| Atlantic Crossroads Festival continued |
| The ceiling was full of white "Christmas" lights and it looked like stars in the night sky. I could not believe the sound of some of the songs when a band was behind them, not just an acoustic guitar. The band was the Accessories, made up of Boomer Stamp on drums, Glenn Simmons on guitar, Paul Kinsman on keyboard and Billy Sutton on bass. they were joined by Graham Wells on accordion and whistle. They are an incredible group of musicians, able to improvise at the drop of a hat. Niall, Martin and Mark were due to rehearse this afternoon. At 5 PM we were all going over to Hugh Scott's house for a barbecue. If everything went well at the rehearsal hall, that is. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing, so I sat off to the side in the audience. Jim and Lillian sat in the middle of the second row of seats, making suggestions for the lights, the sound and mic assignments. I went out in search of a way to send some more of those email press releases. I worked at that till 5 when we quit till 7 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. Coronation 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 and 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!� The candles on the table (Lillian's touch) really helped to make the ambiance just right. By the next to last verse of Sonny, everyone in the room was singing the chorus and I swear I heard 6-8 part harmony! He requested and sang the last verse solo and when he was finished, the magic in the room was palpable. 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! That song we had discussed and sang earlier in the day, Shule Agra, became the catalyst for another evening of song like last night. Jim handed Pamela the guitar and explained about our discussion this morning. He asked Pamela and Anita to sing their version to Ger. Ger listened attentively as they did and then serenaded them with another song! Then Ger passed the guitar to Jim, who came out into the center of the room and asked Ger to sing Curra Road. The entire room liked the song apparently as everyone sang along and we had some nice harmonies going on. SO here was Ger, in a room 3500 km away from home and the roomful of people was singing his song. Kinda neat, don�t you think? Mike Hanrahan took out his bouzouki and played along with everyone, like the other night. Darrell sang �On the Road Again� and every musician in the room had an opportunity with the guitar. After the guitar was put away, we sang a capella Beach Boys and Doo Wop songs in as many parts harmony as we could. We reluctantly left at 4 AM and basked in the afterglow of a magical night outside on Water Street. And I had the privilege of driving Ron Hynes home after he visited with Jim and Lillian a bit at home. I considered it a supreme honor on that night when he showed what a perfect magician he is. The magic he helped to create there at Erin�s was a priceless gift. Had the camera with me and took a shot of the harbour from the Battery above Ron's house and then went home and sent out the rest of the emails before I went to bed. This feeling of brotherhood, of community, was the feeling Jim's been trying to get with the Festival. It happened this evening. Everyone felt it. It will be hard to say goodbye on Friday. Wednesday June 29th The Festival is over. It�s a day off for everyone before the Gala tomorrow. NOT! Even though there are no concerts scheduled for the day, it is anything but a day off. I awoke at 9:30, the time we were supposed to be at the Arts and Culture Centre for rehearsal with the rest of the gang. I woke Jim and Lillian and we hurried out of the house. Jim had scheduled about 45 minutes for each person and a little more time. Luckily, Darrell Power was the first one scheduled this morning and he�s done enough soundchecks in his life, he didn�t need any �outside� help. Ten years of that at 200 days a year qualifies him for "experienced" don't you think? There were two waves of rehearsals, AM and PM, with all to be done by 5 PM. I got to watch from backstage and talk to people. It was a different view than out in front, for sure. In addition to soundchecks and mic assignments for songs, the dancers had to practice as they�d be dancing for three numbers and the whole gang had to practice the closing bows. THAT was hilarious! You wouldn�t think it�d take that much instruction, but trying to get 13 performers to do ANYTHING at exactly the same time was a real challenge! Hugh Scott ended up being the bowing expert and took care of demonstrating exactIy how Jim wanted it. |