response 1 of 31:

Aug 28 04:47 UTC 2001

On Saturday night, I trekked to the great town of Highland Park, IL, for a
concert.  Every summer they have the Ravinia Festival, which is 3 months of
music in a beautiful outdoor venue.  The pavilion is shaped like Pine Knob,
but a little smaller, and looks a lot nicer.  Also, no tv screens.  The
surrounding lawn area spreads out quite a bit, and while you cannot see the
stage from the lawn, they have speakers set up everywhere so that you can
easily hear the concert anywhere in the gardens.  They also have a wide range
of food available, plus encourage you to bring your own in.  It's also in the
part of town that is *EXTREMELY* weatlthy.  The houses that we passed were
just stunning.

The first act was Michael McDermott, who I hadn't heard of, but I did
recognize one song (Unemployed).  He was depressing, the music was sleepy,
and the only thing that he seemed to have in common with the other two acts
was that he was of Irish descent.  Despite the billing, he didn't play any
Irish style music.

Next up was Natalie MacMaster...and *WOW*.  She looks like a 12 year old, or
she should be wearing little irridescent wings.    Her fiddling was just out
of this world, and her stage patter a lot of fun, and very friendly.  There
was absolutely nothing snooty about her at all...it's hard to hate somebody
when their first words are "Well, the first thing that we are going to do
tonight is.....Perspire.  You know, it's hard to look nice and keep your hair
in order with all this humidity!".  Natalie had quite a bit of evergy on
stage, and she just got into the music so much....she was bouncing along to
her fiddling, doing some stepdancing, and at one point put down her fiddle
to do some serious dancing.  Now I'm kicking myself for not seeing her when
she's been coming to the Ark.

Finally was Great Big Sea, who was a touch late, due to their flight coming
in late from Boston.  They took the stage in normal style, the music was
wonderful, the crowd were a bunch of old fuddy duddies, the young'uns that
wanted to dance and bounce and (heaven forbid) stand up, were at first shushed
up, and then finally moved to the back corner of one aisle.  The band seemed
to be in a bit of a pissy mood.  However, the music is always the important
thing, and it lived up to standerds, although they played for only about 1
hour.  Due to the fact that they were encourageing people to stand up and
danec at the end, we think that they got booted from the stage by the festival
people.

But the music made it all worthwhile.

okay, and so did seeing them in the hotel bar after the concert, and talking
to one of the GBS guys. :)

response 3 of 31:

Aug 29 02:45 UTC 2001

It was *SO* wonderful....I'm now going to be picking up a bunch of her CD's,
and am eagerly awaiting her next concert at the Ark.  (Which isn't any time
soon, unfortunately)

response 5 of 31:

Aug 29 15:11 UTC 2001

I saw her a couple summers ago at the Smithsonian Folk Festival in Lansing,
MI.  She was wonderful!

response 7 of 31:

Sep 2 13:10 UTC 2001

You'll enjoy the Great Big Sea....we were thining about wandering that way
to catch them....:)

response 9 of 31:

Sep 4 18:44 UTC 2001

("Elvi"... heh... )

response 11 of 31:

Oct 22 17:17 UTC 2001

Summers Delaney and Sharp were at the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room on Saturday
night.   I describe what they do as "channeling Django Reinhardt,"
the French gypsy jazz guitarist from the 1930s and 40s.  
Summers is the improvisational soloist; Delany plays rhythm guitar 
and Sharp is the acoustic bass player.  This was the third time I've
seen them and I think they are probably my favorite local performers.

The trio plays at Borders every month or so.

Recommended to carla and STeve, who are guitar fans, and to remmers,
who likes old music styles.

response 13 of 31:

Nov 19 17:22 UTC 2001

I think I saw them once, and mostly agree with Ken's description, excepting
that I found them pretty tame for my taste. 

response 15 of 31:

Jan 17 13:50 UTC 2002

(Shamelessly ripped from my yesterday's finger.plan at work -- the concert
was on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002.)
Last night we went to the Ark to see Gabriel Yacoub. Mmmmmmm. One of
the founders of French "world music", known for his updated versions
of traditional ballads from le Berry and Normandy, and also for his
witty and intimate songwriting, Yacoub has a voice a lot like Dougie
MacLean's, which automatically places him in my aural firmament of
stars. Alas, including volunteers, there were thirty people in the
place. It's too bad, because he gave a fantastic show, complete with
self-deprecating jokes about his nervousness singing in English (which
he did for two songs) and some marvellous explanations of the French
songs. For just a guy and his guitar, it was a very full show. KRJ and
Arabella also attended, among the grexians. 

response 17 of 31:

Jan 28 17:54 UTC 2002

Ah, I've been delinquent in writing anything about the Gabriel Yacoub
show, but then Twila probably covered it all better than I would have.
Mike, I finally did manage to locate a list of Yacoub's American tour
dates, and he didn't go anywhere near the west coast this trip.
 
I felt a little bad about not trying to encourage Grexers to go 
before the show, but outside of Twila I couldn't think of anyone 
else who might have been willing to go listen to 90 minutes of 
songs in French, no matter how well performed.

Yacoub has a new American release -- his first release to be 
distributed in America since his 1978 album TRAD ARR., which had 
a CD issue in the 1990s.  The new one is on the 1-800-PRIME-CD 
label, and Yacoub said it's all new recordings, though some of the 
same songs have appeared on some of his French releases.  

Leslie is bugging me to excavate more of the old Malicorne discs, 
as I can only find three of them right now.

response 19 of 31:

Apr 28 14:09 UTC 2002

Saw  John McCutcheon at First Methodist in Royal Oak last night.

This guy is a master of the hammer dulcimer, and played a solo concert 
including six- and twelve- string guitars, piano, banjo and some other 
thing I'm guessing is a non-hammer dulcimer.  It was not trapezoidal, but 
it was geometrically shaped, strapped on like a guitar, and had about a 
dozen keys (on a dampening bridge across strings strung over a sounding 
board) which he played with one hand while strumming and picking with the 
other.

He played "Christmas in the Trenches," his trademark rendition of "Joe 
Hill" complete with the story about the Aussie electrician who built the 
Sydney Opera House and the time Paul Robeson came to sing before the 
construction was complete, a handful of new stuff since 9-11, and some 
instrumental pieces including one fascinating one in which the sole 
instrumentation was a syncopated slapping of his legs and chest, with 
foot-stomping and clapping.  All in all, a beautiful performance.

One truly outstanding thing which I will probably remember far longer 
than the music (although one of the instrumental pieces he did on the 
hammer dulcimer pretty well blew away any other performance on that 
instrument I ever did, or am likely ever to hear) is what I am calling 
"The Book Thing."

McCutcheon has a long and storied history of social activism, and he has 
become acquainted with several writes during his career.  One of these is 
Paul Robeson, Jr., who has just come out with a new biography of his dad.  
JM said that of many bios of Robeson, Sr., this one is his favorite.  
(I've only read one myself.)  So what he did was ask the audience to 
stand up and tell about volunteer activities in which they are involved 
which help improve their communities.  At first there was a pause, then 
someone stood up and talked about her involvement in a non-profit called 
"Paint the Town" which is sort of like Habitat for Humanity but with a 
more narrowly tailored vision (my words).  McCutcheon then held up the 
book and said that both he and the author had autographed it, and that he 
was giving it to this audience member with the following instructions 
(paraphrased):  After you read this book, put the name and contact 
information for your organization inside the cover, and give this book to 
someone you know who is involved in another volunteer organization.  
Instruct them to do the same.

This was about the most brilliantly simple way I've ever seen to turn the 
influence achieved with a measure of success and fame in the performance 
world into a force for real-world social change at the local level.  
Small, to be sure, but brilliant nonetheless.

response 21 of 31:

Apr 28 17:38 UTC 2002

I was actually thinking that, but I cannot figure out why I would have 
been thinking that because I really have not the slightest idea.

response 23 of 31:

Jun 24 09:17 UTC 2002

  Just got back from a performance at Seattle's Moore Theater by
  singer/songwriter Gillian Welch and her partner David Rawlings.
  It was a good show and the set list was heavy on material from
  "Time: the Revelator", last year's release and one which I thought
  was one of the best albums of 2001.

  I'm not sure how many other dates they're playing, or where, but
  if they perform in your neck of the woods and you enjoy Appalachian-
  tinged singer-songwriter stuff with very nice guitar picking and
  tight vocal harmonizing, I can definitely recommend them highly.