So this past weekend I made my way to folks festival which was a very good time. Despite the fact in rained all day Friday and most of the day Saturday we were all able to remain in good spirits except for Friday night, where I honestly thought I might freeze.
The music was definitely an amazing a beautiful thing. Friday I saw the likes of Shawn Mullins, Dar Williams, Patty Griffin, and Amos Lee. Although I did spend the majority of the day shivering and frozen. I have never in my life seen it rain so hard in Colorado. It rained and poured without end for a day and a half. Not only that but I was not prepared for it at all. I didn't really have any rain clothes and definitely not for such a dismal storm. Luckily my mother being nice as she is brought me bags of dry warm, waterproof, clothes on Saturday. But by the end of the day I was ina tank top and rolled up jeans. The weather in Colorado is such a funny and ironic thing. I often think it plays tricks on purpose.
Saturday was also fairly miserable until later in the afternoon. Some of the musical delights of Saturday were Sarah Sample the winner of last year's folks fest competition. Also Susan Werner who is like a pagan atheist social justice gospel singer was a wonderful morning act. Also that night day saw Todd Snider who is pretty great for a straight white guy. Then Greg Brown played and he has a very down-homey rustic roots sound. Plus he represents Iowa to me not only because he is from there but I saw him at Luther for a Co-op concert one summer. Also saw the Waifs a great Australian band fronted by two women. That was a great set and with the sun finally coming out just seemed perfect to jam out to Lighthouse Man.
Sunday we awoke to possible sunshine and a bunch of water and mud in the tent. For music a real treat was seeing Moira and VOCO a pretty much a'capella all female group that also did some rhythm sections resembling a ham bone. Melissa Ferrick was aso a treat as she was ina good mood and actually played Win Em' Over her semi Colorado song. However, she is like the most high maintenance musician ever! Fix this sound and that sound and turn up my guitar louder and louder-crazy! Then the most special part of my whole Festival experience was the surprise that Ellis, an amazing singer-songwriter from the Twin Cities was playing in the more intimate Wildflower Pavillion. She played a great set with some new really great songs and seeing her in Colorado for the first time was just so entirely magical. As many musicians noted, it's so great to play in Colorado, great place to recharge batteries to face the coming year. To close out the evening I saw Tim O'Brien a bluegrass legend or god! He was amazing-probably my new favorite from the festival. And he's actually kind of old, but he can pick an amazing banjo!
To finish the evening was KT Tunstall a not so Folkie ending to Folks Fest. In fact her show was all rock and pop but it was great fun and when she played Black Horse and a Cherry Tree it was hard to resist dancing. She really finished off the night in an upbeat and energetic way.
The festival should also be commended for its green initiatives. All food sold by vendors was in compostable or recyclable containers. Forks made of potatoes who knew? It was great, but I was surprised to not see more social justice booths and initiatives at the Festival. I was surprised to not see Planned Parenthood, HRC, or local LGBT and feminist organizations. It all seemed very strange to me. The Festival was also filled up with mostly white yuppies who tend to care more about wind energy and solar panels than ways to relinquish privilege. So that was a bit frustrating. And while I can never replace The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival as a space and time, Folks Fest was definitely a a good new and different experience and I actually felt myself in a more relaxed space in my head then I ever had been at Michigan...maybe it was my new shaved head and lack of showering. I tried to keep all my clothes on because it was so cold and not worry so much about superficial things like appearance. With that said I did deeply miss all womyn's space but it was good to be in an "all inclusive" space too.
