Last weekend was the Old Songs Festival at the Fair Grounds in Altamont, NY. For the last 8 or 9 years I have "worked" Old Songs -- taking tickets at the Campers' Gate all day Friday. Then volunteers get in to the rest of the festival free, so two days' "play" for one day "work" seems a good bargain to me.
The logo for this year's festival said "Music with Roots" -- and for me those roots go back to my high school days, when my favorite music wasn't rock 'n roll, but folk music, with Joan Baez, the Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, and Simon and Garfunkle high on my list. In college I added some knowledge of Pete Seeger to that list.
And then I went to Bainbridge, NY as pastor of the Presbyterian Church, where I met Rick Bunting, John Kirk and Trish Miller, and Dan Duggan -- the Susquehanna Strings. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, when not long after I arrived there I went to Stefanie Bunting's high school graduation party, and there in the back yard of the Bunting home heard the Susquehanna Strings jamming. From then I haven't looked back. I've even learned to play the mountain dulcimer, thanks to the talent and patience of Susan Trump.
Anyway, last weekend I only experienced a bit of lack of manners once during the whole weekend, and it occurred to me that "folkies" really are nice people! The musicians are hardly jealous of each other at all -- they share songs and arrangements and the stage with each other, seemingly without a prima donna in the lot. And when we left the fair grounds on Sunday evening, it did NOT look like the aftermath of a wild party. We pretty much left things the way we found them. I wish everybody were like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment