July! July!

Had an interesting 4th of July weekend... not.

Well, actually, Saturday the 2nd was eventful. Drove to the Tidal School Vineyard in Drumright for a Chet Baker Tribute concert (who was born and raised in nearby Yale) and a first-time inspection of the grounds.

Quite an establishment. An old elementary school built back in the 1920s by John D. Rockefeller for the children of his Tidal Oil Company workers in the active Drumright Field. Later abandoned and then taken over by a series of businesses etc until recently claimed by an engaging grape nurturing outfit.

Presently they get all their grapes from California and then create their wines on location. But they have the largest vineyard in Oklahoma and hope to be using their own grapes in the near future, perhaps even later this year. The American Chardonnay was quite good as was the Peach Chardonnay (a little sweet but okay in moderation). The merlot I tried seemed a little medicinal.

And now a brief summary of the Chet Baker tribute show. As mentioned before, the building was once a school and so there exists a nice auditorium with a raised stage. The live jazz was played inside this hall while some southern rock n roll was playing outside. Made for an interesting cast of characters milling about.

Around 6 pm a group of older gentleman took the stage and played quite a few Chet Baker standards. The band consisted of a trumpet player, a sax man, a comical figure absolutely getting down on the old upright bass, a smooth keyboard hound from the Dave Brubeck School of Cool, and a nervous younger guy trying his best to sing a la Chet. And he did a pretty damn good job I should add. Three of them had played with Baker at one time or another so there was a strong air of legitimacy given to the occasion. I just sat back and drank my vino and listened to the tunes in the unique enviroment. Not a bad way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon on the windswept and dusty outskirts of Drummond, OK.

One last note. A few of Chet Baker's family attended the affair. His son, brother, grandchildren... and they ALL looked just like him.