Weekend round-up: folk and roll

So I'm home from a weekend of folk festival conference action and am in one exhausted yet pleased piece. 3 days of full on folk action = just the right amount. Any more and a person could snap. It was a weekend made up of a pile of great moments and even a few duds. Here is a rundown:

Highlights

• Getting to wear my new J Crew red corduroy dress.
• Not buying the Catherine Melandrino sweater that was on sale at Holt Renfrew and instead settling for a striped yoked sweater and a shirred tee at The Gap.
• Lily Frost's showcase on Saturday night: strings AND a mousy voiced girl singer? Oh my heart...
• The video tribute to Stan Rogers during the presentation of his posthumous Estelle Klein Award. 4 generations of the Rogers family there to watch including his lovely wife Ariel and his musician son Nathan. It was a very touching moment honouring the Canadian folk legend.
• Nathan Rogers' showcase: During his last song he came down into the audience to do an acoustic version of his father's classic song "North West Passage" that brought the entire room to its feet. Everyone sang the entire song along with him, teary eyed. His mother and family were there too and it was hopelessly touching and weepy moment for this poor girl. Nathan looks and sounds so much like his father if you closed your eyes it was like you were listening to Stan himself which I was too young to do before he died. It was an extreme "A Mighty Wind" moment and I loved every second of it. Underneath my love of Cheap Trick, The Beastie Boys, Social Distortion, R.A.T.M and all other rock loves, there is still a girl who was brought up on Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray and Murry McLauchlan.
• Shopping at the Soma Chocolate store in the Distillery district while in Toronto pre-conference.
• Showcases from Apostle of Hustle, Notre Dame de Grass (bluegrass from Quebec), Sierra Noble (17 year old fiddle player who was insanely talented) and Kobo Town (world music from Trinidad).
• Getting my picture taken with the Six String Nation guitar and having Jowi Taylor bring it to our Northern Ontario showcase for the artists to play. I'll post the pic when I get it. 5000 people have played this guitar (Gordon Lightfoot included) made up of pieces of Canadian history (wood from a seat at Massey Hall, copper from the Parliament library, gold from Rocket Richard's 1955 stanley cup ring, nickel pellets from Sudbury yay!, wood from the Bluenose, wood from Paul Henderson's hockey stick, wood from Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle, and many other historic places and people).
• Making Danny Michel laugh at our showcase. We might get married cuz he clearly thinks I'm hilarious.
• Coming home on Sunday to find our new antique hutch delivered and looking amazing in our dining room (I'll post pics soon!).
• Being the photographer at an impromptu jam session/photo shoot in the skywalk with our artists Nathan Lawr, Cindy Doire and Ryan Bishops.
• Hagen-Daz ice cream at the Manitoba music reception.
• Coming home Sunday night to Marc and Bailey AND homemade gourmet pizza by Marc: marinated buffalo mozzarella, roasted red peppers, asparagus, carmelized onions = just what the doctor ordered.

Lowlights

• Getting to wear my new J Crew red corduroy dress only to rip the side seam down to my thigh and having to change into something way less fun.
• Being sober in a hotel full of incredibly drunk conference goers.
• Not getting the chance to see my London friend Eric.
• Unknowingly eating a $25 breakfast at the hotel.
• Souljazz Orchestra's showcase: white people from Ottawa singing political Afrofunk? I am not convinced...
• 4am bedtimes and 9am wake-ups all weekend.
• The drive home from London due to the aforementioned sleeping schedule.
• Being outbid in my silent auction bid for 2 Hillside Festival passes at the last...possible...second. Enjoy the festival whoever you are. I hate you.
• Getting sick again which apparently is what's happening to me now.
• Not being a weed smoker because I missed out on some really great folkie weed.