Edmonton Folk Fest Review
Brad Pitzel
1995 Edmonton Folk Festival
August 10 - 13, 1995
Edmonton, Alberta
Review by Gary Probe
Photography by Rodney Gitzel and Nandita Ray (Elvis Costello)
This article with *sound*, *photos*, and
related links, can be accessed at:
http://euphony.com/euphony/articles/43/Folk/EdmontonFolkReview-GP.html
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I've done the road trip between Vancouver and Edmonton a number
of times. Usually, around the eleventh hour on the road, I'm
aware that I'm more prone to slipping into little trances that
need to be shaken off or reduced by pulling over for fifteen
minute breaks. Well, there was no problem with that happening
this particular trip. Somewhere around the seventh hour, right
at the summit of some goddam gorgeous Canadian National Park, my
car broke down.
The refreshing thing about doing road trips by yourself is that
when maddening things happen, you tend to be much more rational
and productive about it because there's no one there to bitch
yourself into a frenzy with. So, I somberly walked along the
highway in the pouring rain until I found a phone and then hiked
back to my broken car. Two hours later, help arrived and I was
towed back to Revelstoke. One lo-o-o-ng tow, several hours and a
new alternator later, I was back on the road feeling quite
mature for not having lost my cool but thinking that the 16th
Edmonton Folk Festival had better bloody well be worth this
shit!!!!
Well, it was.
The party started early Thursday in the huge line-up encircling
Gallagher Park on the other side of the North Saskatchewan River
from downtown Edmonton. Festival-goers gearing up for the
four-day-long festival sang songs together, shared tips on
getting good spots and talked about how, at the Edmonton Folk
Festival "you can leave your stuff unattended all day and no one
would even think of stealing it." A couple of guys told me that
the drugs of choice that weekend would be "pot, beer and folk".
People were talking excitedly about seeing Elvis Costello,
Rickie Lee Jones and Ry Cooder on the same bill. Part-time
Deadheads lamented Jerry Garcia's passing while young kids
interrupted to sell their tarp-running services to any takers
for $10 bucks a crack. That's one of the idiosyncrasies of the
Edmonton Folk Fest -- The Running of the Tarps. If you're
willing to run your ass off with your tarp, the choicest seats
are up for grabs. Every morning the same scene would be
repeated.
Here's what it looked like the first night (and every following
morning): the gates opened and hundreds and hundreds of people
raced down the hill to the main stage. Some made it successfully
to the bottom while others slipped, slid and tumbled down the
slick grass and through the brown mud. Almost in perfect
synchronization the green, grassy hill would be transformed into
a sea of orange and blue tarps as everyone claimed their spots
for the day. Many folks had poles, markers and flags to
personalize their tarps for easy identification. They ranged
from a human skull adorned with a Folk for easy identification.
They ranged from a human skull adorned with a Folk Fest
bandanna, to a banner featuring the Dhali Lama, to a rainbow
flag windsock, to a Christmas tree garland, to a smiling pink
Teddy Bear forever impaled on the end of a broom stick. Tents
lined the outer edges of the hilltop overlooking the party below
as everyone waited for the first act to begin.
And what a night it was. Thursday alone featured Elvis Costello,
the Barenaked Ladies, Sierra Maestra, Jerry Alfred and the
Medicine Beat and the Nashville Bluegrass Band.
Elvis Costello gave a superb performance. He had last played
Edmonton 17 years previously and he wondered aloud if anyone at
the festival had been born back then.
Costello sang accompanied only by his acoustic guitar as he ran
through a catalogue of songs from his long career. "Alison",
"New Amsterdam", "Shipbuilding", "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red
Shoes" and a new song, "All This Useless Beauty" (written for
June Tabor) were a few of the numbers he performed for the
cheering audience of 10,000. He also did a cover of the Beatle's
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and a song that Johnny Cash
rejected called "Complicated Shadows" (Costello mentioned an
album that he's currently working on that features songs he's
written that have been rejected by other artists). His
reflection on a missed chance at love called "Just About Glad"
was a particular favourite.
The Barenaked Ladies had a ton o' fans in the audience. They
made sure to do their hits "If I had A Million Dollars" and
"Enid" to thunderous enthusiasm and big laughs. For good
measure, they grabbed Stuart Duncan from the Nashville Bluegrass
Band to fiddle some extra juice into "Alternative Girlfriend"
and then proceeded to perform some particularly soulful stuff
for an almost-finished new album.
Jerry Alfred and The Medicine Beat were well received. Alfred, a
Northern Tutchone keeper of the song, let everyone know right
off the bat that he really had to start so that he could "sing
the nervousness out". That he did with songs that featured a
strong resonating drum beat and Alfred's plaintive voice.
The second day, Friday, started with the disappointing
announcment that Victoria Williams and The Flirtations both had
to cancel due to illness. It was our good fortune that Long John
Baldry was one of the artists to fill the void, though. He and
guest singer Kathi McDonald did several numbers, finishing with
the anthem "A Thrill's A Thrill" for the cheering crowd.
Arcady, Limpopo and Bottine Souriante got hundreds of people on
their feet to bounce around in the mud. (Ani DiFranco was
bouncing next to me, having a great time covered with mud from
the bottom of her bare feet up to her ass). The Blue Shadows
finished off the night with a set that alternately mellowed,
then charged the crowd who left that night happy, muddy and
ready for Saturday.
Which was unreal.
It was 3:00pm. Rickie Lee Jones wasn't talking to the press. She
had just finished a phenomenal set, performing songs like
Bowie's "Rebel, Rebel" and her own "Weasel and the White Boys
Cool" and "The Last Chance Texaco". Jones didn't just play her
instruments, she became part of them; body, voice and smile
pouring over piano keys and guitar strings in a bubbling jazz
syrup that eventually brought the cheering audience to their
feet. At the end off her set she smiled and said "Heh, heh,
thanks" before leaving.
Backstage her young daughter was upset and crying and Jones
knelt down to soothe her. You could tell how uncomfortable it
made her to have two hundred sets of eyes watching as heads
turned and conversations became whispered observations. After
that they collected themselves in her trailer for a few minutes
before climbing on to the all-terrain vehicle that carted them
off the muddy festival site to a waiting car. I was determined
to have Rickie Lee Jones say something to me so I went for an
attention-grabbing "Rickie, you're my goddess!" when she looked
in my direction. She turned off her force field momentarily,
smiled and said "Heh, heh, thanks".
When Ani DiFranco took the stage on Saturday night, a small army
of her fans hit the folk mud mosh pit to bounce along to their
muse and her music. The park was full of Ani-fans (new word) who
relate to what she's saying to them. Songs like "Not a Pretty
Girl" and "Buildings and Bridges" nailed her hard-hitting
sentiments to a punk-folk tree that she and drummer Andy
Stochansky spent an electric set climbing. She debuted a new
song that must have been called "Fuck You" about the pain of
feeling unworthy when faced with someone else's beauty. This is
DiFranco's third Edmonton Folk Fest and her popularity has grown
with each visit.
Pops Staples of the Staple Singers offered up a couple of
talking blues numbers before inviting his daughters to join him
for "If You're Ready", "Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You
There".
And Alias Ron Kavana charged the shit out of the house as his
Celtic sound moved everyone who ever thought of dancing on to
their feet. (He did the same thing at the Festival Workshop that
he held with Arcady and The Voice Squad earlier that morning).
Sunday started out with a bang at the morning workshops. Ani
DiFranco and Veda Hille along with Luann Kowalek, Chris Smith
and Rory McLeod rocked the place with a number of their own
tunes and a cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry".
Next up was Loreena McKennitt whose voice and stage presence
(and web page) combined to produce a feeling not unlike a
gauze-covered dream. She and her band played 45 minutes of
material that included the Celtic influenced "The Bonny Swans"
and "All Souls Night". Another standing ovation from the crowd.
And what a finish to the festival. First came Burning Spear.
Then Natalie McMaster, a fiddler from Cape Breton who dances
while she plays, literally took over the whole stage. She's a
tremendous talent and revved everybody up for Jo-el Sonnier,
Prairie Oyster and the artist everybody was waiting for, Ry
Cooder.
Cooder was friendly and incredibly generous onstage and off. He
performed with Ali Farka Toure, a brilliant blues guitarist from
West Africa, with whom he produced the album Talking Timbuktu.
Cooder remained at the back of the stage only occasionally
taking over the sounds with his virtuoso guitar-handling while
Toure and his band performed half a dozen Malien songs to a huge
response. And then it was over.
The performers all hit the stage for those final festival-like
songs. I can't spell it but you know the one: "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo
Ra" and the like.
Thousands of candles lit the night air and it was a sight to
watch them being blown out in a giant wave that swept across
Gallagher Park as tarps were lifted up and folded and 10,000
people prepared to head home.
It would almost be enough to make me feel sentimental... except
I suddenly remember that I have to make that bloody drive back
to Vancouver again.
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