Eagle Creek Folk Festival 2011

My summer music festivals have begun! It is my favorite time of the year. I belong to a music group in town and we recently had our Eagle Creek Folk Festival. It is held at Eagle Creek Park at the marina.

Here is a picture of me playing with the Dulcimer-Only Group, better known as the DOGs. I wanted to change our name to the Indianapolis Dulcimer Ensemble, but was outvoted. They want to be the DOGs.

Here is another photo of me during our set. We play very complicated arrangements which require a lot of concentration. Honest. We all play something a little different, but we all play the Appalachian dulcimer.

I like this picture of our whole group playing.

We were blessed with beautiful weather both days of our festival. Here are three of our musicians warming up, with the lovely lake in the background.

I was given an award for being a continuous member of our club for OVER 30 years. How did that happen?

My Antique Booth

For the last couple of years I have had a little antique booth. I can't seem to stop collecting, so I thought it would be a good outlet. Evidently, no one else shared the love of the stuff I collected, so I closed up recently.

Here are some pictures I took of one of my last displays. It was January, and I liked the idea of "winter white". I made this sign "Winter White is All the Rage", and displayed everything I had that was white.

Upon closer inspection, I see this picture was of my Christmas display. One of my ideas was to collect angels, and tell a little story about when I was a little girl and my dad gave me an angel for Christmas.

Ah, here is my winter white display again. The bookcase was found at another antique store that was closing. It is made of weathered barnwood, and is VERY heavy. My son helped me move out and wanted the bookcase for his new house.

Hey, if you see anything you want, it's probably still in my garage.

Gentle On My Mind

This weekend I went to the First Annual John Hartford Memorial Festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana.

John Cowan Hartford (December 30, 1937 – June 4, 2001) was an American folk, country and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore. Hartford performed with a variety of ensembles throughout his career, and is perhaps best known for his solo performances where he would interchange the guitar, banjo, and fiddle from song to song. He also invented his own shuffle tap dance move, and clogged on an amplified piece of plywood while he played and sang.

He was a cool guy and I saw him perform several times at the Appalachian Homecoming Festival in Norris, Tennessee. He played "Newgrass", a blend of nontraditional county and bluegrass style music. He wrote the song "Gentle On My Mind", made famous by Glenn Campbell and recorded by many.

This is a picture of my little campsite. It was not far from the stage area, so I could lay in my tent at night and listen to the music.

This group call themselves "The Freight Hoppers" and played old-time. They were from Bryson City, North Carolina. They were quite popular.









The top billing for the festival was Tim O'Brien, one of my favorite artists. This is a picture of his set on the stage at Bean Blossom. I especially like the big sign at the top - Back Home Again in Indiana!

There were quite a few young hippies at the festival.

And old hippies, too. I saw lots of people wearing tie-tyed clothing.

Here is a better picture of Tim O'Brien.

And here I am, another old hippie, during Tim O'Brien's set.

There were lots of John Hartford aficionados there. This guy hailed from Wisconsin and did a perfect imitation of John Hartford.

And at the end of the concert I got to meet Tim O'Brien and get his autograph.

It's knowing that your door is always open

And your path is free to walk

That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag

Rolled up and stashed behind your couch

And it's knowing I'm not shackled

By forgotten words and bonds

And the ink stains that have dried upon some line

That keeps you in the backroads

By the rivers of my mem'ry

That keeps you ever gentle on my mind