| | |  Entertainment 
Volunteer for a Festival and Heal in the Wisdom - Part 4
 Philippo Lo Grande - PVNN
May 4, 2010
| | Philippo Lo Grande shares some of the experiences he's had while volunteering at Music Festivals in North America - from Kerrville, Texas to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. | |
Back in Kerrville, Dan of a Thousand Songs leads the Marti-Kerr-Gras parade past Kids-ville at 5 mph. It's not just a good idea - it's the Law. No one's in a hurry to go anywhere and you don't need a shirt for tie-dyed Tuesday. I thought I heard Nancy Lee telling Lee Green about meeting Hunter S. Thompson at camp Jam-bree on his way to the Ballad Tree, and Rod Kennedy was there selling books of Kerr-history as quickly as he was making it.
I spent the better part of the morning with Shakespeare and Hondo helping them load the truck for a drive down to the Guadalupe River, and explaining to the powers-that-be just why I didn't fit into any computerized color coded category. Turns out that one of the head honchos had been looking for me because I hadn't checked into the Permaculture Crew for a few days. I tried explaining to them that by working with all the groups I'm doing my own Gonzo type of under-the-radar journalistic work because from the Parking Crew I just couldn't get the answers to the tough questions like "are the back stage services of the therapeutic masseuses as good as everyone tells me?"
It's much better to have someone like Texas musician of the Year, Shelly King, play what she learned when Norton Buffalo taught at the Blues Harmonica Workshop. I tried to figured out what the 9th Professional Teachers Development Program was all about, but all I got out of the head honcho's cronie when I asked for my press badge back was, "Hey, I Knew Hunter S. Thompson, and You Are No Hunter S. Thompson."
The biggest open air workshop is for 3 days. It's called the Grassy Hill-Kerrville New Folk School for Emerging Songwriters, and it runs from 9 am to 5 pm and costs $180 dollars. Five teachers, all professionals in their fields, will participate this year. If you can't afford that (and you show up early enough) you might want to participate in Steve Gillette's Texas and Tennessee Song Circle.
Also happening everyday is Yoga, bike rides and the Cuisine Recitals with Phil on the Hill on Banjo and Betty Soo on accordion. Now that may not sound good to you, but with East Side Flash on dobro and Chris Chandler on harmonica, Frank Hill on Guitar starting out with "Now my Grandpappy used to tell me..." this is one show you won't want to miss.
Over the wooden bridge the bells are ringing on Chappell Hill and New Folk winner Tim Henderson starts singing about "a town that rises out of the mist and disappears the same way," in his very best brogue. This place is so much like the legendary Brigadoon. As he finishes, a mockingbird calls and we sing the last verse of a Bobby Bridger song: "And I knew a people beginning to learn, it all moves together the wheel always turns, and we must act swiftly and carefully too. And if we are honest and learn to believe, we might just continue to heal in the wisdom and we will understand. Yes, We'll heal in the wisdom and we will understand."
The Kerrville Folk Festival offers 24 hours of song for $25 to $45 dollars a day, which comes out to just pennies a song. If you order your tickets early, there are lots of discounts available - and camping is almost free. This year, concerts start on May 24th. Music lovers will be coming from the East, West, North and, now that people realize how safe, fun and easy it is to participate, they'll be coming from the South too. Maybe this year the festival will do better than break even, and we all could be part of next year's reinvestment.
 Philippo Lo Grande is an artist, photographer and journalist who covers the hills and dales of the Banderas Bay area and beyond. You can contact him at philippologrande(at)yahoo.com. To see more of Philippo's paintings and photos, please visit his facebook page, or flickr.com/photos/logrande. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us