Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)

Subject: Old Songs Fest--2014
From: bbc
Date: 22 Jun 14 - 09:44 AM

This year's festival, in Altamont (Albany), New York is rapidly approaching (June 27-29). Hope to see some of you there, celebrating our past, present, & future in the folk music community! Look for Caroline Paton & Duane D. at the Folk Legacy booth. I'll be wandering, randomly. This year, for the first time, I'll be staying at my new apartment in Troy (picking up the key 6-23), instead of at the Days Inn!

Love,

Barbara

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Jun 14 - 10:11 AM

I'll be there, although the Days Inn was full by the time I got around to reserving, so I'm next door it the Best Western. With any luck, I'll remember to pack a chair. SEE YA!

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014
From: Susan of DT
Date: 22 Jun 14 - 02:37 PM

Dick and I will be there, but there will NOT be a CAMSCO booth, so we will be harder to find.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014
From: bbc
Date: 22 Jun 14 - 04:46 PM

Gee, Jeri, I cancelled a room, a couple of days ago. Wish I'd checked with you! Hope to see you & the birthday boy, Susan! Tee hee.

Barbara

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Jun 14 - 06:22 PM

No biggie, Barbara. It's only $4 a night more, and the breakfasts are hot.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014
From: bbc
Date: 27 Jun 14 - 11:05 PM

Great start to the Old Songs weekend! Already had nice chats with Jeri, Charlie Baum, Susan of DT, dick greenhaus, Dave Ruch. Caroline Paton & Duane D arrived, safely, & started setting up the booth at 4 pm. Don Meixner is here, selling his lovely silver jewelry. Good times! And music, too!

bbc

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: Elmore
Date: 28 Jun 14 - 01:45 PM

How's the weather up there?

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: bbc
Date: 28 Jun 14 - 09:30 PM

Very unusual for an Old Songs weekend--low 80s during the day, clear, going down to 60s in the evenings. Traditionally, if it didn't rain, sometime during the weekend, it wasn't Old Songs! Not complaining, though. LOL

Barbara

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: Elmore
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 12:12 AM

Thanks for the info, bbc. I started going to this great festival in 1982. Went to 29 of them, and ended up in the middle of Nowhere, Ga., last year, never to return. God, I'm homesick. Enjoy!

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: bbc
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 04:00 AM

Sorry to hear that, Elmore! Have you tried to find folk events in your area? I just did a search for "folk music Georgia" & it looked as if there might be, at least, some stuff. I'm in the process of moving to a new home, myself. Change can be difficult! I'll be thinking of you, this morning, during the Sacred arp & gospel sings.

Best,

bbc

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: Elmore
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 02:18 PM

BBC: thanks for your concern. The situation isn't totally hopeless. About 20 minutes from here, over the line in Brasstown, NC sits the John C. Campbell Folk School, which presents concerts by first rate musicians almost every Friday. Not enough British Isles music though.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: bbc
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 06:55 PM

Just put another year's Old Songs to bed. Great times! Elmore, we had a lovely performer from Georgia--Brooks Williams from Statesboro. Have you ever heard him? He was in the Sunday gospel sing with Amidons & Lauren Sheehan. He did a song by Joseph Spence, which was a riot!

Glad to hear that you have, at least, some musical expressions in your area.

Barbara

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 07:37 PM

I'm home. I'm tired. Next year, I start working out so I don't fall over at Old Songs. Walking, and jumping around (Yeah, that happened. Check out Matuto who are amazing!) and just generally not acting my age. And African drumming with John Dickson who is a great teacher. I wish I'd had more chance (and more energy) to visit with people.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: bbc
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 08:29 PM

Between a graduation & a graduation party, I only got to 5 sessions, but they were great--On Saturday--Maire Ni Chathasaigh, a harpist from Ireland, doing a session on O'Carolan tunes, followed by a Guitar Styles session with her husband, Chris Newman (an amazing guitarist!), Max Cohen, whose smooth style I love, & Stu "Stukulele" Fuchs--lots of fun! Sunday brought Sacred Harp sing, led by the next generation in the Amidon family. Peter had lost both of his folks, during this past year--his mom very recently. There's something about becoming the oldest generation that gets you thinking about who will carry one your legacy. Stefan is off to a good start! Songs of the Supernatural with Cindy Mangsen, our own Deb C (what a gorgeous voice!), Anita Best was great! I closed out with the annual Gospel Sing with Amidons, Brooks Williams from Georgia, & Lauren Sheehan. There's always a lot of singing along & spontaneous harmony in that session, that does the heart good! Brooks sang a Joseph Spence song, saying he'd done the best he could to understand the words & improvised the rest. Knowing Joseph Spence's music, that made me chuckle! During the weekend, I had one good conversation each with several mudcatters. That, also, did my heart good!

Best,

bbc

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 09:36 PM

I got to hear Steve Gillette do When the First Leaves Fall twice. The first time in his songwriting workshop, the second was in the Saturday night concert with Cindy Mangsen on concertina. It's a beautiful song, and his guitar style - flat pick strumming and finger picking at the same time - is, I believe, fairly unique.

Deb Cowan, thanks for singing "Penis Envy" just for me, and letting the audience know it. It was in the "Double Entendre" workshop. I'm not sure what the second entendre of that song is. Don't click this link. I'm serious--you won't like it.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: Susan of DT
Date: 29 Jun 14 - 10:09 PM

My, it was nice to just be audience for a change. My theory on the wonderful weather is because we did not have to batten down the booth every time it rained, so it did not bother to rain.

There were some wonderful workshops, like the Supernatural. Anita Best is marvelous. The unscheduled 8 am ballad session is always a highlight of the festival. We also went to singalongs from the Boston and Pickin' N' Singin' Gatherin' clubs, which were a lot of fun.

I was glad to hear Cindy Mangsen and Deb Cowan singing more ballads. They are both excellent ballad singers and have been doing fewer of them than they used to. Both said they were singing more ballads now.

The festival was a bit heavy on instrumental music and rather light on singers, for my taste.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: bbc
Date: 30 Jun 14 - 12:46 AM

There were not as many performers I knew, this year, but, since I wasn't able to attend very many sessions, I didn't have conflicts as to who to go see. Everyone I heard was good, though. Susan & Jeri, what did you think of the attendance, compared to other years?

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 01 Jul 14 - 09:24 PM

Jeri, I feel compelled to quibble! I enjoyed that song! I'm usually pretty up-tight, but I like bawdy songs and double entendres. Go figure!

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Jul 14 - 10:19 PM

Mwahahaha! My reverse psychology worked! (Deb knows I think it's hilarious.)

Bbc, I thought the attendance was about the usual. Maybe more folks there on Friday night and fewer on Saturday, but I think it evened out. Other than the folks in the Supernatural Songs workshop, there wasn't any performer I thought I wanted to see that much, but the beauty of Old Songs is I'm always pleasantly surprised, AND, it's not just about performers.

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: bbc
Date: 02 Jul 14 - 03:52 AM

Thanks for that feedback, Jeri! Attendance at the gospel sing seemed a little lighter than usual, as well as at sacred harp.

Barbara

Subject: RE: Old Songs Fest--2014 (NY, June 27-29)
From: DebC
Date: 02 Jul 14 - 09:24 AM

I had an absolute blast! Of course, AFTER the Double Entendre workshop I thought of about three more songs that were DE. My problem was that I ran out of songs, but it seems Penis Envy made up for it.

One thing (among many) that I love about Jeri is her sense of humour and she knows that we run together when the "tone is lowered".

Deb