[Jim Price]

VACATION RECAP 6/24/03:

THURSDAY 6/19/03:  Our latest adventure began this day, as "the trio of terror" - "Big Jim" Ricotta, Sparky D'Engineer and yours truly - embarked for several days of raucous rest and relaxation in Virginia and the Outer Banks.  For the most part, it was an uneventful trip down to our Thursday destination, Williamsburg, Virginia.  We followed tradition and pitstopped at the Waffle House in Winchester (the Texas cheesesteak sandwiches there kick ass!), before continuing our journey to Williamsburg.  The only eventful thing to happen this day was upon our arrival at our hotel, when we opened the door to our hotel room to find that one of the two beds had already been slept in, and apparently hadn't been treated by room service.  After voicing our complaint at the front desk, the Holiday Inn accommodated us by giving us two separate suites!  The bathroom was big enough to play a football game in, and I was impressed by the jet-powered toilet (you could feel the breeze from the suction when it was flushed - what power!). 

FRIDAY 6/20/03: This day started out overcast and threatening as we dined at a Cracker Barrel and made our way to Colonial Williamsburg. Arriving in early afternoon, we were disappointed to learn that if you wanted to tour inside the buildings at Colonial Williamsburg, you needed to purchase a pass for $37.50. For just the few hours we were planning to be there, it wasn’t worth it, so we opted instead to just do our own walking tour up and down the streets of Colonial Williamsburg, taking in the buildings and scenery, and visiting a few souvenir and specialty shops. We spent some time at the College of William & Mary bookstore, a candy shop and more. The skies cleared as the afternoon progressed, and the weather had become nice by the time we started the second leg of our journey, from Williamsburg to the Outer Banks. We experienced some slowed down afternoon rush hour traffic, but easily made it to the Border Station well within daylight hours. (For those not familiar with it, the Border Station sits directly on the state line between Virginia and North Carolina. You can walk in one end of the store and purchase Virginia lottery tickets, stroll across the state line painted inside the store, and purchase North Carolina lottery tickets on the Carolina side of the line. We arrived just before the nightly lottery drawings for both states, so the place was pretty packed. We procured some Dairy Queen treats on the Carolina side, and transported them back across the state line to some picnic benches on the Virginia side to enjoy (a federal offense, transporting that DQ across state lines!). Upon proceeding into North Carolina and towards the Outer Banks, we soon came across an NC State Police DWI Checkpoint (yes, they have ‘em too), cleared it in flying colors and were on our way. We checked into our beachfront Holiday Inn location in Nags Head, took power naps and soon embarked to find some nightlife…

Big Jim seems fascinated with what Thomas Jefferson is writing…

Big Jim and Sparky pose for a photo while another tourist makes more constructive use of his time in colonial Williamsburg…

”Wow, that’s an interesting line, Tom – I’ll have to use that quote somewhere in my next ‘Weekend Recap!’”

Big Jim was looking for used equipment, but nobody had any advertised on this Colonial Williamsburg bulletin board.

Sparky celebrates as we arrive in the Promised Land…

Yours truly is also ecstatic about our arrival.

Shortly after crossing the state line, we ran into this – yes, North Carolina has DWI checkpoints, too.

FRIDAY NIGHT 6/20/03: We decided to head to Mexican-themed venue Don Gato’s in Nags Head, and checked out a band called Cashmere & the Jungle Lords. Based out of Richmond, this band was a three-piece that did surf and rockabilly-geared original songs and some select covers. Together over 20 years, singer/guitarist Dominic Carpin, bassist John Dacey and drummer Jimmy Kaylis were sturdy and solid instrumentally, with Dominic flashing some nice guitar solowork throughout the course of the show. The trio introduced songs such as “Mista Bones,” “Luckiest Guy On Earth,” the Latin-tinged “Latinia,” “Cactus Flower” and more; plus such covers as “Whatever Lola Wants” (I believe done by Dinah Shore in the 1950’s) and Sam Cooke’s “Summertime.” Although not crowded early on, more people showed up as the night progressed, and a number of people had taken to the dance floor as Cashmere & the Jungle Lords performed their last set. We left before the end of the show, satisfied that we had seen some OBX nightlife on our first night there.

Cashmere & the Jungle Lords.

Dominic Carpin of Cashmere & the Jungle Lords.

SATURDAY 6/21/03: One big reason for this vacation trip was REST, and we did quite a bit of that, not emerging from our slumber until close to the noon hour. While the weather was nice with forecasted sunny skies and high in the upper 70’s, we figured Sunday would be the better day to do the beach thing. We did, however, step out on the beach for a few minutes, and scoped out a skimboard contest nearby. (A skimboard is a shorter, wider version of a surfboard, used for “skimming” atop the water and incoming waves along the shoreline.) Sponsored by a local radio station, a number of contestants were testing their skimboard skills while a high-strung announcer did play by play commentary. What was funny was that while these contestants were receiving all sorts of high praise from the announcer for doing basic skimboard moves, about 50 yards down the shore from the competition, a bunch of 12-13 year old kids were putting these guys to shame with their skimboard displays. I could even see some of the contestants looking down the shore with interest. After watching this for a few minutes, we followed tradition to our next destination, The Wharf in Nags Head, for the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. Came, saw, gorged. Went back to the hotel room and rested, before our main evening destination, Roanoke Island for “The Lost Colony Outdoor Drama.” One of the main attractions we have heard about during past OBX visits, we had always wanted to check out this production, but the weather never cooperated with us previously (the production is cancelled on a given night in the event of rain or storms). “The Lost Colony” is a half drama/half musical production about the early English settlers who arrived on Roanoke Island in the 1580’s and established a colony there, only to run into Indian disputes and isolation from England due to its sea conflict with Spain. When English ships did eventually return, the colony’s 117 men, women and children had vanished, never to be heard from again. In its 66th year, this production was interesting and well done, and the outdoor setting near the beach with the ocean breeze added to the overall effect. Glad to finally check it out. Afterward, we decided to take it easy, bought some beer and snacks and retired to the hotel room. First time I’ve watched “Saturday Night Live” in a LONG time!


Here are shots of two of the skimboard contest participants, as I test my sports photography abilities. Could a career with Sports Illustrated be far away?

SUNDAY 6/22/03: With the forecast of sunny skies and temps in the 80’s, I had one priority on my mind this day, the BEACH! I sat out, took in some rays, watched more skimboard competitors further up the beach, and relaxed for a couple of hours. Life was good. We then headed out and returned to Roanoke Island Festival Park, this time to check out the tall ship replica “Elizabeth II,” and tour the Roanoke Island Festival Museum. While there, we watched the historic drama film “The Legend of Two Path,” visited the settlement site reenactment and more. From there, we went to the Christmas Place, a large store loaded with Christmas items and other gifts. You could easily spend several hours in this place taking in all the stuff they have; we might return there if we go back to the Outer Banks later in the year.

The Elizabeth II.

Big Jim on the Elizabeth II: “Is it soup yet?”

SUNDAY NIGHT 6/22/03: The main order of the evening was catching fellow western Pennsylvanians The Clarks, during their first of two nights performing at Kelly’s in Nags Head. We decided to arrive at Kelly’s early and catch some dinner, which turned into an adventure of sorts. The adventure was that the waitress mixed up the orders, and served Sparky D’Engineer and I each other’s meals, and we didn’t even notice until we were almost done eating! (Both meals were very good, and similarly priced, so we didn’t beef at the waitress about it.) We ran into Clarks guitarist Rob James and chatted briefly, and then headed over to the nearby beach to kill an hour between the meal and the show. Kelly’s had a good-sized crowd on hand as Gavin DeGraw began the evening. This is a name you could be soon hearing about, as Gavin has a CD, “Chariot,” coming out on Clive Davis’ new J Records label July 22. Gavin and his band did a set of keyboard-geared modern pop/rock originals, with a sound not too far removed from Train. His songs were all solid, chock full of good hooks that snared you in. Gavin’s band was talented; according to what Gavin said onstage, their past resumes included stints with the Wallflowers, B-52’s and Whitney Houston. We were all very impressed with our first exposure to Gavin DeGraw, and also impressed when he came out and networked with everybody in the audience individually after his set. Remember the name Gavin DeGraw, he could be on a radio near you very soon. One of the big questions I had about this show going in was how well established The Clarks were in this part of the world. They headline and pack concerts in western PA, and we hear their songs lots on the radio up this way; but how well are The Clarks established outside of western PA? The answer was apparent as the group started their set with “Hey You” from their latest album, “Another Happy Ending,” and the crowd was instantly on their feet at stagefront to dance and groove along. The Clarks continued, mixing established favorites with new songs from “Another Happy Ending,” and even newer songs that may be on the group’s next release, being recorded later this year. We heard familiar Clarks faves like “Penny On The Floor,” Cigarette,” “Mercury,” the hit “Better Off Without You,” and the early Clarks favorite “Help Me Out;” also “On Saturday,” “This House Is Burning Down Tonight” and “Superstar” from the new album; and new songs such as “See You Around,” “Shimmy Shimmy Low” and “Every Day When The Sun Goes Down.” At the close of their regular set, we learned that Pittsburgh was representing in the audience this night, as cheers of “Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go!” erupted as the rallying cry for a Clarks encore. The group quickly returned to finish the night, encoring with “Boys Lie” from the new album, and the hit “Chasin’ Girls.” Although their sound system wasn’t particularly elaborate or huge, The Clarks got good sound out of it, with all four band members sounding clear and balanced. The whole night was a good vibe, with The Clarks and crowd showing full appreciation for each other. This was a very good show that showed me that, yes, The Clarks have indeed expanded their popularity beyond western PA and the Northeast.

Dave Minarik, Jr. of The Clarks.

Greg Joseph of The Clarks.

Scott Blasey of The Clarks.

Again, Scott Blasey of The Clarks.

Again, Dave Minarik, Jr. of The Clarks.

With acoustic guitar in hand, Scott Blasey of The Clarks.

Scott Blasey and Greg Joseph of The Clarks.

Robert James of The Clarks.

MONDAY 6/23/03: Oh, the sadness, the sadness…The final day of our Outer Banks excursion. The weather had been great, and I was enjoying life here so much that I could have easily stayed for another week. Waking up early, I decided to begin the day by taking a long walk along the beachfront, before it got populated. I harassed a few ghost crabs, admired the scenery and took in the ocean breeze for one last good hour and a half. Upon returning to the hotel, we packed up and headed out. As we usually like to do, we headed inland to pay a visit to our friend, Ted Etheridge, and his Music Box Recording Studio in Hamilton, North Carolina to see what was up. Before arriving, we took in lunch at an eatery we usually like to hit when we are in the vicinity, R&C’s Diner in nearby Williamston. Here you can get Southern cuisine at its best for low prices – in fact, the price of all three of our meals at R&C’s totaled LESS than any of our single meals at Kelly’s the night before! Good food cheap is always a good thing. We then arrived at Music Box to find Ted busy doing recording work with a hardcore rap group. Both Ted and the group were going over recordings, tweaking where needed. Ted continues to upgrade his facility, showing us his newest addition since our last visit – Pro Tools! Since Ted was busy and we had to start back on our return to PA, we only stayed at Music Box a short time.

Nags Head Pier.

Nags Head beach, one last look...

Ted Etheridge (left) and members of the rap group (we didn't catch their name) in Music Box Recording Studio.
The return trip was uneventful until we get north of Richmond along I-95. Virginia’s highway department (VirginDot?) was doing major resurfacing work on I-95, and in their infinite wisdom decided to close down two of the three northbound lanes, creating gridlock en masse as traffic had to narrow and maneuver through one lane. This set us back about 30 to 45 minutes; but fortunately, we were still able to arrive back in Altoona at around midnight – with time left to head to Pellegrine’s for Monday night wings!