Wheatland 2004, Chapter 3
Monday, September 13th, 2004Saturday night at Wheatland, during the dinner break for the main stage, our friends have traditionally had a potluck. Now, preparing food on the 2nd day of a warm weekend is a challenge, so we are getting a bit simpler but the food is great quality no matter.
We often have 25 people in a crowded space under the trees, and it’s great fun. We eat and sing and laugh. This year one of the kids (who is at least as much of a ham as I, but more bold in asking for an audience) asked us to listen to her play recorder. Mind you, she doesn’t know any songs so she just tooted into it in a decent rhythm… but she did not want to stop at all. Finally she took a deep breath and someone started clapping very loudly so she would know her time was up. This kid is going to go somewhere, I can tell it already! She is a smart and interesting child, and it was good to have her with us.
I have no photos for the next, big highlight of the weekend (I left my camera in the tent and was unwilling to leave the scene to get it). Our friends, Andy and Joe Wilson, are in a really hot young band called Steppin’ in It. They had one show this weekend… at 7pm on the 2nd stage. The concert was in part to celebrate their new CD, Hidden in the Lowlands (which I happen to be listening to right now as I type this).
Andy and Joe used to work at Elderly Instruments with Brian, and I got to know them then. We used to go to the same parties in the summer at Mike Cutler’s place (but Mike moved back to Colorado and the party scene has not been the same since). These days I see them in the newspaper more often than I see them in person.
I tell you, this band is SOOOOOO fab! They are so hot, and so together, and so musical and so whatever you could possibly want in a band, I just love it when I can hear them play. They play at the Green Door on East Michigan Ave. in Lansing every Monday night, but I seem to get so dratted busy (you certainly believe me if you read this blog) that I just haven’t made it over there yet. I’m not much for bars (I don’t drink and I avoid crowds when I can), but the Green Door has come a long way in becoming a welcoming sort of neighborhood spot with great dance bands in the last 20 years. They have a decent kitchen now, I’m told, and the few times I’ve been there I’ve felt comfortable and really loved the music.
Well, Steppin’ in It took over the world there for an hour at the 2nd stage. It was magic and it was electric, and all the other things a dance/party band could want to be. Andy plays an amazing set of harmonicas, in addition to pennywhistle, accordion and trumpet. The crowd went crazy for some of his solos. Dominic, the bass player, doesn’t sing but he’s just captivating to watch, smiling and going at that bass as if there were no better thing to do on this earth (I’ve felt that at times, but it seems to glow permanently from Dominic).
Josh, who wrote a good number of their songs and sings lead most of the time, is quite fine to look at (as a lead singer often should be) and his voice is just the right combination of mellow and earthy. And Joe… well, what a talent. He sings the tightest, most excellent harmonies that just blow me away… while he’s simultaneously playing steel guitar or dobro. He used to play trombone with the band sometimes, but did not play it on the CD (or this concert) at all, so maybe Andy is a one-man brass section these days.
These guys just played their hearts out! And the audience got up on their feet, until there was no more dancing space available. When they were done, the crowd went wild. The announcer (whose job it is to make sure they stay on schedule for the following bands) allowed an encore. They played that, and the crowd STILL went nuts. I’ve never seen this done, but they allowed a second encore. And after that second one, they got off stage *fast* so they wouldn’t mess up the schedule… but that crowd did not want to hear no for an answer. It was wonderful. I was so happy for the band, and for the audience. And next time, I think Wheatland Music Organization will have to answer some serious questions if they don’t put this band on the main stage. It must be because they are a) young, and/or b) from Michigan, that they didn’t look like main stage matierial. I can’t think of any other reasons… and of course, neither is valid. Main stage in 2005, I say!
(Michigan residents, make sure to check out Steppin’ in It’s Greasy Spoon Atlas for the scoop on breakfast joints all over the state. They have covered the state well, with a few entries from the Upper Peninsula as well as lower.)
Saturday evening after the concert, we played more tunes, as we had expected. We found the same spot as the night before on Workshop Lane. Our friend Bob McCarthy joined us again, and our friend Willie T (who used to be in Abbott Brothers before I knew Brian) joined us with his keyboard. Oh, my, was that a good time! We had a good crowd around us much of the time.
Early in that jam session, the young man (Cameron, age 14) from the night before came up to me with a box the size of a Ukulele. Turns out he had determined to learn this instrument after watching Brian for 2 hours the night before. He was so determined to get it, that he sold his ocarina (that he had bought for himself at one time earlier) and his walking stick, to earn the cash for the uke. He came asking Brian to show him some things.
Brian tuned the instrument and showed Cameron a few chords and invited him to play along with us. Cameron sat next to me and I did my best to encourage him. I told him what I tell my young knitters… that when you learn a bicycle you are not good at it right away, that you need to practice before you know if you are good at it or not. I encouraged him not to quit too soon, before he had tried enough to play it. Brian told him “Don’t watch TV, play uke.” Strong words, but said without a thread of doubt, and excellent advice for a kid that age.
I gave Cameron a copy of our CD and our business card so he can contact us if he wants. He did OK for a first night, so I am hoping he’ll keep up the enthusiasm long enough to play well. It was fun to sit next to him during the jam. I kept telling him what chord I was playing and he did his best to chase the chords around! I understand what it’s like to not know, and he did pretty well.
We played there until about 1:30 and then we went to see our friends from Kalamazoo and Bay City. It’s mostly women at that camp, a big change of pace from our other musical circles. The women sing wonderful songs, in wonderful harmonies. Lots of the songs are sentimental or sad, and so one of their male friends who hangs out sometimes, tells them to stop playing all that “whiney shit.” So we call them the whiney grrrlz sometimes. I love these women, and I don’t see them much, usually twice a year. We stayed until we got cold and our voices were giving out, about 2:30am.
Sunday morning I opened my mouth to sing and nothing came out. I sent Brian off to find music to play without me, because I knew if I took my bass and went with him, I’d force my voice and that is a bad idea. I want to be strong to sing at our upcoming fall Ukulele Festivals, so I held back one day at Wheatland and I’m glad I did. I went over to the whiney grrlz’ camp and listened to them play music while I knitted. When we all had to sort of break it up (some of the folks at that camp had to drive long distances home… one woman 8 hours) we did our hugfest and I was back on my way to our camp.
I could not find Brian at all. It turns out he had gone back to Middleground and I had not thought to go there looking for him. So I checked out all the artists’ booths and talked to one jeweler for a while. I got some iced tea, chatted with a few friends I came across and took some photographs of the crowd. Finally I went back thinking I’d start carrying things to the car in anticipation of going home. I found Brian when I got back to camp.
It was a grand time, even if I did complain a lot about being outdoors. I don’t like dirt on my feet and face, I don’t like port-a-potties, I don’t like sleeping in tents. But I do love the music and the comaraderie. I love the food my friends bring. I love the colorful clothing, the youthful energy I find, the fabulous tunes we play with folks we don’t see elsewhere, and the artfulness and joy I find at this festival. We’ll go again next year, for sure.
Photos: A toast at potluck, recorder concert at potluck, cover of Steppin’ in It’s new CD, art fair section of the festival (complete with tie-dye customers), two pictures of tunes at whiney grrlz camp (with two token men for balance).