Thursday August 1st, 2013 saw ilyAIMY rolling into Hillsdale, NY for our third Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. The weather was wet and moody and so were we. Kristen and I struggled to the top of the hill and set up our “camp” and then made our way back down the hill to where the Lounge Stage had been set up. Because of the rain Falcon Ridge had allowed Lounge Stage to use one of the Official tents – which was absolutely awesome of them – and allowed some people who couldn’t climb the hill their first taste of what is arguably one of the coolest, albeit a totally unofficial, parts of the festival.
As the sun went down we got treated to beautifully sculptural clouds at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. The weather was fickle and we saw a lot of rain, but it wasn’t too hot and that’s the major mood killer for me. In no small part BECAUSE of the weather, this was my favourite Falcon Ridge yet!
The Lounge Stage, relocated under the Family Tent, drew a huge crowd for the first night of Falcon Ridge – the night BEFORE the festival officially opened!
One of my favourite percussionists – we met Annie Wenz last year while we were on stage together with Girlyman. She sat in with us on a couple of tunes and she and Rowan played off one another beautifully. She’s a monster all her own and even does fun kids’ music. Above, this is the Elvis she beats when she needs a good metal-on-brush sound! (At Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, NY).
Meetin’ up with Ethan Baird of the Lounge Stage and Pesky J Nixon.
Vance Gilbert in the house!
For all that it’s still an unofficial part of Falcon Ridge, some of my favourite moments happened at the Lounge Stage. Above – Eric Lee plays violin with Vance Gilbert. This turned into an absolutely hilarious back-and-forth between the two of them as Eric followed Vance’s vocals through weirder and weirder contortions. Behind them is Ethan and Jake of Pesky J. Nixon trying not to crack up and to the right you can see Tall Heights wondering how the HELL they’re going to follow such a strange performance
Red Molly.
ilyAIMY takes the Lounge Stage by force!
Heh. Now THIS is camping I can DEAL WITH!!! After the miserable experienc of a leaky tent last year and the knowledge that both of suck at setting a tent UP asnd the fact that there’s not a level patch of ground on the hill, Kristen had a stroke of genius and re-envisioned the Weaselmobile as a fine, fine nest for the two of us. It was snug and WONDERFUL and DRY!!!