Central New York Friends of Folk: FolkNotes

The following article appears in the Sept.-Nov. '98 issue of FolkNotes.

Falcon Ridge '98:Field Report

By Laura Pontillo

Every July, hundreds of folkies descend on the small town of Hillsdale, New York, for the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, a three day celebration of folk music, traditional dance, and simple living. The setting is the Brennan family's Long Hill Farm, complete with barn and horses, in the picturesque foothills of the Berkshires. There are four stages: the main stage, workshop stage, dance stage, and family stage. A large food tent and first aid tent are located next to the main stage and camping areas are all around the festival grounds. The midway includes specialty food stands, independent record companies selling their artists' work, and guitar and drum shops. Vendors sold clothing and hats, souvenirs, arts and crafts, and unusual instruments. Hair wraps, face painting, balloon animals, and massages were also available.

This year, Falcon Ridge celebrated its tenth anniversary with some old friends, new faces, and the raffle of a beautiful Granata guitar. I didn't win. The first festival boasted some big names like Greg Brown, Bill Morrissey, Shawn Colvin, and John Gorka. Ten years later, the names are just as big. In fact, some are the same.

Falcon Ridge began on Friday with an Artist Showcase featuring 25 up and coming talents, including Thom Rayne from Central New York. Three of the showcase acts are chosen by audience vote to return the next year in a main stage song swap. This year's returnees were Tom Prasada-Rao, The Nudes, and Lisa McCormick.

Friday also began the week-end of folk dancing at the Dance Stage. The workshop stage was busy with programs designed for performers and promoters of folk music. And on the main stage Friday evening always brings the Summer's Eve Song Swap, featuring four of the festival's top performers. This year's line-up was a folkie's dream: Greg Brown, John Gorka, Dar Williams, and Richard Shindell. Jack Hardy, who calls himself "the least known artist with a box set," made a guest appearance.

Nights at Falcon Ridge are a time for aspiring singers and songwriters to gather and share their music. Song circles, big and small, from all over the camping areas and in the main food tent. Instruments of all kinds come out and music fills the night air. But the atmosphere is mellow and sleep comes easily after a day in the sun.

We spent Saturday afternoon going back and forth between the main stage and workshop stage. The workshop stage is designed to provide an intimate setting for performers to share their work and the creative processes behind it. Some of the workshops, unfortunately, had too many performers scheduled which left very little time for each. Workshops covered topics as diverse as blues and roots influences, story-telling, humor, '90's style love songs, and the song writing process. There was also a workshop dedicated to the music of the late John Denver.

Saturday afternoon's main stage featured John Gorka and Bill Morrissey. John Gorka is a performer who has the ability to go from funny to poignant in a heartbeat. Bill Morrissey's show had to compete with the raucous sounds of the Laura Love Band coming from the workshop stage.

His understated stage presence and the subtlety of his lyrics were sadly obscured by the distractions. But a Sunday workshop that he shared with Dar Williams and Greg Brown afforded an opportunity to see him perform in a more intimate setting.

Saturday evening featured Vance Gilbert, one of the few black singer-songwriters. The Laura Love Band was next in the line-up. They rocked the farm with their very unique "Afro-Celtic", jazzy, hip-hop, funky, rhythmic sound. Then the festival shifted gears as Greg Brown took the stage. In his usual "hillbilly-beatnik" style, he charmed the socks off the audience. The last performer of the evening was Dar Williams. I can't tell you much about her show because it started almost an hour late, at 12:30 am, and I slept through most of it. Rumor has it, it was great!

We woke Sunday morning to another perfect day. And there was music to match. Highlights included a workshop with master guitarists: Brooks Williams, Patty Larkin and Nancy Tucker, who I had not heard of before. We sat with our mouths agape as she performed her new instrumental, "The March of the Insects." Nancy uses her guitar as a percussion instrument as well as a stringed one. The other artists on stage were craning their necks to see how she was making those incredible, original sounds. Nancy was followed by Joe Giacoio, another guitarist extraordinaire, Pete Heitzman and Karen Savoca, and Allen James of June Rich.

Richard Shindell's show closed out the festival. He performed songs he wrote for Joan Baez, a traditional blues tune, and the ever popular "Are You Happy Now?" to a diminishing but enthusiastic crowd. The festival ended with a group song called "Never Turning Back." The stage-full of folkies like Greg Brown, Shindell, and Larkin were led in turn by Karen Savoca, Vance Gilbert, and Pete & Maura Kennedy. And then it was time to go home.

Falcon Ridge Loves Karen

By Dana Cooke

For a folk artist, playing a major festival is more than a great gig. It's often a career move. Career advancement in this field can be a little mysterious. Mostly it's about being good and getting noticed, finding yourself the target of buzz on the various grapevines. Somehow, each year, two or three new names emerge as The Worthy. Over the past year or so, one of those names was Karen Savoca. Karen's emergence reinforces my own sense that the quickest route to the higher echelons is to be noticed at a festival, and since her niche is contemporary singer-songwriter, the festival of choice would be Falconridge.

At Falconridge 1998, Karen (with guitarist and harmonist Pete Heitzman, of course) completed what seems in retrospect a three-year sequence of Falconridge impressions. Two years ago, they did a new-artist showcase that got more than the usual attention. In this format, 20- some artists each get a two-song set in which to attempt to impress an audience. Karen's gravelly voice and Pete's unusual funk were just the right medicine. People sat up. Last year, Pete and Karen were invited back as regular acts, and appeared in a number of workshops. Karen Savoca entered the realm of the Real. National touring (including opening-act appearances with Greg Brown) followed. By this year, Pete and Karen are A List. They did a main stage set of their own that was well-received. (I looked around and found audience members mouthing the words of the songs, which is a good sign.) They again did workshops. And they appeared as Greg Brown's backup band during his own main stage set.

The affair continues. Falconridge loves Karen to bits. I would have never predicted this, having discovered Mind's Eye in the poorly lit back rooms of various Syracuse-area watering holes, but Karen's voice combined with Pete's distinctive playing works especially well in large, open-air settings. Plus, the funk is a welcome break from Falconridge's near-relentless diet of singer-songwriters (which wears even me down occasionally). There were plenty of great, well- received acts during Falconridge '98, but out on the midway I heard more people talking about Karen than virtually any other act of the weekend.

By the way, FOF's own Thom Rayne was in the new-artist showcase this year. Beyond the validity of his performance, there was also something fresh about his presence - so pleasant and affable on stage that it augmented appreciation of the material. Let's hope Thom is on the Karen Plan.

Falcon Ridge Fashion Report

By Laura Pontillo

The annual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, New York, is a place to throw off your everyday cares and have a good time. For some, it's also a place to throw off their shirts, shoes, bras, underwear, even pants. A week-end like Falcon Ridge affords the opportunity to reveal your secret wild side, try out a new look, or just be your real self. The combined affects of spending three days outdoors and unshowered, being away from friends, family, and co-workers, and a nostalgia for Woodstock and the disco era bring things out of the closet that are rarely seen in daily life. I, myself, wore a fishing hat and clip-on, flip-up sunglasses for 3 days; an ensemble I wouldn't be caught dead in anywhere else.

The fashion of Falcon Ridge can be divided into two categories, the first being utilitarian garments. In addition to the usual shorts, sandals, and tank tops, hats are an outdoor necessity. Hats could be seen everywhere: big, small, painted, beaded, flowered, tattered, bent, brand new, and broken in. There was even one that looked like a crumpled paper machŽ chef's hat and one skillfully made of a plastic grocery bag and a baret.. Happy Ending's Joe Cleveland made a bold fashion statement by wearing a sarong on his head.

The other fashion category is - well - other. Men in skirts were not an uncommon sight.. Some of our other fashion sightings included: a fairy outfit (costume?), a young woman with blue hair and black wings, an American flag worn as a cape, gold wings, devilish horns, and several heads of neon hair.

The hippie-style sleeveless sack dress was tremendously popular on women and girls of all ages. In fact, many of the young women could have passed for '60's flower children except for one conspicuous detail - bras. I couldn't help but notice the incongruence of white cross-your-hearts peeking out from under sun dresses on barefoot, unshaven bodies. Woodstockers would be shocked.

Of course, no discussion of folkie fashion would be complete without a mention of Greg Brown. This guy has a style all his own that I like to call agri-chic. His summer '98 collection included a floppy denim hat, feed 'n seed cap, brown canvas overalls, red rimmed sunglasses, and a hot-off-the-rack Guatemalan poncho. John Gorka described the poncho and floppy hat ensemble as the Juan Valdez look.

Lest we leave hairstyles out of our fashion report. Everything goes, from long braids to curly frizz to crew cuts to bald - and that's just the women. As usual, the award for "Worst Hairdo at a Folk Festival" goes to Vance Gilbert.

If you go to Falcon Ridge next year, remember to pack summer clothes, a hat, and warm clothes for the nights. But if you forget, don't worry, you can buy all of those things on the midway; for a pretty penny of course.

This page maintained by Dana Cooke. E-mail me at djcooke@aiusa.com.