Reports from Kerrville 2000

Larry D. Lyons Photos

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Day 0 - K2K

(Thu, 25 May 2000) wow, i'm actually here. what day is it ?? what time is it ?? i'd say where am i, but that part, i know...

Each year is different, each year is the same.. the body goes through some significant changes adopting to the environment, but the mind goes on an even longer journey... for one forgets, over the course of the year, how far away, mentally, from this place you allow yourself to get. When you get back here, from the first moment, the mind starts racing to catch up with the body.

I just read a wonderful letter received with instructions to open on the ranch.. it brought a smile to an already smiling face. I tried reaching the sender by phone when i was in town earlier.. (sunday 7pm), couldn't get through.. problems on the wireless line...

after a stressful last 3 days in florida, (moving the business to legitimate offices and out of the house for the first time in 10 years), i arrived at the parking lot on Sat about 2PM. The ranch was completely empty. Everyone was in the parking lot. I had never seen the ranch completely empty.

Spent sat afternoon in the parking lot, before fading in the late afternoon... The rental car was big, so i used a tarp to cover the side of the car facing the sun, and slept for 14 hours until 8:30 sunday morning.

time to go - landrush is starting (landcrawl is more like it - 5MPH)..

Monday - No phone lines. A little stressful.. Need to have phones.. Supposedly, they'll be installed tomorrow.. But QVR needs to get conduit installed to RV spot 26. Managed to get a couple of cell calls out. In 1 hour, they moved me from spot 26 to 41, to 4, back to 26. Luckily, the RV hadn't gotten here yet. Nice RV, good air conditioning. (ok, so i'm a weenie)..

Woody, Michael & I ate dinner in town, as there is still minimal music, on the ranch, and, while the energy of the ranch still exists in it's current condition (very few people. Most will return on wed/thurs. They've left their tents and campers in the spots they secured during landrush), there is not the same difficulty in leaving the ranch as there is during the festival. A walmart run (for bread machines and other camp essentials) and a stop at HEB (no, it's not slang for jewish. The guy who started it was named H.E. Butts) for foodstuffs, completed our town run. Back at the ranch Bob Tower had arrived and added his sorely needed energy to the mix..

This is the first year i have been to landrush, and stayed straight through to the festival. It is strange to be here without music. I'm actually playing old kerrville and Peter Paul & Mary CD's in the RV while i'm trying to get some work done.

Tuesday: Yes, there was a tuesday between monday and wednesday this week, but i don't remember anything 'bout it except that i got my phone lines.. moving on...

Wednesday: The ranch is starting to fill, friends are arriving well into the night... Bill Nash began my festival by pulling out his guitar and singing a song at his camp.. Still very little music taking place, as most of the people who arrived today are exhausted from setting up camp ( I know i was exhausted last year wed night) in the tremendous heat (somewhere between 101 & 106 today). All the main camps are shaping up and looking nicely familiar.

They've put a beautiful wooden bridge and stone staircase up to chapel hill from the Camp Cuisine side.

What a beautiful night last night.. The breeze was blowing, yet it was not too cool, nor too hot. With more of the camps being set-up now, there is a nice even low light level coming into the tent at night. Not enough to keep one from sleeping, but enough to find something if you need it... Someone gave me earplugs in case i couldn't get to sleep, but i didn't want to shut out the beautiful sounds filtering into the tent from around the ranch.

I finally got my air mattress set up. It makes a significant difference in comfort, even when just sitting in the tent. Now all i need to do is get a decent tent to replace my current one.. Bob Tower is just down the path from me, and he's peacefully sleeping.. Chuck Brodsky arrived a couple of days ago with his new wife and child (5 years old, and she's running him almost ragged <g> {the kid, not the wife} ) Gary Martin, and Joyce Woodson arrived this evening, Annie wenz got in early morning, Jack Hardy gets here on saturday, the community is coming together. Larry Lyons and Lynn (?) from Singkernicity both have Sony Mavica cameras, so we hope to be bringing you pictures DURING the festival. Larry also get me a Free Kerr Kiss Card to use as i see fit... Now who am i going to use that on ?? (45888)

Today, the meadow will fill with the arrivals, and the energy and festival will begin.

What a long, strange trip it will always be.....

If any of reading this are attending the festival, please stop by and say hello. During the day (before music starts), you can usually find me at RV spot 26. During the evenings, either at Camp Coho, or elsewhere on the ranch handing out bread fresh from the ovens. If you'd like to write about your kerr-speriences, we'll be glad to add them to the ramblings for the festival. just send them to me blw@cus.com

Here's to a great festival..

Here's to finding the energy to be fully in the festival, fully into the work i need to do while i'm here, and fully connected to the significant other sleeping 1300 miles away.

Coming to you direct from the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas

Love to all..

Brian "Breadman" Wolfsohn