BioMuse
Outside Expectations at Winnipeg Folk Festival
Submitted by BioMuse on Fri, 07/15/2011 - 11:22pm
The headline in the Winnipeg Sun we picked up for the long drive home on the Monday after the Winnipeg Folk Festival read “Solid meh+ for shindig. It had its moments, but …” Since my experience of the festival was anything but meh, here are some highlights, musical and otherwise, from the five-day event that left me feeling that yes, the festival had once again delivered on their marketing tagline, this year pitched as “Outside Expectations.”
Sublime song of the festival had to be k.d.lang singing Hallelujah on the Main Stage on Friday night. Never known quite so many people to have collectively and spontaneously held their breath for so long, as an almost eerie hush descended on the crowd. A video of a video is nothing like being there, but, to give you a taste,…
Winnipeg Folk Festival: The Glastonbury of the Prairies
Submitted by BioMuse on Thu, 06/30/2011 - 2:35am
As an avowed eclectic music-lover, and a somewhat more closeted Anglophile, every June I find myself scouring The Guardian for coverage of the Glastonbury Festival—to see who the big acts are, the breakthrough artists, the background stories, and yes, to wallow in the almost inevitable photos of the drenched and bedraggled punters wearing their wellies as they trudge through the mud.
Glastonbury 2011: 'There's something for everyone, isn't there?' - video (The Guardian) Read more »
Something to tell the grandchildren
Submitted by BioMuse on Tue, 10/26/2010 - 12:18pm
Every now and then, a show at The Cedar affects an audience member to such a degree that they are moved to put their thoughts down on paper (or keyboard) and share it with the world. Here's one such outpouring from guest writer and Joe Pug fan Joanna Backmann:
Chicago native, singer-songwriter Joe Pug took to the Cedar Cultural Center stage Monday October 18 and gave his fans five hundred dollars worth of music for their ten dollar tickets. Playing almost nonstop for well over an hour, Pug gifted those of us on the edges of our seats with his own particular style of music that is often hard to peg.
Besides his incredible voice, Pug also masters the acoustic guitar, banjo and harmonica. Opening his set with “Dodging the Wind,” he went on to offer many other favorites like “Bury Me Far From My Uniform,” and “The Door Is Always Open,” and hardly seemed to take a breath along the way.
Five Days of Discovery: The Winnipeg Report
Submitted by BioMuse on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 6:34pm
5 days of discovery was the marketing slogan for the 37th Winnipeg Folk Festival (Jul 7--11, 2010). So how well did the festival deliver on the promise? Bear in mind that I went to the festival with a feeling that the line-up was just a little too familiar--about a third of artists have either appeared at The Cedar during the past 5 years (or in the case of Delhi 2 Dublin, appearing in September). Now, these are very high quality acts, no question, otherwise they wouldn't be at The Cedar, but the festivals I enjoy most are those where I am continually being exposed to new delights. From the cup half (or 2/3) full perspective, however, this means that 2/3 of the acts have not played at the Cedar recently, and there was plenty of new acts to sample. I chose to largely ignore known entities (apart from a few I couldn't resist) during the daytime stages, and opted to instead check out some new talent.
