Falcon Ridge Recap

July 28th, 2008

What a fantastic weekend! I’m amazed that I didn’t explode from sheer inspiration overload! Thanks Hillary for letting me pillage your pictures here!

This year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival was a real treat. Yes, there were amazing performances by both new and established artists (Red Molly, Crooked Still, etc). Yes, (after thursday) we had beautiful weather. Yes, the food was actually great! (So many vegetarians, so little time); and Yes, the mosquito factor was almost non-existent.

Everyone will have a different take on this. But for me, the highlights were very specific.

First, Joe H. and Craig came up from NYC to enjoy the festivities. We learned ‘em real good about upstate NY living. This was the first time I really got to hang out with the boys outside of our rehearsals and gigs. It was “Chill”, as Craig would say. Much fun ensued, but I will refrain from discussing the irreverent details. Suffice to say, nothing was sacred and everything was funny - especially at 3am.

Craig was also playing bass for Erin Sax Seymour at her emerging artist showcase. Consequently, Craig managed to get us all backstage where the real fun was happening. We got to see Bill Evans, John Gorka, Patti Larkin, Vance Gilbert - and more - from side stage. There was a whole food set up back there, and Joe even got a massage on Saturday afternoon by one of the backstage therapists hired for the VIP’s.

Next, I was hanging out as part of the Tribe’s Hill and acousticmusicscene.com showcases. At Friday night’s open song circle I found myself sharing time with Anthony DeCosta, Abby Gardner (Red Molly), Joe Crookston and more. Rick and Mary Beth from Tribes Hill are seriously wonderful people. We spent the good part of thursday hiking up the showcase tent (and all of our supplies) when the rain closed the main access road to the campsite. Dennis DeCosta was a blast to hang out with too, as were Barb and her son Noah - who crashed in my tent Thursday night. I have a fun photo of Anthony DeCosta sleeping on folding chairs after Friday night’s all nighter. Even with no sleep, he still pulled off two separate showcases in top form later in the day.

Michael Kornfeld from acousticmusicscene.com is becoming a good friend (Hi Mike!), and we had a lot of fun at the various showcases and bringing in the sun along with Joe H Saturday morning. Thanks again to Michael for including me in Saturday night’s feature showcase along with “Gathering Time“, “The Guy Mendilow Band“, and more. I have a feeling that we’ll be working together in the future - and I certainly hope that will be the case.

It was also great to catch up with Gretchen Witt, Erin Sax Seymour, Glen, Dawn, Hillary, Stu… The list could go on and on, but I’ve got work to do here so I’ll wrap it up. The only regret I have is that I didn’t take more pictures. No worries, though. Hillary Foxsong took these and many other wonderful pix. You can see them here as a slide show. Or here as individual images.

Thanks for listening!

Love,
Joe