The Labor Day Folk-tacular went off without a hitch -- despite competition from the gargantuan Summer Strummer Festival mere yards away. In fact, I daresay there was something of a synergy there. Below I've listed the show order and included a great recap from performer Dave Morrison:

Hi All,

I want to thank all of you who braved the heat and holiday traffic and parking difficulties to attend The Folk-tacular yesterday. Though it was not as big a crowd as the first one in February, those who came were well fed and entertained and most stayed right to the end. Which on the time-challenged planet of Folktaculon, could have arrived on time (which it did), or not for weeks.

The performances were uniformly fine and many moments skirted the transcendant. Too many to mention, though none of us will soon forget Lorin Hart's throw-down opening number. I made a lot of new friends, everybody did, and I heard more than one of them marvel at this group of people, and the open all-equals relationship between performers and audience members. In this world, the lines have been blurred to near obliteration. All of us who write and sing and play know perfectly well that a thought or a note is a stray arrow till it finds it mark.

The commitment too is equal. One who came to play was in a traffic accident en route and had his instrument laden car TOWED to the gig. One who came to support and listen had lost a dear friend to another traffic accident just days before. We love this music and this process, and we know it nourishes us and makes our lives ring with meaning. That, and not any adherance to genre, is what makes it FOLK music. I once thought being a folky wasn't hip enough for me, but I've lived long enough to realize that nothing's hipper than speaking your heart. And no rock and roll hairstyle is braver or more subversive. A wise person once asked, "How hip can you be if you have to wear a uniform to prove it?"

But I digress.

What I really want to do is remind us all that this is a DIY thing. WE make this music AND give it a place to live. House concerts, hosted music series' in public venues, mini-festivals like Robert's Folk-tacular (we just love saying that), are worth doing and totally do-able. So let's do them, and stay in touch so we don't counter-book each other too much.

An aside. A young woman who was performing at the rival fest next door yesterday (and I believe, a friend of Larry Wines') took me aside and told me how impressed she was at the contrast between our "peaceful, and friendly", show and the more mainstream commercial scene going on around the corner. Hell she even bought a CD or two.

So thanks to you all and to Robert and all the people who helped him put on a great show. Feel free to pass this on; my email list is less than comprehensive.

See you round the yard, Dave


Here was the order of appearance:

Robert Morgan Fisher

7:45 p.m.

John York

http://www.jamiesams.com/sacredsongs.html

8:30 p.m.

Freebo

http://freebo.com/

9:30 p.m.

Chad Watson

http://www.chadwatson.us/

We are planning to reprise the President's Day Weekend Folk-tacular Event (aka "February Folk-tacular") provided we can once again book the Writers Boot Camp location. Big thanks to Jeffrey Gordon at Writers Boot Camp and to Larry Wines for asking us on the air Saturday morning to promote and to all those who attended and contributed, especially Chad Watson, Freebo and John York who went above and beyond the call of duty. What a finale that was, eh? We all gathered onstage to sing "American Pie." Unforgettable. -rmf