Trish's Trip to the
Kerrville Folk Festival
2002
Who's got the hook up?*

I'll be putting up pics from this years fest here, and commentary on my stay.  I'll also do my best to link to the many wonderful performers we saw and even more importantly, those with whom we became friends.  I don't have as many pics as I had planned cuz my camera inadvertently took a road trip with Leslie to Austin mid week.  Oops.  If anyone has pics they'd like me to post, send them on and I'll get them up.

This, our fifth year at KFF, Erica and I returned to Kerrville, not for the 3-5 days which had become the norm , but for 10 days initially and then, driven by the lack of better birthday plans, I returned for the closing 3 day weekend.  In addition to this duration, I also worked as staff volunteer for the first time.

Camp Naco-Go-Go
]
This is our camp.  Camp Naco-Go-Go's core consists of myself, Erica and Leslie.  We are friends from college, Stephen F. Austin State University in NACOGDOCHES TX.  Given that none of us live in Nac anymore, nor do we live in the same towns as one another, we are Naco-go-go.  Over the 3 years we have camped in the same spot, we have brought many campers with us, and adopted many neighboring campers so that our camp as loosely defined includes a fair number of folk.  We don't have musicians, but we do have SHADE, oh yeah, and thanks to Leslie and the Coleman Outlet Center, we also have living room furniture.

This year's campers include:
Erica, Trish, Leslie, Buck-o Joey, Doug, Steve, Aaron, Ronnie, Steve, Chris, Kurt, Jim, Bernie, Grace-Anne and a few other visitors.  Some are pictured below.

And our wonderful neighbors at Camp on This - the fabulous Jack Motley.  I don''t think I have any pics of his lovely wife Lura Faye.  These are such great people.  Truly a pleasure to see them each year.  Jack plays delightful songs.  He taught me to shake the egg this year, so now I too, am a musical talent.  Jack also sang me a bed time song that made me cry like a baby.  If he'd ever get a freakin' cd together, I'd do everything I could to get him a gig out here.  Camp on This also includes Jack's sister Mary Martha of whom I don't think I have any pics.  She has some great songs too.

 

River
No trip to Kerrville is complete without repeated visits to the river.  We prefer the second crossing although this year Jim and I also explored Monkey Island.

STAFF
[staff central pic]
As I said earlier, we were on staff this year.  What a deal, for a 4 hour shift, you get free passes, hot breakfast and dinner (always with a vegetarian option), work T-shirts (new one each weekend) your guests half price tickets, a massage or acupuncture visit, hot showers, flush toilets, and a greatly enhanced sense of community and connectedness with the festival.  We worked on Theater Security, which has to be one of the choicest positions out there.  Our boss Lenore was quite possibly the most level headed person I encountered at KFF.  My respect for her is boundless.  Her husband Vern and our Second in Command or crew boss or something like that David Vaughn, AKA: Spooky or Dangerous Dave, also contributed with leadership and gentle guidance to make work seem like fun (couldn't be that we were getting paid to hang out and listen to music. . .)
Spooky & Lenore Vern
After several nights it was determined by these insightful folk that I am a natural at securing the dance floor (Do YOU feel secure??)  Apparently not everyone in the world is capable of encouraging people to keep the aisle clear, while simultaneously dancing and smiling.  This choice post became my shift home.  My cup runneth over.

Trish, Leslie and Erica. . . . Do you feel secure?

STAFF DINNER
This aspect of staff kicked ass.  It seems simple enough, you work, you get fed.  But we got fed WELL.  And this relieved us form the burden of shopping for food and cooking.  I had no idea how great and positive of an impact that would have on us.  The Staff Caf also proved to be a great place to meet and talk with new people to strengthen relationships with casual acquaintances made about camp.
 

MUSIC
I am sure that most non-Kerrverts assume KFF is about what happens on stage.  More often, my outlook is 'Oh yeah, there is something going on on mainstage tonight'.  It is completely secondary to what is experienced around camp.  Ten days is plenty of time to learn the ebb and flow of camp music.  Which camps attract what types of music, where and when to find raucous sing alongs or tender ballads.  The musicians we heard were far too numerous to mention, but a few we met deserve a little attention here:
Adam Brodsky - the anti-folk god.  Loud, fast, rude and ultra sharp.  I cant get enough of this guy.
Phil Norman - Phil sings lovely upbeat tunes, I cant adequately describe what a pleasure it is to listen to him.  Phil also has an ADORABLE smile. sigh.
Foscoe Jones - If there was a crowd by the street lights, chances are that Foscoe was in the center of it.  His music is only overshadowed by his stage presence.
Greg Klyma -    We met Greg last yeaar and were thrilled to see him back again.  Greg plays guitar and mandolin and his songs range from silly to poignant.  Greg brought with him this year Jeff, a friend and percussionist who sat in on many camp jams playing the washboard.  Jeff became a de facto member of Naco-Go-Go.  I  hope he finds all the joy and peace he so richly deserves in his travels and future endeavors.  Keep in touch, beta.
WIlliam  Brooks - William was new to us this year, a Kerrvirgin from New York.  He was a New Folk finalist but not a winner. . . bummer.  Hopefully he'll be back next year.  William laid a very smooth hit on me, but alas, I am not to be had. . sigh. heh heh.  Thanks for the cooler William, and for even looking for the ring in the first place.
Drew Nelson - Drew is no hippie.  He was clean and tidy and even smelled good.  He also had air conditioning.  crazy.  With all this I was shocked to hear his wonderful folk tunes.   Hope to see Drew at future fests.

There were others we enjoyed: Jubal, Johann, Sarah, folks whose full names we never caught.  It is overwhelming the sheer vastness of the talent amassed at KFF.  I am always confused as to why these folks aren't famous yet.  I am also reminded that I am NO MUSICIAN, even if, thanks to Jack, I can now shake an egg.

On the main stage and on Threadgill stage we saw many great performers as well.  My faves included Limpopo, Ruthie Foster, Terri Hendrix, Ellis Paul, and Still on the Hill.  But nothing compared to the mind blower of the staff concert.  Staff members vote on the best staff musicians and the top 8 get to play a 2 song set at Threadgill on the final Satuday.  Far and away the best 2 hours I heard.  SO worth the trip back.

After 6 days at Kerrville, I asked Erica "How on EARTH will we ever go back home??"  She turned to me in utter confusion and said in all sincerity "Trish, it is just on the other side of the Theater."  My point exactly.  After 10 days I had to evaluate things.  Would I get more out of the experience if I stayed the full 18?  I decided that ultimately I would not.  It would be great, true, but I would not feel more connected and would only have that much harder a time readjusting in the outside world.  As I put together this page, 3 days after my return, I am still dazed and not quite back to the "real" world.  While I have stopped wondering why there is a ceiling fan in my tent when I awake in the mornings,  I semi-awoke last night and turned off the window unit A/C because, well, we aren't supposed to have generators in the camp and I couldn't hear the music.  [My husband/partner/ boyfriend/ fiancee/ whatever-you- want-to-call- that-guy-I-live-with was not nearly as concerned, given that the festival is approximately 250 miles from my window unit A/C]  But while I don't feel like staying 18 days is the answer, I am in a frenzy looking for someone to share the driving so I can go back for the final weekend.   I bet in the days to come I'll start counting down the time till Little Folk over Labor Day weekend.

Addendum: I DID go back for the closing weekend, that of my birthday.  It was such a treat to walk into camp and know that I would be seeing my friends, even though some of them were fairly new.  5 nights away from camp seemed like a lifetime and a great amount of time had to be spent recounting all that had been missed.  The last weekend had a different vibe.  I am sure part of this was a true change in the groove of the festival and part was just a change in me.  I was much more mellow.  Secure in my surroundings, and my roles, and with fewer camp mates to check in with and/or accommodate, I was very at ease but also with less of a push to experience it all in one swallow.  This 2nd trip really allowed me to cement my friendships with members of Camp on This and Happyland.  I'd also like to thank Doug for being so ultra cool in securing me such a great birthday treat.  I'm am no longer sure that 18 is not the answer, given that the powers that be at work have said I can take unpaid leave if I need extra vacation days.  Certainly something to consider.