Here's another brief post by a survivor!

We really lucked out in terms of weather the entire weekend. It was hot and moggy but it never rained, and the heat was usually moderated by a sea breeze. Those of us who were volunteer sound crew were prepared with our contractor trash bags to cover everything up while the performers hustles the audience into adjacent inside space but we never needed to do more than worry.

Volunteers only put in about 8 hours so there was plenty of time to enjoy scheduled workshops and concerts at other venues. I especially enjoyed Richard, Peter and Celeste. The musician from Niger, Abloulaye Alhassane, was interesting, and the two supporting white guys with banjo and guitar proved to be perfect compliments. The Quebec tri, Serre l'Ecoute, was excellent. Martin Hugill is getting better and better; he's a fine musician and is showing signs of becoming a strong performer but he still doesn't appear comfortable interacting with the audience. John Roberts, Geoff Kauffman, David Littlefield are always reliable. I was quite impressed with a concert set by Jeff David and Jerry Epstein; Jeff lead a wonderful Ozark's version of "Lovely Nancy." Jeff also explained later that his Appalachian songs were appropriate for this festival because the mountains had been uplifted from the sea years before traditional sea music was established! Australian singer Danny Spooner did well, both in terms of leading traditional sea shanties and ballads and reaching the audience; his CD's disappeared from the music table like roo burgers at a backyard Sydney BBQ.

The big after concert shanty shouts were their usual challenge. Lots of noise, competition, and very scary for newcomers. But when it works it's great! You just have to pick the right time to jump in, the right note to start on, the right spot to sing from, and a song that has either a familar chorus or one that can be picked up readily. I did "Fire Marengo" on Friday and "West Indies Blues" (which I pitched a little high)on Saturday.

My disappointment this year is there was very little late night singing at the Youth Training Building (YTB). Maybe people were gathering somewhere else but Friday was pretty thin and Saturday/Sunday morning was almost a complete no show.

Barry Finn and I hung around for another day and got some good singing in at a follow-up party in New London, and some much needed sleep. We returned north Monday morning.

Anyone attend the Griswald Inn in Essex for the survivors' gathering Monday evening?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble