One of my favorite parts of the Festival (and there are lots of them!) was the Symposium, the "scholarly" portion of the event. If you attend the Sea Music Festival and don't drag yourself out of bed on Saturday morning for the Symposium you're missing a lot. It's not dry and academic, but is full of music and insights into where the music we love comes from.

This year it was terrific, with Stephan Sanfilippo presenting a fascinating look at a collection of songs put together by a NY whaleman in the 1840s; Bob Webb enthralling the audience with his multi-media talk on the maritime painter Charles Patterson and a newly-discovered sea song; and Rev Carr showing footage and playing clips of how Polynesian and European/American music influenced each other during the days of South Sea whaling. Wow!

In my callow youth I opted for sleep over the Symposium, but I wised up about 1987 and haven't missed a Symposium since. Do thou likewise.

Jerry