Vancouver Folk Fest

Vancouver Folk fest was another great event to be a part of. Situated at Jericho Beach, the backdrop of downtown Vancouver, ships and yachts and beautiful mountains is simply stunning. I ran into and shared stages with a number of old friends at the festival; people like Janis Ian, Bruce Cockburn, The Wailin Jennys, Eric Bibb, Geoff Burner and more. I also did more workshops with Utah Phillips who floored me with more public praise and also with Odetta, a wonderfully grace filled person who was a big part of the civil rights movement in the USA since the fifties.She has been described as one of the most important musicians of the 20th century but she doesn’t carry that burden in any form that would come near pride, and it was a privilege to be with her on the same stage. I had some wonderful moments on the weekend, occasionally an audience can bless you beyond words and this happened at Vancouver. I sold a record number of CD’s on the weekend, which obviously helps in many ways, but I will remember the weekend for other things. There was one very amusing moment on Sunday when I was singing ‘Whoever It was..’ at the morning workshop with Eric Bibb, Po Girl and Odetta. An accordion was being played rather loudly on an adjoining stage and I stopped after the first verse and chorus and said ‘ I hate accordions!’ This prompted a lot of laughter, which got louder when I said I couldn’t remember the how the next verse starts. I quickly reached down for my bag, took out a copy of my CD, tore the wrapping off and got the lyric booklet out. Odetta helped me do this and it was kind of magical in its own way. It was also great to hook up with more Ice Hockey buddies Mac and Ivan this week. The sun beat down for two days and I was exhausted at the end, especially as I was getting up at six am each morning to watch the British Open on TV. A great time though and lots of inspiration to boot. So now I rest up for a few days, then off to Calgary for their folk fest, which starts on Thursday. The best part is that the family join me on Wednesday for the rest of the tour. On TV here today there was a report of how Linda Rondstat was playing a show in Las Vegas this weekend and she dedicated a song to filmmaker and activist Michael Moore who she called a true patriot. The crowd then booed, spilt drinks and proceeded to tear her posters down. She was escorted from the building and told she would not be welcome to play there again. Amazing that that could happen in the land of the free. Good for her says I