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05 Nov 06 - 09:08 PM (#1877128) Subject: NOMAD: A wonderful time for all From: Jerry Rasmussen I know that there'll be many wonderful stories to tell about the Getaway, which led me to start this thread so that us nomaders could share what turned out to be a wonderful weekend here in Connecticut. As always, it's not possible to sample even one tenth of the music and dance going on. I caught half of a workshop by True Blue: a band that defies description. They do bluegrass, 1920's vintage jazz, folk and whatever interests them. And they do it all with impeccable musicianship. Walking through the long hallways, there was great music everywhere: fiddle and banjo tunes in the stairwells and Croatian singing and dancing in the lobby. And when the workshops are over, the musicians gravitate toward the cafeteria (and food) and keep right on playing. Members of True Blue must have played for three hours in the cafeteria after their workshop. My first workshop went nothing like what I had planned. Which is why I love festivals so much. Planning is often a complete waste of time. My workshop with the Gospel Messengers and the Sentinels (the 5 man a capella doo wop group) turned out to be The Gospel Sentinels. Frankie, our baritone, had a family emergency and couldn't come. That left my bass, Joe and me as a two man quartet. Not to worry. I added five more Sentinels and suddenly we were a septet. The Sentinels sing well without any familiarity with the songs, picking up harmony lines and the rhythm of the songs almost immediately. Joe and I led the seven of us on black gospel, alternating songs with the Sentinels. It was a brand new experience for the Sentinels, who are more familiar with performing in front of people with leather jackets, D.A. haircuts and poodle skirts. It didn't take them long to get comfortable, though and we had a great time. They were all excited, and can hardly wait until we can get the full Gospel Messengers and Sentinels together at our house for a jam session. My second workshop was Songs From The Attic, with Frank and Barbara Shaw. That was great fun too, and not quite as we'd planned. We ran through the songs we'd brought to sing long before the workshop was over, which left us to sing songs that we hadn't sung in a long time: which was the theme of the workshop. We just hadn't planned on dusting off the old songs in front of an audience. I ended up doing a couple of songs from my Back When I Was Young CD that I'd never sung in public, even though some of the songs were written 40 years ago. Barbara and Frank did a wonderful, eclectic mix of songs with choruses, and we all had a great time, singing along. It was great to see fellow Catters Tim and Vickie, Barbara Carrm, Sandy & Caroline, Guy Wolf and many others. The Sentinels left for a concert they had that evening, but were very excited about the experience at NOMAD. I expect they'll be back next year. We may need a larger room, next time around. So, how'd everybody else enjoy the festival? Jerry |
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05 Nov 06 - 09:25 PM (#1877140) Subject: RE: NOMAD: A wonderful time for all From: Barbara Shaw Jerry, here's what I put on the other NOMAD 2006 thread: Subject: RE: NOMAD 2006 - November 3-5, New Haven From: Barbara Shaw - PM Date: 05 Nov 06 - 06:14 PM What a great festival. I took lots of pictures, and had some help from others (Duane, Vicky, who else did I snag to take a few?) which I'll put online soon. I don't know where Saturday went, what with running up and down the halls and seeing lots of friends and hearing lots of music. So we went back for a bit more on Sunday and were glad we did. If you've never heard Sandy Paton do his original re-make of "Home on the Range" you NEED to hear it! Vixen was asked to ham it up on "Goober Peas" and she gave us CORNED ham with the peas. She now OWNS the song. Who else could do it? Jerry has written some really wonderful songs, and I'm glad he dusted off a few for the "Songs from the Attic." I heard more about Karen K's most interesting folk music project which she will probably unveil soon... Got a few more corrections to my background of some Civil War songs. Thanks to Duane, I found out that the pot, not the handle of the Big Dipper, points to the north star. Or did I get it wrong again? bbc, nice to see you again. Gotta go. Someone else continue the review... |
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06 Nov 06 - 08:30 AM (#1877368) Subject: RE: NOMAD: A wonderful time for all From: Vixen Reynaud and I had, as always, a wonderful time. NOMAD is right up there with Old Songs as a favorite festival. We were only able to be there from 2:30 to 9:30 this year, instead of open to close. We are grateful we had the opportunity to visit and play with as many friends as we did! The big focus for us was "Songs from the Civil War" with ShoreGrass (Barbara, Frank, Paul and Dave). Between our gig schedule and their gig schedule there was no possibility of getting together to rehearse before NOMAD, so Barbara sent us their CD, and we learned the material at home. Fortunately, Reynaud is comfortable with that sort of thing; I tend to panic when I feel under-rehearsed. In the event, however, it all went fine! (Added Bonus--we now have several new songs that we can add to our Civil War set!) To all the Mudcats we didn't get a chance to talk to/jam with--may we meet again real soon, with more time to visit! I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures! V |