Tuesday, May 27, 2008

East Lansing Art Festival...Huge Success

The "iffy" weather held off and it was beautiful for most of the 2-day festival. I know I should look at the art...and I do....but I do not "engage" in the art as much as I do in the music. There were 2 stages with such wonderful acts...I wish you could be 2 places at once. This year Nic and I managed to see: "MOIRA SMILEY & VOCO" on Saturday and "DOWN THE LINE" and "SETH BERNARD & DAISY MAY" on Sunday. My, what a treat this music is! Moira Smiley was powerful, confident, joyful. Her 3 companions blended smoothlyfor a terrific performance. My favorites were the Eastern European-flavored tunes. Thank you ladies.

I have been waiting for over a year to see, "Down The Line" live. Being from Chicago I am always interested in what the hometown is producing (lest we forget some of the "other" talent, like, Wilco, David Roth and countless more) and these fellas are the real deal. Good instrumentalists and they really shine on the vocals. Clever, funny lyrics combined with some fun stage antics make for a pleasant hour. Thanks fellas ( I know they play the "Kraftbreu" in Kalamazoo) and we'll certainly look you up again.

Finally, with my daughter Lisa in from Chicago we were able to enjoy Daisy May and Seth Bernard again. The size of the audience dictates they perfoem on the Main Stage next year and I'm sure Wanda Degan (the EXCELLENT music host and booking manager for the festival) realizes this and will make the adjustments for next time. Daisy and Seth just get better and better every time. There intrumentation is more adept and their harmonies are sweet and pure. It was a beautiful concert...from 2 people who know how to share their craft. Thank you Daisy and Seth.

I was sad to miss the other wonderful acts for this year's festival.

Off to France...

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