Sibyl, for all my Red Hat Tamales in El Paso
It's Saturday of the final weekend. Katie and Mark arrived yesterday afternoon while I was in Fredericksburg checking out the wildflower farm and eating lunch at Bill's Barbecue. I have bought wildflowers geared for southwest Texas growing for about the last five years at Wildflower Farm just outside Fredericksburg. They have amazed my co-op gardening friends in El Paso because I plant a two-feet by four-feet area in my garden with them each fall. When they bloom many, many people approach me to ask about them. I have handed out a lot of seed. The snapdragons were especially pretty this spring. Bluebonnets grow there, too--an unusual flower for our low desert.
Katie and Mark had arrived early afternoon and had already set up their new tent and were putting finishing touches on their site. We grabbed some grub before heading up to the main stage (which is quite a challenging walk, by the way). Arlo Guthrie was the big name for the Friday night show and the theater did fill up. Seth took blankets up at 6 pm to save our seats in 'Group W' benches.
Sarah Lee Guthrie and her band were scheduled for the third slot to be followed by her dad. Her sister, her toddler, her brother were all there, too. I got about one good photo of Arlo's daughter Sarah Lee Guthrie and her husband Johnny Irion and their daughter Olivia (she looks about 2) who led their encore of 'You are My Sunshine'. I mean, Olivia led the singing. I had tears. Sarah Lee has a really great band. When her dad came on after her, he walked on stage to a standing ovation and the rest of the evening was that way, too.
When Arlo launched into St James' Infirmary followed by Alice's Restaurant, the crowd went wild. In my row we were all hugging each other with such pleasure and disbelief that Arlo Guthrie was singing Alice's Restaurant to US. What a Kerr moment. Arlo is the same charasmatic personality as ever; he laced his songs with seemingly disjointed banter which always came together to make his point, though he claimed he often didn't have a thought, but when one came he had to stop and pay attention to it. His Biblical retelling of the story of Joseph and his brothers illustrating how one person can actually make a difference was especially hilarious. His point was that the man in the field who pointed 'he went thataway' when they were looking for Joseph made 2000 years' worth of difference to the rest of the world. If they'd never have found Joseph nothing else would have happened. That guy standing in the field? All he had to do was point 'that way.' What a take!
At the end of the evening (two more great acts: Stephen Bruton followed by Los TexManiacs from San Antonio), the Arlo Guthrie live performance CDs were ready for purchase. I bought one on the way out and got it into my computer early this morning, checking on its quality and to see if much was edited out. I'll upload it to my iPod shuffle and listen to it again on my 10-hr drive home Monday.
Speaking of the live CDs this year, here's hoping that the appropriate staff evaluate the project as having been successful. I know I, for one, and several others in the lower meadow, have purchased them. Vern, one of the very long-time volunteers, has a little sound studio back stage and spends lots of time back there with his crow producing the CDs as fast as he can. No word as to whether they will be available online at www.kervillefolkfestival.com after the festival.
Back at camp at 1:15 am, Joe and Tracy at Lethargy were cooking up great hamburgers (he stuffs them with bacon, cheese, and grilled onions). I told everyone I would now have to stay up three hours before going to bed since that's one of Oprah's bootcamp rules. I had been drinking diet Coke with Splenda and caffeine in order to stay awake. I was pretty wired. But since Katie and Mark had crashed (from day one-itis of just getting to the festival) I, too, crashed. I heard that things kept going pretty much til 4 am.
Stacy left this morning, as did Gina Forsythe. I saw Gina as I walked to the showers. Stacy really didn't have the heart to leave and I think her son Stan was not that eager either. They pulled out about 9:30.
Here are some more pictures. Katie and Mark, Seth and me up at Sky High where some year round residents on the ranch have been improving the land through terracing, adding in compost, planting flowers, running simple water systems. The view from there is stunning. Seth had to climb up on the fence to get the best picture. I donned my red hat and purple Kerr tee to send around to my Red Hat Tamales back in El Paso.
Oh, I snapped four or five short movie clips of Arlo singing City of New Orleans, Alice's Restaurant, and This Land is Your Land. They can't be uploaded but several friends want me to send them as attached files.
It's been a trip keeping this journal/blog. Many thanks go out to all who have given feedback. Enjoy 'borrowing' the pictures. I 'borrowed' a few, too, to make tee shirts and a hat. It will be fun to see some of these pictures adorning various chests next year!