NY Faerie Fest
On Monday I finally flew back from the Realms of Faerie and boy are my arms tired.
THAT was a week! I arrived on Tuesday to help out and boy was there alot to do: stages needing to be built and covered, infrastructure to be infrastructured, and on and on and on.
I dug ditches, did carpentry, ran extension cords, rehabilitated lights, hung lights, set up a sound stage, did electrical work, and dozens of other little things.
It was worth it. I lost some weight, got some exercise and got to meet a whole lot of wonderful new friends and become better friends with others.
But I also got far too little sleep and more than once burned myself out a little.
And THEN the festival started.
This year was kind of different for me. As well as playing some sets, I was the soundman and manager for one of the stages. I didn't have a helper for this task, so I was sort of shackled to it most of the time. No busking. I was paid my normal fee and extra for the tech work tho, so it evened out. I'm a little torn. On the one hand, I didn't have to *worry* about tips and sales making the event profitable. On the other hand, I didn't get to play as much. On the other other hand, I did get to meet and finally hear some incredible performers whom I've shared venues & schedules with but never really got a chance to listen to. Highlights in that regard were Jenna Green, Owain Phyffe, & Barely Lace.
And it was my job to make sure my dinosaur era, gremlin infested gear did not get in the way of making them sound good. Thankfully, that plan mostly worked, tho, I'm learning that I still have things to learn (surprise surprise) about this craft. I've also learned that I *may* want to consider either retiring or refurbishing my 25+ year old speakers. Also also, I really want a helper next time I'm to do sound for a >2 person group. I also probably should have a couple more decent mics.
As if that weren't enough, after hours on Friday & Saturday there were "balls" where more music was to be had. Since we didn't really have enough able bodies for a complete 2nd shift, it wasn't suprising that I got sweet talked into volunteering to help with sound for those.
I helped Bryant on Friday nite (which I like doing- because Bryant always manages to either teach me something or pass on a good idea or twelve) and lent some equipment and an extra set of hands to Doug on Saturday.
Other highlights included:
- The stream!!!! I only got to gaze longingly at the stream last year as I still had the grievous wound in my foot. This year I got to SWIM!!!!
- Wild Strawberries!!! Usually the raspberries are in season for this event. This year the rasbperries were still not quite, but the strawberries were IN. Now I've had numerous arguments with folks about what a "wild strawberry" is. I remember them well from NC. They are NOT those things that grow in some suburban yards and meadows that have a not quite grape sized, red, bulbous thingy that sort of looks kind of like a strawberry but has no real taste to it. No. Those have many names and while sometimes some people attempt to *call* them strawberries, they are not strawberries. Store bought strawberries have more flavour than those things, and when a store-bought ANYTHING has more flavour than the real thing, then the real thing isn't what you think it is. So, anyway, there were REAL wild strawberries there at NYFF, especially in the camping field. They are teensy weensy little things, that actually LOOK like strawberries (instead of sorta kinda) and here's the real kick: those tiny little berries have more strawberry flavour than the ones ten times their size in the supermarket. Yeah. We had those.
YUM!!!!
As for my own performances:
One of my other missions was to fill in between sets, and to keep the music going thru the couple of last minute no-shows we wound up with, so I got to play a *little* more than just an hour or two per day so yay.
I didn't get to keep a formal setlist, but there are a couple of things worth noting:
"The Three Jovial Huntsmen (Bold Reynard)" is a definite audience participation win. Having random volunteers from the audience up to add a campy blast on the vuvuzela after the line "ugle ugle ugle went the bugle horn" is just hilarious. I've not quite mastered the art of having their friends cough up more tips to either keep them on stage for more verses or "ransom" them, but that bit is starting to work too, so it's definitely a *profitable* song to keep in the repertoire.
I also got to touch on some excellent and appropriate songs like "A Trick Of The Tail" and "Enchanted Gypsy" as well as some of my usual winners from what I call my "Spoutwood" repertoire.
Here are some other songs I remember playing (in no order at all):
Acoustic 12 String Guitar:
Frog Kissin'
McIntyre
Play Me
Galway Shawl
The Whistler +(instrumental) Banish Misfortune
The Whistling Gypsy Rover +(instrumental) Reel Set: Flowers of Edinburgh; Temperance; Old Grey Cat
On Misty Moisty Morning +(instrumental) Mairi's Wedding; Newcastle
Country Life +(instrumental) Kesh Jig
(Instrumental) Polka Set
Heather On The Moor
The Shankhill Butchers
Wild Mountain Thyme
The Black Fox
Wondrous Stories
Butterfly
Into The Mystic
The Rattlin' Bog
Puff
Cool Water
Jamaica Farewell
Memory Of A Free Festival
Star Of The County Down
Music, Sex & Cookies
Electric 12 String Guitar
Sugar Magnolia
Uncle John's Band
Mellow Yellow
Sunshine Superman
Mr Tambourine Man
Little Wing
The Wee, Wee Man
Bouzouki
Allison Cross
Banjo
Daydream
Please Don't Bury Me
Colours
Troll Sat Alone
Juice Of The Barley
New Morning
Rainbow Connection
Waltzing With Bears
Big Rock Candy Mountain
There were probably a few more, but I'm not recalling.
THAT was a week! I arrived on Tuesday to help out and boy was there alot to do: stages needing to be built and covered, infrastructure to be infrastructured, and on and on and on.
I dug ditches, did carpentry, ran extension cords, rehabilitated lights, hung lights, set up a sound stage, did electrical work, and dozens of other little things.
It was worth it. I lost some weight, got some exercise and got to meet a whole lot of wonderful new friends and become better friends with others.
But I also got far too little sleep and more than once burned myself out a little.
And THEN the festival started.
This year was kind of different for me. As well as playing some sets, I was the soundman and manager for one of the stages. I didn't have a helper for this task, so I was sort of shackled to it most of the time. No busking. I was paid my normal fee and extra for the tech work tho, so it evened out. I'm a little torn. On the one hand, I didn't have to *worry* about tips and sales making the event profitable. On the other hand, I didn't get to play as much. On the other other hand, I did get to meet and finally hear some incredible performers whom I've shared venues & schedules with but never really got a chance to listen to. Highlights in that regard were Jenna Green, Owain Phyffe, & Barely Lace.
And it was my job to make sure my dinosaur era, gremlin infested gear did not get in the way of making them sound good. Thankfully, that plan mostly worked, tho, I'm learning that I still have things to learn (surprise surprise) about this craft. I've also learned that I *may* want to consider either retiring or refurbishing my 25+ year old speakers. Also also, I really want a helper next time I'm to do sound for a >2 person group. I also probably should have a couple more decent mics.
As if that weren't enough, after hours on Friday & Saturday there were "balls" where more music was to be had. Since we didn't really have enough able bodies for a complete 2nd shift, it wasn't suprising that I got sweet talked into volunteering to help with sound for those.
I helped Bryant on Friday nite (which I like doing- because Bryant always manages to either teach me something or pass on a good idea or twelve) and lent some equipment and an extra set of hands to Doug on Saturday.
Other highlights included:
- The stream!!!! I only got to gaze longingly at the stream last year as I still had the grievous wound in my foot. This year I got to SWIM!!!!
- Wild Strawberries!!! Usually the raspberries are in season for this event. This year the rasbperries were still not quite, but the strawberries were IN. Now I've had numerous arguments with folks about what a "wild strawberry" is. I remember them well from NC. They are NOT those things that grow in some suburban yards and meadows that have a not quite grape sized, red, bulbous thingy that sort of looks kind of like a strawberry but has no real taste to it. No. Those have many names and while sometimes some people attempt to *call* them strawberries, they are not strawberries. Store bought strawberries have more flavour than those things, and when a store-bought ANYTHING has more flavour than the real thing, then the real thing isn't what you think it is. So, anyway, there were REAL wild strawberries there at NYFF, especially in the camping field. They are teensy weensy little things, that actually LOOK like strawberries (instead of sorta kinda) and here's the real kick: those tiny little berries have more strawberry flavour than the ones ten times their size in the supermarket. Yeah. We had those.
YUM!!!!
As for my own performances:
One of my other missions was to fill in between sets, and to keep the music going thru the couple of last minute no-shows we wound up with, so I got to play a *little* more than just an hour or two per day so yay.
I didn't get to keep a formal setlist, but there are a couple of things worth noting:
"The Three Jovial Huntsmen (Bold Reynard)" is a definite audience participation win. Having random volunteers from the audience up to add a campy blast on the vuvuzela after the line "ugle ugle ugle went the bugle horn" is just hilarious. I've not quite mastered the art of having their friends cough up more tips to either keep them on stage for more verses or "ransom" them, but that bit is starting to work too, so it's definitely a *profitable* song to keep in the repertoire.
I also got to touch on some excellent and appropriate songs like "A Trick Of The Tail" and "Enchanted Gypsy" as well as some of my usual winners from what I call my "Spoutwood" repertoire.
Here are some other songs I remember playing (in no order at all):
Acoustic 12 String Guitar:
Frog Kissin'
McIntyre
Play Me
Galway Shawl
The Whistler +(instrumental) Banish Misfortune
The Whistling Gypsy Rover +(instrumental) Reel Set: Flowers of Edinburgh; Temperance; Old Grey Cat
On Misty Moisty Morning +(instrumental) Mairi's Wedding; Newcastle
Country Life +(instrumental) Kesh Jig
(Instrumental) Polka Set
Heather On The Moor
The Shankhill Butchers
Wild Mountain Thyme
The Black Fox
Wondrous Stories
Butterfly
Into The Mystic
The Rattlin' Bog
Puff
Cool Water
Jamaica Farewell
Memory Of A Free Festival
Star Of The County Down
Music, Sex & Cookies
Electric 12 String Guitar
Sugar Magnolia
Uncle John's Band
Mellow Yellow
Sunshine Superman
Mr Tambourine Man
Little Wing
The Wee, Wee Man
Bouzouki
Allison Cross
Banjo
Daydream
Please Don't Bury Me
Colours
Troll Sat Alone
Juice Of The Barley
New Morning
Rainbow Connection
Waltzing With Bears
Big Rock Candy Mountain
There were probably a few more, but I'm not recalling.