Category: Music

  • Winnipeg 2004 – Sunny Sunday

    The fourth day of the 2004 Winnipeg Folk Festival was sunny and hot with moderate breezes. There was rain, but it arrived overnight long after the Finale. I arrived in time to sit in the shade outside of the Shady Grove, apply sunscreen, have a cup of coffee, and listen to a workshop with Utah…

  • Winnipeg 2004 – Saturday

    The rain stayed away. It was sunny, and it was humid at first. A reasonably steady breeze kept things moderately cool as the temperature climbed into the higher 20’s. The ground outside and through the main gate was well trampled and starting to smell of rotten things, and there were some wet spots in the…

  • Winnipeg 2004 – Friday

    The rain stopped, the clouds broke up and the sun came out by about 1:00 PM. There was a steady breeze. The sunshine and wind helped to dry out the festival site, which returned to a pretty good condition. There were some areas of the parking lot, including the area leading to the main gate…

  • Winnipeg 2004 – Thursday – Rain

    Forecasts and opinion polls seem to be pretty much equally unreliable. It was cloudy when the gates opened and when the Winnipeg Festival started, but a light rain started around 7:30 PM and kept up all evening. The ground began to get wet, although I did not see any accumulations of standing water in my…

  • Winnipeg 2004 – Showtime

    The countdown is over. It’s Thursday. I’ve read my manuals and practiced radio speak and I’m ready to face life as blue vest volunteer at 8:00 PM. The campground opened yesterday, the main gate opens today and the opening night mainstage concert starts at 6:00 PM with the Perpetrators followed by Spirt of the West,…

  • Winnipeg 2004 – Countdown: 1 day

    The weather forecast has changed for the better. The forecast for rain on Thursday has been changed to mixed sun and clouds, high of 24. It will probably be cool later in the evening, but a dry day guarantees that the site will not be turned to mud on the first night. The forecast for…

  • Winnipeg 2004 – Countdown: 2 days

    Two more days to the Winnipeg Folk Festival. On June 21, I spent a couple of hours being oriented and instructed in the duties of the Site Security volunteer crew. On June 30 I went to the T-shirt meeting to get my volunteer’s pass, T-shirt and Festival program. The weather has been reasonable. There has…

  • Winnipeg Festival Countdown

    The Winnipeg Folk Festival is only 3 weeks away, Thursday July 8 to Sunday July 11. This year, I asked to be a Folk Festival Volunteer. I volunteered to become more actively engaged in the Festival, to try to avoid drowning in memories of attending as a happily married husband and father, and to meet…

  • Winnipeg Folk Festival News

    The Winnipeg Folk Festival has released its brochure and updated its Web site with information about performers hired for the 2004 Festival. Festivals are continuously tinkering with descriptive names to classify performers and inform fans. This year Winnipeg is grouping perfomers as Folk Legends, Sounds from Around the World, Singing the Blues, Contemporary Voices, Masters…

  • Brave Kelso

    Canadian Folk musicians spend a lot of time driving long distances between the communities where they perform. In the late 1970’s Stan Rogers and his band (his brother Garnet Rogers and a small series of other performers) did their time on the road. On reaching the prairies, Stan Rogers visualized himself as the “tardiest explorer”…