Live bluegrass: River Wheel

River Wheel

On Friday night, I decided to take a walk into downtown Lancaster to see what was happening for First Friday. The weather was perfect – mid-seventies, low humidity, clear skies. I made my way to Prince St., into the heart of the Art District, and strolled through the crowds with an eye to see if there were any musical performers that would catch my ear.

The first group I came across was a six-piece acoustic band called River Wheel, a Lancaster-based group that plays regionally. Their line-up consisted of guitar, mandolin, two violins, cello, and upright bass. They were playing bluegrass, both vocal and instrumental music. I caught them as they were beginning to play a version of “Sittin’ On Top Of The World.” When they finished the song, I continued on, walking down a few more streets and encountering four or five other acts along the way.

However, I eventually found myself back on Prince St., in order to catch whatever I could of River Wheel, who were totally cooking! The sidewalk was crowded, but I was fortunate to be able to work my way closer for a better view, and by the last couple of songs I was standing right in front of them.

I’ve always had an affinity for upright bass players, and so it gave me great pleasure to watch and listen to Charles Meunch in particular. He calmly and fluidly contributed melodic lines while singing lead or harmonizing. All six players were excellent, and their playing blended perfectly into a beautiful acoustic sound that was exactly what I needed to hear that evening.

At about 8:45pm, they finished up with a rousing instrumental (which I sadly don’t know the name of). The audience clapped along, band members whooped and played “one more time!” several more times, and the evening ended on that major up-note.

I definitely recommend checking them out if you get the chance. They have a Myspace page featuring several songs, and if you are on Facebook you can find them here. The best, though, has to be seeing them live. I’ve already bookmarked their Myspace page so that I can plan to see them when they come into town again!

My first Barnstormers game

On Tuesday evening, I attended my first Lancaster Barnstormers game at Clipper Magazine Stadium. The Barnstormers play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent minor league that aims to provide competitive, professional baseball at somewhere between the Class AA and AAA levels. The team has been in existence since 2005, although the league began in 1998. A couple of key characteristics of the league include the following (from the league website):

• “Players can be assured of field conditions that meet or exceed Triple AAA classification facilities.”
• “Communities must demonstrate marked size sufficient to support a minimum ballpark size of 5,000 to 7,500 seats.”

I think it’s awesome that we have a baseball team, and that it’s right in the city, with walking distance of where I live.

Clipper Magazine Stadium Lancaster, PA

One point of interest: The right field wall is listed as exactly 300′ from home plate at the foul line. I know that there are major league stadiums with short outfield dimensions at the lines; Boston’s Fenway Park, at 302′ in right and 310′ in left, comes to mind. However, due to the layout of the block on which the stadium is built, the right field wall doesn’t angle back in an arc in order to compensate.

As you can see in the diagram to the left, the wall runs directly parallel to the line between first and second base. As such, the playing area is significantly smaller in right and right-center field than on the left side of the outfield.

In addition, the walls in both right and left field are around 12′-15′ high.

This became a point of interest to me because, during the course of the game, three Barnstormers hit line drives that hit the right field wall, but resulted in only singles instead of the doubles they would normally be in other ballparks. On one occasion, the batter sort of loafed into first base on a drive that would have normally resulted in a double, although that was rendered unimportant when the next batter deposited the ball over the fence for a two-run homer. However, on the other two drives, the runners rounded first, only to turn back because the ball had been fielded cleanly off of the perfectly square wall and thrown to the cut-off man very quickly.

I asked a friend of mine who regularly attends Barnstormers games if this is a common occurrence, and he said that it is, probably because of the outfield dimensions. It was the most peculiar aspect of the game for me, but seeing the stadium diagram today cleared things up for me.

Overall, it was a beautiful night for baseball. I had a lot of fun, and I’ll definitely be going back again.

By the way, the Barnstormers actually played a good game (they entered with a 14-25 record), winning 12-4 over the powerhouse Somerset Patriots behind some nice hitting throughout the lineup, errorless defense, and solid pitching from newly acquired starter Eric Junge.

Cottontail

This afternoon I took my first good photograph of an animal! Prior to this, I had never been able to get a good shot.

I was sitting on the porch, talking on the phone with my father, and noticed this Eastern Cottontail sitting a few feet from my car. So I grabbed the camera, zoomed in, and started sneaking down the steps, shooting as I went. I made it to the bottom step before it took off, and this is one of the closer pictures I was able to take.

Eastern Cottontail

Photos from my walk: Franklin & Marshall edition

On Tuesday afternoon, I took a short walk that gave me an opportunity to take several photos. My route led me near the southwest side of Franklin & Marshall College. As you can see in the photos, it was a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the low eighties.

(Click photos for full-size images)

The first three are pictures from the rose garden at Buchanan Park, adjacent to the college.

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The next three are photos of two slate-like rock formations that sit closer to the college itself, along Race Road.

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This is a photo of State Street, from the corner of State and W Clay.

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Finally, here are two photos from what I believe is a crabapple tree on Buchanan Ave.

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I hope that you enjoyed these photos as much as I do. It’s nice to finally be able to take some good photographs. I’m a total novice with the camera, but I’m improving!

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By the way, this post looks AWFUL in Google Reader… if you’re using a reader to view this, please click the post to see it in a readable format!

/shakes head

Six photos from Saturday

Last Tuesday, I ventured out for a stroll into Lancaster city. It was a dual-purpose walk: I needed to pick up a few things at the Central Market, and I also wanted to see some of the city’s beauty again.

I just moved back to Lancaster after being away for a couple of years. It’s a city with a lot of history, charm, and culture. In addition to Central Market, which is the oldest running farmer’s market in the U.S., there is a growing art district, a college-town atmosphere, a variety of musical attractions, many shoppes, cafes, and boutiques, a local minor league baseball team (Lancaster Barnstormers), museums, and so on.

While there are parts of the city that don’t do much for the eyes, there are several sections that are lovely to walk through. I walked to market again last Saturday, remembering to take my camera, and was able to get some good photos while I was out. Here are some highlights. Click the photos to see them in their glory!

Walnut @ Pine

I found a house on Walnut St. with these beautiful flowers on the windows.

Beautiful flower arrangement

A photo of the front of Thaddeus Stevens school on Charlotte Ave.

Thaddeus Stevens school

Here is one of my favorite homes in Lancaster City.

One of the houses that makes walking in Lancaster so rewarding

Eventually, I made it back home with my purchases from the market, and set about making lunch…

I wonder who gave me this mug...

…and my lunch accidentally turned out looking very classy, so I figured that I might as well take a picture of it, too!

A delicious lunch

Vietnamese egg rolls, fresh cucumbers with ranch and cheddar, and coffee. And it was delicious.

It was a beautiful spring day, and I’m happy to have gotten some time in with my camera. I’m looking forward to getting some more pics from around Lancaster and posting them at some point.