Folk Music Ontario Conference 2014

Drew took this photo and posted it on fb!

This annual conference feels, to me, like a mega-mini folk festival, but with bathtubs and hotel beds for the camping.  I used to say that all the artistic directors of all the Ontario folk festivals attended, along with thousands of musicians that want festival bookings, and that I got to sit in audiences of 5 or 10 to see the showcasing bands that I would watch with a crowd of thousands at Hillside or Mariposa or Summerfolk or Blue Skies or Eaglewood the next summer... but the turn out was small this year.  My guess is about only 800-900 folks attended this time.


I arrived in time specifically for and enjoyed the set from keynote speaker CharlieAngus, MP who reminded us how folk music is needed to tell Canadian stories that otherwise go unheard. I noticed with so many people to chat with after the talk, he wasn't making it to the food table at the SOCAN reception, so I brought him a random plate of samples. What a great way to meet a facebook friend in person, finally! I also really enjoyed taking in the official showcases by Peter Katz, Catherine MacLellan, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer. Steph Cameron, and Trent Severn, as well as the private showcases by Jess Reimer, Trent Severn, Drew McIvor, Coco Love Alcorn. I remember helping to rearrange the lighting before Lindy's private showcase, not to mention repeatedly passing through a hallway jam that included QuiQue Escamilla, and singing along to Scott Cook's "the lord giveth and the landlord taketh away."

You should see the awesome thumb rest installed on Emm Grnyer's u-bass!  Apparently she had it installed by a luthier in Stratford!

Isn't it nice how folk songs travel? In the big Borealis song swap at FMO this weekend, instrument petting zoo Todd Crowley said he played on autoharp and sang a song he learned years ago from a Bobby Watt cassette. On the last verse, "come away from the firelight and lay your body down," the voice of an older man joined in. At the end he asked where I learned it and I told him. Then he told me he had written it -- the great Doug McArthur, another Canadian folksinger! "It was nice to bring this beautiful song full circle back to its source."

Here's the only picture I took all weekend.  It's of some of my favourite room-mates ha.

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