What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Day 6: Bethlehem, PA

After a busy weekend full of social activity and sight-seeing, I take it easy for the next few days at my parents' house. I spend my first morning back just putzing around the house and going through the books I had packed up four years ago (surprise, there are more that I can bear to part with!), and then I drive to Lost River Caverns to catch up with my old boss and coworkers and do some shopping. It's busy, at least compared to what I would have expected mid-August, so my old boss tells me to just help myself. I must give off "I work here" vibes still; people ask me questions about how to get to the bathrooms or where things are.

The inside is all done up and it looks fabulous—so much better than when I was still working there—and I linger a while to talk to my old bosses and coworkers and some of the new shop ladies and guides. Everything is familiar despite the fabulous makeover and once again I miss my weirdo minimum wage retail job.

Next stop on the agenda is the Bethlehem library. I don't bother driving in during Musikfest; I just wait for the bus (have I gone full European native?) and meander towards the library from the parking/bus hub. There's no Amerikaplatz next to the library anymore, which I don't like (fond memories of Tea Leaf Green and Royal Noise Brigade at that stage), but I suppose the library employees appreciate the new-found quiet. I pick out a book—Murder in Retrospect, or Five Little Pigs, which is my Facebook book club's August choice—and sit down and read, and alternate my reading with checking Facebook and talking with friends on gchat.

After I finish the book, I wander through Musikfest, grab a "Marga-mead-a," and head down to Volksplatz to wait for The Skatalites. I sit through The Hillbenders, a bluegrass act, and enjoy them enough to buy an album as roadtrip soundtrack/thank-you gift for my ride up to Maine. I totally sneak a preview listen later and the album is way more straight country, and kind of worse, than their live performance. :( For me, the highlight of that show was probably a high-energy cover of MGMT's "Kids." I had spent the whole day being sad and moody over leaving Austin, and that moment was the point where I started to maybe feel like not everything was a total garbage fire.

Then, after time to change sets and move the first rows of chairs out of the way, The Skatalites come on, and I dance my heart out. They do their cover of the James Bond theme and I get a powerful hit of high school nostalgia. I had listened to their version of the incomparable movie theme a lot in high school, but this was in the days of Napster and people being really ignorant and slapdash with labeling artists ("Wish You Were Here" by Oasis? Really?), so I was never sure if it was actually The Skatalites. I went into the show with zero expectations I'd hear that song, so it's a nice surprise to hear that opening bass riff.



Later in the set they also do the theme from "From Russia With Love" and I wonder: is that a coincidence or a political statement? Other covers include "A Message To You, Rudy" and "Three Little Birds."

I ducked out in the middle of an encore to make sure I could get a bus home, only: surprise! The late bus I thought was running wasn't, so I dropped in at a friend's instead. Not the most gracious way to make an entrance from across the ocean ("I can't read bus schedules, Tesia, can I crash your guest bed?") but friendship is magic! And I'm stopping by home to celebrate Tesia's PhD, after all.  It's not super late, but I still conk right out.