Washington Folk Festival
Sat Jun 3 17:12:03 EDT 2017
I'd hoped to spend much of the weekend at the Folklore Society of Greater Washington/ Washington Folk Festival, but I left work at 05:00, got home after 06:00, got to bed just after 08:00, and woke near 16:00. There's not much point in trying to get to Glen Echo today; maybe tomorrow.
Somebody has been to the WFF; there's a (printed) program in the kitchen.
Saturday 19:19
anniemal and OkCupid-buddy Brian went to the WFF. They got there around 11:00; performances started at 12:00. (I guess they should have checked the schedule on the web first?) They got a good parking space. (It long ago grew large enough to need satellite parking with shuttle buses.) Annie really liked the bagpiper who opened the festival, but she was disappointed by the the only act they apparently caught, a harpist. What she really wanted to hear was Barnes and Hampton, guitar and harp that I insisted she must hear at her first WFF, but they weren't on until 15:45.
They didn't stay long (left around 13:00) because they were hungry and the food on site was outrageously expensive. But they didn't want to bother going to the little shopping center across the street? And they didn't bother to have breakfast before they left home!? That's just stupid, if you're planning to spend the day mostly outdoors (NWS recorded 85°F/29°C), on and off your feet. If that would rate as an active day for you, you really need to have breakfast. They got there an hour early; they had time to eat something first. They probably thought they were an hour late, and didn't want to take the time to eat. (On the other hand, if you don't eat, and you're going to be miserable hungry, why go at all? Better to eat and be late, yes?)
I haven't been getting to the WFF every year ☹, but I usually bike when I go (no parking problems); I have a good breakfast, and I take snacks with me. It can be a long day, and it's more active than sitting in an office (or whatever she does puttering around the house (or binged)), and it's usually hot; you need fuel. But that's no different than many other weekend outings; you need to eat, and you almost certainly should eat before you get started.
I'm still hoping to go to the WFF tomorrow. Sundays are always lighter than Saturdays. Fewer performances scheduled, fewer (local) big names. Saturdays there's often 2 or 3 (or 4) things going at once that you'd want to hear. Less of a problem with that Sundays. More time to see the crafts vendors? ☺
Sunday there's also the option of staying for the FSGW contra dance 19:30-22:30.
I did get to mowing the lawn this afternoon. All I managed was the side yard before the batteries ran down. ☺ This is part of the front yard, on the east end of the house, and about half of it hadn't been mowed all year. I went around that part because it has wild violets that Annie likes, but she hasn't been hand-trimming around them, and they've had plenty of time to bloom and seed, so today I mowed that very high section. And that was pretty much it. The rest of the front yard hasn't been cut for 4-6 weeks? And the back yard for 3-4 weeks? I don't know whether the batteries are shot so quickly because they need to be replaced or because the grass is so high/thick when it finally does get cut. Weekly mowing of the whole yard used to be no problem, but between long hours at work, weekend rain, and too-infrequent trips to NC, mowing isn't happening weekly.
Sunday 21:25
I spent the day at the FSGW Washington Folk Festival. I met a woman biking on the C&O Towpath who asked about getting to Glen Echo, which was where I was going. She'd missed the route she'd intended to take (the Capital Crescent Trail to MacArthur Blvd), but the way she was headed was actually shorter. (I never found a good connection between the CCT and MacArthur, although a new trail may have been added by now.) She moved at a good clip once we got to MacArthur and level ground.
I saw a few people I hadn't seen in ages, one I'd been wondering about recently.
I didn't find enough free time between performances to see the crafts vendors. ☹
Crystal Pool Stage
12:00-12:45 Maelstrom
Description: The talented young fiddlers of Maelstrom - Abraham Joyner-Meyers, Peri Leighty, and Darrow Sherman - play tight and creative harmonies on Celtic, French Canadian, and klezmer tunes, often featuring a playful fusion of traditions.
Yurt Village Stage
13:00-13:45 Culkin School of Irish Dance
Performers: Sean Culkin, Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance
Description: Enjoy the magic of traditional Irish music and dance with the Culkin School dancers, accompanied by an ensemble of veteran Irish musicians.
13:45-14:00
Morris Dancers
Too full:
Chautauqua Stage
14:00-14:45 Trio Sefardi with Flory Jagoda
Performers: Howard Bass, Tina Chancey, Susan Gaeta, Flory Jagoda
Description: Combining a respect for Sephardic musical traditions with creative arrangements, Trio Sefardi brings the vibrant past into the living present. Flory Jagoda, a National Heritage Fellow, delights with Ladino songs and stories of her youth in Bosnia.
Spanish Ballroom
14:00-15:00 English Country Dance
Performers: Tom Spilsbury, Elegant Echoes
Description: Dance to the elegant, quiet, demure, and flowing dances of the English countryside. Tom Spilsbury will call the dances, with music by Elegant Echoes: Liz Donaldson (piano), Colleen Reed (flute), and Becky Ross (fiddle).
Chautauqua Stage
15:00-16:00 Washington Toho Koto Society
Description: The koto is a six-foot long, 13-string zither-like instrument with a distinctive sound. The Washington Toho Koto Society, founded in 1971 by director Kyoko Okamoto, performs Japanese traditional and classical music on these lovely instruments.
Yurt Village Stage
15:45-16:15 Mark Jaster
Description: Wingnut - Mime extraordinaire Mark Jaster presents foolish and musical misuse of tools in a family-friendly, interactive clown show.
Yurt Village Stage
16:30-17:15 Fiddlers Tribute to Alan Jabbour
Performers: Ulrike Brauneis William Brauneis Sandy Hofferth Abraham Joyner-Meyers Andy Wallace
Description: The late Alan Jabbour taught old-timey and other fiddle styles and collected many wonderful tunes. Musicians he influenced will remember his fiddling, teaching, and collecting. Andy Wallace hosts.
Cuddle-Up Stage
17:15-18:00 Martin Family Band
Description: Since taking the music they played at home to the performance stage in 1995, the Martin Family Band has been delighting audiences with its lively blend of Appalachian string band, Irish dance, and Colonial-era music.
Cuddle-Up Stage
18:15-19:00 New Sunshine Skiffle Band
Description: Wrap up your weekend with the irresistible sounds of the New Sunshine Skiffle Band. Delighting Festival audiences since 1982 with their jugband/ragtime/jazz tunes, among the band's great array of instruments are washboard, gutbucket, and musical saw.
I took 240 photos today.
I got home before dark, so I was able to finish mowing the lawn. There was the advantage of having one fewer bike to remove from the shed to get to the lawnmower, since my bike was already out to get to/from Glen Echo. I mowed about half the back yard, leaving the part that anniemal would like left a little wilder. There was enough charge left to finish the front yard. It was getting dark by then, but there's a lot of street lights on that corner.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/892259.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I'd hoped to spend much of the weekend at the Folklore Society of Greater Washington/ Washington Folk Festival, but I left work at 05:00, got home after 06:00, got to bed just after 08:00, and woke near 16:00. There's not much point in trying to get to Glen Echo today; maybe tomorrow.
Somebody has been to the WFF; there's a (printed) program in the kitchen.
Saturday 19:19
anniemal and OkCupid-buddy Brian went to the WFF. They got there around 11:00; performances started at 12:00. (I guess they should have checked the schedule on the web first?) They got a good parking space. (It long ago grew large enough to need satellite parking with shuttle buses.) Annie really liked the bagpiper who opened the festival, but she was disappointed by the the only act they apparently caught, a harpist. What she really wanted to hear was Barnes and Hampton, guitar and harp that I insisted she must hear at her first WFF, but they weren't on until 15:45.
They didn't stay long (left around 13:00) because they were hungry and the food on site was outrageously expensive. But they didn't want to bother going to the little shopping center across the street? And they didn't bother to have breakfast before they left home!? That's just stupid, if you're planning to spend the day mostly outdoors (NWS recorded 85°F/29°C), on and off your feet. If that would rate as an active day for you, you really need to have breakfast. They got there an hour early; they had time to eat something first. They probably thought they were an hour late, and didn't want to take the time to eat. (On the other hand, if you don't eat, and you're going to be miserable hungry, why go at all? Better to eat and be late, yes?)
I haven't been getting to the WFF every year ☹, but I usually bike when I go (no parking problems); I have a good breakfast, and I take snacks with me. It can be a long day, and it's more active than sitting in an office (or whatever she does puttering around the house (or binged)), and it's usually hot; you need fuel. But that's no different than many other weekend outings; you need to eat, and you almost certainly should eat before you get started.
I'm still hoping to go to the WFF tomorrow. Sundays are always lighter than Saturdays. Fewer performances scheduled, fewer (local) big names. Saturdays there's often 2 or 3 (or 4) things going at once that you'd want to hear. Less of a problem with that Sundays. More time to see the crafts vendors? ☺
Sunday there's also the option of staying for the FSGW contra dance 19:30-22:30.
I did get to mowing the lawn this afternoon. All I managed was the side yard before the batteries ran down. ☺ This is part of the front yard, on the east end of the house, and about half of it hadn't been mowed all year. I went around that part because it has wild violets that Annie likes, but she hasn't been hand-trimming around them, and they've had plenty of time to bloom and seed, so today I mowed that very high section. And that was pretty much it. The rest of the front yard hasn't been cut for 4-6 weeks? And the back yard for 3-4 weeks? I don't know whether the batteries are shot so quickly because they need to be replaced or because the grass is so high/thick when it finally does get cut. Weekly mowing of the whole yard used to be no problem, but between long hours at work, weekend rain, and too-infrequent trips to NC, mowing isn't happening weekly.
Sunday 21:25
I spent the day at the FSGW Washington Folk Festival. I met a woman biking on the C&O Towpath who asked about getting to Glen Echo, which was where I was going. She'd missed the route she'd intended to take (the Capital Crescent Trail to MacArthur Blvd), but the way she was headed was actually shorter. (I never found a good connection between the CCT and MacArthur, although a new trail may have been added by now.) She moved at a good clip once we got to MacArthur and level ground.
I saw a few people I hadn't seen in ages, one I'd been wondering about recently.
I didn't find enough free time between performances to see the crafts vendors. ☹
Crystal Pool Stage
12:00-12:45 Maelstrom
Description: The talented young fiddlers of Maelstrom - Abraham Joyner-Meyers, Peri Leighty, and Darrow Sherman - play tight and creative harmonies on Celtic, French Canadian, and klezmer tunes, often featuring a playful fusion of traditions.
Yurt Village Stage
13:00-13:45 Culkin School of Irish Dance
Performers: Sean Culkin, Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance
Description: Enjoy the magic of traditional Irish music and dance with the Culkin School dancers, accompanied by an ensemble of veteran Irish musicians.
13:45-14:00
Morris Dancers
Too full:
Chautauqua Stage
14:00-14:45 Trio Sefardi with Flory Jagoda
Performers: Howard Bass, Tina Chancey, Susan Gaeta, Flory Jagoda
Description: Combining a respect for Sephardic musical traditions with creative arrangements, Trio Sefardi brings the vibrant past into the living present. Flory Jagoda, a National Heritage Fellow, delights with Ladino songs and stories of her youth in Bosnia.
Spanish Ballroom
14:00-15:00 English Country Dance
Performers: Tom Spilsbury, Elegant Echoes
Description: Dance to the elegant, quiet, demure, and flowing dances of the English countryside. Tom Spilsbury will call the dances, with music by Elegant Echoes: Liz Donaldson (piano), Colleen Reed (flute), and Becky Ross (fiddle).
Chautauqua Stage
15:00-16:00 Washington Toho Koto Society
Description: The koto is a six-foot long, 13-string zither-like instrument with a distinctive sound. The Washington Toho Koto Society, founded in 1971 by director Kyoko Okamoto, performs Japanese traditional and classical music on these lovely instruments.
Yurt Village Stage
15:45-16:15 Mark Jaster
Description: Wingnut - Mime extraordinaire Mark Jaster presents foolish and musical misuse of tools in a family-friendly, interactive clown show.
Yurt Village Stage
16:30-17:15 Fiddlers Tribute to Alan Jabbour
Performers: Ulrike Brauneis William Brauneis Sandy Hofferth Abraham Joyner-Meyers Andy Wallace
Description: The late Alan Jabbour taught old-timey and other fiddle styles and collected many wonderful tunes. Musicians he influenced will remember his fiddling, teaching, and collecting. Andy Wallace hosts.
Cuddle-Up Stage
17:15-18:00 Martin Family Band
Description: Since taking the music they played at home to the performance stage in 1995, the Martin Family Band has been delighting audiences with its lively blend of Appalachian string band, Irish dance, and Colonial-era music.
Cuddle-Up Stage
18:15-19:00 New Sunshine Skiffle Band
Description: Wrap up your weekend with the irresistible sounds of the New Sunshine Skiffle Band. Delighting Festival audiences since 1982 with their jugband/ragtime/jazz tunes, among the band's great array of instruments are washboard, gutbucket, and musical saw.
I took 240 photos today.
I got home before dark, so I was able to finish mowing the lawn. There was the advantage of having one fewer bike to remove from the shed to get to the lawnmower, since my bike was already out to get to/from Glen Echo. I mowed about half the back yard, leaving the part that anniemal would like left a little wilder. There was enough charge left to finish the front yard. It was getting dark by then, but there's a lot of street lights on that corner.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/892259.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]