Too late to the party

When I talk with my friends who have always been involved in folk music, one of the things that keeps coming up is the incredible things I've just missed. By the time I got back into the edges of the folk scene in the 1980s, I'd missed alot. One of the big things I've missed is I never got to see Stan Rogers perform live. Today is the 25th anniversary of his death. I've friends and acquaintances who were friends of his. I've sung his songs, heard the near legendary stories, admired the man, but I missed the pleasure of knowing him. I've spent time with his brother Garnet, heard him perform a dozen times or more. Hard to fathom two such immense talents in the same family.

Irony of ironies - I had just gotten my first taste of Kate Wolf's music the week she died. I'd taken a break from listening to a tape of "Gold in California" in my car coming home from Illinois, and heard it on the news. I learned to make the effort to see performers whose work I admired on recordings or on the radio. Being in Grad school outside Chicago made that possible. Being part of the early years of Folk Alliance & attending conferences made that more possible, and introduced me to some performers live before I had a chance to fall in love with their body of work. Years of helping present concerts gave me the delight of hearing and getting to chat with Pete Seeger, Eric Bogle, had Jean Redpath dandle my puppy on her knee, had Bob Copper buy me a pint, ironed Andy M. Stewart's shirt, punned with Art Thieme ... many wonderful experiences in being part of the path of music coming in front of people.

It's harder now for me to get to see the performers I crave, but I still don't want to be late to the party to see David Francey or Jez Lowe or... there's dozens. Many of the performers I love are seldom in this area, where traditional music isn't as valued generally. I need to keep reminding myself that it's worth it to make the effort to be part of the audience & tell the performers how much I value their work.