Festival Blog
Body of evidence
by Mike Bell
Calgary Sun
2003-07-27
Its always tough to perform an autopsy when the body isnt even cold, let alone when it wont stop moving. Such is the case trying to assess this years Calgary Folk Music Festival early Sunday afternoon when there are still so many potential highlights left.
Its always tough to perform an autopsy when the body isnt even
cold, let alone when it wont stop moving. Such is the case trying to
assess this years Calgary Folk Music Festival early Sunday afternoon
when there are still so many potential highlights left. Nevertheless,
festival general manager les siemieniuk and associate producer Kerry
Clarke were asked to carve into the body and comment on its bottom-line
success.
It depends how you measure success, says siemieniuk. Financially,
he says, this years event left the festival in great shape for the
future, thanks to Saturday and Sunday sell-outs and near capacity for
the other two days. The weather also cooperated, with almost uniformly
beautiful days. And artistically, it was another year where the mix of
big-ticket artists (Elvis Costello, Ani DiFranco, Daniel Lanois, Ricky
Skaggs), mid-range performers (Sarah Harmer, Kathleen Edwards, Jane
Siberry, Ian Tyson), and prior unknowns (Backstabbers, Jolly Boys and
Petrona Martinez) seemed almost perfect.
Very exciting, challenging, diverse, lots of surprises, says Clarke,
assessing 2003. I was the only one that heard of Horace X before they
came here, now theres 10,000 people who know who they are.
Some of the more challenging and out-there programming has been really
loved and that makes me really excited
I was in the food area and I
heard this humongous cheer, and it was for these 70-year-old Inuit
women throat singing, she continues, recalling Saturdays main stage
appearance by Alacie and Lucy.
Thats what makes me happy
Costello had such a great time, he
broke some of his own rules and accepted the white hat from our mayor,
signed autographs for fans and expressed his desire to return sometime
soon. DiFranco cancelled her flight so she could remain on the Island
Sunday and take in workshops, reportedly sitting in on one with her
friend Siberry in the a.m. There were a couple of hitches but ones the
fest has been dreaming of for most of its 24 years.
We faced a number of problems that weve never faced before
because weve never been sold out in advance, he says, sitting by the
Bow watching the incredible crowd that had been shut out of the event
and so had gathered across the river to get a dose of Rodeo. It was
interesting to see scalpers, clever punters and devious others who are
trying to figure out cracks in our system.
We found them, well fix them next year.
Also the addition of an extra side stage created unwanted sound
overlap, signalling that next year the site and space between stages
will have to increase. But, again, siemieniuk says he welcomes those
kinds of difficulties. It means the major hurdles have been overcome
and its now a case of simply tinkering to get things perfect. Then
again, there are 30,000 people who might just argue it already is.
