oh my lawd! what a birthday weekend I have had... and you know, they keep getting better and better! who ever said getting old sucks wasn't really living life to it's beautiful potencial. so ya, at 7:22pm on august 12th, this lady successfully completed her 26th revolution around our glorious sun.
(uh oh, just thought of a side bar... I guess the earth has increased it's momentum er something since the tsunami and surely since it was spun into motion... so I guess the possibility is more reality that I actually completed the revolution earlier than 7:22pm... but unfortunately, I don't have access nor am I privy to the kind of technology required to calculate the exact time at which the complete revolution occured. désolé!)
so uhm... where was I? oh yes. my birthday. I spent it in Regina, SK. volunteering at what turned out to be a fucken KICK ASS folk festival!!! here, let me tell you a bit about it... ~motioning a come-hither with my right index finger~
(prepare yourselves for a pretty long read... but what else did you expect, really? Enjoy.)
wednesday, august 9th
took a plane to the Land of the Living Skies with one of my loves, kirsten rasmussen, who is originally from the area and was going home to attend a family member's hitching ceremony. so, I spent the afternoon and most of the evening visiting with her family. it was really nice to put names to faces and her Farmor (fa-moo-ah, means: father's mother, aka: her grandma) ROCKS! haha kirsten's family is really great and I enjoyed getting to know where this lovely lady came from.
thank-you for taking me in kirsten. I love you more now cuz I know you more now. *muah*
thursday, august 10th
so I stayed at the hostel for my entire time in regina. it's called the Turgeon House. apparently it's an important piece of Regina's history, although I will be honest, I have no idea what it represents to the city cuz I didn't think to ask.
I woke up kind of late, mosied on down to this sweet vegetarian/vegan café where I had a deliciously healthy 1st meal of the day, read my book and wrote in my journal. from there, I walked to victoria park and checked in with Tracy, the woman with whom I had been in contact for volunteering. I worked 5 hours doing set-up, met a couple young women - SO adorable!! - and met some other interesting and wonderful individuals. I was fed too! a yummy dinner at this place called the Free House.
went for drinks with kirsten and her american cousins that night. called it an early-ish night since I had to be at the site for 8am the following morning.
friday, august 11th
also, day 1 of my moon time. I was a little pissed.
had an organic, fair-trade vanilla soy latté on my way to the park. I don't know how I did it, but I ended up getting a walkie-talkie! haha just like the big-wig co-ordinators. I helped put up all the soundboard tents, helped organize the artist hospitality tent, moved shit, laid out flooring for the side stages, put up tarps along the fencing, put up the fencing, unloaded table after table after table, unloaded chairs, moved more shit from here to there...
I had the awesome oppertunity to talk with Utah Philippes! - the one dude whom I was most excited to see. I went up to him and he sais (in a low-ish yet pleasant old guy voice) ''well hello there! I'm Utah...'' and I sais ''well I'm Jacquie! how's it goin?'' and from there we talked politics and it was such a trip to hear his stories! what a beautiful person... the things he's doin down in nevada are just brilliant and he's 71 years old!! an old anarchist-activist, still livin the ways as best he can... and he does it well let me tell you!
caught Ani DiFranco's sound check!! I was putting up the mini-fencing in front of the stage while she was right there in front of me checkin her shit... back stage - a place I came to know quite well over the course of the weekend - I was waiting for a shipment, hanging out just feet away from the RV she requested (what a primadonna eh??). I totally could have gone up and said something to her, but I decided against it for a few reasons... the main one being the fact that not only was I walkin around the place sportin my naked righteous babe on my leg, I was also wearing my ani FUCKING difranco t-shirt cuz it had got chilly after the rain... I felt like a god damn stalker!!! there was no way I was gonna meet her under those circumstances! I mean she obviously saw the support and I just wanted to leave it at that, thought she'd appreciate that since I know she hates the fans that come running up to her. besides which, during her sound check she was like ''hello hello hello...'' into the mic and so I answered back ''hi hi hi'' and she looked at me and we shared a laugh. it was cute. AND, I spoke to Todd Sicafous (the upright bassist) instead... haha
ended up working til 6pm, went back to the turgeoun, showered, walked back to the grounds to catch the shows leading up to ani's... some awesome talent!! Lazerblade! Bedouin Soundclash! Lal! it was an awesome line-up. I'm serious... check out the hyperlinks dudes!! ani was great, as usual. at one point before she played a super new song about happiness, I screamed out ''congratulations!'' and she totally heard me and smiled. it's been 2 weeks since I last saw her in calgary and edmonton and she is TOTALLY showing!! it's so strange to see a usually scrawny ani with a swollen midriff and gigantic boobs!!! she's definitly one of those women who glow during their pregnancies. she was beautiful.
went home to bed. early night. no volunteer party, that's why...
saturday, august 12th
*** my 26th Birthday! ***
woke up with swollen eyes, a slight rash around my nose, bloated, crampy, felt like I hadn't slept at all, my hair sucked, my voice was raspy... and I declined drinking the night before!! had I known I was gonna wake up feeling like shit regardless, perhaps I would have opted to go out! worst moon time ever!!!
caught some shows and workshops here and there, which helped my mood cuz they were fucking great! my boys Les Cireux d'Semelles - a traditional french folk band consisting of 4 dudes, 2 of which attended Collège Mathieu, 1 of which I actually knew, Justin Bell - were playing the kid's stage and so I checked them out... caught a couple Utah workshops...
was approached by Tracy to see if I'd like to work security that evening. I said ya cuz I wasn't in a particularily happy mood and I wasn't that excited about the main stage finale Steve Earle. I ended up getting to work back stage though! haha I said ''dudes, it's my birthday...'' it's amazing where that phrase will take you! so I was able to talk with many of the artists and not to mention I had an unobstructed view of the performances.
steve earle wasn't as good as everyone cracked him up to be. he was I guess especially preachy this night. but Niyaz was absolutely phenomenal boys and girls... absolutely phe-no-me-nal! oh and lest I forget T.O.F.U. (tons of fun university)!!! you will never hear beat-boxin like this, never words set to beats like this, never vocal choreography like this... seriously. as my love miller would say: JIZZZZZZZ!
this night, there was a volunteer party and boy did I party... I was in such a bitchy mood too, but I refused to let it get the better of me cuz it was my friggen BIRTHDAY and though I started off the day on the wrong foot, I wasn't gonna end it that way. so I went by myself, bought a beer, checked out the slide show of photos taken of the festival already, then dansed my ass off! haha met up with this dude who calls himself Shaun O'somethin - we met at the hostel cuz he works there - and so I met some of his posse, but I talked to all kinds of people... a social butterfly of sorts. I ended up finding an after-after-party and had a sweet time playing bongos and singing all night til the sun came up... just howlin up at the sky in this room of many windows, over a mall, in the middle of the city. I stumbled home through the festival grounds back to my single bunk bed and managed to catch a few hours of sommeil. this was at 6am. what a birthday party.
sunday, august 13th
my love kirsten came to see me in my hostel room with a birthday card she herself made... I was supposed to have gone for breakfast with her and her family, but understandably, I did not wake up with my alarm. she was very sympathetic and so so sweet for coming by anyhow to wish me birthday wishes. this was 10 something in the morning... almost 11am.
I decided to wake up and start my day since I knew the line up on the side stages at the festival weren't ones I should miss. so reluctantly and very slowly and lazily, I swung my legs out of comfy bed.
I dansed my hang-over away!! I dansed so much and caught so many INCREDIBLE performances and workshops by the likes of Utah, Niyaz, Lal, Lazerblade, les Cireux, Nadia Gaudet... Alex Puentes of Alex Cuba Band: WOW WOW WOW!!! what a voice, style, attitude this dude has... and the bassist travelling with him, David, is sofa king adorable and talented!! I told him so and that I had recently bought a bass... he offered me to play his! I declined cuz I got really friggen nervous, but how nice eh?! (I bought his disc, ask me and I will burn it for you and you will love it. no word of a lie. trust in me and my taste in myoozik.) anyhow, the photographer dude approached me at one point and sais ''you know, there should be an award for me cuz I'm representin!! you are at every show! it's awesome!'' so... if you check out the regina folk fest site and there's pics of this year's festival... I wouldn't be surprised if you could find me in 90% of them! haha that's sweet! I'll keep you posted on that.
and fucken FEIST performed in and hosted the last workshop of the festival on top of being the headliner that evening!! it was awesome! she KICKED BUTT! and everyone playing together for the first time sounded so natural and rockin... ~sigh~ I love myoozik so much...
I ended up working security again this night, but this night was worth it cuz I got to work security between the audience and the stage!!! I got to catch Feist up close and personal! haha (and I spoke with her a bit after her performance... I told her I hated asking for autographs, she was like ''no no no! don't be! I'm flattered to sign on the same page as Utah!'') ...and before that I was backstage security and caught Utah from back there - who by the way put on an amazing show... just an old guy on a big stage singing old songs and telling old stories as well as new ones... for 71, he sure it active in his community!!! it was beautiful to experience. the croud just adored him and he them. - and Alpha Yaya Diallo was spectacular and shit! they got the croud goin!! especially the woman... you will never see dansing like this woman can danse.
a part from all the big names there, the local talent amazed me... truly. I am lookin out for a lot of those groups... especially Kyrie of Kyrie-K Groove and Rah Rah!! what a talented young woman - only 17, fresh out of highschool. ya. it was awesome. she got the awesome oppertunity to play a bit of the finale with Feist and the other artists, what an inspirational experience for her!!
the after-party was wicked again, but fucken Feist and her band came to it too! how fucken cool? many of the artists had come to the party the night before, but this night everyone was leaving the next morning and so they didn't attend. Lal came and so did Deep Dark Woods; they each performed that night and again, I dansed my little ass off. my calves are still tight. I had a blast and I said my good-byes and my nice-to-meet-yous and my hopefully-I'll-see-you-agains... and again, I attended the after-after-party and sang and bongoed til dawn... again, stumbled home through the festival grounds... again had to wake early since I had a plane to catch. only this time, I realized I was much more loaded than I was the previous night...
monday, august 14th
I was still loaded for at least an hour after I woke up... it was slow going for sure. Shaun O'somethin made me and this super cool woman whose room I was sharing, Zoey, pancakes! and Tracy sent a driver to take me to the airport! how thoughtful! we talked at the party, but I honestly didn't think she'd have remembered... I was so flattered. I LOVE folks from Regina!!! haha and at the airport? Feist and her posse. they all looked shit. haha but so did I. it was just funny cuz I had partied with them and no one in the airport would have guessed they were a pretty well-known group... fuck they were in rough shape and I felt their pain...
so there you have it folks. a day-by-day account of my birthday weekend in Regina, Saskatchewan. whether any of you made it to the bottom of this blog entry is a question I'm asking myself as I finish writing it, looking back on its breadth... sorry dudes! I'm long winded and I feel like I am actually telling you this story in person and so I have to include as many details as I can, otherwise it wouldn't be as interesting, now would it? so kudoes for those of you who made it through.
now I ask you: was it worth it?
(prepare yourselves for a pretty long read... but what else did you expect, really? Enjoy.)
wednesday, august 9th
took a plane to the Land of the Living Skies with one of my loves, kirsten rasmussen, who is originally from the area and was going home to attend a family member's hitching ceremony. so, I spent the afternoon and most of the evening visiting with her family. it was really nice to put names to faces and her Farmor (fa-moo-ah, means: father's mother, aka: her grandma) ROCKS! haha kirsten's family is really great and I enjoyed getting to know where this lovely lady came from.
thank-you for taking me in kirsten. I love you more now cuz I know you more now. *muah*
thursday, august 10th
so I stayed at the hostel for my entire time in regina. it's called the Turgeon House. apparently it's an important piece of Regina's history, although I will be honest, I have no idea what it represents to the city cuz I didn't think to ask.
I woke up kind of late, mosied on down to this sweet vegetarian/vegan café where I had a deliciously healthy 1st meal of the day, read my book and wrote in my journal. from there, I walked to victoria park and checked in with Tracy, the woman with whom I had been in contact for volunteering. I worked 5 hours doing set-up, met a couple young women - SO adorable!! - and met some other interesting and wonderful individuals. I was fed too! a yummy dinner at this place called the Free House.
went for drinks with kirsten and her american cousins that night. called it an early-ish night since I had to be at the site for 8am the following morning.
friday, august 11th
also, day 1 of my moon time. I was a little pissed.
had an organic, fair-trade vanilla soy latté on my way to the park. I don't know how I did it, but I ended up getting a walkie-talkie! haha just like the big-wig co-ordinators. I helped put up all the soundboard tents, helped organize the artist hospitality tent, moved shit, laid out flooring for the side stages, put up tarps along the fencing, put up the fencing, unloaded table after table after table, unloaded chairs, moved more shit from here to there...
I had the awesome oppertunity to talk with Utah Philippes! - the one dude whom I was most excited to see. I went up to him and he sais (in a low-ish yet pleasant old guy voice) ''well hello there! I'm Utah...'' and I sais ''well I'm Jacquie! how's it goin?'' and from there we talked politics and it was such a trip to hear his stories! what a beautiful person... the things he's doin down in nevada are just brilliant and he's 71 years old!! an old anarchist-activist, still livin the ways as best he can... and he does it well let me tell you!
caught Ani DiFranco's sound check!! I was putting up the mini-fencing in front of the stage while she was right there in front of me checkin her shit... back stage - a place I came to know quite well over the course of the weekend - I was waiting for a shipment, hanging out just feet away from the RV she requested (what a primadonna eh??). I totally could have gone up and said something to her, but I decided against it for a few reasons... the main one being the fact that not only was I walkin around the place sportin my naked righteous babe on my leg, I was also wearing my ani FUCKING difranco t-shirt cuz it had got chilly after the rain... I felt like a god damn stalker!!! there was no way I was gonna meet her under those circumstances! I mean she obviously saw the support and I just wanted to leave it at that, thought she'd appreciate that since I know she hates the fans that come running up to her. besides which, during her sound check she was like ''hello hello hello...'' into the mic and so I answered back ''hi hi hi'' and she looked at me and we shared a laugh. it was cute. AND, I spoke to Todd Sicafous (the upright bassist) instead... haha
ended up working til 6pm, went back to the turgeoun, showered, walked back to the grounds to catch the shows leading up to ani's... some awesome talent!! Lazerblade! Bedouin Soundclash! Lal! it was an awesome line-up. I'm serious... check out the hyperlinks dudes!! ani was great, as usual. at one point before she played a super new song about happiness, I screamed out ''congratulations!'' and she totally heard me and smiled. it's been 2 weeks since I last saw her in calgary and edmonton and she is TOTALLY showing!! it's so strange to see a usually scrawny ani with a swollen midriff and gigantic boobs!!! she's definitly one of those women who glow during their pregnancies. she was beautiful.
went home to bed. early night. no volunteer party, that's why...
saturday, august 12th
*** my 26th Birthday! ***
woke up with swollen eyes, a slight rash around my nose, bloated, crampy, felt like I hadn't slept at all, my hair sucked, my voice was raspy... and I declined drinking the night before!! had I known I was gonna wake up feeling like shit regardless, perhaps I would have opted to go out! worst moon time ever!!!
caught some shows and workshops here and there, which helped my mood cuz they were fucking great! my boys Les Cireux d'Semelles - a traditional french folk band consisting of 4 dudes, 2 of which attended Collège Mathieu, 1 of which I actually knew, Justin Bell - were playing the kid's stage and so I checked them out... caught a couple Utah workshops...
was approached by Tracy to see if I'd like to work security that evening. I said ya cuz I wasn't in a particularily happy mood and I wasn't that excited about the main stage finale Steve Earle. I ended up getting to work back stage though! haha I said ''dudes, it's my birthday...'' it's amazing where that phrase will take you! so I was able to talk with many of the artists and not to mention I had an unobstructed view of the performances.
steve earle wasn't as good as everyone cracked him up to be. he was I guess especially preachy this night. but Niyaz was absolutely phenomenal boys and girls... absolutely phe-no-me-nal! oh and lest I forget T.O.F.U. (tons of fun university)!!! you will never hear beat-boxin like this, never words set to beats like this, never vocal choreography like this... seriously. as my love miller would say: JIZZZZZZZ!
this night, there was a volunteer party and boy did I party... I was in such a bitchy mood too, but I refused to let it get the better of me cuz it was my friggen BIRTHDAY and though I started off the day on the wrong foot, I wasn't gonna end it that way. so I went by myself, bought a beer, checked out the slide show of photos taken of the festival already, then dansed my ass off! haha met up with this dude who calls himself Shaun O'somethin - we met at the hostel cuz he works there - and so I met some of his posse, but I talked to all kinds of people... a social butterfly of sorts. I ended up finding an after-after-party and had a sweet time playing bongos and singing all night til the sun came up... just howlin up at the sky in this room of many windows, over a mall, in the middle of the city. I stumbled home through the festival grounds back to my single bunk bed and managed to catch a few hours of sommeil. this was at 6am. what a birthday party.
sunday, august 13th
my love kirsten came to see me in my hostel room with a birthday card she herself made... I was supposed to have gone for breakfast with her and her family, but understandably, I did not wake up with my alarm. she was very sympathetic and so so sweet for coming by anyhow to wish me birthday wishes. this was 10 something in the morning... almost 11am.
I decided to wake up and start my day since I knew the line up on the side stages at the festival weren't ones I should miss. so reluctantly and very slowly and lazily, I swung my legs out of comfy bed.
I dansed my hang-over away!! I dansed so much and caught so many INCREDIBLE performances and workshops by the likes of Utah, Niyaz, Lal, Lazerblade, les Cireux, Nadia Gaudet... Alex Puentes of Alex Cuba Band: WOW WOW WOW!!! what a voice, style, attitude this dude has... and the bassist travelling with him, David, is sofa king adorable and talented!! I told him so and that I had recently bought a bass... he offered me to play his! I declined cuz I got really friggen nervous, but how nice eh?! (I bought his disc, ask me and I will burn it for you and you will love it. no word of a lie. trust in me and my taste in myoozik.) anyhow, the photographer dude approached me at one point and sais ''you know, there should be an award for me cuz I'm representin!! you are at every show! it's awesome!'' so... if you check out the regina folk fest site and there's pics of this year's festival... I wouldn't be surprised if you could find me in 90% of them! haha that's sweet! I'll keep you posted on that.
and fucken FEIST performed in and hosted the last workshop of the festival on top of being the headliner that evening!! it was awesome! she KICKED BUTT! and everyone playing together for the first time sounded so natural and rockin... ~sigh~ I love myoozik so much...
I ended up working security again this night, but this night was worth it cuz I got to work security between the audience and the stage!!! I got to catch Feist up close and personal! haha (and I spoke with her a bit after her performance... I told her I hated asking for autographs, she was like ''no no no! don't be! I'm flattered to sign on the same page as Utah!'') ...and before that I was backstage security and caught Utah from back there - who by the way put on an amazing show... just an old guy on a big stage singing old songs and telling old stories as well as new ones... for 71, he sure it active in his community!!! it was beautiful to experience. the croud just adored him and he them. - and Alpha Yaya Diallo was spectacular and shit! they got the croud goin!! especially the woman... you will never see dansing like this woman can danse.
a part from all the big names there, the local talent amazed me... truly. I am lookin out for a lot of those groups... especially Kyrie of Kyrie-K Groove and Rah Rah!! what a talented young woman - only 17, fresh out of highschool. ya. it was awesome. she got the awesome oppertunity to play a bit of the finale with Feist and the other artists, what an inspirational experience for her!!
the after-party was wicked again, but fucken Feist and her band came to it too! how fucken cool? many of the artists had come to the party the night before, but this night everyone was leaving the next morning and so they didn't attend. Lal came and so did Deep Dark Woods; they each performed that night and again, I dansed my little ass off. my calves are still tight. I had a blast and I said my good-byes and my nice-to-meet-yous and my hopefully-I'll-see-you-agains... and again, I attended the after-after-party and sang and bongoed til dawn... again, stumbled home through the festival grounds... again had to wake early since I had a plane to catch. only this time, I realized I was much more loaded than I was the previous night...
monday, august 14th
I was still loaded for at least an hour after I woke up... it was slow going for sure. Shaun O'somethin made me and this super cool woman whose room I was sharing, Zoey, pancakes! and Tracy sent a driver to take me to the airport! how thoughtful! we talked at the party, but I honestly didn't think she'd have remembered... I was so flattered. I LOVE folks from Regina!!! haha and at the airport? Feist and her posse. they all looked shit. haha but so did I. it was just funny cuz I had partied with them and no one in the airport would have guessed they were a pretty well-known group... fuck they were in rough shape and I felt their pain...
so there you have it folks. a day-by-day account of my birthday weekend in Regina, Saskatchewan. whether any of you made it to the bottom of this blog entry is a question I'm asking myself as I finish writing it, looking back on its breadth... sorry dudes! I'm long winded and I feel like I am actually telling you this story in person and so I have to include as many details as I can, otherwise it wouldn't be as interesting, now would it? so kudoes for those of you who made it through.
now I ask you: was it worth it?
6 comments:
That was fun to read! Sounds like a great time! Most enjoyed the fa-moo-aah (Hihi, Danish right? And the lastname kind of tells too. Same word here, but we pronounce the r:s.)and the part about Ani. Wow, I really want to see her too! Any pics of her by the way? I wanna see the gigantic boobs (kidding :P). Take care!
cute sandra! how are you?? I love love love that you still read me and I am so sorry I haven't been able to keep as up to date with YOU! I should write you an email... except now you know what's going on with me... maybe you wouldn't mind writing me a little somethin somethin about your life? I would love that a lot. now I'm in montreal visiting with family... I have to write another blog about what happened with the FCF events... we will see. good to hear from you!!!
xxx
ps. yes indeed it is danish!
hey lady, indeedy was a fun filled ride of a story.thank you! I agree you may have come across as some kind of stalker had you met mizz ani in the described attire. Sounds like you rocked it sister. And hey, happy birthday! Enjoy your 26th year here on our beautiful and divine mama earth. Me, I'm in my 27th year these days n unravelling deliciously within my saturn return..............much love n smooches to you from me n the little chief xxxxjeddastarmama in da mountains of maleny, australia
Sure, I'll write you a little something. :)
Spoken like a genuine critic...thank you for sharing your the days of your birthday weekend. I'm sure we were all with ya, in spirit, sending lots and lots of love. So, kudos for enjoying and experiencing as it is...no moon time should slow any woman down...teehee.
It's a good thing you write about these artists...you should send your blog to all the folks at the festival and perhaps they'll recongnize your semi-pro style and hire you on...OR perhaps you'll be hired on as a roadie...traveling around, sharing great energy, and taking bass playing notes from some of the best in folk...I love reading and hearing about your adventures...rock on!!!
Enjoy Montreal, the chateau, and Ontario's great lake.
Truly missed, Car xox
ayoy!! Mr.peanuts! haha no, ani did not see the full moon that is bottom, but she sure did see the wonderful moon high in the endless sky in the city that rhymes with FUN. :-)
and jeddastarmama!! thanks for reading me lady! hope to catch up with you soon down under...
and of course carly... you are the ever faithful reader as well... though I wished everyone could have experienced the regina folk festival with me - cuz it ROCKED! - I don't think it would have been the same... I'm glad I did it that way, my way. I loved sharing my experiences, as always.
xxx
Post a Comment