Cheap Seats

Back from the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 08.

 Loved the music, but I'd forgotten how diverse a crowd will show up for a free concert. Quite the sea of humanity. Peaceful, eclectic, yet, my head hurts from the "haze."

 We stood fairly close to the stage, and could see the folks with the best seats at the concert-over a guarded fence, on the stage, behind the performers. We surmised that it was the fellow who bankrolls the whole concert series, and the mysterious woman I'm speculating, was the queen of the festival, Emmy Lou. 

They could see. All we could see on the stage was hair. It was a hair war between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

I bet those two discuss hair products often. 

Buddy Miller, one of my all time favorites musicians played with them. Robert Plant and Buddy Miller. Cool. Alison I assume was on the fiddle. I saw her at the end of the concert, chatting it up with mysterious Mr. and the mysterious woman. 
I did give a call to Miss Kris when "Down To The River To Pray" was sung by Alison Krauss. I wish I had a voice like hers. Alison's that is. I like Miss Kris,' and she gives free concerts too. Miss Kris would sing with me, but I don't think Robert Plant would sing with me. 

Although I can't say I know anything about Led Zeppelin's music, I enjoyed the way the two performer's voices blended so well together, like music butter.

By the looks of the crowd, they seemed to enjoy the Led Zeppelin's song's gone bluegrass. While I shunned such music in high school, Paul embraced it. As he knew the old music, he delighted in Krauss' and Plant's version of "Battle of Evermore."

Of course, I enjoyed being with Paul tonight, but I can't help compare with our previous HSB with the Brosamers. Not only were they excellent hosts, opening their home to us, they are incredible people. The kind of people whom you'd love to spend those ordinary days with, not just music festivals.

Strength and Dignity

                                                                                                                                                                                     Photo Courtesy of Deanna Hershiser
This Monday, at the writers class I attend, our presenter was writer/seller, Dorcas Smucker. My history with Dorcas is quite short, sort of. A few years ago, I read an article of hers in the Sunday paper. I read the paper daily, (well, I read the headlines daily) and it's rare if I read more than one article a day (although I can't say I've ever counted). I don't remember the subject of the story I read, but I do remember I knew right away that I enjoyed her writing. The tone of her writing seemed to reflect that of woman whom I could easily admire. Perhaps it was her candid view of family life, combined with her humility that seemed to capture my attention. Another of her stories that I read was so touching and real, that the honesty of her words caused me to weep.
I don't recall if I'd seen a picture of Dorcas in the paper, but I saw her in person two years ago at a Northwest Writers event at the Eugene Public Library. She was selling books next to one of my favorite authors, Jane Kirkpatrick. I was waiting in line to buy a book from Jane Kirkpatrick and noticed that Dorcas Smucker was right next to her. I was having a dilemma, as there were two “celebrities” standing right next to each other. I admired both of these women, but would I speak to both? Isn't there a “ONE LITERARY CELEBRITY PER DAY” chat rule at book events? I was hoping Jane Kirkpatrick remembered me, yet this chit chat with Jane could interfere with the opportune time to meet Dorcas Smucker. As I had Jane sign the book Emma was purchasing for me, I just played it cool by saying, “Hello” to Dorcas, without introducing myself.
So on Monday, I did introduce myself to Dorcas, as did the rest of the crowd waiting for her to speak. I now think that they didn't really understand her celebrity. I tried to curb my enthusiasm, and didn't mention to her that I enjoyed her writings or that I had begun reading her blog. I didn't even ask her any questions when she asked if we had any for her. Later in the evening, I did ask her if she watched the Jane Austin series on PBS. She kindly replied that she didn't watch television. I tried to dig myself out of my own question by stating something about the videos probably being available at the library. Clearly, I need to brush up on such facts about an author before I make such suggestions.
Here's the one statement that I jotted down from her talk, well, at least I think it was something close to this...
“Society has it's standard of success...just disregard that.”
Dorcas Smucker