I spent this past weekend in the home of my alma mater, where I attended the annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival. This has become a bit of a tradition of my father's and mine; every January, I send myself back to Ann Arbor for two nights of killer folk with the Pops. After some heeing and hawing about the subject, we concluded that this year was our tenth in attendance together. The show is a two-night benefit for The Ark, a SUPERB, teensy tiny folk club in Ann Arbor. During my time at the University of Michigan, I saw shows there at least twice monthly. The Ark holds lovely memories for me, and the Folk Festival is an extension of that.
This year's show, however, was a bit of a roller coaster: snoozefest meets memorizing beauty meets a couple of naps throughout. On Friday night, the Kerouac-y Ben Gibbard-Jay Farrar outfit headlined. B.O.R.I.N.G. Seriously, Sleepytime 2010. (Although, Ben Gibbard did make one hilarious folk-music joke. Unfortunately, that does not a party make.)
This year's show, however, was a bit of a roller coaster: snoozefest meets memorizing beauty meets a couple of naps throughout. On Friday night, the Kerouac-y Ben Gibbard-Jay Farrar outfit headlined. B.O.R.I.N.G. Seriously, Sleepytime 2010. (Although, Ben Gibbard did make one hilarious folk-music joke. Unfortunately, that does not a party make.)
Whilst nodding off between songs, I did conclude that Mr. Zooey Deschanel does a mean cover. He and Jay delivered a RAD 'Absolutely Sweet Marie' as their last song, which quite tickled me.
Sadly, ONE OF THE GREATEST SONGS EVER EVER EVER, BY THE GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME, was nowhere to be heard:
Despite all of my complaining, I should note that I did enjoy two of the gentlest men perform the most delicate sets I have born witness to in a long, long time. Sam Beam & Richie Havens have quickly be catatpulted themselves to the top of my 'Men I'd Like to Marry' list after this weekend. I spent Iron & Wine's entire Friday set fighting tears. Literally, my throat shook during every, single one of his tunes. He was lovely and kind and funny and fantastic.
And RICHIE HAVENS. Mother f.ing Riche Havens. Gaaaah. He was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. To make this my longest post ever in the history of To Ramona, I'm going to include another performance. Picture a 60-something man, during the very last note of 'Freedom', DROP KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF THE AIR, guitar-in-hand, managing to lift his right leg higher than any of us gals EVER can in yoga class. He was insane. INSANE.
The moral of this story? I like folk music a lot.
4 comments:
I guess that means you made your bus! Also - Welcome back to the Internet!
I too have an affinity for folk music. I've always wanted to go to the Winnepeg Folk Fest. This looked a lot of fun and I think its super sweet you go with you dad!
"DROP KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF THE AIR"... love that. :)
I love folk as well but i have a weird feeling towards concerts... Lately i've devoted to myself that i only go to a concert if i can dance my ass off at it. :)
-Lisa
Banger, YES, I made my bus! BY A HAIR. Navigating the city early on a FREEZING Friday morning hungover is not an easy task. I was, literally, the last person on the bus. AND, I almost forgot to feed the cats before I left. Sigh.
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