nf20051v

Atlantic Crossroads
Newfoundland 2005

I worked at emails till 5 when we quit and tried to find Hugh's place.

We had a partial address and three musicians in the back of the van sitting on their instruments. I felt like I was back in my soccer mom days, with the team in the back. LOL! Once we were on the street, Mark hopped out and started accosting passers-by, asking them if they knew where Hugh lived. Not a shy bone in that boy's body, I tell ya! He then started knocking on doors as the rest of us called "Hugh!" tentatively out the open windows. The day was sunny but windy and it was a good day for a backyard BBQ. Mark finally found the right house and we parked the car, let the "team" out of the back and joined those already in the yard. Hugh is quite the cook, let me tell you, and he and Kathy entertained us well. Everything was delicious!

Too soon we had to leave to go back to the Arts & Culture Centre. We drove Ken and Ger over with us and I dropped them and Lillian and Jim off while I went back to do battle with emails. One thousand emails take a long time to send out, and I'm still not finished when 10 PM rolls around. I join Jim and Lillian over at Erin's where Niall has just finished his set and Martin started his. What a pleasant surprise when Mark joins Martin on Erin's stage for a few songs! That was really quite enjoyable! Martin sang his Flying Little Midget song, which everyone in the audience enjoyed. He also sang the Beatles again and his wonderful It Wasn�t Her. Mark got up to do some of his songs solo and one or two with Martin as accompanist. I had decided not to take photos this evening but brought the camera �just in case.�

After Mark, Colleen came on and she had a little fan club again tonight. Tonight was New Zealand night apparently as a few tables full of people were all from New Zealand. They were having as good a time as the Australians from the night before. Colleen mixed it up again and included Happy Girlfriend, Danger and the Leaving Song along with other songs she wanted to sing and then it was time for Ken.

Ken's performance this evening was the strongest one yet for him. The songs rang loud and clear and he seemed poised and confident. Cornation Street seems to be the crowd pleaser for him.

People hearing Colleen and Ken outside started coming in, even though it was quite late. As I stood at the door between sets and spoke to Susan and Dave, I looked up to see Allie Bennett standing there, handing Susan his money! Allie was one of my fiddle instructors at the Gaelic College and won an ECMA for Studio Musician of the Year for 2004. He was as surprised to see me as I was him. Turns out he was on vacation and stopped in to see the last night of the festival. Picked a great night!

The room was quite crowded by the time Ron Hynes strolled in. He carried with him a half-sized guitar with nylon strings and proceed to grab a bar stool and pull it into the center of the room. He announced that he�d be doing this set unencumbered by the mic onstage and asked, no - demanded � that everyone be quiet. When someone at the bar began to speak, he stopped and reminded them he was singing sans mic. Could have heard a pin drop. Ron was master of the room!

He was also the Master Storyteller, weaving tales about his songs that kept us all spellbound. He gathered everyone in one half of the room and made it seem like it was your living room. During his set, which was the last one of the Atlantic Crossroads Festival, all the other musicians came in and sat down with us. Also drifting in were what seemed like the Who�s Who of the St. John�s Folk Scene, including accordionist Art Stoyles and singer Anita Best.

He sang 6 or 7 songs from his new album, Get Back Change. I tell you, My Name is Nobody gets to me every time. I don�t even think that�s on the new album! I think someone was prodding the New Zealanders to ask him for Sonny's Dream and one of them did. Ron had not been singing it much this week and had even refused to sing it one evening. Must be hard to sing a song five million times. He is truly the Man of a Thousand Songs and everyone asks for THAT one! But he began to tell us a tale of how that song was changed by Christy Moore.

Ron said he had sung it for an Irishman who took it to Christy Moore who really liked it. Only he wasn�t satisfied with the ending, or non-ending Ron had written. Ron says Newfoundlanders have no problem singing songs that don�t have a definite ending, but Irishmen don�t. He said that Irishmen have �to wrap things up neat and tidy.� So Christy recorded it and had a much different ending than Ron had envisioned. He said, when he heard it, he called up Christy�s manager and complained �You killed off my Grandmother!� LOL!

Ron had managed to weave us all together for an evening and create a world that no one wanted to leave. Words are not useful enough to describe the moment. A video or audio recording would not have captured it either. You had to be there. You just had to be there. And if all that wasn�t memorable enough for one evening, there was more!

Ken listens attentively as Ron weaves a tale

Everyone gathered close together at Erin's Pub

Allie Bennett listens to Ron

The magic continues!