Northwest Folklife Festival

Subject: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 10 Jan 12 - 06:43 PM

2BS&S will be at the event in May this year, anyone know of any singarounds for shanties or English tradish singing during the festival?

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: ClaireBear
Date: 10 Jan 12 - 07:07 PM

Last time I was there (which was several years ago so my info may be obsolete), there was a chanty singaround; however, it wasn't actually AT the festival but rather at a restaurant several miles away.

There were I think a couple of informal pub sings close by the festival site (not chanty specific).

Surely other folks have better and more recent sources of information.

Cheers,
Claire

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Deckman
Date: 10 Jan 12 - 08:37 PM

It's a little early to know where and when the events will be shedualed. I have gone to the "Northwest Forklift Festival" in many years, but I know that there are usually lot's of shanty sings, etc. As soon as the events become known, someone usually posts the plans to MC. bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 11 Jan 12 - 10:22 AM

cheers guys, got other people looking, also sent some cd's over a while ago to a friend in Seattle so there will be a couple available!

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: John P
Date: 11 Jan 12 - 12:47 PM

What's 2BS&S?

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 11 Jan 12 - 07:52 PM

Two Black Sheep & a Stallion!!

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 11 Jan 12 - 07:53 PM

www.myspace.com/twoblacksheepandastallion

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: KT
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 03:54 AM

stallion , see PM.

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 05:15 AM

Ah, Northwest of the US? Not the UK, Scitland, Scandinavia, Spain, Auatralia or somewhere else?

L in C#

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 05:51 AM

Have PM'd KT, not received one!.................yet! Getting excited.

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Deckman
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 07:34 AM

Ya know ... it might be useful to mention the country you're speaking of ... there are several now!

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 07:57 PM

The one in Seattle! I know it is confusing cos we're Uk residents but you will get used to it!

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 08:31 PM

Northwest Folklife Festival, held at the Seattle Center (former Seattle World's Fair ground), 74 acres of both indoor and outdoor concert venues, ranging from a 2,890 seat opera house (CLICKY #1) to meeting rooms that can handle a hundred people or so, along with outdoor locations (complete with stages). The amphitheater in from of the Horiuchi Mural (CLICKY #2) has held as many as 15,000 people (during one of the Seattle Center Hootenannies in 1963). Anything from formal concerts, song circles, workshops of various kinds, jamming, busking......

It's held on the last weekend in May, beginning Friday evening and lasting until Monday evening (Monday is Memorial Day in the U. S.).

Several thousand performers. Draws crowds in the hundreds of thousands (free to the public—so far). On the one hand, a great event for hearing people, "meet and greet," song fests of various flavors.....

On the other hand, it's a bloody mob-scene.

But you never can tell who might show up.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Creede
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 09:31 PM

You have to forgive us Americans. Sometimes we get the notion that we're the only ones around. We call Washington, Oregon and Idaho "the Northwest," in spite of the fact that there is an awful lot of territory to the northwest of The Northwest, including an entire state and portions of a whole 'nother country. (It gets worse. There is a Northwestern University in Illinois, founded back in the days when Illinois actually was the Northwest.)

At any rate "Northwest Folklife Festival" is the official name of the festival, Most people around here just call it "Folklife," as in "Are you going to Folklife?" "Nah, nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." As I recall there is often a fair amount of sea shanty music performed there, along with almost every kind of folk music you can name from all over the globe. (And storytelling, exhibits, dance and all kinds of cool stuff.) The best way to find out what's going on with them is to check out their webpage at http://nwfolklife.org/.

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Stewart
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 10:23 PM

Hi Don, Those were great pictures, particularly the "mob scene" and "who might show up." I can vouch for those, I've seen them all in person. One of the best informal jams I attended during Folklife wasn't actually on the Folklife grounds. Some Alaska friends, staying at a motel just a block from the Seattle Center, secured a meeting room at the motel and we had a great jam with about a dozen people without having to set foot on the Seattle Center grounds. For some of us that was the biggest plus.

There will probably be a maritime jam one evening at a nearby Irish pub, but you'll have to wait until a few weeks before the Festival to hear details about that. There used to be an open stage in the room where CD sales took place, where anyone could sign up for 20-min slots. That room is now gone, as are other spaces due to more commercial interests and funding problems. It was a really nice way to meet other musicians and get your music heard even if you weren't on the program. But things change, and usually not for the better, but for worse.

However, if you want a very friendly, small, low-key traditional music festival, much like Folklife used to be when it began 40 years ago, try the Princeton Traditional Music Festival in Princeton, B.C., Canada (August 17-19, 2012). Jon Bartlett will probably be posting something about it on Mudcat soon - I just received an email today about it from him.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 03:22 PM

I do not believe I have ever heard Washington, Idaho and Oregon called the northwest..but rather the Pacific Northwest..which includes at least some of B.C. and Northern California by some definitions...

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 03:43 PM

Sure, mg, people do it all the time, as in "….the weather here in the Northwest…." Further adding to muddles in terminology, Northwestern University is located in Evanston, Illinois. Illinois and the surrounding area used to be thought of as "the Northwest" and some Easterners still think so.

Anything west of the Mississippi is "Terra Incognita – Here be Dragons!"

Officially, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana are referred to as the Pacific Northwest states, but colloquially, people shorten it to "the Northwest" all the time.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival (Seattle, WA)
From: Genie
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 05:05 PM

mg, you're right that this region (WA, OR, ID and, sometimes Montana and lower BC) is usually designated the "Pacific Northwest," but the name of the Festival is still "Northwest Folklife Festival" and the organization, which is based in Seattle, is
Northwest Folklife and the name of the festival is Northwest Folklife Festival.

It's a good idea to clarify in the first post which country, state, province, etc., a thread pertains to, but it's not always feasible to do that in the thread title. Space is limited there, and it can be confusing to add a word that's, for instance, not part of the name of a festival or gathering.

BTW, to avoid confusion, the NW Folklife Festival is always held on MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, which is not always the last full weekend in May.*

*When May has 5 Fridays, Memorial Day weekend will start on the 4th Friday of May.   Memorial Day is always the last Monday in May, but Monday is not normally considered a weekend day.

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 07:52 PM

We can't do August cos it is school holidays and we do family stuff so that rules out Princeton and Whitby

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Deckman
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 07:53 PM

Us "locals" call it: "The Seattle Forklift Festival" ... I wish you'd get it RIGHT! sheeeuh!

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 08:14 PM

As I mentioned above, there are thousands performing at the Forklift Festivals. So just due to the law of averages, some of the performances don't always go quite as planned. In fact, once in a while, you might happen to see a real bomb!!

CLICKY.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 06:05 AM

I have already spoken to the people who make up the performing schedule, deal is, it is for local acts unless the local community ask for the "foriegners" specifically, so go on guys bombard them requests for us!!!!! Looks like we shall have more time that we originally planned so anyone up for hosting a house concert/singaround monday night?

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: GUEST,emjay -- wrong computer
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 01:56 PM

I want to jump in! That jam at the hotel was one of my alltime great experiences. Such wonderful singers there in Seattle! And such great people! There were many, many great things about Folklife/Forklift, but the best of all was the one Stewart mentioned.
This contributes nothing to the current discussion except this -- there are wonderful possibilites when all of those musicians are in one spot.
From Southcentral -- Alaska where it's 12 below this morning and a couple of feet of snow on the ground and our roofs.
Martie

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Genie
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 03:21 PM

stallion, having been to Folklife every year but 5 since 1977 and also being in touch with some of the folks who put together the schedule of performing acts, dance venues & workshops, I'd say there's little if any preference given to local acts unless "local" includes pretty much the entire Pacific northwest, including BC. Musicians, dance groups, etc., from Oregon, BC, eastern Washington, Idaho, etc. perform there regularly, as well as some from California and places much more remote.   
Some "local" - or at least regional - performers or performing groups probably do get special consideration simply because their work is known to those who are selecting the performers and workshop presenters. If you're not known to them, they have to base their decision pretty much on whatever tape or CD or video you sent in.    But there's a reason it's called the "Northwest Folklife Festival" and not the "Seattle Folklife ..." or "Puget Sound Folklife ... ."   Performers - as well as craftspeople - from other parts of the Pacific Northwest seem to be sought after as much as those who are from the greater Seattle-Olympia area.

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Deckman
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 04:32 PM

Martie ... tell Vince to sleep indoors! bob

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Stewart
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 09:59 PM

I'd like to elaborate on what Genie said above...
"I'd say there's little if any preference given to local acts unless "local" includes pretty much the entire Pacific northwest, including BC. Musicians, dance groups, etc., from Oregon, BC, eastern Washington, Idaho, etc. perform there regularly, as well as some from California and places much more remote."

It has been my understanding that participants are unpaid and selected from the Pacific Northwest Region that includes approximately Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia and western Montana. Looking at the NW Folklife web pages, that distinction seems to have mostly disappeared. We have had "special guests" from all over the world (from Africa to Asia, Europe, etc.), and these people have obviously been paid to travel here and perform. So the regional nature of the festival appears to have become blurred to a large extent over the years.

It is interesting to look back at the origins of the festival in an account by Phil Williams, one of the founders - Northwest Folklife Festival Early History, "Where It All Began" (scroll down): "Since the Park Service was supporting the NFFA project, Andy and I contacted Charles Gebler, Director of the Northwest Region of the National Park Service. He was a weekend musician himself, and he agreed to co-sponsor the festival which would include participants from the area that his office administered - Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho (later we added British Columbia and western Montana). I called a number of traditional arts organizations in the area, discussed the concept of a festival that would present Northwest traditional arts, and received a wide indication of support."

Last May I wrote a piece for the NW HOOT in which I reprinted accounts of the first festival from the archives of the Seattle Folklore Society Journal: 40 YEARS OF FOLKLIFE - 1972-2011, The First NW Folklife Festival â€" 1972, An Audacious Beginning. "After recently witnessing the 39th Annual (May, 2010) NW Folklife Festival, with a budget of $1.5 million, and 7,000 musicians, dancers and artists playing to 250 million visitors (Seattle Times), it’s hard to realize that this festival had a much simpler beginning in 1972. I recently found some early Journals from the Seattle Folklore Society and thought it would be interesting to reprint several articles about the first Folklife Festival. I think it is useful to re-examine its roots and history in order to guide future development." You can read the rest here. Interesting stuff!

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Stewart
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 10:45 PM

... just an addendum, from the NW Folklife web page here (I missed this in my first reading). "There are no headliners and all of the performers play for free". And "Visitors from all over the world come to Seattle Center to take part in the weekend's activities, but the focus remains local--all performers hail from communities in the Northwest. The Folklife Festival is a truly Northwest experience, our diversity and our commonality told through music and dance". However, that seems at odds with much of what I observe - there are 'headliners,' not all perform for free, nor are all performers from the Pacific Northwest region.

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Deckman
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 11:21 PM

Stew ... As usual I thank you for your well informed and well thought out comments. You are a northwest treasure and I value working with you.

In reading through the history of this event, and drawing from my own memory and experiences, one thought rings clear to me tonight: The folk festival we started, and enjoyed for years, no longer exists. And worse, I doubt it can ever return, much as I might wish.

These are different times. These are now the days of huge populations. These are the days of so called "professional" folk-festival directors who plan and scheduale everything, according to their wishes. It's called progress ... by some.

Your mentioning of Jon Bartlett's festival up north is perfect. I've not attended yet, but from the reports I've heard I think I need to do so.

Somewhere in all the hoopla and crap, of festivals", I hope it's still possible to hear some genuine folk music, kick back in a quiet place, and smile with friends. bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: GUEST,emjay -- wrong computer
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 11:23 PM

I should havwe mentioned earlier, Stewart Hendrickson, Bob Nelson, Molly and Gary Oberbillig and others well known to Mudcatters made that made that day so memorable. I'm sorry I don't have all the names here. There were Graham Metcalfe and his wife, Jerry Middaugh, Dawn Berg -- I'm guessing, so will stop, but it must be sessions like that one, only possible when so many wonderful folk singers are together that is the best thing about Folklife.

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 11:25 PM

WELL, iam going to be participating in a workshop put on by the American MusicBox project coordinators..should be fun...road trip across US collecting all sorts of stories, videos, interviews by women...mg

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 05:59 AM

I know Graham (Metcalfe)well from his days in York, unfortunately he and Lucinde are Morris dancing in the Uk and are not back til the 28th although he is keen for us to go to the Island (Victoria)probably the tuesday after. Jon Bartlett encouraged us to go to Princeton but realisticly we have a window April and May where we are free from commitments, Me and the boys went to Mystic in June 2009 and my wife was so pissed with me she had my car sent to the crushers whilst I was away, it was ten years old but it was a white mercedes auto, lovely car, was a lovely car.Anyway, Northwest Folklife Festival was a good excuse for a boys trip away and spend some quality time singing and meeting new friends.

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: Deckman
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 08:39 AM

Mary ... check your e-mail. bob

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 04:31 AM

Just a heads up, only a few weeks away and getting very excited, just need my health to hold out, I will probably be medicated to the eyeballs and off the alcohol but hey who needs that when you have the singing (fingers crossed). It has struck me that this maybe our last trip away together, at 61 am am the babyI I may not be able to afford trips away unless the business takes off (thankfully has done ok up to now but it is always a wonder where the net job is coming from

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 05:59 AM

NEXT JOB!

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: stallion
Date: 11 Apr 12 - 05:12 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Northwest Folklife Festival
From: ollaimh
Date: 11 Apr 12 - 12:54 PM

i just hope festival stops it's gestapo tactics towards the buskers. they were sued for imposing unconstitutional rules and kept it up any way. when i used to play there they sold the right to sell any cds to tower records, and sent the police to arrest buskers doing direct sales. i sold tweny four cds but tower records did not pay and folklife didn't give a damn. i was a performer for sven years but that was it. it's run by bureaucrats who think they are the festival and not the performers.