winnipeg

A special winnipeg edition of TOTH/WOTF

I just want to give a big tip of the hat to the new music director. the music rocked so hard this year. there was something for everyone. hip hop for young kids. females singing about vaginas for the lesbians( neko case), funk and techno that everyone got down to, mellow guys like steve earle and jay farrar (sun volt). and then just plain legends like Solomon Burke and Richard Thompson. Among my favorites were Los de Abajo, Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone, That 1 Guy, Solomon of course, afrodizz, tagaq, TOFU and hawksley worksman. google 'em if you want more info!
They had concerts from 11am to 3am!

Tips to

1) SAM! he rocked it hard core. apart from not having any money and still owing me 100 dollars that i had to front him, he rocked. Just to make me laugh, he yelled "Here we come to save the motherfucking day, CANADA FUCK YEAH at some mounties. he also took good care of maya and kayla one night when they needed it. and he was an all around pleasant guy. not to mention he had no cigarettes. I even got him to wear a sarong, even if it was only as a belt.

2) The park. there's access to cold, free potable drinking access 24/7 with lots of taps in easy locations. free cold water is always a nice thing to have when 45,000 people are at a festival.

3) My inability to sleep on wednesday morning. if not, we would not have known the deal about getting in line before the park gates open at seven am.

4) ground scores! some definetely goodies to be found. soap, glass, a plate (i.e. a tooney), a towel, etc. and i got a free dijeridu, although not a ground score

Wag of the fingers to

1) Liquor mart, and the whole canadian alcohol thing in general. Sam and I went to grand beach on wednesday and finished the beer i had brought with us. so afterwards we stopped in the town of grand beach, aka grand marais, so sam could order his first legal beer. we walked in sat down at the bar, were glanced over and ignored. after three minutes we left and went to the COLD BEER store across the street. the only beer they had was O'Doule's! that's not even beer. so we had to go to bird's hill for alcohol. the liquor mart there only had imported and bottled beer. so we picked up the cheapest beer we could, 4.50 a six pack, and went to check out. we get up there, and the guy informs us that 4.50 is the per bottle price!!!!!!! and that all those prices were for a bottle. so we went to winnipeg. we stopped at a bar and got some on tap, happy hour, domestic beer, molson, for 3 a glass. that was during happy hour. molson is cheaper in the states. sam found the cheapest bottled beer he could, about 1.50 a bottle and then asked an employee what beer it was for. turns out the sign was wrong. you could get a 12 pack of can Alberta Genuine Draft for 12. and it was only 5%! and then the tax was outrageous!! outrageous. at least it wasn't that bad. not the worst beer i've ever had, but still.

2) my mom. don't get me wrong, she rocked pretty hard all weekend, but she did one thing that pissed me off, she dumped out my beer! in fairness, she thought it was sam's, but still. she was at our camp, drinking our beer. if we had been at her house drinking her beer, i'd say more power to you, dump out all the beer you want. but when you're at our camp drinking our beer, don't stealthily dump out our beer!

3) the food selection. not very good this year. all i wanted was a caeser salad, but the dressing hurt my mouth. then i wanted a fried tofu sandwich from the vegan place, but they were all gone. and the pad thai sucked. the veggie roles were ok, though. and for seven or eight bucks, no way am i getting a veggie burger and fries.

4) the bathroom situation. I know it's hard with so many people in a small place, but come the fuck on, KEYRIPES


this was the best folk festival yet, i think. we all had a good time. except for maybe kayla, I couldn't tell if she was having fun or not. Martha was getting way down and putting us to shame, wayne and kristine seemed happy, mom and steve were having a great time, the sam/max/amelia team was back together, the tarp rules were all changed, and the music was awesome. they had nighttime concerts on the hill. they used to keep us off of the hill, but how could they? huh. still trying to figure out if it's the tallest hill in manitoba or not. the temperature was also perfect, it was frickin hot, but not unbearably hot. so we could enjoy the day shows, because for the first year ever there was always something rocking i wanted to see.

CANADA
FUCK YEAH!