spring leaf 2008....part 2

And then there was the storm....

It hit, thank goodness, after the festival had ended, when most everyone was gone. It hit hard on Sunday night and it had a truly miraculous ending....not one scratch not one injury to any of the folks who were still on the camp. I myself was forced to run out of my tent, calling for my helper Lynne to join me in seeking shelter in the Eden Hall. There were other folks there by then and we all did what we could to ride out the storm. This was also happening in other parts of the camp.....it sure put a damper on the always fun after-festival party!

There are many stories of close calls, but the main and most important happening was the next morning, when friends found other friends and there was never a dry eye when you saw that your friend was fine.... I lost alot of equipment, but actually not as much as I first feared when I first saw the scene. (I do wish that I would have taken more pictures...there were plenty of opportunities for even more dramatic photos, but my mind at the time quickly focused on starting to pick things up!) Other friends lost tents and setups....my buddy Tom with the Sugar Shack had his entire setup wind up across the little creek nearby. Even the huge Lakeside Stage tent went down...

I've been calling it the "Leaf blowout", thanks to a comment by George, who is the father of Leaf producer Jennifer Pickering, who actually had to go down a bank by his house to rescue one of the tents I had set up in his front yard! I have heard from a good friend who participated in the camp cleanup since and he assures me that the cleanup went well and that the camp's beauty is in full tact.

And there was also other excitement! (can you believe it...? >g<)

I do have to say that meeting my patrons is one of the top thrills in my business. They have come from many walks of life and many parts of the country and the world and they are all driven to come to the festivals by that one constant; that being of course the music.

At the Leaf I was booked by a young woman who was a first-time patron of mine, and maybe even a first-time Leaf attendee, as was her boyfriend. We had met when they first arrived and a few times during the festival itself we ran into each other for a little chitchat. On Saturday night late I had a chance to visit with them at their campsite. Pablo was telling me of all the big festivals he'd been to in Europe....festivals that attract a couple hundred thousand people. As he had been to quite a few of these I had to point out that he was a lucky fellow to be going to all of those festivals, and this is the conversation that followed: "Oh...well, I'm in the music business, also." "Cool....in what capacity?" "I'm a soundman." "Oh...do you have your own sound company?" "No....I'm the soundman for Bob Dylan."

I of course immediately pointed out that he couldn't have dropped a BIGGER FRIGGIN' name, could he?!! Turns out that he has been Bob's soundguy for 11 years (I think that's what he said...), and was in fact leaving on Monday for Europe for Bob's latest tour. So, we had a really interesting conversation, to be sure! I had to admit that while I was a big fan of Dylan's in the mid-and-late 60s, I had not kept up with the music and had never been to a Dylan concert, although I did come close once...>g<>

Ah....I gotts' love the Leaf!! It is a spectacular festival located in a spectacular setting and those tornados and high high winds don't come around very often! >g<