The Canmore Folk Music Festival - Monday

[Vic Bell]

Liam slept on the floor and Monday dawned hot and sunny so all was well.

There had been a cancellation in the programme as Damien, a Romanian pan
piper ran into immigration problems.  This meant that the "Eastern European
Jam" on the mainstage became a session with Finjan and Scruj MacDuhk.  They
started off on trading tunes back and forth and then delved into a
collaboration at set's end.  Lots of the crowd had chosen to follow
Christine Lavin after her spectacular set the night before, and she was
over on Stage 2 at this time.

Next up we had "Spirituals" with Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage
Choir, Geoff Muldaur, Eric Bibb and Hans Theesink.  As might be expected
with this gang, magic was in the air and collaboration was the game.  Hans
started things off with "Soul of a Man" and Imogene led everyone in a
stunning "Stand Tall and Be Happy".  Happy everyone was and the session
ended with a rousing group effort on "Walking In Jerusalem" that brought
the whole crowd to their feet.

Scruj MacDuhk returned to the stage to tackle "Diverse Influences" with
Night Sun.  We'd linked the percussionists from both bands in the back line
and this led to some fun trade offs and jams between them on every song.
The groups took turns leading tunes but everyone jumped in wherever they
could.  I missed much of this set as lunch was being served backstage.  In
the hospitality tents, Linda Tillery and company and Hans Theesink and
company were practicing songs.  I knew that something was up for Linda's
mainstage spot later that night.

The next workshop was "All Sorts Of Licks" featuring Hans Theesink, Geoff
Muldaur, Qui Xia He and Zhi Min Yu from Silk Road, and Eric Bibb.  Knowing
what he didn't, I deliberately set up the stage to place Geoff next to Qui
Xia and Zhi Min.  The expected occurred.  Everyone took turns leading a
tune but the others added licks and embellishments in their turn.  Geoff
was visibly blown away by Qui Xia and Zhi Min as they proceeded to jam
along on their pipas to a country blues led by Eric.  Rumour now has it
that Geoff wants to include Qui Xia on his next recording project.  With
the on-stage energy peaking, the audience was pulled right along and the
result was a sustained full-house standing ovation.

"Vocal Harmonies" brought together Moxy Fruvous, Linda Tillery and company,
and Pied Pumkin.  I was scrambling before this because Moxy's techie wanted
us to dedicate four lines for their remote vocals that wouldn't be used for
anything else for the rest of the day.  This was so we could tweak the
system and cut down on their turnover time for their mainstage show that
night.  After going through all my plots - (the value of mapping ahead) I
was able to give them DI lines 5 - 8 for their vocals.  The workshop proved
to be great fun as each group in turn led the ensemble and everyone else
jumped in on the choruses.  A full stage collaboration on "I Shall Be
Released" led to another standing ovation.

That was it for our workshops and we quickly cleaned the stage for the
evening concerts.  Things started off with a special 50 minute session with
Valdy and Gary Fjellgaard.  They offered duets and solos, and engaged in
easy onstage banter, creating a laid back but very popular session, and the
crowd ate it up.  Valdy is the consummate pro when it comes to reading a
crowd, and the audience response, a semi-standing ovation and encore,
showed he'd done it right.

Maria Dunn and her ensemble were next up presenting songs from her very
fine, first album.  It was dinner time for the stage crew and the audience
too it seemed.  Maria got a good response but with all the coming and going
in the crowd, missed out on an encore.

Damien's mainstage slot was filled by Shari Ulrich accompanied by Bill
Runge on sax and keys and with Rick Scott and Joe Mock sitting in for the
last few songs.  Shari performed "House Up On The Hill", "Stand" and tunes
from her  "View From Here" album.  With Joe and Rick she performed Joe's
song "Fear of Flying" earning a semi-standing ovation and encore from the
crowd.

Geoff Muldaur was next up, one vocal, one instrument, one DI.  By this time
Geoff had attained Canmore nirvana and was exclaiming how attending this
festival was exactly what he'd needed.  During his set he told the audience
several times how much fun he'd been having and how much he appreciated
their applause and attention.  Attention he got.  Geoff has a remarkable
vocal range and can pick the guitar with the best of them.  He ran through
a set of Americana from blues to rags to more contemporary pieces earning a
semi-standing ovation and encore from a very appreciative crowd.

Finjan had been carefully considering their set backstage and quickly
launched into rousing Klezmer that got the dancers to their feet, several
groups doing improvised Hora circles.  The crowd energy built throughout
their set and they earned a semi-standing ovation and encore.

With Finjan coming off and Linda Tillery next up, we plugged Calgary
performer Ian MacDonald in as a tweener and he did "Make and Break Harbour".

I mentioned earlier that I had suspicions when I spotted Linda Tillery
working on tunes backstage.  Midway through the afternoon workshops I
approached her and said "I have this feeling that when you do your
mainstage spot tonight you might be wanting to bring on some other
performers."  Linda responded with "Did we know each other in another life?
You can read my mind".  The "other performers" turned out to be Hans
Theesink with Alee and the full drum kit and Jon Sass on tuba, along with
Eric Bibb.  We set Linda and company up in their usual arc with the
additional musicians arrayed in the back line.  Need I say that their set
was spectacular?  Dressed in their black and white "prison suits" Linda and
the Cultural Heritage Choir were pumped and ready and with their back-up
band added in, big smiles by all was the rule of the day.  Their set ended
with a full-house, screaming for more, standing ovation as Linda, the Choir
and their back-ups stood at the front of the stage with their arms around
each other to take a bow.  As they tried to come offstage I stood in their
way with my arms outstretched, blocking their path, a move spotted by the
crowd and greeted by more cheers.  Their encore earned another extended
standing ovation that lasted until they were offstage and the crew was out
setting up the next act.

Moxy Fruvous was last on the bill and I'd gone through their set-up several
times with their support techies to make sure we had it mapped properly.
Gone are the days when they used four vocal mics.  We plugged in Mike Stack
to do an in-betweener and set to.  The crowd was primed and ready and the
dance floor was already full when Moxy Fruvous came onstage.  They ran
through a spirited set, including a version of "Minnie The Moocher" that
had been re-written to include references to the festival and some of the
performers present, much to the delight of all.  Back and forth onstage
banter amused the crowd as their set built to a climax.  "The King of
Spain" was followed by "Green Eggs and Ham" and their set concluded with
"Love Potion #9".  By this point the entire crowd were already on their
feet dancing and demanding an encore which they of course, got.

Backstage I was organizing the finale and gathering performers together.
At the conclusion of Moxy Fruvous' set all the performers came back
onstage.  Moxy Fruvous led everyone in the first of Canmore's traditional
closing numbers on the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage - "The Mary Ellen
Carter".  Lennie Gallant took on one of the verses, while Christine Lavin
got the crowd waving their hands in rhythm.  Next up, Gary Fjellgaard and
Valdy led us all in "Four Strong Winds" with full audience accompaniment,
and the official portion of the Canmore Folk Music Festival came to a
close.

The Creosotes packed up the mics and coiled the lines and that was it for
us.  What a relief not to have to hump the PA!  Over at the party, food and
drink were the initial game, but a stage was set up and soon occupied.
Mike and Bob from our stage crew performed backup duties on bass and guitar
as Valdy, Joe Mock, and others took the stage.  Old rock 'n roll standards
were the game and many in the crowd of volunteers were soon dancing.  Rick
Scott took centre stage for an inspired "Walkin' The Dog" while Valdy
offered "Hey Good Lookin'".  Jeremiah McDade from Maria Dunn's band and
Chris Coleman from Night Sun added some sax and Imogene from the Cultural
Heritage Choir led some numbers to huge applause.  By 2 am the instant band
wound down but some pumped in music kept the dance floor full.  With Liam
asleep on my chest and the party still in full swing, we soon packed it in
and headed back for a much needed sleep.

Coming up this weekend, The Edmonton Folk Music Festival.  Thanks to the
generousity of AD Terry Wickham, Jude, Liam, Elliot and I will be guests.
I'll keep some notes, and reports will follow next week.

cheers,  Vic