07-16-23 cont. (yesterday’s news)
Can you really call it news if it is a recall of the highlights that you can remember at this point of a day so full of joy and love and friends and music?
The reason I didn’t post much yesterday is that it was actually 4 am today when I got back to my tent.
The day was so incredibly full that I was just done by the end of it so I am going to hit the highlights and mostly leave out the lowlights.
At around 9 am Nikki D and the Sisters of Thunder hit the backstage with all their glorious energy and insisted Ashlée and I get pictures with them. These women are just so much fun that I want them to be my friends and I have some pretty awesome friends so that says a lot.
Musicians were wandering in ready to kick off the day. It was lovely to see Daniel Tucker who is usually on my crew eager to get playing and I was happy to catch up to both him and Jemma Hicken, his love and performer.
I gave Darwin a ride up to Grassy Knoll where his Dad, Clayton is Stage Manager and we quite enjoyed our Sunday drive. My car is looking horrific at this stage having been parked along the dusty trail since Tuesday. I found it funny when performers in my cart would remark on that very dirty car and I would tell them unabashedly that it was mine
I did take time to check in on my stages and snap a few picks while I was there but I was eager to get back to the main stage for the Sunday Concert Bowl performance as it is my favourite every year. I rarely get to actually sit and watch it though so I was thrilled to take a break at one point to go into the pit and watch. I decided to film it and was done 13 minutes and 12 seconds later, I knew I had been taken to church by AV and the Inner City, Lindsay Beaver and Brad Stivers, Nikki D and The Sisters of Thunder, and Angelique Francis!
This is what we do, transport these glorious people and their gear around the site and provide gear and crew to make glorious music
I have only had four hours sleep and dearly need rest before heading out tomorrow, I know I am running a day behind but I want to document the moments and not abandon it like last year when I got too tired, I shall continue tomorrow
It is now the 22nd and I am completing from memory…
I managed to squeeze one song’s worth of time to see my dear friend Daryl Chonka perform at Grassy Knoll. While I was waiting I saw my friend Valdy walking towards me. Big hugs and love there.
This was a day of many good-byes. Even Jean helped moving gear. It began with the Awakeneers, who I had been so happy to meet as Eli, Immanuel, Isa and any random sibling/girlfriend available have been my barn stage crew for years. I had a lovely crew with the Mom as she was part of starting Axis Mime group back in the day and she knew many of the people that taught me skills back in theatre school.
When it was time to bring them their dinner, I couldn’t find Roy & Lydia. Someone mentioned that he was CD signing so I quickly bought one and went out to find him. We had another great chat before I headed to the Barn to see if all was well there. It tuns out the joint was jumping!!
Now it was time to pack up the outer stages. The crew put the gear up and I Tetris mastered it. While I worked on getting it done, I got a radio message from Ashlée that a performer was looking for me and she had sent them towards the parking lot. As I rounded the corner there was a cart with Roy and Lydia in it driven by Jay. Lydia hopped off and told Roy it was me. They insisted on a selfie and we had big hug and promises of hope to see you again
It was good be backstage for the evening. John Mang did a fabulous job stepping in for his wife Susan who had badly broken her wrist and couldn’t be there. We enjoyed the boy named sue reference all weekend. Next up was the Bros Landreth, whom I have had the pleasure of crewing for 3 different times now. I have watched them turn into lovely family men who have made very good choices for those families.
And another Fest is done…
triumphgal 