| Bound Down for Newfoundland |
| We were in time to see the Cormier Family. They were great! The daughter could sing, play piano and step-dance. The drumming brother was great too, as were the grownups. What talent in one family! |
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| After that came Kentucky Tundra – a bluegrass band. Bluegrass was the story of the weekend. Lots of it. Atlantic Union came next. I had heard them way back when in 2000 at the Festival and I like them a lot. Scott (playing the banjo below) was in the naked accordion players’ calendar covered only by… well, I’ll let you buy one to find out. It’s a real “interesting” picture though. It’s a great bargain people - $20 will get you 16 months of naked and semi-naked accordionists, all the info you wanted to know about their instruments and it supports the Folk Group here in St. John’s. We had a peek at Fran’s calendar and speaking of interesting naked accordionists, Bob Hallett is one sight to see in February. I think it might be Bobruary all year at my house. |
| Sorry, back to the show. After Atlantic Union came our good friend, Jim Fidler! He was actually the only reason I was there that night, although I enjoyed the other groups. Jim, Thierry and the bassist and drummer went out and almost immediately started. They didn’t even get to do a sound check. Jim and the group did Rising of the Moon first then afterwards sang, in no particular order, Rhythm of the Goat, Downtown Girl, Jacamo, Mr. Ambassador, and a French song where the audience sang “Oui, oui, oui” and “No, no, no” at the appropriate times. I was so excited to see him on stage again. It seemed so short and it was over way too soon. Thierry didn’t even get to play the bongo drum he brought on stage. Lord knows, he plays everything else! He played accordion, sax, whistles, mandolin, harmonica and sang. |
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| Above and below - Cormiers |
| Atlantic Union |
| Kentucky Tundra |
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| Jim Fidler |
| Thierry Artur |
| Jim Fidler |
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| Thierry on the soprano sax |
| Thierry on the harmonica Jim on the guitar |
| Jim at the end Very happy. |
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| We heard Anita Best and the Jason Whelan Band, too. Jason Whelan's band was great - wonderful musicians in that band. I went back to purchase the Pulling Out the Stops naked-accordionist calendars people had asked me to get for them and I wish you could have heard the lady behind the counter. The person in front of me bought one and she commented that they were selling much better than they thought they would. I was next and requested 10 of them. I thought she was going to pass out. “Ten?” she repeats incredulously. “Ten,” I reiterate. “What are you going to do with ten?” was the next question. I explained about my GBS friends who wanted a piece of Bob Hallett on their walls. She laughed and called three people over to tell them I was buying 10 of them. LOL! She was even more impressed when I told her one was being mailed to England and one to Italy. I went back to the beer tent to see if I could find Jim, but alas, they had left for Erin’s and I was not feeling well because of the UTI. So we walked back to the Captain’s Quarters to revel in hearing our friend Jim and his friends. |
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