Well, here I am and if you're not then you're there I suppose. For
those of you unfortunate not to be attending this special wildfire
induced fall version of the Florida Folk Festival it is truly awesome.
The weather during the day is very comfortable (70's) with high clear
blue skies and gentle breezes. The nights grow quickly nippy,
dropping into the 50's. The tent campers are whining just a little,
but their joy over the evening campfires is making up for it. Paul
Garfinkle of The Ashley Gang in their opening set at The Amphitheater
last night dubbed it "The Florida Frost Festival." Well, no frost
really, but you get the picture.
I didn't get what I'd call my favorite stage times this year –
yesterday 10 a.m. to open the Song & Story stage and today at 10:20 on
the Ann Thomas River Gazebo right behind Frank. I guess Elaine or
whoever the schedule master was figured old guys are up early anyway,
but I've got some news. We old guys may be up early but its only
because of certain biological necessities – then we go back to bed!!
And, our fingers don't really start working until noon. Oh well,
Sunday I have a 4 p.m. set on the Azalea stage, so that's a good one.
The good news is that the sound on the Song & Story stage is handled
by Tom Ellis, et al and the stage itself is run by Bill Messer. So I
had exceptional sound (unlike some of the other stages I heard) and
was in great hands. And, cool as it was I had a nice little crowd as
well, to my surprise actually. I played the new tune, Hemingway's
Hurricane, to excellent response, which was a little risky since I was
still tweaking the lyrics, etc. just before getting on stage!
Heard some terrific music through out the afternoon and evening.
Stand outs were M.T. Pawkets (with Katie Bailey-Waller subbing in
quite capably on fiddle for Jonathon), The Ashley Gang (sans Norm
McDonald and Mrs. Garfinkle, so it was just a trio last night), Willie
Green (though the sound mix was sub par and the cool air was really
creating serious tuning issues for him) and, as you might guess, Sam
Pacetti who, though seemingly a little blasé about the show, was the
exceptional guitar wizard we've come to expect.
Well, that's enough for a first day summary. I'm fixin' to get ready
to get started getting' packed up to head over for my sunrise set (Ok,
so I'm exaggerating) on the River Gazebo. More to come.
Electronic Press Kit
