2001 Kerrville Ramblings

2001 Reports

First Dawn - Day 1 thru 7
Day 8
Day 9/Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 18 - Bye from the ranch
RETURN TO INDEX PAGE
Kerrville 2001 - Day 11

24 hours a day is just not enough time to do everything you want to do... And then, you have to give up at least an hour or so for sleeping??? that only leaves you with 23 hours.. wassup wid dat ?? It seems only fair that the day should have 24 hours, and sleep time should be in ADDITION to that...


I spent a little time up at the ballad tree with david roth sunday afternoon.. Somehow, rod had talked him into doing the ballad tree plus the 6PM opening slot... Time bays, who was one of the last people to do these two things together, had such heat exhaustion by the time he got to mainstage last year, that he completely forgot the words to one of his oldest songs... He called it the "folk gene" problem... "Rod said to me, i'll give you another $10 and a meal ticket if you'll do the ballad tree".. The folkie in tim said : "Oh boy, another $10 gig... Sure rod i'll do it"... Problem is, there's not enough time to use the meal ticket before you perform... I gave tim a lift that day from the ballad tree to mainstage, and he was still pretty close to out on his feet... David Roth had the benefit of a cooler day.. (92-93) and he had his own car, so he looked pretty fresh on mainstage.


EllenB had a photo shoot with Robert Corwin sun afternoon after new folk. While they were setting up the stage area for the nights activities, ellen found herself near the baldwin on stage. She asked if she could play around while they were setting up, and proceeded to have some fun.. Bambi back in hospitality must have enjoyed it because she gave great applause when ellen was finished playing around.. So, Ellen can now say she played mainstage.. Watch for her new attire this saturday 6/9 at her gig with GaryB and Amy Carol Webb.. (Hint: think short jewish girl w/cowboy hat and tan <g>)


We had great seats just right of center on row 7. (great seats being relative to the music being played and the sound. even with cushions, our butts are sore from these GREAT SEATS (NOT!))


David Roth opened up and had a great set.. some new material. we'll give you all the details at the post kerrville get-together at my place the week i return (tentatively wed 6/13)..


Ruthie Foster was just as good in the second slot. Tremendous voice, and a wonderful and funny stage presence. It was the first time she and Sid(sp?) had had an upright bass accompany them. Ellen spoke with Ruthie about doing a South Florida gig, perhaps after the folk alliance.


I had to get the bread out of the oven, so i missed most of brewer and shipley, but i did catch part of their monologue about spiro agnew (jeez, that's even scarier than "chad") calling them subversive. Of course, they followed that up with One toke over the line.. We caught most of carrie newcomers excellent set, and then were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed Kathy Mattea. As those of you who know me can attest, i'm not a country music fan. My dog don't hunt, my truck hasn't gotten stolen, i don't have a mother-in-law (given the ones that have been presented to me as options, i can only say THANK GOODNESS!!), and my girlfriend is here, so i don't need to "get her back" <ggg>
But Kathy was a pleasant surprise... Jimmy dale gilmore was... well, he was just jimmy dale gilmore, and he was full of dogs, trucks, mother-in-laws and whatever other staples make up that intellectual genre of music known as country.. I have immensely enjoyed some of the texas artists and texas music that have been presented over the years, especially butch hancock, and ray wylie hubbard. but jimmy dale gilmore just didn't do anything for me.


It was a campfire night of mixed emotions, as the second sunday marks the end of the kerrville experience for many people. Lots of kerrverts attend the first (or the last) 11 days of the festival, and monday would be seeing the departure of annie wenz, megan mcloughlin (sp?), Richard Berman, Small potatoes, steven taylor and jackie gaston, and many others. barbara phaneuf had left earlier in the day with her group, and ellenB & i had to start packing up some stuff to toss in stephen taylor's truck for the ride home.. Ellen has extended her stay until tuesday night. I think 13 days for a first year commitment is pretty dang significant.. She's already planning for little folk and all 18 days next year..


We never got out of the shadow of camp coho last night. it was just too nice. I had hoped to get ellen around richard and have her hear richard's "a fortune told" as well as his new folk entry from last year, but it didn't happen.. Jack williams was seen staggering down the trail from chapel hill (and camp cuisine). He was so exhausted, he said he was going to crash in bed. Jack asked what time it was, and after ellen told him it was 3AM, he said: "oh Hell, it's early, i'll go over there and play with jack (hardy).. The coho circle had shrunk to quiet, but jack and jack started trading tunes.. Ellen & i had been sitting and talking outside our tent, but after hearing jackW start a song, i dragged ellen (literally dragged her; she's such a late-night wuss) over to camp coho. It's a rare opportunity when you can stand there and listen to these two great artists go back and forth..


Ellen & i finally collapsed in our tent. About 30 - 45 minutes later, we could hear richard berman sounding like he was at camp coho. The night before, we had gone to sleep to the sound of richard's and tom payne's voices coming from the back porch at camp nashville.


***************
Day 10 addition - At 1PM saturday afternoon, The Music to Life Songrwiting contest sponsored by the public domain foundation www.pdfoundation.org brought 10 songs of "political and social significance" to the threadgill stage. I am a very big proponent of moving social and political issues to the forefront through music, and was very pleased to see this addition to the festival... If there has ever been an area in which the festival may come up short, it's in the political arena. Of course, that's never been the goal of the festival, but the two issues (music and politics/social issues) do not seem like they can be separated, given the word "folk" in the name of the festival. Anyway, i was overjoyed at the quality and breadth of the presentations. The CD featuring all the songs is available from the foundation's website. The winner was David Zee with a song called children of conflict, based upon the middle east conflict. The $1000 first prize will be going to the Seeds of peace foundation.


Coming to you direct from the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas


Brian (Breadman) Wolfsohn

© Copyright 2004 C-U-S Business Systems
Web Designer Steve Apple