With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
I enjoy paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
August 03, 2007 - 5:44 p.m.
This should be my last non-illustrated Falcon Ridge entry. I'll wrap up by talking about the last two nights at The Budgiedome.
Friday Night:
Friday was the night of drama. There was another experiment under foot. I had used comp tickets to pay the way for musicians to play the Budgiedome. This is the first time we ever basically important talent to play. Everyone else had always planned on being at FRFF anyway. The musicians were Kelly Flint and Lipbone Redding. They shared a band and they are both managed by their bass player, Kelly's husband and Jeff Eyrich. Kelly and Jeff are old friends of mine. I've known Kelly for about 15 years, longer than Jeff has known her. I just met Lipbone (can you believe that MS Word doesn't like the spelling of "Lipbone?) this year but we hit it right off. They were a real change of pace for the Budgiedome. I don't think that any of my friends there had ever seen either one of them. I knew they were great and the crowd would love them and had faith in my judgment so I booked them. The problem was their schdule. Lipbone had gigs all weekend. I couldn't believe what they ended up doing. Lipbone had a gig in Yonkers on Friday night at 7 PM. They drove straight from the gig up to Falcon Ridge to perform at the Dome even though they couldn’t stay and would have to go leave right after their performances. Then to make things really interesting, on their drive up it started to rain. Then it started to pour. The roads up to the camping area were closed. That meant they had to lug their equipment, including Jeff's double bass right up the hill. I called them to let them know and they agreed to come up anyway. They are real troupers; the show must go on.
To add one more layer of drama I had only sent them three tickets because I didn't know that their drummer Rich would be coming. I left a ticket for Rich down at the gate but was told that if he had to pick it up before midnight and that was just about when we expected them to arrive. That meant that Steve and I walked down to the gate to pick up the ticket ourselves. Once I was down there I found out that they needed the people at the gate anyway to give them their bracelets. The people at the gate graciously agreed to wait for them.
They had a little trouble finding the entrance but they made it. It had stopped raining by then so it just came down to slogging up the hill in the mud. I lost track of Jeff and Rich at one point so Kelly and I ended up walking across the amphitheatre to the Budgiedome while Jeff, Rich, and Steve went up the road. It was muddy but we had the shorter route and got their first.
By that point my only question was if we'd get a decent crowd because of the weather. It wasn't as bit as the other nights but we did fine. Kelly and Lipbone were hits. I knew that Lipbone would make a big splash; he is a unique performer. Kelly's appeal is subtler. You have to really pay attention to hear what sets her apart as a songwriter. She is definitely not just another sensitive chick with a guitar. She is delightfully weird. She doesn't try to be anyone but herself.
Kelly loved it some much up there that she wanted to stay the weekend. I almost had a tentmate the rest of the festival. She had to go back that night to take care of her son. She was going to come back with him on Saturday but it proved just too much so she had to cancel. She said that next year she'd stay the weekend with us. I'm looking forward to it.
We discovered Zoë at SMAF last year. She won their songwriters contest. She just keeps growing on me. Like Kelly she is not just another Dar wannabe. She's funny, and smart, and has substance.
Jud played for us last year but I must have missed his set. There is no way I'd forget him, he's great. This was the funny quirky night.
Saturday Night:
- Sandy Cash
- Greg Klyma http://
- Red Molly
- Anthony da Costa and Abbie Gardner
- We're About 9
Pat Wictor with Cheryl Prashker - Meg Braun
- Victoria Lavington
- Open Mic
We took lots of risks the other sessions but Saturday night was the surefire crowd pleaser.
Sandy Cash and Greg Klymer were the warmup acts. That is an experiment that worked out great. Lesser known artists get good exposure and we get people to fill the time and draw crowds till the headliners start.
I knew that Red Molly would cause a sensation. They drew the largest crowd in Budgiedome history. How can you beat three incredibly talented performers with amazing stage presence that are also really cute? You can't?
I think that Chris and I were the only ones there that had seen the Anthony and Abbie show before. They were guaranteed to wow everybody. You haven't lived till you've heard them swap lyrics on Long Island Cowboy. Years from now people are going to talk about seeing Anthony with Red Molly at the Budgiedome the way people today talk about seeing Dylan open for Joan Baez.
We're About 9 are part of the Budgiedome family. I like turning over the performers but they can play anytime. They always have a large following at the dome and I love them. I loved watching Rebecca and her friend watching WA9. Lori and I decided that they adorability most be a criterion for admission to Oberlin. This was the complete WA9 lineup with Pat Klink, not We're About 6. Abbie who replaced Pat in some gigs last year joined them for a song. Abbie just hogged the Budgiedome stage. Nobody will ever complain about that.
Pat Wictor's music is a change of pace from the first two acts but was still a natural to follow them. He has played with just about all of them in the past and he took Pat Klink's place when WA9 played the Budgiedome last year. Cheryl had been in a band with Carolann. Folk music is very incestuous.
Meg stepped in last year when the Big Orange Tarp kidnapped Russell Wolff when he was scheduled to perform for us. This year she had a scheduled spot. She recommended Victoria who has been away from performing for about 4 years. They were both great. This was a lineup that shined from top to bottom.
I still haven't edited my pictures but I'll show you a few of me that Chris took. Here I am at the Budgiedome on Saturday Night. 
Here I am manning the WFUV booth. 
I think I'm actually done writing about Falcon Ridge 2007. Well at least till I have my pictures up.
Moving is becoming more and more real. I looked at apartments today. None of them excited me. I didn't think any of them were really suitable for house concerts though one had potential. It is amazing how that has become a priority for me.
I always enjoy observing my place in the social scene. It is so fluid and hard to define. As I believe in the Copernican Principle and that there is nothing special about my position in the universe I am guessing the same thing can be said about you.
One thing that has been dawning on me and that became clear at Falcon Ridge is that there is the folk equivalent to the Jet Set, what John Prine calls the "Old Chevro-let Set." I think the "Hybrid Set" might be more appropriate if less euphonious. Not only does this set exist but I seem to be part of it. I got invited to three events at Falcon Ridge and I only know one of them well.
Now I'm not going to pretend that I don't love that. On the other hand I'd much rather have more close friends. It isn't even close.
I got my electric kazoo in the mail today! The problem is that it isn't designed to be plugged directly into my computer as I was led to believe. I'll have to see what I can do. I might have to wait till I'm at a show where friends are performing that will let me plug it into the guitar amp before or after the show.
Not that this entry isn't long enough but I might as well give the lyrics to the John Prine song.
(We're Not) The Jet Set
By a fountain back in Rome I fell in love with you
In a small cafe in Athens You said you loved me too
And it was April in Paris when I first held you close to me
Rome, Georgia, Athens, Texas And Paris, TennesseeNo, we're not the jet set
We're the old Chevro-let set
There's no Riviera
In Festus, Missouri
And you won't find Onassis
In Mullinville, Kansas
No, we're not the jet set
We're the old Chevro-let set
But ain't we got loveNo, We're not the jet set
We're the old Chevro-let set
Our steak and martinis
Is draft beer with weenies
Our Bach and Tchaikovsky
Is Haggard and Husky
No, we're not the jet set
We're the old Chevro-let set
But ain't we got loveNo, We're not the jet set
We're the old Chevro-let set
The Prine and DeMent set
Ain't the flaming suzette set
Our Bach and Tchaikovsky
Is Haggard and Husky
We're the old Chevro-let set
But ain't we got love
The Batnoses are in First Place by 5 points! A little breathing room
The International Jewish Banking Conspiracy - October 07, 2008
On the Road to Westchester County - October 06, 2008
Inside the Madison Square Studio - October 05, 2008
I'm a Bosniac and I'm debating like I've never debated before - October 03, 2008
Islands in the Stream of Consciousness - October 02, 2008
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile August 03, 2007
