I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
2001-08-20 - 8:12 a.m.
I got six hours sleep last night. I'm getting better. I might almost be coherent.
I was in pain most of Saturday but yesterday I felt much better. I spent most of the day sleeping so I'd be rested for evening; I was seeing four acts at the Lincoln Center Outdoors Festival. The first band I went to see went on at 6 so I wanted to be there by 5 so we could get good seats. Tom Paxton was playing at 5 but I've seen him plenty of times and didn't want to have to rush over to the other stage and not get to sit up front. It would also have been more difficult to connect with Lisa if I had.
It was Sunday when the railroad only runs once an hour and traffic and parking aren't as bad so I drove in. The parking gods really smiled on me and I got to park a couple of blocks away. I got to the Bandshell at 5 and got seats second row center.
At 5:30 I put programs down on three seats and went to meet Lisa and her friend Alessandro at the fountain. Lisa is reliable which is nice, I didn't have to wait, they were there right on time and we went to our seats. While we were waiting for the show to start Phyllis walked by and we said hello. As usual she was doing merch for Great Big Sea.
The first band up was Solas. I discovered them when I got free passes to see them from WFUV last year. They are a Celtic band somewhat reminiscent of Whirligig. They are true virtuosi performers, particularly the Seamus Egan (flute, banjo, pennywhistle), Winifred Horan (fiddle), Mick McAuley (button accordion, concertina, and tin whistle) and the vocalist Deirdre Scanlon. Their music was more sophisticated than most folk music. I particularly love their use of polyphony and the dialogue between the lead instruments, the fiddle and the flute, pennywhistle, or button accordion.
After that great set next up was the Jim Kweskin Band with Samoa Wilson. I had no idea what to expect from them. I knew Kweskin back from his jug band days in the sixties but hadn't heard from him since. Given his reputation for drug use I wasn't even sure he was alive. I had never heard of Samoa Wilson. They were a very pleasant surprise. Their music was mainly the type of music you'd have heard in the twenties and thirties. Samoa was your typical "girl singer" from that era. They played a mix of jazz and blues with on old Jug Band song. They just got together this spring and haven't recorded yet, when they do I'll get their album. In the meantime I'll have to see them when they play around town.
Next up was Odetta. For those of you not up on your folk history she was one of the leaders of the Fifties Folk Revival along with Pete Seeger. I always have trepidation when seeing a living legend they so often become parodies of themselves or feel that they can just phone in their performance. Odetta did neither. She was totally genuine and brilliant. She made us all sing along and when we didn't sing loud enough she stopped and chastised us. Then she gave us a pep talk. I loved when she talked about the people who were told to just mouth the words at school since they couldn't sing. I'm one of those people of course. She said that everyone had to sing and when we started again everyone did. If you have any sense of history she is someone you have to check out live.
After Odetta's set Lisa and I went to buy a Solas CD. I was delighted that Lisa liked all three acts, she was unfamiliar with all of them. Jim Kweskin and Samoa Wilson was the only one new to me. When we got to Phyllis' table we saw that she only had Great Big Sea CDs, which Lisa and I of course had already. They said that Solas records would be on sale but we couldn't find them anywhere.
When we got back to our seats we saw that people were lined up standing in front of the stage, totally blocking our view. I told Lisa not to worry that they would make them all sit down on orders from the fire marshals. They had made that announcement on Saturday. A few minutes before the set started they made the announcement. Everyone standing booed, everyone still sitting cheered. That is one of my pet peeves. You get to a concert early to get a seat up front and then late arrivers storm the area in front of the stage and block your view.
When the crowd was dispersed there was a little incident near by. The three kids who had been sitting in the first row to our left got out of their seats when everyone else stood up in front of them. When they tried to get back to their seats there were two middle-aged men sitting in them. They wouldn't get up from them. Lisa and I butted in and explained that the kids had been there since before 5 but they wouldn't budge and started yelling. A security guard came by and took their side. I was glad the kids found seats not too far back. What made things extra annoying was that the guys left after three songs. They weren't even fans of GBS. I got the attention of the kids and they reclaimed their seats.
GBS put on their usual great show. I wish they had asked how many Canadians were in the audience like they usually do. I suspect that there were quite a few. There were lots of really excited fans that I didn't know there. I figure that Lisa and I know most of the local Great Big Sea fans, we have certainly gone to enough shows.
I finally got around to updating my online list of Concerts I've attended.
I hope that Lisa doesn't get sick of me. I saw her Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday. I'm going to see her on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, this week. It's a good thing that we enjoy each other's company so much.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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Horvendile 2001-08-20
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