Regina's Mighty Shores

Regina Folk Festival: The Videos

jameskalyn — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:21:00 GMT

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, and the few that I did take didn't turn out real well. However, I did record a handful of videos. Even from a distance and despite my lack of tripod, they came out okay. Somewhat. If nothing else, you can play them a lot louder than you can play a selection of pictures.

I'd embed the videos instead of merely linking to them, but, well, no.

In chronological order:

Buck 65: Indestructible Sam - A fun song!

Buck 65: Way Back When - A new song that will be included on his upcoming CD. Sadly, I hadn't quite mastered the art of "focusing" by this point in the evening.

Buck 65: Kennedy Killed The Hat - One of my favourites. Buck sounds a little more agitated here than he does on CD.

Black Umfolosi: The Lion Sleeps Tonight - It's kind of hard to see the stage because of everyone holding their arms in the air and swaying and whatnot. It was great fun; hopefully that comes through in the video.

Amy Millan w/Blue Rodeo & Cuff the Duke: In the Pines - A classic! By which I mean it's old enough that hopefully I won't get sued over copyright or anything.

Sarah Slean w/Blue Rodeo & Cuff the Duke: Time - A Tom Waits cover.

Blue Rodeo w/Sarah Slean & Cuff the Duke: Try - I had no intention of filming this song - and indeed, it's only a clip. I just wanted to pan around and get a look at the Festival grounds, not that I did a real good job of that because - shockingly - it was nighttime. But I saved the clip because I managed to catch Sarah jumping in a bit too early and thought that was amusing.

Blue Rodeo: Hasn't Hit Me Yet - It's a bit hard to hear, but the crowd sings the entire first verse and chorus. You can hear the voices getting louder and louder as everyone slowly starts joining in.

That's it! I hope you enjoy the videos. Also, I hope they work - I wrote up the text at home but I'm posting this from work and YouTube is blocked here, so I can't test anything. Oh well - you and I will have internet adventures together.

Regina Folk Festival: Day Three

jameskalyn — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:49:00 GMT

Another Folk Festival has come and gone and this year, the Festival ended on a high note. After a few days of challenging weather, Mother Nature finally cooperated to help some very talented artists deliver the best night of the weekend. Of course, because it was a nice dry night, I was wearing a sweater and had also packed a waterproof jacket. Oh well, better to be overprepared, as we learned on Saturday night. The general consensus seems to be that Michael Franti and Spearhead put on an awesome performance - even if the power went out twice during their set - so it's a shame we missed out.

True to form, we skipped the daytime stages, arriving in time to hear a bit from the mainstage openers, Cuff The Duke. I didn't hear a lot of their set, but I liked what I've heard. I've seen them before, so on the one hand, it's a shame we didn't catch more of them because I know they're good, but I also know they'll be back.

Amy Millan will also be back - she's performing with Stars near the end of November. I don't believe I'll catch that show, but that's an unfortunate fluke of timing more than anything else. I enjoyed her set a fair bit. Not sure that I have a lot of other observations, except to say that she sure likes to sing about drinking. Specifically, whiskey - but then it seems that an awful lot of people who sing about drinking wind up singing about whiskey.

It should be mentioned that our cantankerous companion, the one who panned Kyrie Kristmanson and Iris Dement on successive evenings, said that if we'd learned one thing over the course of the weekend, it's that "Amy Millan can't sing at all. I mean, you know my feelings on Sarah Slean-" (this person didn't like Sarah Slean either) "-and Sarah Slean was MILES ahead of Amy Millan." I think SOMEBODY had a case of the grumpies!

For what it's worth, I liked Amy Millan just fine. Though I did prefer Sarah Slean.

Rachelle Van Zanten was up next, and I liked her set even more. It took a while, but when she mentioned "an old Painting Daisies song," I realized that I had, in fact, seen Rachelle Van Zanten years ago. Over a decade ago, in fact, Painting Daisies opened for Wide Mouth Mason in Louis' Pub in Saskatoon, and I liked them enough to spend an evening tracking down enough money to buy their demo tape - which I still have tucked away. Now ten years later, I liked Rachelle Van Zanten enough to buy her new CD, Back to Francois. This time, there was less of an adventure when it came to the shopping aspect of things, though I could have had her sign the CD had I been a few minutes sooner. Also, I was wearing a White Stripes t-shirt, and when I bought the CD, I heard all about what it was like to see the White Stripes in Winnipeg, and how if you're on a lot of mushrooms, you freak right out when the disco ball starts spinning. People love to tell me their drug stories, which is fine, because they're usually entertaining despite the fact that I have zero frame of reference.

In between bands, there was time for delicious foods. Dinner was, depending on which one of us you were, either Indian or Thai. I went Thai and I do believe it was the weaker choice, even if the sticky rice pudding was both delightful and different. But the real star of the International Food Fair - and the weekend - and possibly my whole life - was the kettle corn. Salty but not too salty, sweet but not too sweet, greasy but not too greasy, and eaten while still warm. This was the devil's popcorn. This was the corn that spawned the Children of the Corn. The kettle corn was meant to be a nice snack that would last us all evening long, but it barely made it fifteen minutes because I could not stop eating it. After the festival was done, I even took one last walk past the food fair to see if the kettle corn stand was still operating. I ate popcorn until I hurt, and yet mere hours later, I was willing to do it again.

I have mentioned that the setting is what makes the Folk Festival, and this was proof. Amy Millan was singing songs, and I was crashed out in a lawnchair with a cool breeze and a warm bag of popcorn and I was completely content with the world. Next year, I intend to gain 20 pounds during the Folk Festival, and it will be all kettle corn weight and it will SO be worth it.

Black Umfolosi provided one of the best moments of the Festival, and it came out of nowhere. They're a group of Zimbabwean musicians, and their first few songs were delivered a capella. Very nice, beautiful harmonies, but I wasn't sure that I was up for a full hour of that. The polite reaction they received for their first few songs indicated that I wasn't alone in my assessment. However, as the show progressed, the crowd was drawn into the rhythms, the dancing, and the showmanship. Plus, they took off their shirts. ("They" meaning "the band," not "the crowd.") They closed with The Lion Sleeps Tonight - which was their only song that the vast majority of the audience would have ever heard before - and everyone sang along, held their hands in the air, and swayed to the music. I was lucky enough to catch a good deal of this on video and I smiled while recording the whole thing. Sometimes you just get lucky and can capture something magical.

In a related note, I never did collect my MelodyTrip.com media passes. I decided that I didn't need backstage access (though I bet there were nicer porta-potties back there), and I didn't want to waste the time of the artists with my nervous, half-assed interviews. I'm sure I could have taken some better pictures with the improved access, but really, I was enjoying just sitting back and being a fan - and for some reason, I was having more fun shooting video anyway. I filled a 2 GB card on Sunday night alone. I'm downsampling the videos as we speak, with the intent of tossing them onto YouTube. Please don't sue me.

Before the final act, the Festival's Artistic Director, Sandra Butel, addressed the crowd. She said pretty much what you'd expect, thanking the artists, staff, and volunteers. And I have talked a lot about the artists, but the staff and volunteers do deserve special mention. The Folk Festival attracted several thousand people per night. It's a lot of people for a relatively small space, and yet, the Festival ran amazingly well. Hundreds of people were in line on that first night, and the line flowed smoothly and speedily. Festival volunteers roamed the grounds to ensure that everything was kept neat and tidy - I quickly lost count of how often I saw garbage cans emptied and cleaned out. Brown-shirted volunteers and white-shirted security (also volunteers) were everywhere. It takes a lot more work than you realize to make an event like this happen.

And the work is doubtlessly worth it. I find the Folk Festival and other similar organizations - community radio stations, repertory theatres - to be vital parts of the community, especially out here on the Prairies where we're so isolated from other cities. If you want to leave Regina and visit another city, you're driving for nearly three hours at a minimum. These organizations not only contribute to alternate viewpoints and cultural awareness and diversity - I'm willing to bet that Black Umfolosi couldn't have drawn 2,500 people on their own in Regina - but they do so in an accessible manner. It's easy to provide something new and different to a receptive audience - the difficulty lies in attracting the mass audience.

Not that everyone at the Folk Festival was receptive. We had our lawnchairs set up behind one of the more irritating families I've ever seen. Mom, Dad, and four kids, all of whom were old enough to know better, and all of whom were quite interested in standing up and sitting down and standing up and sitting down and talking and playing Frisbee and fighting and generally being a nuisance to everyone around them, and not at all interested in the music. And then the mom bought kazoos for everyone. All six wore green wristbands, which signifies weekend passes. That meant they spent anywhere from $330 to $600 to irritate everyone who was near them. Then after all that, they left before the Festival's headliners took the stage. A questionable choice on their part, I thought, but one that I was perfectly fine with.

You know, I set that last paragraph up so I could segue into the final artist, but I can't do it yet. I have to talk about Bathroom Woman. She was GREAT. There were long lines for the washrooms, as there tends to be whenever you get thousands of people in one small space. Everyone was mostly pretty cool with this, even though the porta-potties got sketchier and sketchier as the evenings went on. The Folk Festival staff and volunteers were miracle workers, but some things are even out of their hands. Anyway, there was one woman. Very angry. Presumably very drunk. Really had to pee. She would yell at the people in the porta-potties to hurry up, then she'd beg, then she'd run and check all the doors in hopes of finding one that was unlocked. When you gotta go, I guess. The girl behind me found this lady to be exasperating. I thought she was hilarious, in that "I'm glad I only have to deal with you for five minutes" kind of way.

Anyway. Hey, Blue Rodeo! They were great. If you like their hits - and who doesn't - they played most of them. If you wanted to hear new stuff, they played that too. If you wanted some guest vocalists, you were in luck, as they were joined on stage by Amy Millan, Sarah Slean, and Cuff The Duke. They didn't blow me away like Spirit of the West had done a few years ago, but it was still great to see these legendary performers. There's really no substitute for experience - their sound filled the stage like nobody else had done all weekend. Except maybe Spearhead, but, y'know.

The show closed with the annual cram-everyone-on-stage finale. Blue Rodeo was joined by Slean, Millan, Cuff The Duke, Black Omfolosi, and probably a bunch of other people that I couldn't make out. Or make out with. This is always fun, and was a great way to bring the Festival to a close.

On the walk home, I was not able to obtain the devil's popcorn, but I may have bought a bag of the devil's mini-donuts. Deliciousness, my one weakness.

The overall final 2007 Regina Folk Festival Top 5 (foodstuffs not included):

1. Buck 65
2. Los De Abajo
3. Black Umfolosi
4. Blue Rodeo
5. Sarah Slean - I know that earlier I said I preferred Rachelle Van Zanten, but I changed my mind within the past few paragraphs. I'll change my mind again within a few more minutes, I'm guessing. Similarly, I keep going back and forth between Buck 65 and Los De Abajo for the top spot. That's the problem with making lists on the Internet - you're never really able to change your mind. It's not like Casey Kasem didn't have a new Top 40 every single week.

Regina Folk Festival: Day Two

jameskalyn — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 04:49:00 GMT

Another fun-filled day - or at least a few hours - at the Regina Folk Festival. After getting soaked to the bone last night, we were feeling a little tired and weather-beaten today. As such, we didn't make it down to Victoria Park to check out any of the daytime fare - maybe tomorrow. This is not the kind of festival where people camp out for days - much more of a come 'n' go affair.

Much like yesterday, the sky looked cold and grey when we awoke. This did not fill me with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. My clothes from the night before were still soaked, and I was not looking forward to another fight with Mother Nature. However, about an hour before the mainstage performances were set to begin, the clouds broke and it turned into a very nice evening, albeit still breezy and cool.

We arrived in time to hear the tail end of Mihirangi's set, though we opted to tour the Festival grounds so we didn't pay very close attention. A quick spin through the craft market was all that I needed - I don't need a hat made of hemp and I don't need any henna tattoos and I don't need a t-shirt that reads "Frankly Scarlett, I DO give a damn... about the environment!" I mean, I do give a damn, and all, but my shirts don't need to say so. We also checked out the merchandise tent, but sadly, I found no Buck 65 CDs. I'm guessing that they left when he did.

The Food Court - or, rather, the International Food Fair - was more to my liking. Supper was butter chicken with chickpeas and basmati rice, and it was fantastic. Dessert was a chocolate-dipped frozen banana on a stick, which is one of those things that always sounds more delicious than it actually is - and I knew that going in - but I still had to order one. I blame Arrested Development.

After dinner, we headed back towards the mainstage area in time to catch most of Mother Mother's performance. I don't know that I have a lot to say about them, but they were quite enjoyable - I'd list them in my top five Festival performances so far. A drummer from Eleyé de Cuba came out to play the bongos in between Mother Mother and Iris Dement. After seeing Los De Abajo yesterday, I was hoping for another fantastic discovery. I did not get one.

Our hosts for the evening were Misty Selinger and Justin Ludwig. I only know this because I had my Folk Festival guide with me (thank you, Prairie Dog magazine/newspaper/whatever you are). Onstage, Ludwig was known as "Polski Ogorki" and slipped in and out of some sort of accent. Ukrainian, I think he said? I was of the opinion that maybe there was a distinct difference between how funny these guys were and how funny they thought they were.

Iris Dement was up next, and... okay. Yesterday, a person I was with did not like Kyrie Kristmanson at all. This same person really didn't like Iris Dement. Specifically, her voice. "I've never seen Babe, but if they made a movie like that but with a talking sheep instead of a talking pig, this is what I imagine the sheep would sound like." From that point on, I was unable to listen to the singing without imagining the cartoon sheep from the Serta commercials.

Eventually, I left to buy some chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick. It was good stuff! I think you could jam a stick in anything and dunk it in chocolate and it would be enjoyable.

While adventuring, I ran into a guy from work. While explaining the Friday night deluge and just how badly it sucked (how badly? a LOT), someone else mentioned that people waited in the park for an hour after Buck 65 was done, and eventually most people finally just gave up and went home. What this person did not know - and I only found out by poking around the internet just now - was that City and Colour did perform, but not at the mainstage - rather, at the nearby Legion Hall which was the site of the after-party.

At long last, Bruce Cockburn took the stage, which was what I was looking forward to. A bonafide legend, he played for an hour with just his guitar for accompaniment. It was obvious from the crowd reaction that they were there to see him, but it was also obvious that they weren't there to hear new songs. Not a die-hard fan myself, I heard four songs that I recognized; those were the only ones that interested the crowd. The lesser-known songs only got mild applause.

I can understand reacting more enthusiastically for the songs that you already know and love. That's fine. What I don't understand are the people who stand around and talk and drink and don't listen at all. Apart from the fact that it irritates those of us who are actually there for the show, it also seems excessively expensive. It cost $53 for a single night pass tonight, and I believe I heard someone say that drinks cost $5 apiece. Now, I'm not much of a drinker, so maybe that's affecting my judgment, but at $53 to get in and, say, $20 for four drinks, that's a pricey evening. If you really want to drink, you could do so at your house and drink way more booze for way less money - you could even spend $20 on a Bruce Cockburn CD that you can ignore while you're drinking.

During Cockburn's set, the effects of yesterday's bad weather were still being felt, as my girlfriend (who lives in a different city and, as such, did not bring all her clothes with her for the weekend) was finding the breeze a little too breezy. Long pants would have helped; unfortunately, they were (and are) still soaking wet and hanging from my shower rod. This is not a euphemism; however, it IS a roundabout way of saying that after Cockburn was done, we didn't stick around for Michael Franti & Spearhead. I have mixed feelings about this, mostly because I had heard varied levels of enthusiasm for them. People who were sitting near us last night could barely contain their excitement over getting to see Franti, while a friend I chat with online summed up his feelings in two words: "F Spearhead."

So we left - what can I say? I'm an old man. I cherish sleep and warmth. Friday, I learned that we should have packed umbrellas. Today, I found out that some blankets would have been a good idea. Maybe tomorrow I will pack a suitcase for the final night - or else just invite everyone over to my apartment. Blue Rodeo, Cuff the Duke, and Amy Millan can all perform in my living room. I'll make Kool-Aid and popcorn!

The top five thus far, in case you were wondering (and because I do so love making lists):
#5: Mother Mother
#4: Bruce Cockburn
#3: Sarah Slean
#2: Los De Abajo
#1: Buck 65

Regina Folk Festival: Day One

jameskalyn — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:54:00 GMT

The stage was built, the hippies had set up their craft tables, the food vendors were set to dish up the poutine and the Bluth bananas, and the weather... well, that didn't look so good. It was grey out all day, and it tried raining a few times. We've had a long, hot, dry summer, so of course it would need to change that up just in time for the Folk Festival. But still, I had hope. We left my place a bit late, my girlfriend having been delayed by an ambulance, a firetruck, two separate instances of construction delays, and - this is true - a bikeathon. But it all worked out in the end - by the time we got to Victoria Park, it was actually fairly nice out. A little breezy and cool, but that's not the worst thing.

We arrived a little bit before 7:00 and found a massive line of people waiting to get into the mainstage area. The line stretched from the mainstage gates to the edge of the park and began to wrap around the block. However, the line moved along quickly and smoothly, which is a testament to the Festival's staff and volunteers. Though, this being a folk music festival, it attracts a crowd but not a particularly rowdy crowd.

The format of the evening mainstage shows is like this. One of the weekend's artists serves as a host to introduce everyone. Then you have your scheduled mainstage artists. In between those, lesser-known artists - usually local talent - will come out and do a song or two to keep everyone entertained while the crew gets the stage setup for the next scheduled performer. It's a very good system that results in a lack of down time, and exposes some new talent to the biggest crowds of the weekend.

We were just about through the line when we heard someone - didn't know who - introducing the first performer of the festival, Sarah Slean. It was just her and a piano, a setup which suited her well, and was a nice fit with the outdoor setting, even if the occasional gust of wind would repeatedly blow away her set list.

We were sitting back in the lawnchair area, which was behind the standing area. The standing area is also known as THE BOOGIE ZONE. When I went to the Folk Festival a few years ago, The Boogie Zone was blocked off by orange ribbon with "BOOGIE ZONE" and "AFTER 9PM YOU MAY BOOGIE IN THIS ZONE" handwritten all over it. I thought this was delightful, and was pleased to steal a big piece of the ribbon when the festival ended. I now routinely declare my office to be a Boogie Zone (but only after 9:00 p.m.). This year, they had a big professional Boogie Zone sign, and I must get a picture of it (since they probably don't want me stealing it).

Anyway. Sarah Slean had many fans in the Boogie Zone, and though they did not boogie, they were quick to shout out song suggestions, they cheered loudly when Sarah announced she'd try out a new song, and they loved it when she screwed up the first line of Sweet Ones and had to start again. I loved it too - she swore and it was among the cutest swearing you ever did see.

A shift in the line-up moved Mexico's Los De Abajo to second, and wow. Here were Friday night's show stealers. This was music MADE for the Boogie Zone. I don't know how many people knew anything about Los De Abajo, but they won over the crowd within the first few songs. Just fantastic, high-energy fun.

There was one older gentleman in the Boogie Zone, and he LOVED Los De Abajo. As soon as they played their first note, he sprung into action and tore off his sweater. He then begin flying and flailing around like you wouldn't believe. I've seen more reserved mosh pits. This guy was excellent to watch.

Next up were the Hylozoists, and... well... I can now say that I've seen the Hylozoists. Some very talented folks played some instrumental music that was very much not my thing.

In between sets, we were treated to the music stylings of our host - who we discovered was Kyrie Kristmanson - as well as local artists Sexually Attracted to Fire and Eekwol & Mils. All evening, Kyrie was wearing a fur hat that - we speculated - was once a kitty. Also, one of the folks we were with REALLY didn't like Kyrie's performance. After a few minutes of vitriol, I asked if I could quote this person for my recap. I was told not to use their name, "though what's she going to do, hunt me down and kill me?" I replied that she might - look what she did to that cat.

Eekwol & Mils are a brother/sister hip-hop duo. One song was about being in debt, and so the song repeated the word "creditor," only it was pronounced like this: credi-TORRRR. My girlfriend decided that the song would be a lot cooler if it was about Skele-TORRR and I had to agree. I tried to improvise some Masters of the Universe-related lyrics for the rest of the song, but my freestyling skills are hella weak, yo.

Buck 65 was the next mainstage performer, and he was fantastic. I love Buck 65 and he was the highlight of the night for me. A born storyteller, he has a way of leaving you hanging on his every word, even when those words are from a classic rap song called "I Wanna Do Ya." I consider myself a fan of Buck 65, but I only heard a few songs that I recognized during his set, which is fine as I'll happily take some new songs. We didn't get a chance to check out the merchandise table, but we will do so on Saturday - I've heard Buck 65 had rereleased a few of his older albums and I'm hoping to pick those up.

There was actually a lot we didn't do. Didn't check out the merchandise, the food court, or the hippie-infested shopping area, and I didn't pick up the media passes that the fine folks at MelodyTrip so kindly arranged for us. We wound up rushed in getting everything together for the evening, so by the time we got there and got in, I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the shows. Which I did, until the skies opened near the end of Buck 65's set. At first, we were kind of sheltered by the trees, but then the wind and the rain both picked up. Lots of people packed up and left, and we - eventually - were among them. I tried to hold on until the end of Buck's set, at least, but we weren't really dressed for the weather. And within seconds, it was raining HARD. Downpour hard. We could hear Buck's final song - Wicked & Weird - as we left the park. So I have no idea how City and Colour was, or indeed, if he even got the chance to take the stage.

The plan for the rest of the weekend is to check out the mainstage performances on both evenings, as well as some of the earlier daytime stuff on Sunday and some of the later daytime stuff on Saturday. This seems like a good plan, given that it's noon on Saturday as I'm writing this, and none of our clothes are dry yet.

Regina Folk Festival: The Prelude

jameskalyn — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 03:52:00 GMT

Snack foods? Check.

iTunes playing something suitable? Check.

Guitar Hero wireless guitar rendered unusable because the receiver thingy has been placed under lock and key? Check.

That means I can begin.

Hello, MelodyTrip. Nice to meet you. My name is James. By day, I'm an alleged technical writer for a company that's larger than most around here, but smaller than most that you've heard of. By night - or at least some nights - I go to concerts and then I write reviews. The big review archive is stored at my personal site, while more recent reviews (and a few album reviews too) have been cross-posted to Keeps Me Alive, the music blog that I have joint custody of. Though judging by my feeble number of posts there, I don't think it's fair to say I get joint custody, so much as I get to take it every other weekend. Except, y'know, when I have other plans.

A very nice person invited me to join MelodyTrip and cover the Regina Folk Festival. I spend a lot of time complaining that I spend too much time on other people's projects and not enough time on my own, but this, this I cannot complain about. The Regina Folk Festival is a lovely thing, and it makes me a little bit sad inside that I have only managed to attend once since moving to Regina in the spring of 2004. It was the 2004 festival, in fact; the last-minute addition of Hawksley Workman to the lineup was enough to convince me to attend, as he's one of my all-time favourite performers. But as much as I love Hawksley, it was Canadian veterans Spirit of the West who stole the show with a raucous performance that destroyed the preconceptions I had built up through 15 years of Saskatchewan FM radio.

The 2007 Regina Folk Festival - something like the 38th annual - runs from Friday, August 10 to Sunday August 12. As you may have guessed from the aforementioned bands, the festival tends to focus on independent Canadian artists, but the line-up is supplanted by musicians from around the world. Much like in 2004, this year's roster is once again headlined by Canadian veterans, with Bruce Cockburn and Blue Rodeo getting prime Saturday and Sunday night spots, respectively. I'd type out the rest of the schedule, but I'm too lazy and someone else has already done so - hit the official Festival site for the scoop.

Of the listed artists, I've seen Sarah Slean (delightful), Buck 65 (awesome), and Cuff the Duke (very talented), and I'm quite looking forward to seeing them all again. I've heard good things about the Hylozoists and Amy Millan. I will shed all credibility by admitting that I know nothing about Michael Franti and Spearhead, but that will change on Saturday. I'm not a huge fan of that one City and Colour song I've heard, but in a live setting, who knows how I'll feel?

It's the setting itself that makes the Regina Folk Festival worth checking out. Situated downtown in Victoria Park (a mere six blocks from my apartment, so no parking hassles for me), the Festival's mainstage shows are held under sunset and starlight. This is not without its risks - I would have liked to see Feist's performance last year, but it rained and I'm very weak. However, the outdoor setting can lead to some great moments. Like I said, I love Hawksley Workman, and his performance was only helped by the cool breeze and the flashes of lightning off in the distance.

For those that prefer a bright sunny afternoon, there are two side stages - or "Sunlit Stages" as I see they're calling them this year - where lesser-known artists get time to perform, and some of the mainstage players team up for some unique - and free - workshops. Glancing over the workshop schedule, I notice no Bruce Cockburn and no Blue Rodeo, but if you like Sarah Slean, this is the weekend for you. There's also a children's stage, as well as an area for the purchasing of food and another area for the purchasing of local crafts and things of that nature.

So the afternoon stuff is all free, but the evening will cost you - it's up to $100 for a weekend pass if you wait until you show up. A full breakdown of the prices can be found at the official site. What they don't tell you is this handy tip: they will generally sell a handful of weekend passes in December or January. These are the earliest of early-bird deals and thus they are the cheapest passes you can get. This year, the pre-Christmas passes sold for $55 each - just over half of what a pass will cost you at the gate. Now sure, they don't announce the lineup until late spring, but what do you care? If you don't like who's coming, just wait until prices rise - then you can easily sell your tickets for what you paid for them. You break even, someone else gets a (perceived) deal, and everybody's happy.

Not that I would ever do such things, of course.

If you're not into taking a chance on early tickets - or tickets at all - you can always just hang out in the park for free. You won't be able to see the main stage that well, but you can hear everything quite nicely. Granted, you'll miss out on Bruce Cockburn's show-ending ritual of murdering an audience member at random during his encore (when he sings "if I had a rocket launcher, some sonofabitch would die," try not to call attention to yourself), but I think we can all agree that protest music is overrated and played out anyway, right?