For Festival Folks, Especially Musicians…
Things I’ve learned from British folk ballads…
I’m laughing out loud right now, and the dog is looking at me like I’m nuts.
KCRF First Weekend: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Good:
- Performing the show for audiences, most of whom seem to enjoy it, and get the jokes.
- Getting to kiss Laura 4 times a day, in front of said audience.
- Hearing from Laura that a woman raved about our show to her, and compared us to the Tortuga Twins.
- Kris playing it straight, which makes it even more funny when she says something goofy.
- Mike’s adlibs that floor the audience, and break my character (“I don’t sin nearly as much as I thought! I’M NOT GOIN’ TO HELL!!!”)
- Seeing people that I don’t nearly get to see enough.
- Brooke letting us use her shop as a base of operations, which helps us tremendously. (Kudos to her minion as well, for not sneezing and exploding in her bodice!)
- Not doing parade.
The Bad:
- OW. Crippled. Even with sitting down a lot.
- Attendance sucked. We only had 4,000 people on opening day (about a third of what it should’ve been).
- As a result, hat-passing resulted in about half of what we were told to expect by other shows last year.
- The weather Saturday was abyssmal, due to the humidity. It almost dropped me at about 2:00, if not for the efforts of Mistress Sable, quick with some ice, a fan and a mug of Lydia’s iced mint tea.
- Small cast, and most of them are unseasoned…so the lanes pretty much suck.
- Hearing tables of crafters at dinner on Sunday night mocking the ass-tastic farce that is the scenario. The reputation of KCRF sinks even lower.
The Ugly:
- Morale is in the shitter. The cast is still losing people daily, and the Entertainment Staff seems clueless. (I suppose when you surround yourself with your fellow Stone Church parishoners, all of whom tell you that every move you make is brilliant, it’s easy to lose perspective). They’ve cancelled the after-hours pub for the performers, and the cast party. We literally get no opportunity to unwind on site, or celebrate our achievements with eachother. I’ve heard perfomers say that they won’t make it through the run. I’ve heard performers say that they’re not coming back next week, for chrissakes. Wake up, Jim. You’re losing it.
- This, apparently, is the “We Don’t Give A Fuck” Festival. Empty shops, shops still being repaired while customers are in the lanes, prices for special events raised while the food and perks of those events are being reduced and run on the cheap, shoe-string event-by-event insurance coverage rather than blanket coverage for the site, etc. It’s hard to shake the feeling that the whole thing is being run on a shoestring, for the express purpose of being a tax write-off loss leader for the Minnesota festival. KCRF is 2 years into their 5-year trial period for the lease extension, by which time they have to have a permanent year-round events building on site, and they haven’t broken ground yet. I’m betting that Peterson will run out the 5 years, and then close the show, getting as much money out of it as he can without putting anything in.
I’m hoping that The Ugly and The Bad don’t end up overwhelming The Good for us this year. I love doing this, but the scales are dangerously close to equilibrium right now.
Friday Music
Got a bunch of goodies for you this week:
First off, a bit of Funk for
While we’re on the subject of Soul, give this track a listen. It’s my second-favorite track from Ray Charles (after “What’d I Say”), and the backing vocals by Margie Hendricks are a big part of it…her smoking-hot “BABY!!!” gets me every time. Ray Charles – “Night Time Is The Right Time.”
Now, a pair of tracks from my favorite animated-animals-in-a-post-apocalyptic-supernatural-rock-musical, Rock and Rule, which is now available on DVD. First up we have the villain’s signature tune: Lou Reed – “My Name is Mok.” Second, we have my favorite song from the film: Debbie Harry – “Angel’s Song.” (Debbie Harry actually used the same music with different lyrics for a song called “Maybe Just For Sure” on her 1989 solo album, but I like this version better.
I found this the other day, and I’m completely obsessed with it. It’s a cover, but in the best way…it uses the same key and the same lyrics, but the music and the feel is so different, it deserves to stand as its own song: Snake River Conspiracy – “Lovesong.” I might even like this more than the original version by the Cure. (Blasphemy, I know.)
Speaking of covers, here’s a brilliant one from the great soundtrack to the not-quite-as-great film, Tank Girl: Paul Westerberg and Joan Jett – “Let’s Do It.” Gotta love Cole Porter…
I’ve enjoyed several releases by Bond, even though I recognize that their primary purpose is to be a string quartet of eye candy, to sex-up classical. It’s infectous stuff, though: Bond – “Explosive.”
Another track by Middle-Eastern diva Natacha Atlas, this time singing a French cabaret tune, and completely changing the feel of it via middle-eastern instrumentation. Love it. Natacha Atlas – “Mon Amie La Rose.”
I discovered this track this week, from a Denver-area band that I can only describe as sounding like they came off the soundtrack of Twin Peaks, but with Julee Cruise as a man. This song is absolutely beautiful…especially when his vocals come in. Devotchka – “How It Ends.”
Lastly, I leave you with my favorite track from everybody’s favorite proto-Goths: The Damned – “Street of Dreams.”
Now, off to prepare for tomorrow’s opening day of KCRF 2005.