Time for The New Bedford Folk Festival Part II. I left you with a cliffhanger yesterday, I told of linner with Emily, Sarah, and their kids but didn’t tell you what music I was heading for. I can see you just shiver with antici…………….(Say It!)………pation. Me too. Let me look at my schedule and find out what I did. Looks like I caught the end of Get Ready for the Jubilee: Music of Joy and Celebration with Zoë Lewis, Low Lily, McKassin, McDonald, & McLane, and Seth Glier. This was my second time seeing Zoë and the first of many seeing Low Lily. Zoë played my house and Low Lily is playing the Budgiedome next month. These are very much my people. I didn’t know that the middle M, McDonald was until the end of the festival; he’s Eric McDonald formerly of Pesky J. Nixon. It’s a small world. I discovered Low Lily antecedent band Annalivia at New Bedford back in 2011. Liz was also with EVA. Low Lily is usually a trio and that’s how they kept being introduced even though there were four of them onstage. The fourth is their sometime bassist, Corey DiMario. I’ve known Corey by far the longest; he was in Crooked Still. I’ve known Zoë Longer than anyone in Low Lily and she still managed to surprise me. She has added something new to her act, plate spinning. No lie, just like you used to watch on Ed Sullivan accept that she plays the piano while she does it. I don’t think it’s possible to be more entertaining than Zoë.
I stayed in the Zeiterion Theater, aka The Z the rest of the evening. It’s the main stage and the only game in town for the last set. Next up was French-Canadian-Cajun Party. I bet you can guess what that means. The artists were Bourque Émissaires, Bon Débarras, and BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet. The last are the Cajuns. I’ve known them for about 25 years and this is the first time I noticed that the S is capitalized. I discovered them on WFUV back in the early City Folk days when they explored a wide variety of music. I didn’t even know Cajun and Zydeco existed till I started listening and I became a big fan of both. Want to raise my hackles? Say that I’m disappointed in the changes at WFUV because they expanded the kind of music they played. It’s exactly the opposite. I miss hearing Cajun, Zydeco, Celtic, Bluegrass, World, and music that has no genre.
You would have to work hard at New Bedford to miss Bourque Émissaires. They and the Kennedys are the unofficial house bands. They are great at facilitating the workshops and getting the musicians to play with each other. Bon Débarras are also Canadians. I wanted to love them but only liked them.
Next up having the stage all to herself was someone at the center of my musical world, Dar Williams. She might be the musician loved by the greatest number of my friends. She ruined a generation of singer-songwriters by making it look so easy; all you have to do is sing sincere autobiographical songs. The missing ingredient in all the wannabes is genius. She knows where the emotional core is and then describes it with exactly the right words. This was an odd Dar audience. She packed the house, I’m not sure if there were any empty seats. But unlike at Falcon Ridge or her concert performances, everyone in the song didn’t sing along to The Christians and the Pagans. I was one of only two people that held their phone up on Iowa. That is until she asked everyone to do it in for the last chorus. It is the only reason I have a lighter app on my phone. I didn’t hear anyone else say, “And I’d do it again!” As it approaches I feel like the Dar in The Babysitter thinking, “I can’t wait to give her the card. I can’t wait to give her the card.” That didn’t stop Dar from knocking out of the park and reminding me why I love her so much.
Something struck me when she started to discuss the experiences that led her to writing, What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities-One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time, Dar uses a lot of words. As she talked about ordinary people getting together to solve local problems I realized it was just like the John Doe clubs from the classic Frank Capra film, Meet John Doe.
The evening ended with BeauSoleil doing a set by themselves. Half the crowd left after Dar so half the crowd missed a fantastic performance. Their music couldn’t be more different than Dar’s. but plenty of people love both. I can’t see how you can’t love music that makes your body want to move, that is so full of life.
Mike, Bob, and I hadn’t eaten since mid-afternoon so we went out in search of food. In New York finding a restaurant open at 9:30 on a Saturday night is not a challenge, it’s a bit more of one in New Bedford. I consulted Google and found one a nine-minute drive away, another Portuguese place. When in South Coast MA do what the Portuguese do. It was a little hole in the wall, Churrascarias Aveirense Restaurant where I got a Portuguese Style Chicken Sandwich and a huge order of fries for $6. You can eat very well and very cheaply in that area.
I considered blogging when I got home but decided it was too late. I had to get up before 8 so I wanted to be asleep before midnight. That didn’t happen of course but one AM is not too bad.
The next morning Gary made us waffles. I eat very well at Gary’s. They were delicious. They were very large and I had one and a half. The one half was from the burnt one so I wouldn’t feel like a pig for taking it. I was a pig, but I didn’t feel like one. I’m a good Jew. Oh, good news, Yesterday I blanked on one member of house’s name. Sandy’s husband is Larry! They live in Vermont so I will never forget again. I’m Larry and this is my brother Daryl and this is my other brother Daryl.
I will leave you with another cliffhangers. What music did I hear on Sunday? What people did I meet? What did I eat? You’ll want to know so you better come back and read tomorrow. Till then look at my photos, New Bedford Saturday. Some of those pictures are from Sunday. My camera and OneDrive conspired to make things difficult.
Wise Madness 