Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?

Subject: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Uilleand
Date: 04 Jun 99 - 03:14 PM

Not all of us have bought our t-shirts yet. Who's going? And do we want to meet?

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Cara
Date: 04 Jun 99 - 03:28 PM

Is thisa Glen Echo MD we're talking about? I think I missed something. What's going on there? Someone please answer saoon because I'm about to be cut off from my internet (at about 5pm EST!!!)

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Uilleand
Date: 04 Jun 99 - 03:31 PM

Yes, the Washington Folk Festival is at Glen Echo, MD this weekend.

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From:
Date: 04 Jun 99 - 04:46 PM

Go to fsgw.org, the click on festivals, then on details. A lot of mudcatters are volunteers; some for as long as the festival has been given.

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 04 Jun 99 - 05:13 PM

Performers include Ferrara (in the Civil War Songs Workshop), Charlie Baum (in the Vocal Styles Workshop), SongBob (as part of Sideicks). I'm probably leaving people out, but I'm about to leave work and will be off-line for the weekend, because I'll be there! (Possibly in mudcat t-shirt, but prbabaly not.)

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jun 99 - 05:58 PM

Im doing the crafts there..(will also have a booth of my woodturnings..)I just got back from there...been repairing benches all day..*grin*

I have been volunteering there for 20+ years...great fun...free..music of many cultures, and picnic grounds pickin'...

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 04 Jun 99 - 10:11 PM

Everyone, go if you can. As graduation weekend comes together it is clear that I am not going to get there this year.

Play one for me.

Enjoy!

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 05 Jun 99 - 12:05 AM

ARRGGGHHHH!!!

The busy times of spring. How do other people balance music with the demands of the Mundane Life! There is two baseball games on Saturday, Cub Scouts on Sunday, The Yard, plus my boss needs a deliverable on Tuesday. Oh for the carefree days of youth!

Seriously, I have a 50/50 chance of making it. I'll be wearing an autoharp shirt if I do. If I don't please enjoy it and report back!

Jim in Silver Spring.

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Jun 99 - 11:36 PM

well, Jim...there are 3 weekends a year I simply tell everyne I know that I am not available...I once took a job with the understanding that there was this fesyiave I DO NOT miss..*grin*...not ssure what I'd do if anyone I know had the temerity to die (or get married...whatever)on the 'wrong' weekend...

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 06 Jun 99 - 09:52 PM

Well, it's all over but the memories. I managed to "sneek" out to the folk festival for lunch on Saturday and ended up staying until 7 PM. The only thing I regretted was not being able to stay longer.

Ferrara, thanks for coming up and introducing yourself. It's great to actually meet a Mudcatter in person. I looked for where you were playing your zither later and didn't find you.

Bill D. I stopped by to say hi in your booth, but you always seemed to be busy and about to sell something to someone. Very nice wood carvings, etc.! I am sure we will have a chance to meet in the future.

What the schedule and fine set of performances doesn't mention is the continuous jam sessions under the trees, and the mix of music they create. There was a cellist playing bluegrass, A harp jam session, Old time with cloggers, and JUGBAND MUSIC!. I got to take my gutbucket out of the basement and join in. It was fun and a couple of people even said I was ok and they liked what they heard (this always astounds me).

Of the performances I saw I enjoyed the Metropolitans, and the Dulcimer workshop the best. The dulcimer workshop blended the old (Keith Young) with the new (Christina Muir). What did others that came like? Jim in Silver Spring

Subject: RE: Who's going to Glen Echo this weekend?
From: Ferrara
Date: 07 Jun 99 - 09:57 AM

Oh, it was a fine festival. Charlie Baum and his S.O. Lisa Null were on the program committee, so many congratulations. One of my favorites was a master musician named Shahriar Saleh, who played a Persian hammered dulcimer called a santur. Both the music and his playing were awesome. He got a standing ovation.

What my son liked best was an exhibition by the International Capoeira Angola foundation. Capoeira Angola is a dance form from Brazil that goes back about 400 years and was developed by African slaves, apparently mostly from Ruanda. It was based on a unique traditional fighting style of kicks, ground fighting, cartwheels and handstands, etc. The slaves slowed it down and practiced it accompanied by music on traditional instruments, so they could tell their masters it was only a dance, no, sir, they wouldn't dream of practicing any fighting skills.

As you can see, the Festival brings out some of Washington's incredibly rich cultural resources as well as showcasing local folk musicians. It's free, and probably worth a trip some year.