Who needs a plain music festival when you can have Solid Sound ?

  What is so special about WILCO's Solid Sound Festival ?  It is kind of hard to put into words.  Most music festivals have, well, music. 

There is certainly plenty of that at Solid Sound, both by WILCO and its members and many other musicians  that WILCO finds intriguing.

You can hear the Levon Helm Band, Thurston Moore, Pajama Club (Neil and Sharon Finn) and Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion.

Just the music would make this a great festival but Solid Sound is so much more than just music. 

      First of all, it is set in a large art complex called MASS MoCA.  The place is full of  modern art exhibits and you are 

encouraged to walk around and take it all in.  It is a pretty cool place, many exhibitions are sculptural and multi-media, making 

it surprisingly fun to wander around and see what discovery is around the corner.

      Okay, so you have music and art.  Then you discover that they have stand-up comedy sessions, too.  You can enjoy

comedy segments by people like John Hodgman,  Wyatt Cenac and Eugene Mirman.  Hmm, this is not like any 

music festival that I have seen. Oh, that's right, they do call it a Music and Arts Festival !

        So you have music,art, comedy.  Oh wait, there are also film shorts.  There are Story Pirates running around singing

and doing skits and entertaining the children.   There is falconry.  Yes, I said falconry.  You can see trained hawks doing

their thing here. 

        Did I mention the food ?  There are plenty of local vendors selling anything from vegetarian specialties and Indian cuisine to hot dogs and 

pizza plus great coffee and beer and wine.  There is also a record store on site, Euclid Records. There is a dunking booth, for charity.

Who wouldn't want to get a chance to dunk Jeff Tweedy ?  

        So you are thinking, all right, Solid Sound has music, art, comedy,film, Story Pirates, falconry and food. There is something for everyone

here. Bet it doesn't have yoga.

Um, yoga is Saturday and Sunday at 10 am :)

       

fish and chips, New World style !

Simple food, cooked well, is not as easy as it sounds.

When you throw lots of foods and flavors together, it is like a big cocktail party.  Even if  everyone is not sociable or interesting, there are usually one or two guests who are exciting enough to carry the evening, or at least spark some interest.  

When you are having an intimate dinner party, only 3 or 4 guests,  each guest becomes much more influential and important to the success of the evening.

I have eaten quite a few fish and chip dinners in my life time, some good, some not so good, many not remarkable in any way.   I like to order fish when I dine out.  I don't make it often at home because no one else in my immediate family will eat it.  So when I saw that New World Home Cooking is now featuring fish dinners on Friday throughout the summer,  I was ready !

I ordered the fish special of the evening, a fried flounder with lemon and baby potatoes.  Simple enough, right?   Yes, and no.  Leave it to chef Ric Orlando to take a simple meal and bring it to another level.  That is what makes you a chef, not a cook !

Most fish fries you get are chunks of fish, heavily coated with batter and pretty greasy,  with a nice dollop of super fatty tartar sauce lurking off to the side.  Ric's fish is nothing like that.  The fish fillets are thin and slightly crispy, allowing the good mild flavor of the fish to come through without being smothered by a heavy coating.  This fish is fresh and moist and flavorful,  it makes you sad when you realize you have eaten the last bit of it ...

The other guests at this intimate little party are remarkable in their own ways.  There are delicate slices of roasted potatoes,  all nestled in with fresh herbs, rosemary making a spirited appearance.  There is no heavy mayonnaise here, but a nice olive oil and herb dipping sauce, much more complimentary to the mildness of the fish.   Yes, there be lemons,  but these are not those sad little wedges that are thrown on the plate as almost an afterthought.   These are elegant little lemon wheels, super thin slices of lemon that are lightly fried, allowing you to eat them just as they are, skin and all.  So simple, yet so unique, with an intense lemon flavor.  Every party needs a surprise guest, and these little lemons provided the pizzazz !

Simple food done well, there is nothing boring about that !

If I missed some of the finer details of the meal, forgive me, but I spent a lot of time with this cool little guest :)