The last couple of days have seen us mostly just bumming around Kristen’s home town of Delmar, NY. We’ve gone to drink coffee (lots), picked up last-minute supplies for camping (snacks and a thermos, I’m a bad rob because this ALSO included two hard-cover books – the LAST things I need to pick up while we’re touring with such a tight pack!), went to see a movie (go see Moonrise Kingdom – it’s wonderful) and stayed with Kristen’s dad and got schooled about a lot of musical trivia that left me feeling SO GLAD to have a degree in ART.
We went to an open mic or three, including one at a “rock and roll” ice cream shop, did an awful lot of office work and practiced a couple of songs for the culmination of the summer’s travels, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
And here we are. And it is wet. SO wet. We drove in on Thursday, racing to beat the predicted thunderstorms, worried about the predicted tornadoes, and generally strove to get to Dodd’s Farm and set up the tent before the rain hit… we did, and then hit it sure as HELL did.
Tuesday night we checked out the open mic at Emack and Bolio’s. This is a pretty eclectic chain of ice cream shops with a location right here in Kristen’s home town of Delmar, NY. I was pretty hopeful for a big night since the weather had been warm and it’s an ICE CREAM SHOP! I was even more pleased when we got there and saw how beautiful it was and that the open mic took place in the beautiful weather outdoors. I took the opportunity to not only sample the ice cream at Emack and Bolio’s, but also to sample their absolutely delicious locally-brewed root beer. The hosts of the open mic at Emack and Bolio’s in Delmar, NY performing the Indigo Girls song “Kid Fears”. Had to call my friend Jennie! What Emack and Bolio’s lacked in thronging audience it made up for in friendly mammals. This is Clementine and I adored her. ilyAIMY performing Emack and Bolios in Delmar, NY. We made a big splash with the couple of people that were there. We managed to perform right after a bunch of people left, and right before a bunch of people showed up.
Thursday night at Falcon Ridge used to be part of the overall festival. Then, apparently because of financial losses due to a summer of storms a couple of years ago, they scaled back the festival to begin on Friday – but camping was still allowed earlier. Pesky J. Nixon and their friendly sound guy Scott Jones worked up the resources, gear and beautiful vision of the Lounge Stage – an unofficial, but officially sanctioned, stage on the grounds of the festival the night before the festival began.
I didn’t “get it” last year. I totally didn’t know what to expect, didn’t realize what a big deal it was – and was utterly shocked at the sheer scale of the stage, the audience, and the warmth and wonderfulness of everyone involved. We were uber-flattered to be invited again this year but of course dreaded the idea that the rain would wash out the event.
When arriving on Dodd’s Farm for Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, of course the first task is to get the tent up. We were worried about beating the rain (and tornados!) and Kristen and Heather and I swiftly whipped into action and got that tent fully erect in record time. It’s easy for those ladies..
Almost. Alas, by the end of the night ilyAIMY was one of the acts that got canceled (though we DID take the stage supporting Pesky for a song or two) – but the Lounge Stage still served as an incredible buffet of musical acts, many of which I’d never encountered before. For all the familiar friends (it was great to see Hugh McGowan and Doug Brouder play, Bethel Steel, the Sea the Sea, Putnam Smith…) there were still people we knew who we hadn’t see perform (Kara Kulpa, the mandolin player who’s been with us for all of these shows, is one Hell of a performer in her own right and Greg Klyma introduced a new “project” that included Brother Sun’s Joe Jencks and Pesky J. Nixon’s Jake Bush that kind of blew my mind) and there were plenty of new people who I was really glad to catch (Sarah Blacker was a name I knew, but I hadn’t seen her play, Sorcha and Sweet Talk Radio are new favourites). The Lounge Stage once again displayed unerring taste, and held the night together despite an hour + break for the rain.
The rain let up again well into the night and at around 1 or 2 in the morning I found myself quietly joining a song circle just to play. Though I didn’t realize it at the time (clouded over and with moist firewood, that hill gets DARK) I was joined by the FRFF house fiddler (Eric _______), another singer/songwriter who turned out to be the only other person on the hill with a CA (we chatted tech for quite a while), another performer who turned out to have been a backing vocalist for both Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen (the name dropping was kind of crass, but how else would I have known?! – she gave me very cool background information on the Joni tunes I cover)… it was a wonderful little gathering. Much to my surprise I was eventually joined by Hugh McGowan (what a dream to have him play lead on my songs!) and Jake Bush (not only accordion but he sang along on choruses *swoon*) and Greg Klyma. After they played with me, I got to jump in on eBow for Hugh and Greg and I traded instruments for one of his tunes, landing me with my first ever mandolin solo.
Last year wasn’t a fluke. I feel LIKED here. It’s very, very different from other folk festivals and just feels so wonderful. It’s wet. I probably won’t sleep tonight. I hate portapotties. But I just don’t care. It’s a very, very good night.
Heather showing off her tattoos to Sarah Blacker and Bethel Steel. Partially because of the incoming rain, the Lounge Stage swiftly got into gear. Rather than wandering around and finding people, Heather quickly realized that if she made herself visible, people would come to HER! Soon she mounted the hood of the Saturn and simply held court! nfortunately, getting Heather off is always trickier than getting her up there. This time it required like three other pairs of hands. Below, eventually rain forces the Lounge Stage to pause and we get to be all social n stuff. Kristen and Kara Kulpa (singer/songwriter and mandolin player extraordinaire) under the tent at the Lounge Camp.
The Lounge Camp fills with people fearing the rain. Pictured includes Kristen and Heather, the Sea the Sea and Jake from Pesky J. Nixon. Unfortunately, peeking around the corner at the Lounge Stage, though Scott is manning the board, the stage itself remains lonesome. Kristen and Kara Kulpa hanging out together under the shelter of the Lounge Camp tent on Thursday night. The rain just would NOT let up! I see the problem now. They drew raindrops on the Lounge Stage sign. Why would you tempt fate like that Lounge Peeps?!!? The rain took its toll and ilyAIMY didn’t get to perform on the Lounge Stage (though we did get to back up Pesky J. Nixon) – but they managed to get most of their schedule up there. It was a fun night, the music that we WERE able to hear was marvelous and in general I was once again awestruck by how generous everyone was with their time and talent. Thanks so much to Pesky J. Nixon and Scott Jones for all the work they put into this incredible THING! one of my favourite new finds of Falcon Ridge – FRFF “Emerging Artist” Sweet Talk Radio. Great energy and killer guitar playing (and tone). In the foreground is Kara Kulpa and in the background fellow 2011 Emerging Artist Putnam Smith. Above, the Lounge Stage in full (if moist and underpopulated because of the rain) swing. The Lounge Stage was eventually able to reconvene. Unfortunately ilyAIMY and Brother Sun ended up having to be dumped from the schedule because they had a hard cut-off at 11pm, but the crowd eventually DID return!
These were kind of alarming at first, but then we got a better look and realized one of the neighbouring camps was sending up Chinese lanterns!
