My First Folk Conference – What’s It For?
Looking For The Crossroads Number 16
Guys, I entered the madhouse and lived to tell you about it.
It all started innocently enough.
1. I offered my services to lay out a digital program guide for FAR-West 2023, working out of my home in Virginia.
2. Then I was asked to emcee the Susanne Millsaps Memorial Coffeehouse. Sure, I can fly to L.A. for that – what even is it? I’ll introduce folk musicians, storytellers, and dancers as they each perform one piece? I can do that. Will someone be there to help me move them along?
Not exactly. But we did good, all of us – myself, Yosi Mesbah, and Tina Ross; the one-man volunteer sound crew named Steff Kayser, and more or less 96 performers who’d mostly been up until 3am the night before – as they say, a good time was had by all. I learned a lot about herding.
3. …and at some point I decided to host a Private Showcase*. At Folk Alliance and at previous FAR-West annual conferences, private showcases occur in guest rooms, where you squeeze a dozen or so people in to hear a dozen or so acoustic musicians take turns playing songs and try to not bother the neighbors. This year was different because of COVID – we thought it wiser to use conference rooms where people could spread out safely and not spit on each other unintentionally.
Bill Goodell‘s Lamp (before)
Let me backtrack a bit here: I’ve been hosting FAR-West Campfires on Zoom. Throughout pandemic lockdown and beyond, we’ve met 2 Tuesdays a month to play, sing, and listen, as if there were a campfire in the middle. My showcase was meant to be an in-person Campfire, gathering some of the regulars to play 10-15-minute slots between 10:30 PM and 1:30 AM. I decorated my room which was not a guest room with these cool flickering light bulbs and asked local friends to loan me six table or floor lamps for Thursday night, promising they’d get them back.** I strung garlands of autumn-colored maple leaves on the floor between them, and a curtain of tiny lights that blinked like fireflies (sort of) on the wall.
When you say you’re hosting a showcase, people email asking for a slot. Steff Kayser was one of my first acquisitions – I mean bookings? – I was already in love with his song “These Lonesome Blues.” I knew, too, that he’d be running sound for the Millsaps events; I arranged to have my showcase in the same conference room so Steff could set up his equipment the night before.
That means my showcase was basically a sound check 🙂
I had to take down all the decorations to prep for Millsaps in the morning. So at 1AM, I stashed the table lamps behind the stage, but took the time to wrap the “fairy lights” in their individual strands so they wouldn’t be tangled up should I want to use them again. And as it happens…
4. Deborah Holland is a FAR-West Board Member, a member of The Refugees, and also of Animal Logic. She’s an amazing songwriter and willing collaborator. Deborah hosted a Private Showcase called Oh, Canada! but said she had no decorations.
me: I’ve got garlands of maple leaves. You want maple leaves? I’ll be right back. I have lamps. You want lamps?
So Friday afternoon, Matt Kennedy assisted me in collecting the lamps from behind the stage and bringing them to the opposite end of the building, where Oh, Canada! would take place. Matt and Deborah also decorated the hallway, to entice folkies all the way down the hall. The highlight of Oh, Canada! for me was Amelia Hogan and her Shrutibox. The Shrutibox is an instrument that follows the same concept as a harmonium, with one or two bellows pushing air through tuned metal reeds inside the box. We were all captivated and asked a lot of questions. Amelia’s album, Taking Flight, is being considered for a Folk Album of the Year Recording Academy Grammy.
At 12:30AM, the two lamps in the hotel hallway were removed by their owners. By 1AM I was dead asleep.
Saturday morning, I ran Millsaps in place of Gary Stockdale, who was to fill in for me so I could attend Joe Craven’s Songetry workshop. You got all that? Feeling a little punchy on 2 days of 4 hours of sleep, I introduced myself as Gary Stockdale.*** I’m told he looks fabulous in pink.
Promptly at 11AM I ran off to the other end of the building to catch Joe’s Songetry workshop, next door to the room where the remaining lamps were left the night before. Matt was there offering to help me carry the lamps to the FAR-West “office.” I was late to the workshop and was duly scolded, but all in fun; I’ve always been that student, anyway.
A Folk Catastrophe – my next album
After the workshop, I transported the lamps up to my room, stopping in the lobby to hang out and chat with friends.
**Here’s a good place to mention that Bill’s floor lamp lost its concrete base long ago, so it was very lightweight. That’s why it toppled and crashed on my hotel room floor.
The socket was askew, but otherwise functional, and there were a couple tiny chips in the plastic. A Folk Catastrophe, I said to myself, and took an album cover-worthy photo before texting Bill.
me: Dude, I am so sorry…
Bill: Please tell me Deborah Holland broke my lamp.
We think it should be a new FAR-West ritual that at least one of these lamps has to come back every year. I saw people sleeping on the floors of conference rooms where showcases were performing – I think that’s a measure of success.
The Chambers Brothers – photo by a Chambers family member & given to d. Ewing
FAR-West awards the Best of the West, honoring those who embody folk values and traditions, have maintained an enduring presence in the folk and acoustic music scene in the North American West, and who continue to inspire others. This year’s honorees were Ellen Harper and
with the Ambassador Award. The Artist Award went to The Chambers Brothers, who performed their iconic hit, Time Has Come Today. I was geeked.
Bernie Pearl, representing the dynasty that founded legendary venue the Ash Grove, was to introduce the brothers and outline their legacy. On Saturday, October 14th, he’d just arrived safely from Israel in the wake of the October 7th attack.
Bernie started with an old joke. I’ll just give you the punch line:
“It’s good to be here. It’s good to be anywhere.” Think for a moment how important it must have been to him that The Chambers Brothers be presented with this award.
And now we arrive at my point:
What’s it for? Community. We gathered in so many corners, danced in them, a sprawling collective intent on learning, sharing songs, growing together. New collaboratives were forged here, some the collaborators don’t even know about yet. Concern for the war raging now in Israel came to the surface everywhere, in song and tears. We shared challa bread and light – people of many religions and of none – on the corner of the stage. Like the theme for this year’s conference, we are the Spirit of Community.
I heard origin stories, such as that of The Ash Grove. Wendy Waldman, a tribal elder herself, named the dynasties that led us to here. And Gaby Castro, Susie Glaze, and Gail Dreifus took us out with a song from Molly Tuttle’s newest album, Crooked Tree. We are here, and we’ll continue to be here, supporting each other. We love each other and I love us. It’s a love-fest. This is Folk.
Folks, your community needs you. Please ask where your hands or head can be put to work. Bring cookies or sandwiches. Bring lamps. Collaborate with other festivals and communities in your area – pool resources. Get the Blues volunteers to come work your event, and then go help them with theirs. Find out what the art people are doing. Write for newsletters and websites like FolkWORKS.
Look for the helpers, as Mr. Rogers said, and help them. If nothing else, make sure they get fed!
* In addition to building the digital program, I wrote & edited copy, researched, prepared speeches, and sold some ad space. Just get your feet in there. Opportunity will manifest.
***The next time I hosted virtual Campfire on Zoom, it was the Halloween edition. I went as Gary Stockdale. Gary thought it was funny. Maybe sometime he’ll show up dressed as me?
debora Ewing writes, paints, and screams at the stars because the world is still screwed up. She improves what she can with music collaboration, peer review for Consilience Science-Based Poetry Journal, and book design at Igneus Press. Find her art and word everywhere, including Jerry Jazz Musician, Shot Glass Journal, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Cholla Needles, and Dodging the Rain. Follow her on “X” and Instagram @DebsValidation, and into seedy pool halls but probably not dark alleys.
