Backstage at the Calgary Folk Fest

Last night, Thursday the 24th, I had the most amazing musical experience. Because Dario and I did that article about The Weakerthans for the July issue of BeatRoute (I had mentioned it here), we were offered free passes to the Calgary Folk Festival for Thursday night. The line up featured Master Musicians of Jajouka, The Weakerthans, Aimee Mann and the Sam Roberts Band. When we got to the festival, we were just expecting a regular wrist band, but we were directed to the west entrance where we were met at the gate and brought to the media tent to pick up our media passes. It was so unexpected - I couldn't believe it when the lady brought us in through the back. We were free to wander around back stage. Back stage.

The Weakerthans had just started to play when we got our passes so we headed over to the stage in a daze. I couldn't believe I was watching my favorite band from right next to the stage. I had the biggest stupidest grin on my face the whole time. There weren't even many people standing there watching - 5 to 10 at any given time. It was great. A little while after their performance was over I got to meet Stephen Carroll and chat with him. But then security made him go back into the private area for musicians because he was drinking a beer. I was glad to talk to him since he was the guy I had interviewed by phone and he remembered me too. I also got to talk to Christine Fellows, John K.'s wife, who is a really cool musician too. I actually just recently discovered her stuff and really like it. She was great, really friendly. She and I have almost the same wedding band - she's not into diamonds either.

I was hoping to meet John K. Samson, but I didn't see him hanging out in the media area. I only saw Sam Roberts from a distance. I did get to talk to the singer for the Great Lakes Swimmers. And the guys from Bedouin SoundClash were standing right next to Dario and I at one point. It might not sound like much, but I've never been in the presence of so many cool musicians before. I felt really fortunate and was really just in awe of the situation the whole time. I'm still smiling from the experience.

July update

I have no images to post at the moment, but I will have some soon as I have several projects on the go. I'm doing a series of portraits for my husband's band, Ahnabith Gish, that they hope to use on their new album. I've completed 3 of the 4. I'm very happy with the first 3 - there's a pretty good resemblance - but the fourth guy is proving to be more of a challenge. I took some more photos of him the other day and with a fresh perspective I am confident that I can pull it off.

I'm also collaborating with the guitarist from the band on the art for the front of the album. He draws and did a really cool sketch, but doesn't know how to finish it. So I'll be painting his drawing. I've never done that before so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

I also just got an editorial assignment for a magazine that I've been wanting to do work for for years. I'm very excited about this one. It's a direct result of a promo mailing I did in May. It's really nice to see your promos (all the time, effort and money) actually pay off and attract some work. I'm a happy happy girl.

On an unrelated topic, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview my favorite band on behalf of my husband this month. He writes for Beat Route Magazine and was doing an article on The Weakerthans. Unfortunately, with them being in Europe on tour it was hard to find a time to talk with them. Because my husband had to go to his day job and was unable to do a phone interview at the only time the band was available, I did the interview for him. I got to talk to guitarist, Stephen Carroll, and he was very nice and very cool. I feel really fortunate - how many other people have the opportunity to talk with a member of their favorite band? You can read the article in this month's Beat Route or right here.

And now I'm off to do some sketching...