W. Lloyd Williams

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Filtering by Tag: folk harbour festival

Folk Fest Sunday Finale

Lloyd and I skipped out on the last session of the afternoon for a recharge at The Knot. Keith's ale, caesar salad, potato skins, mussels, and peanut butter pie. That ought'a do it. The boys outside the tent: Scott, Nik, Eric and Lloyd.

Scott made us beautiful rings for my birthday, despite "no gifts" allowed. Yes, we lashed him. ;) Well, I think he got kisses and hugs from me... Anyway, we love our rings; they're carved from wood with gorgeous grains. Just our style. We've looked for rings for a while now and never did we find rings we liked so much as the ones our own friend made for us as a surprise. Thank you, Scott!

All of us seated in the wind tunnel/exit row (note the extra layers, extra blankets and extra tongue sticking out of Scott):

One more time, the Mainstage Evening Concert lineup (I guess I was too cold to take photos):

Carmel Mikol - glad for another performance. We like everything about her musically.

Tom Chapin & The Chapin Sisters - a family with local ties. Tom is a Grammy-award winner, but is probably best known as Harry Chapin's brother. He often sings Harry's "Cat's in the Cradle" in tribute.

Maria Dunn from Edmonton sang a haunting song called "We Were Good People" about a 1932 Hunger March in Edmonton where peaceful protesters were met by police wielding clubs and running even women and children off to scatter the march. View the lyrics and learn more here. Maria has a clear and commanding singing voice and award-winning songwriting talents.

Artisan - a zany a cappella trio from England.

Suzie Vinnick & Rick Fines. Suzie and songwriting partner Dan Kershaw won the International Songwriting Competition - Blues Category this year. She's said to have a "crystalline voice", even a voice "spun of gold". We like it, however you describe it.

Matt Andersen won this year's International Blues Challenge in Memphis. He makes a fitting finale, especially when joined by a variety of the festival's top performers.

As always, the festival evening ends with the singing of Nova Scotia Song.

Our dear friend, Deb, stops by for a post-festival visit and a photo opp with Jay. We miss you already, Deb!

Another Folk Harbour Festival done, another reservation at the Blockhouse Hill Campground (Lunenburg Board of Trade Campground) for next August. If you want to join us, please make your reservations soon!

-P

Folk Fest Sunday: Jay Faires Edition

August 8, 2010 Lunenburg, NS

This one's all about Jay. :)

Surrounded by Grass Mountain Hobos.

I don't know if you can see the smiles on their faces, but they're lovin' Jay!

Huge grins all around for Jay's second performance:

A little bit closer now (look at them jam!):

I wasn't the only one taking photos. The lady in red is a journalist for PEI's (home of the Hobos) major newspaper.

Red Molly, Ken Whitelely and Ben Whiteley, The Grass Mountain Hobos, and the centre of attention: Jay Faires! Whoohoo! :D

Jay, just part of the gang.

These are just a few of the 250-300 pairs of feet standing and hands clapping for a true musical talent.

Not one, but three standing ovations for Jay! And some hollerin' and hootin'.

Awesome.

But it's not over.

Jay and the Hobos are ushered outside for photos.

Jay's a natural.

PEI journalist requests some fun pose with Jay front and centre:

Just the first of many photo shoots, we presume.

One more chat before the Hobos leave for home.

The topper: a new fan tracks Jay down to buy a CD. Jay wasn't selling CDs, but we think the man insisted. He wanted to be the first to buy Jay's first CD, but someone beat him to it. Still, he can say he's the second to buy Hunstville City Limit.

Jay didn't stop there. Remember, there's an After Hours Party every night of the festival. After his first "in" he was in. He was welcome and he was having a great time. We're sure jamming with some of Canada's best folk, blues and roots musicians and singer songwriters was the highlight of Jay's Nova Scotia trip and we were honoured and thrilled to witness it, and we're hoping for a repeat. What do you think, Jay?

-P

P.S. - Jay, we miss your (live) music and your smiling happy ways. We had sooo much fun with you! Great memories. And now we wish you the best of luck at your new school. See you at camp!

No Rest on Folk Fest Sunday

August 8, 2010 Lunenburg, NS

Folk Harbour Festival Sunday begins with a rocking Gospel Concert on the Main Stage.

Here's Ken Whiteley et al with Red Molly:

Sunday's featured musicians, including Jay! You can just see Jay's jeans and black jacket (far left).

Though we were a movin' and a shakin' and a singin', we were chillier inside than those outside of the tent in the sun. We chose to sit in the "wind tunnel", the exit row, every night because it had more room, open flaps to outside and, uh hum, fresh air. We were pretty chilly at night.

Matt and his Mom sing a lovely gospel song together.

By noon things are back to normal and everyone makes for the various venues to catch final performances.

We catch the Capo Connection at the beautiful St. John's Anglican Church with Suzie Vinnick, Matt Andersen, Rick Fines and Kat Danser:

Then I zip back to the wharf for more of Connie Kaldor in the whipping wind ...

... and race back to the church for the Bountiful Bluegrass session featuring ... Jay!

Here's a sneak peek, but I'm posting other pics in a separate post. Check it out: all eyes on Jay.

Stay tuned!

-P

More Folk Fest, Folks

August 7, 2010 Lunenburg, NS

We crammed the day with music, from 10am 'til after 4am at the After Hours Party.

Saturday's Mainstage Evening Concert lineup:

Gordon Stobbe & Greg Simm - an always comedic hosting musical duo accompanied by rubber chickens and witticisms.

The Graham Wells Group from Newfoundland.

Kat Danser, Queen of the Swamp Blues. She's Edmonton-based but just back from ethnomusicology research in Ghana. Her soulful voice can fill a room, and we love her bawdy humour too.

Ken Whiteley and band:

James Keelaghan - multi-award winning (including a Juno) Canadian singer-songwriter.

Connie Kaldor - a three time Juno award winning singer-songwriter with a fantastic sense of humour and storytelling talents.

The After Hours Party (please excuse the photo quality; I'm not the photographer in the family):

Hint: Jay's in the ball cap below Ben Whiteley on upright bass.

Rick Fines far left. One of my favourites. He has a truly unique voice (much like Louis Armstrong's), loves slide guitar, and recorded his Solar Power CD in his off-the-grid cabin in the woods.

Jay played with the man himself, Ken Whiteley. Also pictured below: Ben Whiteley on bass, Mike Goodfellow on harmonica (behind Jay), Abbie from Red Molly (right of Jay) on dobro, and some I can't make out:

Jay's dad squeezed in for a view.

A brief break. David looking a little ... scary.

Jay played every instrument on his CD. Here he beats a drum next to David (in dreadlocks and bare feet and shirtless on a cold night) from House of Doc. Also, two or more musicians from Jay's favourite at the festival, The Green Mountain Hobos. Jay jammed with the Hobos late into the night on Friday (Saturday morning technically) and they became fast fans of Jay's musical abilities. More on that later.

The five of us arrived back at our respective busses at 4:18am so you know we had a grrreat time!

-P

P.S. - A celtic jam session takes place in another room, strategically located by the beer tap and food, and sometimes a third group moves the music outside.

Preparing for Folk Harbour Festival

After a few days of getting things done locally, like vehicle inspections, doctor's visits, and moving a few more books into storage, we settle it to get prepared for the first day of the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival. First thing was to hit the Farmers market early to get fresh crapes to sustain us through out the day. We then stocked up on last minute food items.

Too many choices at the recycling area.

Then Jim and Nancy Smith arrived from Halifax and the music stated again.

Finally before heading to the big tent for the evening entertainment we had a great meal of fresh scollops (Debbie stood in line at the fish store with the local earlier in the morning) and pasta with salad.

We are suffering through as best we can. -L