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© TALL PINE TRAVELS: ************************************************************************************* This page is up dated when there is something to up date. |
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1. The National storytelling Conference in Gatlinburg Tennessee 2. Tall Pine travels to the 56th Florida Folk Festival Tall pine productions Up coming events: Running sound for the Florida Show Case at the National Storytelling Conference in Gatlinburg was a fun gig and I got to hear some top notch story tellers. Mij Byram, Cheryl Floyd, Tamara Green, Pat Nease, Kim Rivers with Nancy Rives (Guava & Grits). I spent my evenings on the streets watching and learning from the street performers working the main drag. They have an 8 week gig every evening from 5pm to 10pm. Story tellers, clogers, bluegrass bands, craft people spinning, quilting, carving and whittling. It was a great week with many memories from my early youth and the family visit to Gatlinburg back in the late 50thies . Ocala National Forest will be having a birth day December 13th 2008 There will be music, food, stories and exhibits from various groups. Make your plans now. Tall Pine travels to the 56th Florida Folk Festival A day of packing and I was ready. When Rodney and Karen arrived in the driveway and moved their stuff on board, it was time to start. Kris just finished her barn chores for the day and had the special instructions sheet posted for the weekend horse caretakers. We all fit in the Trooper along with a trailer full of stuff and actually arrived before dark. Dropped Kris and Karen to go peruse the campground. The first stop was behind the museum to unload the sound and lights for the story stage. Then over to the kids area to off load the 10 x 20 tarp building for the procession of the species work shop. Lastly to camp. On the way we got the cell call from Kris telling us there was no space where we usually camped, it was roped off with maple leaf flag chairs. Turned out they where there to hold our space. Thanks Alycin -We take back all those Canadian jokes A flurry of setting up ensued as the weather was calling for rain. A drip or two was falling as we ran ropes, stretched lines, pounded stakes and moved vehicles. It looked ok, we had Daisy (the Mayhaws bus) as one side of the camp, the other 10 x 20 tarp building as the other side and the 25 x 35 tarp between them with a double high speaker stand as the center post to avoid overhead lakes. Alycin had her tent set up already and it ended up being one end of the tarp building with the Tallpine productions trailer at the other. We were set for the weekend. Peit and That red head he was keeping company with were off to one side in their VW camper. The rest of the area was full of tents. Some extras for the people that decide that a tent is the place to get an hour or two of sleep. Yes sleep is a luxury at a weekend of this kind. The stage shows during the day until about 10 pm then the evening picking in the camp ground. I actually got to sleep just after a car alarm across camp, about midnight. FRIDAY: 7 am. And the first car alarm of the day I am finally getting a little better at delegating. I had vegetables slicing, coffee boiling. I was cracking eggs and poor quality jokes. Josh was keeping track of 4 burners of bacon and pancakes with a cast iron pot of corn bread cooking on the side. A little rain called for a few adjustments to some of the tarplines. The rain kept people together under the tarps until they had to be at their locations. The cooking finished and the kitchen arranged to a manageable system for people to poke through as they need. A pumper of coffee and one of hot water filled on the coffee table, some fruit and bread with PB&J fixings was the stock departure setting. Peit and I were off to set up the story telling stage. Three Par can lights to bring out the performers two mics on stands and with a wireless system ready to go for the walking talkers. A sweet removing shower, off to the River Gazebo to see Tellem Tall and Carrie Hamby on stage at noon. They put on a pretty good show. Tellem Tall was looking a little tired until he got a few deep breaths of that Pleistocene gas coming up from the rocks cut by the Suwannee River, and the magic of that very special stage. When he got into that alligator story he tells he was on his way, he even remembered to get the ending right on Slick Clay and Cloudy Water or Growing up in Bradley Junction, right so Carrie could come in with her song about Bradley Junction and the Phosphate mining that was digging out the entire town. He finished with Honey Glazed Fish; I keep waiting for the rest of the “Along the Trail” stories I hear are coming. Made sure the procession of the species people had their tarp building set up and running. The afternoon was spent roaming about talking with old friends and getting the camp set for picking. The armless chairs in an inner circle and the others further out for the listeners. The citronella “camp fire” filled and the disarray of the kitchen re organized, ice chests re balanced and set for finding snacks in the low light of the night. More coffee made. Josh had the wine and beer opener tied to a string to make finding it possible, it was time to decide on dinner, not at the camp but at the wonderful venders. I have no clue what I eat, I was little dehydrated from forgetting to drink much during the day so I made up for that as I did my set up duties at camp. I wanted something cold and the water wasn't. The car alarm chart was started with 4 logged on as the afternoon sprinkled on. Sound equipment was tucked away at 5:30 and official work was finished The Mayhaws and friends were playing some great stuff long into the night. The 2 am rain shower shout down most of the music and made for a quiet campground until sunrise. Saturday 6am: Car alarm lasting for about 2 minutes Eggs with sauteed (fried) veggies mixed in, coffee, sausage patties and grits fried in the sausage fat with thin sliced red peppers (Trinidad ladies gave us) with cheese. Follow that with a cool barley soda and the day is under way. Some quality southern alchemy time was spent on uses for the coffee grounds. I managed to catch Tellem Tall again, this time he was lost in his little world of “The Scientific Method Gone Astray” followed by “The Great Work Shop Fire of 1968” The main stage closed with Amy Carol Webb. If you have seen her on stage I need not say more. But If you have not seen her, she takes the stage, I mean takes it as her own and uses it with great beauty and power. Her voice and lyrics are a perfect fit. And those guitars, it comes alive in her hands. Back to camp 6 more quirts of coffee and some snacks and a circle of music that kept growing with people like: Dale Crider, Chris Henry, Ashley from Gainesville, Keith Hope, Dean Parrish, Margaret Sparks & Christy Crandall, Dave "Dr. Duck" Dickel, Dennis Hardin, David Leporati, Sharla June, Deb Berlinger, Bobby Cutts, Ric Edmiston, Angie Prather, Mimi Hearn, Barb Johnson, Ron Spencer , Grant Livingston and Several other folks who sat & listened It kept going, the late night picking is one of the things that are so hard to describe. It kept going. I slept for three hours before crawling out of the tent for some show watching. Then back in for listing and drifting. Music and physiological conversations drifted in, E. O. Wilson and chemical communications? I love that chord! A little after sunrise I heard Dale say “I am not keeping you up am I?” and the jam was over. Sunday 7am Setting up the story stage was quick and easy Tellem Tall opened, I can’t remember what he did I was so tired. The rest of the day was spent taking down camp and watching shows as breaks. Along with more great food. Back to the food court and a grilled chicken sandwich. Kris and her chicken pelau, we found a table with Wayne and Jane Sims and enjoyed lunch. Then back to getting it all back in the trailer and Trooper. Carrie told me “I missed a terrific Monday morning jam at breakfast. It was a high point of the festival. We all decided it was so much fun to play together that we got up and played for the people standing in line and eating, had move to the Seminole stage when the meeting started, though. Which we did. And played for another hour at least. Ron Spencer brought his tuba and with me on accordion led the crowd in "Beer Barrel Polka," a fine breakfast entertainment song if ever there was one. The unicycling kid came through our area while we played that,” and Angie said "The circus is in town!" What an adventure. Monday was spent airing out tents, washing cloth, bleaching the 5 coolers and re packing the kitchen box for the next great adventure, Benton Springs in eastern TN. Come join us at the camp ground the last week on June first part of July. More photos on the photo page Happy trails to you until we meet again comes to mind now. |
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