I’m now exactly one week behind on my blogging; today I write about Saturday at Falcon Ridge. The day began with me having a meltdown. I’ll just give the highlights of what triggered it. My tent flooded, my sleeping bag soaked up the water, my phone was in a tent pocket well above the flood but still managed to get drenched, and I couldn’t find my glasses. I’m blind without them. There was more that i don’t feel comfortable sharing. As I’m blind without my glasses I couldn’t find my glasses. Carolann and Bri did, they had ended up under my air mattress, the glasses, not Carolann and Bri. They also helped me through the meltdown. Fortunately, they are two of perhaps four people that can do that. It is against the ancient law to have a mental health crisis at Falcon Ridge, the ultimate safe space. There were after effects throughout the day. If I encountered you, and acted out of character that’s why.
Now on to happier things. After talking to Bri and Carolann and meditating I could face the world. I started with breakfast. Bacon tart and veggie-fee quiche, from the Dharma Café can work wonders. Eating with Emily, Joe, Carolyn, et al works even more wonders. Enough so that I was able to get everything out of my tent to dry and shower in time for me to head down to the Main Stage for the Most Wanted Song Swap. This year it featured three acts I’m friends with and that played the Budgiedome last year and were booked to play this year, Heather Aubrey Lloyd, Ryanhood, and End of America. I went out front to take photos then went backstage to watch the balance. I heard some of Great Bear from there then went out to document the festival, Falcon Ridge Life On The Street. That includes stopping at Taste Budds for my daily dose of Frozen Chocolate Chiller. That’s the reason I go to Falcon Ridge. Everything else is a bonus. I somehow didn’t make it back to main stage in time for John Gorka, but I did see Tracy Grammer. Tracy is synonymous with Falcon Ridge. She had to cancel her Budgiedome appearance this year, but we’ll try again next. She is our people. I haven’t gone through my photos yet, but I hope that my picture of Carolann watching Tracy came out. Carolann is part of the we that has people.
When I got back to the Budgiedome I found the crowd joined for the songwriting challenge. I entered. We had till yesterday to write a song. This has been a tough week, so I didn’t. My meltdown was not an isolated incident. On the bright side friends were there that weren’t at FRFF the rest of the festival including Allison. That was great as since she and Joe moved to the dark side, New Jersey, I have not been seeing them often enough.
After dinner at the Dharma Café and even sorely needed nap, I made my way down to main stage with Fred to see Dar. Dar is also synonymous with Falcon Ridge. Everyone waving their cell phones while Dar plays Iowa never gets old. One of these days I’ll video it. I didn’t this year because I was waving my phone and singing along; and I’d do it again.” If we could bottle the spirit of Falcon Ridge with Dar on stage we’d achieve world peace. We stayed through Vance. Unfortunately, the sleepiness that has plagued me since Saturday morning struck and I slept through much of his set. Then we went up to the Budgiedome to set up for the night’s music. We had a last-minute cancelation and I had to juggle things. Somehow that stress does not create a meltdown. I can deal with it. It’s fun. Here’s the lineup.
- Emerald Rae+
- Carolann Solebello+
- Genevieve
- Mark Allen Berube
- The Gaslight Tinkers with Choc’late Allen+++
- Lara Herscovitch
- Jeremy Aaron
- Quarter Horse+
- Joshua Garcia
- Su Polo
+ means emerging artist
+++ means main stage artist
This was the first Budgiedome appearance for Emerald, Gen, Lara, Jeremy (solo he played with Spuyten Duyvil), and Joshua. Quarter horse had joined with Pesky J. Nixon last year, but this was their first time with their own slot. Carolann and Mark are not family, they are immediate family. I met Emerald at New Bedford a month ago and immediately became an old friend. Gen is an old friend, we met at the Budgiedome ten years ago. Then she went away for ten years, eight of them in South Africa. Now she’s perhaps the person I do things with the most often. This was her Budgiedome performance debut. Lara is an old friend that camped with us. I have no idea where we met, NERFA? Huntington? Joshua, I discovered exactly one year ago at Free Music Fridays at the Museum of American Folk Art. Or is that the American Folk-Art Museum? Whatever, I owe knowing him to Lara Ewen who curates the series. He did John Platt’s On Your Radar last month. He’s amazingly talented and it’s my mission to make sure that everyone knows him. Su lives in New York City but we met at Falcon Ridge. She’s primarily a poet and hosts a poetry reading series. She comes by and plays the Budgiedome Open Micless most years. She too is family. The sleepiness kept hitting me during the night. Mark did all knew songs that I was excited to hear. He introduced the last one and the next thing I know Genevieve was singing. I had to be nudged because I was snoring. I fell asleep while videoing people. It was a strange night in my head. A wonderful night in the Budgiedome. The Gaslight Tinkers have inherited the house band mantle from Spuyten Duyvil. They are close enough that Garrett and his daughter come up to jam with the Dharma Cafe crew. This year was the best yet as they were joined by Choc’late Allen. She’s a petite young woman from Trinidad powered by Ironman’s Arc Reactor. No chemical process could produce so much energy in such a compact space. This was the best performance I’ve ever heard by the Tinkers and as they have never been less than great that’s saying something. Choc’late if you are coming next year you let me know in advance and you get your own Budgiedome slot!
I’m living my life, so I’ll add a bit about what I did yesterday. It was Friday which means therapy. I’m gotten into the habit of going to Free Music Fridays afterward. My theory is that Lara checks to see which artists are my friends, then schedules them first so I have to race and get there on time. I get there as she announces them, run to the bathroom, I had been traveling for a few hours, and take my seat during the first song. This week my friend was Jan Bell. I am not sure if we are Facebook friends, we should be. I know her through Brooklyn musician friends. She runs the Brooklyn Folk Festival. I’m not sure if I had ever seen her perform before. If I had, shame on me for not remembering how good she is. She’s a Brit that channels Woody Guthrie and the American folk music spirit. What impresses me is that she can see the universe in a grain of sand. Her songs are universal while focusing on the specific.
When I arrive, I search for friends in the audience to sit with. I thought Fred would be there, he wasn’t. I saw empty seats up front on the far side of the stage, so I circled around to get to them. I thought I recognized the back of a head. I did! It was Karen. It wasn’t too surprising as she’s in Bobtown a Brooklyn Folk Fest Fav. She also knew the second perform May. I’m blanking on her last name, Jeung? Cheung? Those would probably be the same names before transliteration. She’s in the same songwriting group as Karen and said that one song was inspired by Karen’s writing. I could hear that, it was haunting, the word that both May and I would use to describe Karen. I love that the connection is clear even though their voices are polar opposites; Karen is a sultry alto or contralto, never hold me to those classifications, and May a clear mezzo or soprano. The voice is not what makes the singer or the song. There’s more than one way to make beautiful music.
The third act, Peter and and and, Damn, I forgot her name, were very much to my taste but the museum was hot, and I was getting a headache. It might have just been my body’s reaction to mental stress. But whatever it was, I had to leave. It pays to listen to your body.
Now let’s see if I can get something accomplished tonight. I stayed awake long enough to write this.
Wise Madness 