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Day 2 - Susan Moss |
| Susan here:
I know Brian has much to share, and substantially more time to go into more detail, since he is staying here in the hotel room, while Susan P. and I head back by noon to catch the second half of the New Folk competition. Hey, did I mention Susan P. made it??? :-) She had been batting the idea around for a while, and flew in later Friday, rented a car, and met up with us at the festival later that afternoon - great news, although I suspect Texas isn't big enough for the both of us! Anyway, Brian is the expert
at all this "ramblings" stuff so I will look forward to his
eloquent waxings when I get home (ack!, home... - don't mention that yet,
Susan...) - plus I am keeping a sort of journal to do my own major write-up
later, and my head is still full of stories, thoughts and ideas just waiting
to be shared. For me, the hard part is finding that balance between being
"in the moment" and making sure it's recorded for I would like, however, to mention a few highlights of the last few days: - Wow, The Ballad Tree is everything Brian said it was, and more - Friday and Saturday's were hosted by Darryl Purpose and Tom Kimmel, respectively and, I am sure as most of you know, people who would like to sing put their name in a hat, hoping it will be chosen sometime during that two-hour time period. There is much unknown (at least to me) talent out there, and it was thrilling to see and hear people I otherwise might not performing - then there is the added benefit of viewing the known quantities up close and personal (Michael McNevin, Adam and Chris, Dogwood Moon, Christopher Williams, Jim Savarino). - I finally had the good cry
that had been building up for weeks, but had no place to go until Friday
night (I *almost* did at the Pre-K graduation Thursday night, but my boss
shot me a look that said, "Not NOW, Susan"...) - knowing the
history of how Small Potatoes made it up to the Kerrville Main Stage (which
I am sure Brian will share :-) started off my emotional cycle, and when
they started singing the e-mail titled song (which I had already planned
to put on Sarah's going-away-to-college mix tape), I lost - Mmmmmm, and then there was
back-to-back Buddy Mondlock/Carol Elliott and - The New Folk songwriter competition kicked off at noon on Saturday, and our very own Amy Carol Webb was fourth - we were all sitting front and center during her performance. As she hit her opening notes, Brooke whipped out a camera to get a photo of Amy, and I broke into the hugest case of goosebumps - "quick", I said, "take a picture of my thighs, too!", which, Amy threatened later, could very well end up on her website! Amy nailed her performance, and we are just keeping the good wishes happening until the six finalists are chosen - there has been some incredible talent already, and that was just the 16 from the first half. - Diane Zeigler has a special
place in my heart, as I saw her at The Folk Alliance, which was her first
performance since taking the last three years off to have and be home
with her children (ages 1 and 3) - at the beginning of her set here, she
said that she had just called home to speak to her daughter, so she could
bring her worlds together (music and family). Her daughter asked what
Diane was going to sing, Diane told her, and the child had a temper tantrum
- she wanted Mommy to sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing [On her second song, there was some trouble with the sound system, and Diane had to start her song over three times before it was finally cleared up - in a gesture of calm and solidarity, a few people in the audience launched into Hark The Herald Angels Sing, and the rest of us took up the cause... :-) ] - Last night's line-up - incredible! Again, Brian, our ramblings "peace" correspondent will go into much more detail, but kicking off (and I mean that literally!) the evening was Kevin So, accompanied by Eric Gerber and Stephanie (sorry, I didn't catch her last name...) - my first time seeing him, and definitely not my last... [Another cute story: As Kevin sat down at the piano for his encore, he began to sing, and then stopped to proclaim, "there's a spider on my microphone!" - he blew on it, and you could see the spider fall, and then scramble *back* up the web thread to where it had been originally. Finally a sound guy came out to flick the spider off the mike onto a piece of paper, and off the stage - Kevin said, "Hey, I'm from the city - I'm from Boston and I'm still getting used to camping!". - Tom Kimmel - phenomenal! With Kate Wallace and Kristin DeWitt on harmony vocals, it was an incredible set, most definitely one of my special Kerrville moments - Blue Train, ahhhhh... - Dancing in the aisles (and everywhere else) to Pele Juju - and I thought it was hot before! Gotta run - Susan and I are riding back to the ranch with Amy and Brooke, to catch the second half of New Folk... Take it away, Brian! :-) |