Sisters Folk Festival wrap-up

What a fun weekend. We pulled into Sisters around 4 pm Friday and checked into our reserved condo at Black Butte (which we were darn lucky to find, after hearing all the motel owners laugh when I called them).

Karen's cousin Steven owned a vacation house at Black Butte MANY years ago, which we stayed in a few times - they sold it long ago and we had not been back since. After settling in, and realizing how tiny the room was (about motel-room size, with a teeny fridge and no microwave: $180/night), we got on our bikes and leisurely tootled around the lovely bike paths.

We biked by Steven's former house, and, seeing the front deck, I instantly remember sitting on that desk in the sun, with two toddlers, toddling around. 20 years ago!

We headed into town, picked up our Festival buttons and some dinner, and found seats in the Big Tent. We heard most of the Wailin' Jennys set (good stuff), then headed for one of the other stages, to catch two acts we were very much looking forward to.

We got to the mostly-empty tent, found seats right up front, and prepared to wait for the guitar-player to finish his set, to see the person we had come for, Susan Werner.

Turned out that Richard Julian was one of our biggest pleasures of the entire weekend. A fabulous guitar-player, with quirky songs that alternated between touching and hilarious. We were spellbound at his cleverness, stage presence, and musicianship. More later.

We were sorry when he had to leave the stage, but Susan Werner, who we had heard playing solo piano some years ago in Portland, brought out two lady friends and the three of them set the place on fire. She was magnificent, and her harmonica player astounding. The third woman, who had a lap steel guitar, was poorly miked as to be inaudible - she was clearly unhappy with the sound guy. More later.

Then, after Susan's amazing set, 3-Leg Torso came up. We had seen them before and I had just played a gig with Courtney, the accordion player, a few weeks ago. They were electrifying and the crowd clearly blown away by the musical brilliance and entertaining stage presence.

By then, it was after 11 pm and we were exhausted. Back to Black Butte.

Saturday morning, we drove over to the Swim Center for an hour of yoga, then to the Lodge for breakfast-with-mountain-and-meadow-view, then back into Sisters.

We found great seats in the Big Tent, and the 2nd act that morning was, again, Richard Julian. He did many of the same tunes as the night before, and they were still as enjoyable as before. The crowd was surprised and pleased. After he finished, I went out to the CD table and bought both of his CDs, and even chatted with him briefly.

We stayed in the Big Tent for the next 3 or 4 hours, listening to one musician after another. Our main interest was Rosalie Sorrels, who delivered a quiet, thoughtful set of songs by her old friend, the remarkable Utah Phillips (who died a few months ago).

We left the Big Tent and headed over to another stage, to see the woman who had had the bad sound, playing with Susan Werner. This time, the sound was perfect and Natalia Zukerman was joined by Susan and the amazing harmonica player (Trina? Tina?), and they were incredible. Natalia mentioned that her grandfather was a klezmer musician and her parents were 'classical musicians'. Indeed - her father is violinist Pinchas Zukerman! Karen bought her CD.

Long day by now, but the music and the scene was wonderful. A warm, clear day in Sisters, with well-behaved, enthusiastic crowds.

We discussed heading back to the condo (and perhaps a soak in the outdoor hot-tubs?), but inertia won out, and we headed back to the Big Tent area, where we grabbed some food and stood in line to get back into the Big Tent, for the evening show.

We got great seats again, and Susan Werner and Friends (yes, the same trio we had already seen twice!) played an incredible set, before the cheering throng. She was brilliant.

The headliner that night was Jesse Winchester, who I had vaguely remembered from the 60's. Now, he's the reincarnation of the archetypal laid-back southerner, and played solo guitar. I remembered two of his songs from long ago, and the rest were pleasant, touching/humorous little dittys. The crowd loved him, and, I admit, I was won over, too. He was simply charming.

Now, very tired, we headed back to condo-land.

Sunday morning, we packed up, checked out, drove into Sisters for breakfast, and decided that duty was calling back in Portland, and headed home. It was a long drive (got behind a couple of very slow RVs twisting thru the mountains), and, before we reached home, we had stopped at Lowe's (to look at sinks), George Morlan plumbing (to look at sinks), and two or three other chores.

It was great to be home. Nice weekend. Less than a month to Turkey now!