| GBS at the Philly Folk Fest |
| Phantastic Phun at the Philly Pholk Fest
August 17, 2008 The last time GBS was at the Philly Folk Festival, I was not able to attend. I thought for sure they’d be back at the festival soon and I have asked either Alan or the Philadelphia Folksong Society every year since. Mostly I got no answer from the PFS, Alan told me in 2000 that they have to take turns because Philly and the Tønder Festival in Denmark were always at the same time. I accepted that explanation at the time, but they never got back to Philly for the Festival in the intervening years. No alcoholic beverages in the Festival grounds for Joe Q. Public. So I figured it had something to do with it being a “dry” festival, but it remained a mystery until a few months ago. In Atlantic City in April 2008, Alan announced that GBS indeed would be attending the Philadelphia Folk Festival again. When Séan expressed surprise up on stage, the mystery deepened. Now, Alan has never let the truth get in the way of a good story, so I am sort of taking the explanation with a grain of salt. Judge for yourself: Séan: What? Seriously? We said last time we did that, we’d never do it again! Alan: They kicked us out last time, but they’ve allowed us back in. Séan: That was the most sober place…[It is a dry festival] I thought we were barred! Alan began singing a song about the festival and Séan joined in. Alan: [singing] Oh, the Philly folk festival has generally no beer That’s terrible - how’s it manage to run every year? A folk festival with beer, is like hockey without a puck Séan: I don’t know about you, but I just went for a … Alan [interrupting]:Hey, hey, ho, ho! You can leave ‘puck' out in the middle. “ Séan: [continuing the song] I remember Louden Wainwright, sitting at the free bar And Alan asked if he could buy him, another beer And being Louden Wainwright, I figured something smart would come back But he was Louden Wainwright …………and he wasn’t very funny at all. Sean: [talking but still picking the guitar] He said “Dude, this is a free bar, you can’t buy me a beer.” And Alan began to explain, that was the essence of the joke And then Louden said something about, “Well, you not very f’n funny Alan : And so I punched him right in the face! [said with a smug look)] Séan: [singing] So much for Louden Wainwright, sitting at the free bar…(SONG OVER) Alan: I used to be a fan…. No, I’m kidding. Louden Wainwright was good! Séan: So that’s why we were kicked out of the Philly Folk Festival. Alan: [laughing] I’d love to have one game of hockey against that bastard! What do you think? Truth or fiction? Actually, I think it was some truth in it, but you never can tell. It would account for the lack of response from the Folk Festival people to my requests, though. The Festival has been losing attendance the past few years and they hired a new promoter. Happily, the promoter used to be GBS’s promoter right here in Philly. I had done some Street Team work with/for Jesse Lundy, who has since left that job to go into business for himself at Point Entertainment. Jesse obviously has a love for the band and I figured he’d pulled some strings/rattled some chains to get them to invite GBS back. But it was beyond my wildest dreams to realize they would be CLOSING the festival on Sunday night! So you know I bought tickets! And the reason I was able to go, was that we were NOT going to Newfoundland this summer. How’s THAT for a fortuitous coincidence? |
| It’s difficult, if not impossible, to get to this festival without a car. There’s no public transportation anywhere near the farm, and there are certainly no hotels/motels within walking distance. There is camping at the farm, though and I think most people needing accommodations take advantage of that. When Lynda told me about the Songwriter’s Workshop that Alan was doing on Sunday, I invited her to be our guest for Saturday and Sunday. Picked her up from her looooong ride from Buffalo and brought her right back to the Church Choir BBQ I was attending. We stuffed our faces, had a few laughs with the Choir and went home. The next day we left fairly early to get there in time to see Janis Ian at a Women’s Music workshop. Would I be dating myself to tell you that I was not much younger than she when she had her big hit, Society’s Child, back in the ‘60’s? Janis Ian introduced everyone on the stage as music from the opposite end of the farm drifted loudly over to the Tank Stage. At times, you could hardly hear the women for the music from the other stage. Some comments made about those issues foretold what the focus would be this morning. There were six females and one male on this stage and the Workshop was called Women’s Music. There were 5 men on the opposite stage and that workshop was billed as...get ready… “Musician’s Summit.” |
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| The ladies sitting in front of us took it good-naturedly, letting everyone know they didn’t appreciate the insinuation that they were not good enough to be “musicians.” |
| Woman-centered issues were the theme of the day. Can’t have Janis Ian at a workshop without some social justice/activist songs, either. The ages of the participants ranged from 16 to 85. The 85-year-old, Jean Ritchie, told us they’d “try to be entertaining or failing that, to be full of angst.” And angst was indeed the theme of the first set of songs. Janis was the moderator, but The Refugees stood up first. A three-woman band, the Refugees were enjoyable to watch and listen to. Their harmonies were fantastic and they are obviously quite comfortable with each other and presented themselves well. I particularly liked the song they did about a kid that did not want to take violin lessons, but guitar or drum lessons. I do remember those times in my parenting years. They got it right, as told from the kid’s point of view. |
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| Nicole Reynolds, the 16-year-old, sang a song about not fitting in with your world - you could have predicted that, given her age. She was tiny, thin and sang in a voice that fit the angst theme. Her whole demeanor screamed vulnerable, but her lyrics belied her age. She's seen a lot and experienced a lot and puts her experiences to music well. |
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| Vocal traditions |
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| For those who don't want to know all about my day, here are the GBS-related pages 1. Alan's Songwriters' Workshop 2. Sunday Evening Concert - All Players 3. Sunday Evening Concert - Great Big Sea |