA to see the band The National at the Mass. Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA) and Hawthorne Valley Association benefit show. We bought $275 tickets for the benefit and to have the opportunity to meet the band before the show.
The stars aligned and it also turned out that my hometown Pittsburgh Penguins were playing Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals last Thursday before we left for MA. I left home in Kentucky late morning last Thursday and arrived just in time to meet my nephews and friends in downtown Pittsburgh to watch the 8PM game at Market Square. We had planned on watching it near Consol Energy Center but they had to close the streets near the arena because over 20,000 crazy fans showed up to try to watch it on the big screen that was setup outside of the arena. They quickly assembled another big screen in Market Square and it turned out to be an equally crazy scene so we ended up leaving after the 1st period to watch the rest of the game at a local bar. The outcome was a bit of a disappointment as we were hoping to see the first Pittsburgh sports team win a championship at home in Pittsburgh since the Pirates did it before I was born in 1960.
After the late night in Pittsburgh, we got an early start the next morning driving to Mass. with a layover in Cooperstown, NY. Great weather and light traffic made for an easy drive. We spent the evening having dinner and great beer at the Ommegang Brewery (got a new appreciation for krieks—and I am not a cherry person). The next day the weather completely changed with rain and cold weather arriving early—49 degrees in Cooperstown to start the morning. We had a quick breakfast at the Doubleday Café, walked to the Hall of Fame in pouring rain and toured the museum for a couple of hours and then hit the road for the cold and rainy three-hour drive to North Adams, MA.
I forgot how nice upstate New York, Western, MA and the entire Berkshires area are. We landed in North Adams early afternoon on Saturday, took a quick drive across the Vermont border and back to North Adams for some pizza and beer before the concert. We headed over to Mass MOCA around 4PM for the show and had some more beer at Bright Ideas Brewing (do you notice a theme) before we entered the museum. We picked up our special VIP passes and walked around the museum for a short bit and then went to the VIP event at 5PM to meet the band and have a little more food and drink.
After 40 minutes or so, The National arrived and socialized with the 250 or so fans that attended the event. It turned out to be a great time and we all enjoyed it very much…well worth the price of admission…and for a great cause too. The show was great as well…but they always put on great shows. The venue was on a converted baseball field, outside near the back of the Mass MOCA museum. We lucked out with the weather, as the storm ended in mid-afternoon it brought rising temperatures—70 degrees all through the concert.
The weekend was topped off when the Pens won the Stanley Cup the next evening–shortly after our long drive back to Pittsburgh from western MA.
Here are some pics and videos of the crazy extended weekend activities. I apologize for the crappy video (iPhones still have a long way to go for night-time shooting) –but it’s really about the music, right?
I realize it has been a long time and good to see Eric again. I thought he was 17 years old when I met him. Great photos and it seems you guys had a lot of fun.