South Country Fair

This past weekend I read at the Lotus Land stage at the South Country Fair. It was a really interesting experience. We (Leah) did take a lot of pictures; however, I have apparently gone over what I can upload to Flickr with my free account so now I need to re-think Flickr or what I am going to do with all my pictures. I will figure it out soon.

The Fair Overall

Last year while listening to Sounds Like Canada in the summer with Jian Ghomeshi (incidentally I saw a “What Would Jian Do” group on Facebook this morning, very funny) one of his things (can’t think of a better word) was to find the “Ultimate Hippy”. Clearly, they never went to the South Country Fair. I think Leah and I were the preppiest people there. Ha! Well, maybe not. Frankly, I thought the hippies had been killed off in Alberta, run-out or socialized into oil barons. Who knew there were still any hippies left? Not I.

The music, overall, was really good. I have to say that I unfortunately did not directly hear a lot of it because I spent most of my time at the poetry stage. Oh Susanna (I would link to their website but it doesn’t seem to be working) was my favourite. Possibly because I heard/remember them being interviewed on CBC. They also played I’m On Fire by—you guessed it—the Boss. Awesome. And they just generally had a deadly sound.

I wanted to hear Luke Doucet and the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir, but I didn’t have a chance. I also didn’t have a program and couldn’t get one—they ran out—for the whole weekend so I never knew when anything was. Until next time, I guess. It would have been nice to have a program simply because it’s always nice to see my name and picture in a little booklet. I’m so vain. Sing a song about it why don’t ya.

Reading and Lotus Land

Lotus Land was definitely a spoken word stage. I also knew that’s what they wanted. I have, once again, come back to the idea that I am loud about things I shouldn’t be loud about and quiet about all the things I should be loud about. Let me start by saying that spoken word poetry, when done well, is great. I love it. I respect it. It’s just that when it’s done poorly… nothing can save it. Spoken word poetry (and the same could be said for poorly written poetry) should still be poetry, containing poetic devices and thought. That’s a little rude Rhett. I think about my spoken word poetry. Well maybe you should think about it a bit more.

My friend Kirk Ramdath was great and so was Sheri-D. Actually, I was really happy to hear Kirk’s stuff. I had only heard him read once briefly before. I knew that Sheri-D was good and she didn’t let me down.

Reading for 45 minutes worried me. But, with Thomas King and Tom Wayman—DUAL TOM POWER—inspiring me I could do no wrong. That’s not true. Leah pointed out a few weak moments. But, at least, when I first got off the stage she was very supportive. Actually, I tried to—as I always do—create a story. I also used a fair number of Soveran/Wayman poems. Tracy I almost read Throwing Hammers… but I couldn’t fit Failing to Wear Socks… in. I think I actually ended up reading for 55 minutes. I didn’t mean to go over. I usually wouldn’t. However, I was telling a story and it’s no good to cut off in the middle of the story. Plus, people were free to come and go as they pleased. It wasn’t like a regular reading. And it seemed to garner a good reaction. I think the crowd grew by the time I was done.

All-in-all it was a great weekend. A real pleasure for Leah and I. Oh, I should mention, as I mentioned this to Leah many times, that this was my only chance to have groupies. But, now that I am married that will never happen. I think there were at least four girls swooning by my booming baritone voice. :laugh_tb: