Last weekend I traveled to NYC to attend Ponderosa Stomp, a usually New Orleans based gaggle of musicians that founder Dr. Ira Padnos calls "the unsung heroes of soul, rockabilly, swamp pop, blues and R&B" which included Roy Head, Ray Sharpe, Tamie Lynn, Tommy McLain, Bobby Patterson and Willie Tee.

The plan was to have a warm-up gig at famed Hoboken bar Maxwell's on Saturday night and then blow Brooklyn away with an afternoon show at McCarren Pool on Sunday afternoon. Before arriving in New Jersey, after riding the Path train in circles because my photographer, Drue Deihl and I stupidly got in the wrong car, I was well aware of they hype surrounding the show. However, I was hardly expecting the show to be sold out at 10:30. My companion and I were expecting to be on some sort of list as we had traveled a great distance and knew a few people in the band, however when we got to the door our names had been left off a guest list that easily had over 200 names on it.

Now, I am not above arguing my way into a club, and since there was a huge "Sold Out" sign next to the door, that was really the only way we were going to get in, but since the folks we were going to see were not really my "buds", I decided it might be better to not embarrass them or myself...

Anyway, Sunday we headed to McCarren Park Pool, a huge empty pool in Brooklyn that hosts weekly concerts on weekend afternoons and screens films on weeknights. The park was full of sun bathers, slip 'n' sliders, hula hoopers, dodgeballers, water volleyballers, and people of all colors and ages. The line-up this summer has already included some of the hippest bands around, including Superchunk, Man Man, Illinois, Octopus project and tons of DJ's including Mark Ronson.