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 ...
November 19, 2011 - 12:09 p.m.
How come nobody reminded me that I had to grade tests yesterday? I'm busy this weekend. I have to get to it. On the bright side that gave me time to finish editing and posting my NERFA photos. I might actually show some of them here.
I have one or two NERFA entries left, maybe three. I just realized that I never wrote about the Saturday night Guerilla showcases and the party. I'll start with that. My only guide is going to be my photos. I think I took at least one at each showcase.
I started off with ilyAIMY. Yes I know that I know them well and I'm already sold on them but I just couldn't resist, they still have new band and new friend smell. I finally caught up with Connor Garvey who I had been trying to see since the first night. He was worth the wait. He was in The Maine Attraction a showcase for artists with strong Maine connections. I spent a lot of time there. I also saw Ari and Mia, and Sorcha there. Ari and Mia are a new discovery I checked out several times and I wrote about Sorcha because I had brunch with her and her cellist Jo in the morning. They were delightful company and I have found that's as good a guide as any to finding whose music will connect with me. I got to hang out with Putnam Smith
The other room I spent time hanging out in was the Suite Maple Sugar Showcase highlighting Canadian musicians I saw Jory Nash, Suzie Vinnick, Amy Campbell, and Jon Brooks. I caught a song of Amy's when she shared a showcase with two favorites that I had to see together, ilyAIMY who I caught yet again and Rebecca Loebe.
Jory introduced one song by saying, "Who remembers a band called Moxy Früvous?" I of course let out a whoop. Dave Matheson from Früvous backed him on keyboard when he recorded the song. When we were talking afterward I said, "You know the Früvous reference gets you a mention in Wise Madness. He said, "I know, that's why I said it. There are times I love being me.
When I first met Heather from ilyAIMY at Falcon Ridge I was noticed her physical resemblance to Becca. As I love Becca as a person I wonder if that affected how I reacted to Heather. I know that I immediately liked her. Of course I immediately liked Rob too so maybe there are just my people. Do you think Heather and Becca look like they could be related? Heather had to run so I couldn't get the side by side picture that I wanted but you can see them both in this one.
This is better; I made a collage. 
I also saw Becca was accompanied by Anthony da Costa. Anthony had a gig earlier that night opening for Patty Larkin in Pawling New York and drove straight from there to NERFA to play with Becca. I know Becca through him.
Late at night I had no one left on my list to check out and I wandered around a bit just listening for good music coming out of a room. I heard what I loved in this room:
Rebecca Loebe, Layah Jane with Oliver Johnson, Suzie Vinnick, Brad Yoder with Jason Rafalak.
I didn't stay though because there were no seats and I knew all the performers. I found myself back in the Maple Sugar Suite and heard more of Amy Campbell and Jon Brooks. I love finding people I had no clue before that I loved. I hung out with the Canadians eating maple cookies and talking to fun people.
OK I'm going to try and squeeze everything into this entry. So next up is stories I haven't gotten to and thoughts inspired by things that happened at NERFA.
I see the first thing o my list is the Jory/Früvous story so that's taken care of.
I said how I liked Rob from ilyAIMY as soon as I met him. He has proved himself a kindred spirit many times. He started an introduction of one song with "I'm glad to see there is a nerd in the audience so somebody will get the references in this next song." Yes I'm the nerd. He wrote a song inspired by Frank Herbert's Dune. There was a time that I reread Dune regularly, just as reread Lord of the Rings. I spent the summer of 1973 at a program for high school students at Western Michigan University. One weekend they took us to the sand dunes of Michigan. I bet you didn't know that Michigan had sand dunes. My friend Paul and I practiced walking across the dunes in a manner to avoid drawing the attention of the giant sand worms of Arrakis. Yes I'm very much the nerd and Rob is one of my people.
I promised early in my account to write about my roommate for the last two nights Jeffrey Paul Bobrick. I met him at NERFA last year but never got a chance to hear him play. He is an interesting guy and talking to him is what made it clear in my head that holding my attention when talking is a good recommendation for somebody's music. He has interesting thoughts and I wanted to hear them as songs. I finally heard him this summer and did him. I heard him again at NERFA. He is a perfect example of the theory working. Listening to his music is just like talking to him. If you like him as a person you'll like him as a performer and visa versa. He's weird and funny and not quite like anyone else which is just what I want from my music. If you want to hear his type of music he's the only one to get it from.
He got me thinking of another favorite performer and person, Honor Finnegan. Honor has entered my world in the last year. I liked her immediately as a person and as a performer too. But here's the thing, talking to Honor is nothing at all like watching her perform. Honor is physically petite, she's quiet, she's low key. Then she takes the stage and becomes a force of nature. How does such a big voice come out of such a small woman. I know actually as the entire sound chamber of anyone is at most 9 inches long from the larynx to the nose so a person's size is pretty much irrelevant. Volume and power come from knowing how to use it. Honor knows. But it isn't just that. It's her songwriting. Honor is funny. Not little smile funny but aggressive laugh out loud funny. How does that happen? Because both on and off stage she's brilliant. The difference is that on stage she holds nothing back.
I have one more compare and contrast, ilyAIMY and We're About 9. The two bands are friends with each other. Brian from WA9 was one of the people that told me that I had to check them out at Falcon Ridge. The thing is that someone that didn't know the connection told me that ilyAIMY was like an edgier version of WA9. I objected to edgier and that's what got me thinking. What is the difference and why would someone group them together. What they have in common is musical uniqueness. They have their own distinct styles and world views. I always use Brian as my archetype songwriter who expresses himself in his one way unconstrained by other people's notions of songwriting. He doesn't try and meet other people's expectations but his own. We're About 9 expresses themselves primarily through the songwriting and their unique harmonies for which Pat is largely responsible.
What makes ilyAIMY sound edgier is that they express so much through their rhythms. Their sound is dominated by Heather's drums and Rob's percussive style of guitar. There music goes rat-a-tat-tat while WA9's flows smoothly. ilyAIMY could be a rock band and I'd love to hear them electric. I don't think that makes them edgier but I can see expressing it like that.
We'll see how long this runs. It depends on how I handle my list of discoveries. Do I go into detail or not. I wrote about many of them already so I'm inclined to simply make a list. Last year I broke my discoveries up into two groups, the four I considered the top that I went into detail about and the rest; NERFA Episode 4: The New Hope . I stand by all the ones I wrote up but two of the honorable mentions have now become huge favorites of mine, Kath Buckell and Jean Rohe.
This year's list is longer but with less acts that I'm sure I'm going to become part of my musically royalty. I also realized that there is a gray area between acts I know are great and those that have the potential to become favorites if I see them more or if they develop. There are some people I discovered this year that I know I'll try and see again that I am not going to put on this list and they might be just as good as many on the list. Some of these are major talents that should be headlining venues and some are not ready for that but people I'd love to play The BudgiedomeSo if you don't make the cut don't feel bad. The fault might lie in your humble blogger not yourself. So here without further ado is what you've been waiting for, my list of discoveries at NERFA 2011 in the order I first heard them. I won't try and distinguish how much I like them. Only the future will tell who will become my musicians and who will fade back into the mix.
- Ari and Mia: As I saw them almost every day you probably picked that up.
- Dennis Stroughmatt et L'Esprit Creole: They belong at New Bedford Summerfest. I hope they and the festival know this.
- Louise Mosrie: I couldn't get a handle on how to write about her but I loved her as much as anyone I saw. I have a feeling she'll be traveling in my musical circles.
- The Squid Jiggers: I didn't get a chance to talk to them at NERFA but I've friended them on Facebook and talked to them. They are on their way to becoming friends too.
- Ariana Gillis: She is the one that people are going to walk away from NERFA talking about. She came out of the blue and blew us away.
- Suzie Brown: I met her at last year's NERFA but didn't hear her play to this year. Another person who I met socially that lived up to expectations.
- Gallant, Tu Perds Ton Temps: I don't know where I'll be seeing this amazing quintet again but it better be somewhere. Summerfest would be the natural festival for them.
- Everything Fitz: All singing all dancing all fun! Not the kind of act that you'll usually see at a folk venue but I'm hoping somebody around here books them. Next time I have to take a video. They have to be seen not just heard.
- The Jammin' Divas: They count as a discovery even though Kath Buckell is already a favorite and a friend of mine. I know I'll be seeing them again.
- Roosevelt Dime: Why did I have to go to NERFA to discover a Brooklyn Band? I heard of them because two of them have accompanied Red Molly. They call their music King's County Steamboat Soul. It's akin to Dixieland Jazz. Not folk music but who cares? It's great music.
- The Sea The Sea: Yes I heard them sing at the Budgiedome but that was in a song circle so this counts as a discovery. I can't walk away from their singing. What more can I say?
My top people to check out further are:
- Rob Lytle: Rob has been in the Budgiedome audience. Next year he'll be playing for us.
- Connor Garvey: It took me a while to catch up with him but I love those South Berwick Maine songwriters.
- Caitlin Canty. I only heard a couple of her songs but she's local and part of the New York music scene. I'll be seeing more of her.
- Jon Brooks
- Amy Campbell
- Sorcha
The short list that I think should be headlining the venues I frequent are:
- Ari and Mia
- Louise Mosrie
- Ariana Gillis
- Roosevelt Dime
- The Sea the Sea
It took over 2000 words but I wanted to finish with NERFA today. If you missed NERFA now you know what you missed and you know what performers to look out for.
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 November 19, 2011
| site search by freefind | advanced |
Follow on Feedly
