Across the Pond # 11 - August 2000

by Paul Castle

Not quite so many UK gigs as usual this month - August is the month most of the clubs shut up shop and head for the seaside. The little town of Sidmouth in East Devon has, over the last 46 years, developed their week-long summer folk festival into one of the most impressive gatherings of top musicians from around the
World, with daily workshops and impromtu pub sessions all over the town - it seems the beach is the only place out of bounds! .

This year's line-up includes The Kate Rusby Band, June Tabor, Niamh Parsons and Boys
of the Lough, alongside Rolf Harris, Billy Bragg, The Albion Band, Shooglenifty, and many more. Personally, although I've not heard them yet, I like the sound of the Australian band Sensitive New Age Cowpersons.

I've just returned from a bit of 'pond-hopping' myself - in sunny California. My adventures with the two Wacko Hat Women, 'Here's the deal' Kathleen and 'Weese' Louise, are not for the faint hearted! Suffice it to say, I couldn't have had friendlier or more enlightening guides than Serendipity Singer and genuine ball of sunshine, Kathleen Ebright Tarp (whose 'Song Legacy' service is rapidly becoming one of the big hits of the area) and Louise Malone, known in the Sixties as 'Today Malone', star of the groundbreaking documentaries "Revolution" and "Hippie Revolution" about Haight Ashbury in 1967 and 20 years later (the original was the first documentary to be chosen to represent the US at 3 European film festivals in 1968). Today she is saving lives and stamping out disease as a hospital administrator. What fun we had.

Part of the reason for going to CA was to try and see a few of the US acts everyone keeps raving about but,
for some reason, don't seem to have yet fully entered the British folk consciousness. Well, we found a 'plumb'
at the Kate Wolf Memorial Festival in Sebastopol, North of San Francisco. Cheryl Wheeler's performance that day was just totally exhilerating - a rollercoaster of laughter and well-up tears from beginning to end, with the hook line of her song 'If it were up to me' raising the big blue sky roof right off. I hope she makes it over to the UK soon. We need her too! I managed to have a quick chat with Tom Paxton, emcee for the Sunday session,
who I have met briefly a couple of times when touring the UK, and he, too, was just raving about Cheryl - and also about the Kate Wolf Memorial itself, which, he said, was one of his favourite festivals.

Tom Paxton backstage at the Kate Wolf
Memorial Festival 2000, Sebastopol, CA

My trip also included a visit to one of those wonderful open-air California Mountain Winery concerts I'd heard so much about - to see Shawn Colvin play a vibrant and 'on form' solo acoustic set, in the most incredible surroundings of the Saratoga Mountain Winery set on "a dramatic crest of the Santa Cruz mountain range, with magnificent views of the entire South Bay area." Everything about that night was "stunning".

This was followed by two days at The Monterey Blues Festival - just the best festival 'atmosphere' you can imagine - grooving to The Neville Brothers, bopping to Zakia Hooker, (John Lee's daughter) and being bowled over by ex-Big Brother & The Holding Comany singer, Kathi McDonald , with English keyboard wizard Brian Augur in her band.

Then on down Highway 1 to Topanga Canyon, near LA, to see an old English friend, Rik McCormack, who used to be the manager of the London venue 'Dingwalls' many years ago, but now lives out there. Highlights included an afternoon in McCabe's Guitar Shop in their little back room, trying out all the very best guitars I couldn't afford - fell in love with a small bodied beauty made by Richard Hoover's 'Santa Cruz Guitar Company'. Hope they don't sell it before I get rich!! I would've liked to have had time to go to one of McCabe's evening concerts - this coming month, I see, they have Peter Case, Toulouse Engelhardt, Chris Smithers, Rosalie Sorrels, and Terre & Maggie Roche.

With friend, Texas Bill, Rik also took me to Topanga's local Theatricum Botanicum' to see 'Woody's House'. When in California, Woody Guthrie lived here in a small house in the grounds of the open-air theatre, started by his friends and fellow folk singers, Will Geer and his wife, Herta Ware. Long after the 50's 'Blacklist', Will Geer went on to become best known for his part as Grandpa in 'The Waltons' TV series, but back then he was a folk singer of some repute, touring with Woody and Burl Ives, playing for migrant farm workers during the Depression, and continued working for the good of all until his death in 1978 . His widow, Herta Ware, now in her eightees, still lives at the Theatricum Botanicum, along with her large family of actors and musicians, in the most beautiful community setting. As luck would have it, Herta was home and in the mood for a chat about folk music and the old days, pulling out pictures of Pete Seeger telling me to "please say hello to him for me, will you", whilst proudly pointing out busts of Woody and Will in her living room and giving all three of us a copy of her CD, which I subsequently found to be an amazing treasure trove of original song, poetry and storytelling.

Herta Ware's CD Cover

Back to rainy London and reality, but with a new supply of happy memories. Big thanks to Rik McCormack in Topanga (so good to see you again), and to all the CA folks I met along the way who were all so open and friendly; and to songwriter/pianist, Barbara Lotz, in particular, thanks Barb - for making me so welcome in your wonderful house. There's still a lot I wished I'd had more time to see - like Sally Greenberg's Berkeley House Concerts, which tend to concentrate on touring British folk acts, and Englishman Steve Dulson's "The Living Tradition Concert Series" in Anaheim. But hopefully, next time!

For a list of what's on in California this coming month see Dirty Linen magazine's 'Concerts in CA' page.

Despite the holiday season, there's still quite a lot of good stuff on its way over to this side of the pond in August, with Michelle Shocked at The Jazz Cafe, 'classic' country singer Dale Watson, emerging Canadian songwriter Lennie Gallant, and a solo acoustic set from Jay Farrar (the singer from US band Son Volt) all on at The Borderline in London, whilst up in Scotland at the end of the month, there's an amazing line-up at Hopetoun House in South Queensferry featuring Little Feat, Emmylou Harris, and Steve Earle.

UK 'roots, rock, blues & beyond' magazine 'Rock 'n' Reel' has just launched its own website. For those who don't know about this little gem of a magazine, you're missing out. I've bought several subscriptions for North American friends in the past and they've all been amazed by the contents. The current issue includes features on Jethro Tull, Chris Hillman, Bruce Cockburn, Counting Crows, and Tim O'Brien, amongst others, plus acres and acres of album reviews.

Wherever you're bound this month, have a great time.

Paul pdcmusic@freeuk.com

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