Sunday 6/27/10 (3:30 p.m.) Today I promised myself that I would go to a workshop in every time slot possible. It was almost a success, however, I missed the first time slot from 9- 10:30 because we were still eating breakfast at the tent.

- At 10:45 a.m. we went to see the Mime and Juggling stylings of Roger the Jester. We have been going to see Roger since we were little kids and even now that we are older he is still able to make us laugh and put a smile on our face. The children were a bit unruly and they kept telling him to throw things out the window. It came to the point that he just started actually throwing things. It was pretty amusing even from the perspective of a young adult. The thing that really touched me about his performance this year, however, was that at the end of the show he made a speech about the importance of laughter and he got tears in his eyes. We made a point to speak to him after the show and he told us that he was thinking about when he travelled to Haiti. He was able to help these children and adults who had seen such hard times by making them smile or laugh. it must have been an amazing experience for him, and I can see why he would be so affected by it, even now.

- At 12:00 my little sister and I went to visit Buffalo's own Babik again. They were putting on a family show. It turned out to be a little less family oriented than I had expected. There was a bit of audience participation toward the beginning of the performance. The band members asked us to join hand in a circle (a bit difficult being that we were underneath a rectangular tent) and as the music played we danced and rotated the circle. It was less organized than it could've been, but it was fun all the same. The real, however, began when slightly inappropriate things began occurring. It started out innocent enough with the Shaving Cream song. This song is a narrative that alway ends with a SH before the chorus, giving the illusion that the lyrics would include the word SHit. Later on in the workshop, however, Stewart Fuchs made a joke that seemed less than family oriented. His microphone would not stay up so without hesitation he simply stated "This microphone stand need viagra or something." He followed it up by explaining that this is a family show and thats how some family's are made." I couldn't help but laugh at the irony. All in all, a very nice workshop, and it was wonderful to get to see Babik perform one last time.

-At 1:15 we attended a Celtic Soiree in which Matt and Shannon Heaton collaborated with Paul McKenna Band. It was a wonderful combination of Irish and Scottish folk performances. The groups played both separately and in combination with one another. Personally, I really enjoyed the sound of both groups playing together. I was also very impressed by it because it seemed as if it hadn't been rehearsed. If that were the case, with little to no preparation, they had managed to pull off a wonderful performance.

-The last workshop I attended was entitled "The Last Great Contra Dance of the 2010 Festival." I had wanted to dance the entire festival and this would be my last chance. I took turns dancing with my mother and sister and, for whatever reason, I was the man. It turned out great though. I really enjoy dancing, even if it is not my strongest form of artistic expression. Each dance was explained to us and we went through the motions slowly. Then, as we got used to it, the band began to play and we would begin to go faster. After a while I was glad that I had chosen to be the man because that meant that I could lead and go at my own pace. All in all, I don't think that I made too big of a fool of myself. I also really enjoyed getting to know all of the people that were dancing with. Many of them, I was happy to find, were sometimes as oblivious to what what we were doing as I was. At one point during the workshop it began to downpour and everyone clapped and cheered (at this point we were all hot a sweaty). I left feeling hot and sore, but also somehow accomplished.

-After the last dance I returned to the tent to pack it up before going to the concert at 3:45.

Saturday 6/26/10 (12 a.m.) Out of all of the evening performances that I experienced during the trip this Saturday night performance was by far my favorite. The M.C. was John Roberts- a wildly amusing English Folk singer and one hell of an entertainer. In between numbers he sang some hilarious, and often only mildly offensive folk songs. My personal favorite among these songs was a silly piece involving the narrator's rear end. This evening's concert consisted of performances by Tim Eriksen, Moscow Nights, Debra Cowin, Babik, Gadelle, Brian Peters, Matt and Shannon Heaton, and Kim and Reggie Harris.

- Tim Eriksen had a singing style much like that of Elizabeth LaPrelle and, likewise, he specialized in performing traditional ballads. He was a very talent musician- playing the guitar, fiddle, and banjo. I was intrigued to learn that he had a history as both an ethnomusicologist and a teacher. Throughout the festival he lead a number of shape note workshops.

- Moscow Nights proved to be an extremely interesting group of musicians. Originating in Russia, this group performed mostly Russian folk music. They performed most of their songs accompanied by an accordion and both a soprano and bass balalaika. The balalaikas were pretty amazing instruments and the performance was filled with beautiful pieces of Russian culture.

- Debra Cowan's performance was a very nice interpretation of traditional folk tunes. She had a very clear voice and was not afraid to perform pieced a cappella. She also sometimes played guitar as she sang.

- This was the third time I had seen Babik perform and it certainly would not be my last. During my second semester at Buffalo State Babik had put on a performance in collaboration with the Buffalo Philharmonic. It was absolutely amazing, so of course, I had pretty high standards for them going into tho this. Luckily, they did not disappoint. The performance was fun and energetic. Besides being brilliant gypsy jazz style musicians, the group is also comprised to two very talented singers. Two of the songs stood out as particularly humorous and fun. The first was a number in which the band members tried to portray a war-like setting by combining a few well-known songs together in fun and interesting ways. The second was a song entitled the Sheik of Araby during which Stewart Fuchs played a funny sounding instrument which resembled a small section of piping. It was not at all surprising that this group turned out to be the highlight of the evening for me.

- Gadelle was a wonderful group comprised of four women. They were a traditional French-Acadian group made up of extremely talented instrumentalists. More impressive, however, was the fact that they were also all very talented dancers. Throughout the entire performance fiddle/harmonica player Louise Arsenault kept he feet tapping in order provide a wonderful percussive accompaniment. Then, to top it all off, toward the end of the performance the women stood up with their instruments and began to step dance, all the while continuing to play. I was extremely impressed, if not slightly jealous. I am a failure when it comes to multi-tasking and this group went above an beyond simply multi-tasking. Gadelle's performance was wonderfully entertaining in more than one artistic field.

- Brian Peters was an traditional English Folk performer. His interesting english-accented voice gave him a unique musical sound. He also had an interesting personality when relating to the audience, the kind that makes you stop for a second and think- "Did he really just say that?" Many of the songs that he performed were very repetitive, but we like that here at folk fest. It allowed for a lot of audience participation which is always a plus (especially when everyone can sing well and keep a beat :-D).

- Matt and Shannon Heaton put on a beautiful performance of traditional Irish music. Shannon played beautifully on both the flute and whistle. Meanwhile, Matt often played guitar and they both did their share of singing. I enjoyed the pieces that they performed and, much like Paul McKenna Band, I was arrested by the beautiful sounds of the flute and whistle.

- Out of sheer exhaustion my camping cronies and I retired to the tent during the final act- Kim and Reggie Harris. What I was able to hear of their performance, however, was very interesting. It was a folky kind of a gospel/jazz blend.

- It has been a wonderful night of performances and we're all excited to see what tomorrow will have in store.