Trail Session: Cold Chocolate on July 8, 2023

 
 

A hike & concert at Machimoodus State park

 

Details

  • Saturday, July 8

  • Hike 11a-12p

  • Concert 12:15p-1p

  • Location: Machimoodus State Park, Moodus, CT

  • Band: Cold Chocolate (Americana)

  • Tickets: Recommended $15/adult. Sliding scale donation tickets ($0-$50). Kids free!

  • Friends of Machimoodus & Sunrise State Parks will lead two hikes - one that is nearly flat the entire time, and one that includes a steep section.

  • Friendly dogs on leash are welcome.

  • There are no water fountains. Porta potties at the entrance.

  • Bring: Sunscreen, bug spray, water and a picnic! The concert will be held within walking distance of the parking lot so you can fetch your blankets/lawn chairs/food after the hiking portion.

Cold Chocolate

Cold Chocolate is a genre-bending Americana band that fuses folk, funk and bluegrass to create a unique sound all their own. Led by Ethan Robbins (vocals/guitar) and Ariel Bernstein  (vocals/percussion), the Boston-based duo released their fourth full-length album, DUO, in the summer of 2022. 
 
Punctuated by tight harmonies and skillful musicianship, Cold Chocolate has quickly gained recognition for their original music and high-energy shows. The band has shared bills with Leftover Salmon, David Grisman, and Angelique Kidjo, and regularly performs at venues and music festivals across the country. Jason Verlinde of The Fretboard Journal who covered the band’s FreshGrass Festival set noted “there were plenty of magical moments…I will never forget [watching] Cold Chocolate perform.” Kathy Sands-Boehmer of No Depression raved, "[Ethan] feels the music in his heart and soul and it shows when he plays. Ethan becomes the music on stage. There’s an almost mystical connection between his guitar and the notes that flow out of it."

Robbins began his bluegrass career at Oberlin College, where he started to explore how this hard-driving fast-paced genre could be stretched. A classical violinist from age four, he fell in love with the guitar when he turned fourteen and his father bought him five quintessential albums: The Band’s Music from Big Pink, Bob Dylan’s Bringing it all Back Home, John Hartford’s Steam Powered Aereo-plane, Hank Williams Live at the Grand Ole Opry, and the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. Ever since, Robbins has attempted to bring those raw, rootsy sounds into his own original material.

In 2012, Robbins met percussionist Bernstein at a mutual friend's gig in Boston. Like Robbins, Bernstein also studied classical percussion in college before moving to the drum set. A master of restraint, the loose-wristed Bernstein brings a light and tasteful groove to Cold Chocolate’s tunes, filling out their sound and heightening the band’s live energy. In addition to playing in Cold Chocolate, Bernstein can be found as a sideman with Ray LaMontagne, as well as working on the records of some of the scene's finest acoustic musicians at his own Honey Pot Studios.

Machimoodus State Park

The park overlooks the Salmon River and Salmon River Cove in East Haddam, Connecticut. It takes its name, Machimoodus, from the earliest visitors to the area. As noisy rumblings and echoes were witnessed in turn by the Pequot, Mohegan and Narragansetts, they referred to this location as "the place of bad noises" or Machimoodus. That name carried through colonial times, continued through the two following centuries, and persists right into today

Various legends and folk tales have passed through the generations about the noises that occur here, but in 1981 geologists with seismic gear in tow declared that "micro earthquakes" were the cause of the rumblings. A local cave echoed the tremors loudly, especially loudly in the relative silence of pre-motorized societies.

The balance of the park’s woodlands and uplands are home to four and a half miles of old farm roads and trails which provide easy access to the park’s 300 acres.

Mount Tom is Machimoodus’s high point at 314 feet above sea level. The old roads and trails that lead to its southern slope feature two lookout points. Both of these provide visitors access to picturesque and scenic vistas of the mouths of the Salmon and Moodus Rivers, along with overviews of the Salmon River Cove and the Connecticut River.

Sustain Music & Nature

We make music a force for nature. Tapping into the emotional hook of music and cultural sway of bands, we engage new audiences with the outdoors. Based in CT, we work with all genres of musicians across the entire US. Songscapes and Trail Sessions are our signature programs.

Friends of Machimoodus and Sunrise State Parks

The Friends of Machimoodus & Sunrise State Parks is a group of volunteers dedicated to the preservation, protection and perpetuation of these two beautiful ecologically and recreationally important open spaces. We strive to help maintain these parks and enhance the opportunities for all to enjoy.

We work cooperatively with the park supervisor and our local representatives to identify opportunities to enhance the parks for all visitors.

CT Office of the Arts

This Trail Session made possible with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

This is a fully outdoor concert. Prepare for any weather!