I just wanted to give a follow up report of my first time camp experience at this year's Rainy Camp. I had been able to hang at the camp a couple of times in previous years. My previous times spent there whet my appetite for more and I was anxious to join in on the fun this year.

Because I live fairly close to the camp and because it was a chilly weekend I elected to opt out of the overnight accommodations and instead traveled back home to my old familiar mattress. I also had a rehearsal to prepare for on Sunday and therefore had to miss the final day of camp this year. So, I had an abbreviated camp stay but still one that was rich with many fun experiences.

I was glad to finally have the chance to be a part of this longstanding event right here in my own backyard. It was nice to see familiar faces that I knew among those attending and it was a special treat to meet new folks with common musical interests.

Song sharing is what this camp is based around and there was no end to the variety and approaches being offered. There were many Irish styled songs, western songs too, songs sung in languages that I didn't understand, songs that were written long ago and newer selections as well. There was lots of humor, and a number of very serious messages. All of them seemed to have the common thread that enabled the rest of those listening to join in on the chorus. The harmonies were sweet as everyone's voices joined together.

A lot of folks who attended knew the verses and choruses being sung in many of the songs offered by others in the song circles. I felt a little shy because I did not. It made me feel like I was a visitor to a new church. I was unaware of the many subtle practices that so many others there, being old camp hands, understood.

Most sang without accompaniment. I didn't want to torture the campers unnecessarily with my unadorned croaking so I choose to hide behind either of the two guitars that I had brought when it was my turn to share something. I also had the opportunity to offer my saw playing during the weekend. As others that knew the words sang along I joined them on my musical saw. My saw doesn't know the words but it has a sweet voice.

I did my best to offer what I could in song that seemed appropriate from my song bag. I also tried my best to be respectful of others. Being a newbie, I hope that the regulars could forgive any unintentional breaches of etiquette on my part. They seemed like a very easy going bunch of folks that enjoyed having fun together.

The workshops at camp were plentiful, far more than I could easily attend. I was hesitant to offer a workshop as this was my first time at camp. Saw playing is a true folk art and bottleneck slide is a traditional American folk approach to guitar playing. Both are folk arts that I've dedicated many years exploring. The craft of making my own musical instruments out of junk is another long time pursuit. I've been hosting musical saw workshops at the Folklife Festival for the last five years with great success. I could have easily offered a presentation in any of my particular interests, but I wanted to be free to explore what others were presenting, maybe next year. I wound up at Bob Nelson's workshop about performance tips, a digital recording workshop and one other workshop that featured show tunes, something that I play a lot of with my saw.

Even though I tried to prepare myself earlier in the week by staying awake much later than I normally would in anticipation of the late night song circles, I couldn't hang real late with everyone because I didn't want to be too tuckered out for the drive home each night. I was relieved that the roads didn't pose any hazard with the cold weather that we had over the weekend.

At one point, Saturday afternoon, the rain froze over everything and several folks slipped because of it. One woman fell and painfully broke her arm when she slipped on the frozen ice covered path. An ambulance was called and she was carried off to get patched up.

I still find myself foggy headed from lack of sleep and I long to be sawing logs instead of writing but I wanted to get this brief review posted before I crashed.

Sawwwwwwwwwwwwww ya l8r vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv