"Del, Yeah!"

I'm sunburned, bruised and exhausted. A clear sign that I have had a great weekend!

The kick-off festival on the express was DelFest, a bluegrass festival in Cumberland, Maryland (May 23 - 25) that was put together by the (Del) McCoury Family and the folks from the High Sierra Music Festival. It was held at the Allegheny County Fair Grounds, right on the border of West Virginia.

I didn't arrive until late on Friday night because I had to work. It was a challenge getting my tent up in the dark; but I am woman, hear me roar! Up it went with relatively few problems. Finally I went to the music meadow to check in at the Merch Tent where I was scheduled to work on Saturday and Sunday, and was able to enjoy the rest of Keller Williams and the Keels' set. I think the highlight of that was hearing Keller Williams play a fast bluegrass version of Frank Zappa's Dancing Fool. (David - were you listening or playing along?)

In the merch tent, I worked with The McCoury Mamas (my nickname for them), Rhonda and Allison (Del's daughters), Lisa (Del's daughter-in-law/wife of Rob McCoury) and Jean (Del's wife) - along with several other family members and volunteers. Everyone I encountered was really great; this includes staff, volunteers, artists and attendees. Bluegrass folk definitely have the "warm and friendly" gene in high abundance. My new friends, Mike and Chuck, warmly invited me to move my camp over to where they had "prime real estate". It was nice to have someone to check in with throughout the weekend since I was there on my own. (Thanks, Mike for sharing the above photo!).

The music was amazing - you can check the website for the entire line-up, but I was glad to discover a few new bands for myself. I danced myself silly to the funky sounds of The Lee Boys on Monday morning. What a great way to start a day. I also really dug The Angel Band, who performed with David Bromberg. Wow! These women all have great voices and create the most beautiful harmonies.

The late-night shows were hot, too. I missed Firday night, but Saturday and Sunday I had back-stage access (thanks to Lisa and Casey). There was some serious jamming going on. They were basically giant jam sessions with Del McCoury and Friends. On Saturday night, I spent some time after the show chatting up John Fishman (former drummer for Phish). He's this delightful nebbish of a man - we had some good laughs talking about the early days of Phish - I remembered seeing them perform at the UNH Mub for $3.00 when I went to school there. Late night Sunday, in between dancing to the music of the The Davisson Brothers (who closed their set with a kick-ass version of Franklin's Tower) and Del McCoury and Friends, I spent some time getting to know the delightful Nicky Sanders, of the Steep Canyon Rangers ,and learning to hula-hoop with my "study group" of Christy, Christy and Susan (thanks for the Loan, Molly!).

It's funny - I hadn't originally planned to go to DelFest. I like bluegrass music just fine, but it wasn't even on my radar. The main reason I went was because Theresa Reed-Hayle, one of my contacts at Rex Foundation, also works for High Sierra, and she asked me to go volunteer at this festival as they needed some extra support. I am forever grateful to her for asking me to do this. I met some great people with whom I hope to develop future relationships (both professional as well as personal), I spent two full days dancing (hence the exhaustion) in the sun (hence the sunburn) against the amazing backdrop of the West Virginia mountains AND.... I have finally learned to hula hoop (hence the bruises!).

Still in recovery mode, I am already looking forward to next weekend's Mountain Jam. Let's send sun-shiny vibes to Hunter Mountain this week, because the weather report says it Looks Like Rain (and we don't want that!).

every day is a new learning....

I am pleased to announce that I have figured out how to connect my google calendar to this blog. This is no small miracle, I assure you! It is sitting there, in all its glory, at the bottom of the page. You should be able to scan from page to page, to see my plans, by using the arrow tabs towards the top of the calendar. By all means, if we will be at any of the same events, please let me know.

To explain the color codes - the darker purple is for the festivals where I am definitely volunteering, the lighter purple are festivals to which I have applied but not had confirmation yet, the aqua-blue notes are festivals I've recently learned about and am considering, and the pink is for my travel plans.

If it's not working, please send me an e-mail. It seems fine now, but you never know with these things.

I can't figure out if it's the end or beginning....

This year has marked the beginning of the end of my life as I have known it. I quit teaching last June, and I have spent the past 10 months doing the craziest thing ever - working in an office! I never would have expected it, but it has given me time to figure out what has to end, and how to begin my life anew.

My own personal Festival Express is about to begin. My aim is to work in and around what I love and what makes me feel good. That would be music. I have always surrounded myself with musicians, I fancy myself one sometimes, and I know that music fills my soul and music feeds my heart. This where I need to be. I'm partial to the Jam-band genre, my heart lying heavily with the likes of the Grateful Dead and their cohorts. So, I have put in my 2 weeks notice and am preparing to hit the road.

This won't be like "summer tour" of old for me; selling T-shirts, food, jewelery or juices in the parking lot to pay my way. I am making an investment in myself to sell merch and food, monitor wrist bands, impart information, direct traffic or whatever else I am asked to do by the volunteer crew chiefs at any one of 8 or so different festivals I will be attending. I am also thrilled to be working with The Rex Foundation's Community Caravan at several of these events. My hope is that my work will speak for itself, and that I will end up with a job in this crazy industry.

I have always had a plan, with a definite path; and I have always known the steps I've needed to take to get to what I thought was the pot of proverbial gold at the end.... but that pot has always eventually revealed itself to something different than I had imagined it to be. Now - I am just following my heart and going after my dream, and hoping to find a new way to navigate the path. Maybe this pot of gold really shines.... and maybe it's filled with fish soup. I won't know until I find out for myself. I sure don't know what I'm going for, but I'm gonna' go for it for sure.