Here's a short report from another survivor.

The Mystic Sea Music Festival is always a great get-together for the dedicated sea music lover, and probably is the most important annual gathering in the States. As a performer this year I got to experience everything from a different perspective, and it was still a wonderful experience. The weather was fine Friday and Saturday, while a little rainy Sunday morning but not a major problem. The schedule was well organized, the sound crew quite capable, the CD sales procedures for performers a great improvement over last year, and because I was not overworked on Saturday I actually got to attend workshops and concerts of other performers. And the late night shanty sessions were well attended and magnificent.

One highlight for me were the presentations by Bennett Konesni, a young ethnomusicologist (he's listed in the program as a "comprehensive planner and property manager"), who has done a superb job of researching and filming traditional work songs of Ghanian fishermen, Tanzanian farmers, and Mongolian herders. He's also a fine singer and banjo player. It's rare when one encounters such a combination, and I was very impressed.

My C. Fox Smith workshop with Danny & Joyce McLeod and Bob Zentz was well attended and I think we presented a good mix of songs based on her poems with background information on her interesting life. I presented both Danny and Bob with a proof copy of the C. Fox Smith Anthology that Jim Saville and I have been working on for the past few years. And we had a great time afterwards comparing notes on our research.

One other presentations I made was a small concert where I led some songs I've adapted from the poems of Bill Adams, Burt Franklin Jenness (whom I refer to as the old-sailor poets), and C. Fox Smith. My wife Judy provided guitar accompaniment on a couple of these songs, a first for her at the Festival. I also took part in a workshop of Humorous sea songs, which gave me the opportunity to lead my song about the cow that sinks the Japanese trawler ("A Cowardly Act"), my shanty version of "Wake Up Little Suzi" (reworked as "Wake Up Susianna), and the favorite song of the Maine windjammer crews: "Dramamine" by Talitha MacKenzie.

Finally I presented "Mid-Watches" by World War 1 Navy Surgeon Burt Franklin Jenness as my contribution in the closing concert. It was all great fun and someone, not my immediate family, purchased half the CD's I brought down.

Barry Finn was great company on the way down to the Festival and the way back, and he's an amazing person to watch (and listen to) at the after hours shanty sessions. Full-throated presentation still doesn't adequately describe what Barry does. There's also has selection of songs, his careful reworking of them so that you'd swear he had just been paid off from some three skys'l-master and was off on a sailortown spree. I don't think there was an evening that Barry got to bed before 4 am. I was tucked in by 1:30 am and got a good 4 hours sleep every night; well, I did have some responsibilities. I did lead an a capella version of "West Indies Blues" at the Friday evening shanty shout that people picked up on but mostly I was watching and listening to what other people were doing.

There certainly are a lot of memories that are going to flash through my mind from this Festival in the comings weeks: Bob Zentz telling the tragic story of the "Nancy Bell"; Danny and Joyce McLeod (along with their friend) presenting for the first time "Dan - The Chantyman"; Ken Sweeney spirited rendition of "Sixteen Men on a Dean Man's Chest"; the Johnson Girls leading the songs from their NEW CD; Calico Jack singing about our old friend Capt. Bunker and his nautical antique shop the China Sea Marine Trading Company; Dan Milner telling the story of the 1812 privateer "General Armstrong"; Finest Kind with their fine traditional style singing, their harmonies, and instrumental work; the Native American stories and songs from Hand in Hand; Jeff Davis as Jeff Davis; George Ward's fine song "The only Cure for XXXX is a Bottle of Rum"; Jon Barlett and his wife Rika with their incredible energy and style at the shanty shouts ...

And I got to meet up with a few Mudcatters that I hadn't encountered beyond the virtual reality of the Mudcat Forum.

And, yes, we breakfasted every day at Kitchen Little.

Now we have a whole week of follow-up musical activity which you will hopefully read about in other threads.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, not as exhausted as I should be!