greyfox 2008...there was more!

I haven't yet mentioned the Kids Academy! Their Sunday Main Stage set is always a tear-laden affair....those youngins' are sooo damned cute!! I'm proud to do a small part for the program by setting up some gazebos that the kids can practice under during the festival; many thanks have to go out to Karen and Mike and George and Brian and a host of other fine folk that have put together and keep together such a wonderful program. It is a treat....I happened to be sitting next to the mother of one of the younger fiddlers during the set and she couldn't have been beaming more!

THE SENIORS



HE HARDLY TOOK HIS EYES OFF OF HIS BEAMING MOTHER



THE WHOLE CREW




By far the funniest moment for me at this year's Greyfox happened during Sam Bush's workshop. Sam and his guitarist Stephen Moughin were in the middle of a more than fine workshop when a fellow wearing a full-face rabbit mask came sneaking in from behind the tent. He came up to Sam, startling him at first, but cracking him up soon after! Sam immediately started playing "White Rabbit", using the words: "and the ones that Jerry gives you don't do anything at all....". It was flippin' hilarious; Jerry Douglas is a riot, and he danced and moved around Sam and Stephen as they made their way through most of the song. The crowd was cracking up as well, of course. Sam told me later that he was pretty sure that that was the first time that Stephen has ever played that song....>g<

JUST BEFORE THE RABBIT SHOWED UP



EVEN RABBITS CAN BE INTENSE




At the Leaf last May I met Bob Dylan's soundman, Pablo...pretty neat. At Greyfox 2008I had just received a wonderful massage and was relaxing with another fellow in the area set aside for just that thing. We struck up a conversation and lo and behold I met Ryan Rinoso (sp?), who is Sammy's soundman! We had a fun time together, and he got a charge out of a Dylan story that came out of my meeting with Pablo that I haven't told in a blog. Ryan's a good guy, and he told me that working for Sam is a riot...go figure.

And last but not least: I was never a fan of tie-dye, despite growing up in the 60s. However, a bunch of years ago Lynn bought me a sweet tie-dye dress shirt made by a fellow named Mark, whose tie-dye work was unique and very cool. (Mark was a sort-of friend of mine; I knew him for many years at many festivals. He was intelligent on one hand and an idiot and disgusting on the other. But most of all he was a true tie-dye artist. He died during this past year....)Over the years I have received many compliments on that shirt and another that I wear....you can recognize Mark's work in an instant. I decided a couple of years ago that Sam shloud have a shirt like that, so after months of trying to get ahold of Mark I finally connected. He made a shirt for me/Sam and mailed it to me. Turned out it was a t-shirt, and when I wrote back to him to tell him that I wanted a dress/Hawaiian type shirt for Sam, he simply made another one and told me to keep the t-shirt.

I was wearing one of Mark's shirts when I ran into Bela while we were both watching Uncle Earl. He really like the shirt, commenting that it was very cool. We talked a little about Mark, and while doin' so I had a thought: "why not give Bela that t-shirt?" It was made originally for Sam, it's a collector's item, and like Sam Bush, Bela Fleck has entertained me in ways uncounted. I debated it overnight, even getting advice from Kristen Andreassen, whose advice made me want to give the gift. So after the Sparrow Quartet set I presented Bela with the shirt...he was surprised and said he felt honored. And I sure felt good about it, also....

Can I repeat myself?

What a festival!!

Peace, David