I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

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.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

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 ...
-James Branch Cabell

August 09, 2013 - 11:37 a.m.

I choose you because you're funny and kind

Another day where I didn't do anything so I can devote the writing purely to Falcon Ridge.

Here it is Friday and I'm finally up to the events of a week ago Friday, the first official day of music at the Festival. My Gentle Readers are going to spend more time reading about Falcon Ridge than they spent there. Well at least you have indoor plumbing now. Some of you might even be using it as you read this. Please don't let me know.

I no longer do the land rush. I don't try and get up early. I wake up when I wake up, usually the same time I do at home, between 8 and 9 o'clock. I make the trek to the bathroom then I head down to the main stage area to set up. My new thing is to set up right by the sound booth. The downside is that it is hard to see. The plus side is that's where the sound is best and everyone else that camps with me can find my tarp. It is far enough back that I have no trouble getting the spot. I do a lot of mooching at Falcon Ridge so I like doing something for others.

I didn't set up by the Workshop stage this year and I usually find a decent place to sit anyway. I might go back to that as I only have to do it once.

My next step is the camp formerly known as the Steeple Tent. That's my friends from the Steeple Coffeehouse. People keep asking them when services are so they want to change their name. They tried "Coffee House Village" this year but it didn't fly.

My Gentle Readers know that breakfast is my favorite meal. They know that I am social and love eating with friends. Falcon Ridge is the one time that I get to always eat breakfast with friends. That is pretty much worth the trip up there. Not only do I get to eat bacon but I get to talk about bacon with other worshippers. Sarah I'm talking about you. I don't put butter on my bagel, they make GARLIC BUTTER!. I better not say to much or everyone else will want to mooch off them too. So what do I provide? Me. And they somehow make me feel like it's a fair exchange. Have I mentioned that I love them?

I showered then headed over to the Loozer's Lounge. No not for more food, but for a tent for a new member of the Budgiedome family Kat. Yes I have a lot of Kat. It had come down from Marblehead with Kathy. this is going to get confusing isn't it. I'm sorry but pretty much all my friends are named some variant of Katherine. Kat was arriving later that day.

I took the route across the main stage are so I could hear the emerging artists. I heard all of Tall Heights and Darlingside. I had already heard Tall Heights and had heard good things about Darlingside. They were both pre-fest favorites to come back for most wanted. I wish I liked Tall Heights more. They aren't good guys, they are great guys. I love them as people even if I can never remember their names. They are fine musicians, well above the norm. They are brothers and their voices blend heavenly. OK they aqre not brothers. One was the friend of the other's brother. That's some intro for a band I'm going to criticize. My capsule review of them is that they are not as good as they sound. Listen to them for 30 seconds and you'll say, "these guys are amazing!" But that 30 seconds is all you need to hear. You aren't going to get any more out of it after that. They are good enough musicians that I think they'd be better if their voices didn't blow everyone away so that they'd before forced to write with more variety. I am so afraid they will read this and be hurt. That is the last thing I want. I want for them to be great. It's like Simon and Garfunkel without Paul's brilliant songs.

I thought of them as having a unique sound till Darlingside came on. If I wasn't paying attention I might have thought they were the same band. Apparently men with high tight harmonies are all the rage. Darlingside did more with the sound. There was more texture. I'll need to hear more of them. One other act, I forgot which one had the same sound. that's going to hurt them in the voting.

Unfortunately I passed out of hearing range just as Martin Swinger was starting. Martin is the opposite. Martin can sing. He sounds nice, but what you get from him are songs. The man can write. But I'll save that for when I actually heard him at the Budgdome. He played.

I made the trek over to the lounge and found Kathy's car with Kat's tent on it. This was for Kat and Caitlin, yes another Katherine variant) two petite women. I did not expect a tent the size of the Taj Mahal. I am pretty sure it has an indoor pool and tennis courts. I carried it back to the Budgiedome and left it where we could set it up. I knew that they had never used it and I knew that I was the last person you'd want to set up the tent so I let Paul and Steve know that at some point we needed to set it up before dark.

Brianne told me that Katie (yes I know you can't tell the players even with a program) and her family had arrived and were sitting on the tarp. See why I put the tarp near a landmark? I was going to join them after a few stops.

I realized that just because I didn't have a camera didn't mean that I couldn't take pictures of Bobtown. I went to meet them backstage and get a camera for one of them. But they tightened security! I was not allowed backstage. Usually I get in even without a pass because people know me. I always seem to have some sort of business with a performer. So I had to ask to talk to, yes you guessed it, Katherine. I knew she would have her iPod but I was hoping someone in the band would have a real camera. Alas no.

I then went over to the WfUV tent to say hi. I feel bad that I didn't do a shift there. It's just hard for me I have so much other stuff going on at Falcon Ridge. I went a bunch of times over the weekend,. Who was there then? Linda, Janeen, Lori not LORi, and Joe I believe. After going on about how she hates me Lori gave me my birthday present, a replacement Perry the Platypus Water Bottle!!!!!!. My old one broke. So sad. Just don't get the idea that means she loves me. Nope. She fought like a demon to stop Joe from getting it for me. And then when she couldn't she took credit for it so when people call her on being mean to me she can say, "But I gave him a Perry the Platypus Water Bottole!!!!!" She is so mean. Don't let her fool you. Of course I am a saint and still love her.

I was going to post a picture of us together but she hates me so she hasn't posted them yet. She is probably waiting to get the special "Gordon photographic uglification software."

Joe, the Queen of Mean, and I then raced back to the main stage to see Roosevelt Dime. I had a lot of people in the Emerging Artists and had to miss too many of them. But RD we caught.

Doug Kwartler got my attention with a great song about Brooklyn! He's from Boston but I found out he is originally from Civilization.

When Bobtown came on I spent my only time in the photographer's pit, the place I spend most of my mainstage time when I have a camera. I miss that. It's where I met Jake, Kathy, Jayne, and Amy.

I had not only Katherine's iPod but Lori's camera. Neither is what I'm used to but I think I got some good pics. I haven't seen them yet. When I sat down center stage I was joined by John Platt who could sit in comfort in the bullpen but wanted to see them from out front. He's one of my favorite people to hear music with. If you can't have a great conversation about music with John then I don't want to talk to you. Of course as we were listening it wasn't so much a conversation as sentences slipped into the songs. Bobtown did Battle Creek one of my suggestions and the rarely performed Kentucky Graveyard. None of us can figure out where I heard that but I did. I think it might have been backstage before a show someplace.

They had to call an audible with the set. Katherine caught a cold before she left. It hit her voice on Thursday. They couldn't do anything where she sang lead. She powered through on the harmonies. That's being a pro. I don't know about you but I thought they sounded great even though I was busy feeling so bad for Katherine.

After the set I found Katherine and gave her back her camera, got a Taste Budds Frozen Cocoa Chiller and headed back to the Budgiedome. I totally forgot to stop by the tarp to say hi to Katie, her father Al, and her brother Kevin. It isn't easy not having a brain.

OK this is ridiculous. I have written 1578 words and haven't gotten to dinner, the Main Stage, or the Budgiedome. I'll have to save that for another entry. I might be writing about Falcon Ridge till next Falcon Ridge.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile August 09, 2013
site search by freefind advanced


Follow on Feedly



about me - read my profile! read other DiaryLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!