Folks Fest Day 1

August 17, 2012

Kathleen Edwards





Folks Fest Day 1

The folks at Planet Bluegrass have some interesting ways to guarantee fairness when it comes to entry in to their festivals and the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest is no exception. Each night before the festival performances, a huge line forms sometime before midnight and at some point between midnight and three AM, staff comes along the line and hands out randomly ordered numbers which represent a number in line. The next morning prior to the gates opening at ten AM, a line is formed in numerical order using the numbers received the previous night and people are let on to the grounds in that order.







We had the good fortune of having both strength in numbers (to receive multiple chances to get a coveted low number) and of having the number distribution come early on the first night, just after midnight and our group secured a nice low number. When the gates opened and the race was on to secure great spots, we were able to score a coveted riverside location up front of the pop-up area as well as a nice tarp front and center of the stage- a double score.







This allowed us flexibility to watch the show from the sunny front or relax along the cool banks of the St. Vrain river where the kids (and adults) in our group spent much of the day. Kathy even found a nice spot to hang a hammock. It was just about a perfect start.

Caleb Hawley



Michael & Holly Near

Day one of the festival was the one that I was most looking forward to as some of my favorite artists were on tap to perform. The morning entertainment began with the annual Songwriters Showcase in which some of the top songwriters who had been on site for the entire previous week attending Song School were given their moment on the main stage. This set was followed by the young man who won the Songwriting competition last year, Caleb Hawley who as part of his prize was given the first solo set the following year. Not a bad gig and a nice way to ease in to a weekend of music and fun.



Justin Townes Earle

The weather was about perfect for the festival as performers took to the main stage during the afternoon and early evening under sunny skies with nice warmth and low humidity- a blessing for us Key West folk. Holly Near, a folkie legend from the early seventies played next followed soon after by a wonderful set from the talented Justin Townes Earle. The son of the famed Steve Earle, Justin carved his own fantastic niche with a great performance. I was not all that familiar with his work and loved it.









On the other hand I was really familiar with the music of the final three performers of Friday evening and it was their sets that I was most looking forward to over the entire weekend. First up was Dawes, the LA band that I had seen exactly two weeks earlier performing at Lollapalooza in Chicago. This set was much more subdued and quiet, no doubt owing in large measure to the relaxed crowd on hand here compared to the frenzy of Lollapalooza. It was still  a wonderful and enjoyable set.



Dawes



Trina & Jill

However the next act, another of my favorites, Kathleen Edwards delivered what might have been the most powerful and emotional set of the weekend as she covered much of the emotional ground of her latest release Voyager. Emotions definitely got the better of her as she cried while reminiscing about her last visit to Folks Fest from a few years ago and all that has happened in her personal life since that time. The emotion carried over into a spectacular performance that included almost all of my favorites of her songs.

Kathleen Edwards



The night was closed out by yet another phenomenal performance this one by Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, who performed both a solo acoustic set as well as a set backed by members of his band. Beam has one of the most interesting and defining voices of the modern indie-folk rock scene and his set was a perfect way to close out a fairly spectacular first day at Folks Fest.

I Guess He’d Rather be in Colorado

August 16, 2012









I Guess He’d Rather be in Colorado

The trip to Indiana was followed up by what seemed like a quick turnaround back in Key West, before we were headed back out again, this time on our semi-annual trip to Colorado. Not much was happening in Key West as it is sort of the winding down of what is generally a slower summer season. There was basically only a single event that we attended before taking off to Colorado and that is the celebration of the start of the lobster fishing season known as Lobsterfest.



Alicia & Kathy

Sandy

Key West Lobsterfest is held each year a couple of weeks after the official start of the Florida spiny lobster fishing season. A street fair is held along Duval Street and many of the restaurants and bars set up booths to serve up the delicious crustacean in a variety of forms. The most popular being simply grilled up lobster tails served with corn on the cob and potatoes. But there was also fried lobster, lobster chowder, lobster bisque, lobster ceviche and more. A lobster fiesta indeed.









The week after Lobsterfest, Kathy & I were flying the friendly skies once again, headed to Colorado to once again attend the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons. We fly out and arrived at the Denver airport around noon on my birthday, renting an SUV and heading towards Boulder, which was our first stop. We wanted to stop in and see my nephew Jerome who is working at a wonderful upscale pizza restaurant and bar called Pizzeria Locale on Pearl Street in Boulder.





Jerome



We stopped in for lunch and sat at the bar as Jerome was tending bar. We had a fantastic meal and a great visit, planning to stop back on Monday after the music festival to hang out more with Jerome. We then drove on up to Estes Park where we had plans to celebrate my birthday dinner with our friend Kerry at the restaurant she owns, The Rock Inn Mountain Tavern.







Kerry is one of my best and dearest friends and spending my birthday with her, her boyfriend Matt and Kathy was just about the perfect way to celebrate. Being at the Rock Inn is like being back among family as we have visited so often that we have made friends with many of the people who frequent the place and the new people we meet feel pretty much like family right away anyway.





On our way through Estes Park to the Rock Inn, we encountered a herd of about 60 Elk, mostly females and young ones, with a huge Bull to keep watch as well. They were meandering through town and we stopped like the tourists we were to watch them. They walked so close to us, it was truly amazing to see and to hear the bleating of the young ones was really cool. It was one of those magical Colorado experiences.







We had another sort of magical experience the next day as we headed off to Lyons, after a brief but fun stop at the weekly Estes Park Farmer’s market, to get in line to secure a camping spot on the Planet Bluegrass grounds for the Folks Fest. They have a somewhat unique and interesting way of handling lines at Planet Bluegrass as we lined up in spot 118 for the six pm opening of the campground at about noon.





We had plenty of friends in support of our efforts and we joined with Kerry’s parents Mike and Donna, who had a lower number to rush in and secure camping space by throwing down tarps in a frenzy of activity as the gates opened. In the meantime, Kathy & I walked over in to the town of Lyons to have lunch at the famed Oskar Blues Brewery and to explore the town while waiting. It was a fun day and when the smoke cleared after the gates opened we had secured a massive campsite for all of the friends and family who would be joining us in camping for the festival and we preceded to set up our camping compound.