| Atlantic Crossroads Festival continued |
| I had seen Colleen Power at the ECMAs in February and in Ireland in March and was looking forward to her return to a stage near me. Although I�ve had her first album for quite a while, I am just starting to appreciate it. And the songs I heard from the new album are going to tip my hand and cause me to spend money for her new CD, Face and Eyes.
She explained to us CFAs that to be �face and eyes into something means to be really interested in it.� I�ve heard the expression recently in Cape Breton, too, so it�s not just a Newfoundland phrase. And so we heard her first song, Face and Eyes in Love. After that came a song about being taken away by the fairies. I didn�t catch the name. Then she sang a not too complimentary song called Mama�s Boy. She must have had some experiences with love in her younger days. A silly song called Happy Girlfriend was next. Colleen explained that she written it 10 years ago after she had a band called Happy Girlfriend and dated one of the band members. That was a big mistake! And if you thought THAT was silly, you should have heard the next song, Zero to Horny in Six Beers. I think that�s all I�ll say about that one. LOL! The last one, The Leaving Song was dedicated to �all the trees in the world.� Get it? Trees � leaves. LOL! She warned the tourists in the room, �You visit Newfoundland and eventually, you�ll stay.� Yup, it�s coming to that for me I think. Jim was up next and Clare came in right before he started singing. He opened with Rising of the Moon and went right into Rhythm of the Goat, which he dedicated to Mick Flannery. Both of those songs are from Jim�s first album, Gypsy. The next song was from his next to last CD, Musaik:In This World. It was Mr. Ambassador, which had some musical ideas from his old Pressure Drop days in it. I first heard that song in 2002 or 2003 at the Folk Festival and it worked its way into my memory for a while. Reilly�s Daughter was next, and I enjoyed it a lot. He takes the middle and inserts various other songs into it, songs you�d never suspect would go with Reilly�s Daughter. In Ireland it was Paul Simon�s Late in the Evening. Here it was Little Drummer Boy. Unbelievable! Jim likes DADGAD tuning but he had to retune to standard tuning for the next song � A Song For Newfoundland. He has a deep-seated love for Newfoundland that comes out in his music. It�s obvious he loves his homeland. This song will convince even the best skeptic exactly where his allegiance lies. The words are meaningful and relevant. He closed with one of my favorites, Downtown Girl. Everyone sang along. Everyone! Good set, Jim! This was a night I really enjoyed Mick Flannery. He did a very bluesy set and sounds like Tom Waits. He had a setlist written down and said that it was arranged to tell a story. Opened with Birds and the Bees and I forgot to write down the second song title. I was so enthralled by his performance that evening, I didn�t write much more than the song titles down. He really was mesmerizing! A song called �Jealous� came next and after that, Innocent Song, A very bluesy one after that called Tender, I think. He ended with In the Gutter. Now THAT was such a powerful song to end with! Wow! This song would be one that the whole group of songwriters would end up singing often. This b�y is going to be big someday. He�s so unassuming and shy in person. Darrell was the last on the docket this evening and I was perfectly content to listen to him again. He opened with We Know What We�re Fighting For, a song for those who know and love Newfoundland. This goes well with Jim�s Song for Newfoundland. �We believe in what we�re fighting for - Home, boys, Home!� Some people were not hearing it for the first time and quietly sang along. When Johnny Came Back From the War was a sobering song. Darrell described the process of writing it, �Some songs you struggle with, this one just wrote itself.� His description of the next song made me think the idea for it came up while he was on tour with Great Big Sea. �You turn a corner and see someone from home. There are not that many people left in Outer Cove/Middle Cove/Logy Bay. �Seeing you just takes me home again�� was a line from Old Friend. Darrell�s fourth song was partly completed in Ireland in March on �a long walk down Oliver Plunkett Street. The dream is the same as it�s been for years � to make it In America. �Hopin� to find it in America.� That�d probably be as true for the Newfoundlanders as it is for the Irishmen. After all, Vic and I have been to see Darrell, Niall and Clare perform in America already. Perhaps one day my countrymen will wise up and realize what treasures lie up here in music. How surprised was I to hear the �Power Metal Rock Band version� of Alan Doyle�s Fast As I Can next! It was great! Darrell quoted Ger Wolfe for the intro of the next song, Simple Life. He said that Ger had made a comment that �we�ve forgotten how to be wasters of time.� And Darrell wrote a song that addressed that. It was the first time I had heard it! Darrell�s wife Sandy was the subject of a Song for Sandy. Obviously he loves his wife. He�s a special guy who retired from a successful band, Great Big Sea, to spend time with his wife and kids. He�s doing well and it�s apparently been for the best. Both Darrell and Sandy are lucky to have found each other and fallen in love. They must love his being home now, after 10 years of 250 days on the road each year. He closed with a song called Push, written after he had driven someone to Grand Falls-Windsor for treatment to get off oxycontin. �Sometimes a little push is all you need.� I had a grand time sitting with the Irish musicians that evening and was particularly happy when Clare arrived. Her flight was uneventful, thank goodness. I heard both Jim and Darrell, two of my favorite musicians, and enjoyed conversations carried on with my tablemates. After Darrell was done at 2 AM, I went down to Erin�s for a bit, drove Ger home to the hotel because he was exhausted and went back to Erin�s to relax with Jim and Lillian and Doug. We stayed till the end and celebrated with a sausage dog, my first, from the vendor outside, at 4 AM. I felt as tired as Ger looked and went right to bed. Saturday, June 25th Went downstairs and chatted with Doug when I got up. I haven�t seen him since last August when Vic and I drove him home to Paradise. Lillian made a delicious brunch, Doug�s Mom came to pick him up. Later Lillian and I went shopping. Stopped at Signal Hill because it was such a beautiful day. It was Field Day for the local Amateur Radio Club, VO1AA. I knew Vic would be interested in their set-up so I took some photos. The report from the previous evening was good. The people who came into the venues seemed to really enjoy the music and bought CDs of the artists. It was a good start to the first annual Atlantic Crossroads Festival in St. John�s. Tonight the artists who sang at Erin�s and the Ship would be at the Celtic Hearth and Bridie Malloy�s and vice versa. I was scheduled to man the door at the Ship with Lillian after 11 PM, so I'd get to see everyone in the first two days! That was a good thing. Tonight's roster was Clare O�Mahony, Pamela Morgan, Mark Greville, Ron Hynes, Niall Connolly and Hugh Scott. I had missed Pamela in March and was anxious to hear her ethereal voice again. When I got there, Carm and Roweena were on the door and I took my camera out to snap a few photos. Oh no! I hadn�t replaced the dead batteries from the night before. So I ran to the nearest NEEDS convenience store and picked some up, scurrying back to the Ship and finding the best parking spot before Clare�s spot was over. She did a great job, as usual. I think I Can�t has to be my favorite Clare song these days. Pamela Morgan was up next. Her voice was as beautiful as I remembered. She sang Paul�s Song, Portuguese something, and I think I heard Seven Years. I was so caught up in her voice I forgot to write down the songs. Mark Greville followed Pamela and opened with �Select a High,� followed by �Bury It Deep� (�like a good boy would�). The next song�s title escaped me but it was a change of pace, a slow song. Mark has a strong voice and it really came out here. Afterwards, he told a story about how he and Ger Wolfe had walked all over St. John�s for 4 hours and had gotten sunburned. What a great segue into �Summertime!� That song would become one of the favorites of the musicians during the festival. �All I could See� hit me with lyrics like �they like seeing talent, they love seeing failure.� Reminds me of some rumors I�ve heard up here in Newfoundland. �Names� was Mark�s last song of the evening � �though sticks and stones may break my bones, names will never hurt me.� |