A Fine Boy

Last day at the Winnipeg folk fest was another hot one. Gig went great and Russ Romaniuk and his family came out to the show. Russ plays for the Cardiff Devils. I had a great workshop with Eric Bibb, Utah Phillips, Dick Gaughan and Ted Longbottom. Entitled Working Class Heroes, it was a fairly political affair with Utah setting the scene as the host.Utah is a legend amongst folk circles here and, without wanting to be rude in any way, is the oldest artist taking part here. He cuts a striking figure and has a wonderful glean in his eye. After I sang Please Sir he leant across and said ‘you’re a fine boy’..wonderful moment. Anyhow, it was a good time and the festival was a pleasure to be at. There were the usual after Festival parties, which kept me from my bed till 3.30am, and I got up at 8 to play golf with Russ. Going from a folk fest to a Country Club was quite the culture change but it can be done! You go from a place where know one cares how you dress to a place where some things are not acceptable. All things to all men someone once wrote. Today I fly to Vancouver to start it all again, though I’m taking part in a conference about he future of festivals, politics in music etc for the next few days.