FOLK ALLIANCE 2008: If I was handing out Grammys for GOOD TIMES:

THE AWARDS WOULD GO TO:

COUNTRY ROCK BAND: Stone Honey will be the next big thing, you mark my words. 5 gorgeous guys who sing and rock and, generally, are all about fabulous harmonies and drinking and getting the crowd UP AND DANCING and SINGING. Man!
CONTEMPORARY (AND TRADITIONAL) SWING: Phoebe’s band, The Bellville Outfit.
BEST NEW ARTIST: Betty Soo hands down. Her husband, Double D, will be playing drums, smiling that sneaky smile, while she walks out to collect her little golden trophy!
CONTEMPORARY FOLK: Amy Meyers….Beth Wood….Julie Christenson…Anna Wolfe (sublime)
FEMALE ROCK VOCALS: Patrice Pike
BEST NEW TRIO: Wendy Waldman’s new group, and I can not think of the name of it right now…maybe because it is 4:49 in the MORNING.
BEST FEMALE BLUES: Shelley King and Carolyn Wonderland
BEST ALL AROUND BELOVED MUSICIAN: Vance Gilbert
BEST NEW SONGWRITER: Dennis McGregor (wowie zowie catchy songs)

UP AND COMING: Emily Elbert
BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE: Eric Schwarz should have his own HBO Comedy series based around his life and music. Why isn’t someone just following him around with a camera? Huh? Just capturing his life and letting us
be amazed by the output of his unbelievable brain.
BEST CHILDREN’S PERFORMER: Guess who would go here!

Four and a half days of staying up til the wee hours, making music, meeting new friends, hearing music, laughing, laughing some more, eating a piece of chocolate cake, losing my phone, having security return my phone, Go Girls music. com, showcase 1 with dan navarro and dave crosslin (sp?) and kristin and phil parlapiano and that was a beautiful night. oh oh oh, great songs, fox run laurie gave us purple stoned gems in silver rings and
a children’s show with nine other childrens entertainers in a big white tent for 90 minutes meeting folks from festivals talking on a panel with Darden Smith and some other incredible folks about children’s music (making it, performing it, the how tos…) losing my phone again, meeting people for dinner cuz we forgot to eat, running back to the room and changing clothes another showcase breaking strings not one but two telling stories hanging on for dear life heard my phone was locked in a room heard so much more music in the halls in the elevator up in the rooms on 17 18 19 crashing calling my family up and out the door more music going back to the room for a quick nap finding someone to let me back into the room to get my bag full of cds people have given me and business cards and drawing a tattoo on my arm and kristin’s arm and having a deep conversation with kristin we are getting tired and we are crying we are so tired and then we jump up and move on and hug and go back out into the awesome and overwhelming energy and i think about lucinda william’s dog who dug up trash when greg johnson tells me a story and robert scarborough and dalis and michael terry and teresa and rusty god bless his back and their son michael, running sound for fox run, and board meetings and meeting new people that i will be on the board with for three years and anya from the ark who has the best sly smile and laughing some more and val denn’s bright fuschia hair and charlie dahan helping me driving talking meeting talking more playing with his two beautiful children chilling with his wife, melissa, at the movie back to the folk alliance which i never left the movie happened before all this and eric schwarz is making me laugh but then beatle bob makes him mad and cliff is drunk and i hope he made it to his room and patrice pike says nice things and people pack my last big showcase and kristin and i just go for it and joseph and steve browne are on the front row and i meet more folks from big festivals i have tears in my eye the sound guy did such a good job and the gigs are over for me and i am crying with happiness we got a standing ovation and i love everybody and the tiredness doesn’t deter me from going back to 17 18 19 to hear more music, sit in with the cover band and sing “mother’s little helper” and “honky tonk woman” and do doot doot doos with ben wisch on the keys (!!!) and freebo joins in and there is photoglo singing “sitting on the dock of the bay” and stone honey is the house band and so many smiles so many pretzels and cowboy boots and women dancing in slinky pants and low cut blouses and beer whisky cognac people going out on balconies to smoke haven’t seen the moon but i’ve heard a lot of music and songs and stories and melissa greener had the prettiest purple eyeliner