Many of us have had criticisms of Folklife in the past - too commercial, damn drums!, ethnic junkfood, crowds and cacophony of noise around the central fountain area, etc. But I must admit, I enjoyed it very much. I had no plans ahead of time for what to hear, but just stumbled upon one great thing after another, and managed to avoid the central area crowds and noise as much as possible.

Highlights for me:

Sat night concert with Jay Unger & Molly Mason, and the Mammals - fantastic!

The Maritime Show on the NW Court Stage - as good as it always is. Where I hung out most of the time.

Sitting in the participants area across the table from Jay Unger, Molly Mason, and her brother - listening to them jam for a half hour or more - better than anything I could have heard elsewhere at that time.

David Maloney's folk opera (a one-man musical play about an Irish immigrant to America after the potato famine). Again, just happened to wander by looking for a workshop I couldn't find, and went in there instead. It was great.

The open stage in the Alki Room (CD sales area) where anyone could sign up. After I did a set with my friend Paddy Graber, I heard a fantastic Native American flute player, Roderick Harris from Olympia, and bought his CD. And then listened to Reggie Miles do a great set. They should have more of these open stages.

And then walking out of the Alki Room to hear a fantastic young woman fiddler on the Alkai Stage, Sarah Comer, playing old-timey and Irish tunes.

My own panel/concert of "Songs of the Pacific Northwest" went well I thought - we managed to get a quite decent stage and audience. And my friend Paddy Graber did a nice performance of Irish stories and songs in the Center House theater.

And on it went. Of course it's greatly changed from the festival it started out to be, and much of it for the worse. But there are still many good things, and I happened to find much that I enjoyed. Don't make plans to see a whole bunch of different acts and run around from stage to stage. It's the chance encounters that often turn out to be the best. Like walking by and seeing a 6- or 7-year old kid busking, playing classical music on his violin with incredible technique (what will he be like as an adult?).

Cheers, S. in Seattle