Yesterday was a stay at home day. Partially that was about making best use of my MetroCard. I’m not buying a monthly because I’ll be away for Falcon Ridge. Now I can buy a weekly and have it expire the day before I leave.
I made myself a special dinner last night. The main course was a T-bone steak that I got on a half-price sale the other day. It wasn’t the best cut of meat, too much waste, but it was delicious. I prepared it using Ethan’s recipe. It’s the best. I made a Shai-hulud aka Hasselback potato with it. I used to make those often but somehow moved away from it. They are special. I should have taken a picture of it. This is the recipe I use.
The toughest part of coordinating the Budgiedome music is scheduling. Bri and I have to make sure it fits with everyone’s availability, give the music good flow, and keep everyone happy. That’s the tough part as the nobody likes the late spots. Unlike most shows the prime spots at late night music showcases are the early ones, the biggest draws play early. That creates one of the two main sources of my anxiety, making people unhappy with late time slots. I want everyone to be happy. I want everyone to get maximum exposure, but that’s impossible.
The second great source of anxiety is doubting that I dotted all the is and crossed all the ts. What if I didn’t contact all the musicians? One year someone just fell off the spreadsheet; no idea how that happened. This is fear of me screwing up. I had it for a few artists. As I share responsibility with Bri, I worry that people fall between the cracks, especially people new to the Budgiedome. But it didn’t happen! We can’t finalize the schedule until Anne publishes the official festival schedule. Many of our performers perform on official stages too. Anne did that yesterday and we finalized the same day. Bri and I deserve a pat on the back. I was more efficient this year than I have been in years. My anxiety was more under control so I got it done. Here is the schedule.
Thursday:
Seth Morgan
Song CircleFriday
Emerald Rae
Low Lily
Karyn Oliver
Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches
Shawna Caspi
Sharon Goldman
Lara HerscovitchSaturday
Karen Dahlstrom
The Gaslight Tinkers
Crys Matthews
Carolann Solebello
Pesky J. Nixon
Willa Mamet
Genevieve
Marion Halliday
Low Lily, Shawna, Crys, Willa, and Marion are Budgiedome First timers. Low Lily is the only one of those that been to Falcon Ridge before. That’s a nice amount of new talent.
Our gender breakdown is, 11 women, 1 man, and 4 bands. Depending on who is playing with Pesky they are all male or at least male dominated. The rest of the bands are balanced. Perhaps not ideal but in a world where festivals are male dominated I’m not upset by skewing female to help even out the odds. I should do a breakdown for Falcon Ridge. Let’s call that homework.
Falcon Ridge is dominated by singer/songwriters, men and women accompanying themselves on guitar, with an emphasis on the singing. That’s not my sweet spot. While I performers skew that way too it’s not as true as the mainstream. The singer/songwriters we have tend to be weirder, weird in the best sense of the world, out of the ordinary.
My tastes are more towards instrumental virtuosity and bands with upbeat tempos from varying traditions. Low Lily is Celtic influenced, the Tinkers Caribbean, and Banjo Nickaru comes from the jazz world. Emerald was a Celtic violinist for 20 years before becoming a singer/songwriter that plays violin. Her past still infuses the music and there’s far more emphasis on the instrument than is usual in folk circles. Shawna was a classical guitarist and that comes through in her songs.
Willa and Karen come from the more trad end of the folk spectrum. That too tends to be underrepresented at festivals. The rest are singer/songwriters, though Gen plays keyboard not guitar. They have to distinguish themselves by quality, by being good. All songwriters are not created equal. Some can set themselves apart via their point of view. Much of Crys’s music is political. When it’s not it tends to be quirky. Usually it’s both. Karyn’s music has responded to the outside events by becoming more political. She’s a wonderful person but when she lets her anger out you know it. I’m glad it’s directed at people I share her dislike for. Marion describes her music as whisky infused Bluegrass. That’s what happens when you are from Kentucky. Carolann is Budgiedome family. That makes her difficult to write about. Part of me thinks it should suffice to tell you that she’s Carolann. I’ve been watching her music evolve for ten years since she went solo. It keeps getting more creative and distinct. It’s a long way from sensitive woman with a guitar, even though she is sensitive and has a guitar. There are stories and character studies. Sharon is family too. Her second most recent album explores her Jewish roots. The most recent, Every Trip Around the Sun explores her personal roots, the child that is mother to the woman, and the woman she’s become. Since her album became available referring to birthdays as “a trip around the sun” has become common among my friends. It struck a chord. Who is left? Lara. I screwed up spelling her last name in my initial posting of the schedule, I wrote Hershkowitz. I justify it by saying that it’s just a different transliteration of her family name for either Cyrillic or Yiddish. She forgave me. Having a reputation as an idiot helps people not taking your mistakes personally.
Why did I write about the musicians unsystematically like that? Some I gave short shrift to. Sorry people I didn’t write enough about. It’s not out of lack of love but out of lack of a hook. We only book performers we think highly of. We want playing the Budgiedome to mean something.
OK. Now I have to get moving. I’m seeing Spiderman: Far From Home today. I’ll tell you how it goes tomorrow.
Wise Madness 