|
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
|