MBOTMA Festival (still more)

Well, after 3 days of work, last week's festival is fading into the past, but just a few more notes before I let go.

As mentioned I like the fact that this is both an old-time and bluegrass festival: from going to the Bluff Country Gathering and other old-time events, Lynn and I have gotten to know many folk in the local old-time community. I noticed that any time an 'old-time' planned played, we saw our old-time friends - we really get a chance to go to any square dances, but at the Cajun dance saw a fair sampling as well.

At Mike Seeger's showcases and main stage appearances I started noticing the same set of young men (in their early twenties) - they were completely engaged - taking pictures and videos. Good to see that the old-time traditions will continue.

The Monroe Crossing sets were very engaging - they tour a lot regionally, but I haven't really seen them that often. They are among the best at using the single mike setup (but wisely have a separate mike for the guitar). I caught the last part of their 'song-arranging' showcase - where they started to put together a song that they 'knew' but had never arranged. I was amazed when they performed it an hour or so later on the main stage - Lisa had a sheet with the words, but otherwise you'd never know it was only hours old...

Since Lynn and I have started to 'play out', we have spent most of our time at festivals listening to the bands (or hopefully performing like we did a year ago at the Homegrown Kickoff). We set up our VW Camper-van on a reserved site - we have electricity but are far away from most of the jamming happening in the 'rough' camping area. However, on Friday we ran into a few friends and figured out where they were gonna jam later by trekking to their campsite Saturday afternoon (find it first in daylight - El Ranchero Manana is huge). So Saturday night we walked to their site and jammed until 2:30/3:00 AM. Great time playing with folks I've played with and some new ones. What I liked was that everyone was a good musician without being 'intimidating'.

Since the festival, Lynn and I spent some time Monday figuring out which cuts to include on our CD (this is our rehearsal night - we were too tired to play). Since the duet and guitar contest is coming up in a couple weeks, we are gonna try to get some extra practice in. We're out of town again this weekend, so we're shooting for tomorrow (Thursday). Our fall schedule is getting pretty full, so we will continue to be active in the local music scene!