We had a marvelous time at the Tucson Folk Festival. Here’s a little VOLG (#29) to tell you about it and “share the experience”.
I hope you enjoyed that and will check out some of our friends:
We’re looking forward to next year’s “Festival Season” but this summer, we hope to focus on some new recordings as a trio. I’ll keep you posted!
We attended the Tucson Folk Festival Kick-Off party last night at the LaCocina restaurant at Old Town Artisans. It was a wonderful evening starting with The Greg Morton Band, our host. Greg Morton is among the best flat-pickers in the country and he has a band full of virtuoso musicians. Two of his regulars however were missing. But he more than compensated by having former National Champion flat-picker Peter McLaughlin join the team. Peter and Greg together was a stunning exhibition of guitarmanship!
Stephan George played also. I would have to say he’s Tucson’s premier finger-picking guitar player for traditional blues. His gravelly voice delivers such soul, you just want to lean back and resign yourself to the blues.
I was honored to be asked to perform myself. My bride says I did well, even though I felt a bit shaky.
John Coinman played too with his band (that includes Peter McLaughlin and bassist Blair Forward). John writes fantastic songs about life here in the southwest and performs with Kevin Costner’s band “Modern West”. Our friend Jim Lipson, percussionist and President of our Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association (which runs the festival), sat in with John and later with Greg’s band too, showing he can deliver with the best of them.
We would have stayed late, but ran out of steam. I wanted to hear “The Determined Luddites” play but perhaps I’ll catch them during the weekend festival which starts today at noon.
Many friends to see and greet. Loads of great music.
We had a great rehearsal of the Darrell Elmer Rodgers Trio this past weekend. We gathered at our drummer Michael’s house on the southeast side of Tucson and went through our Folk Festival set a couple times. We did so well and it felt so good, we hung around a bit longer and played some older songs of mine that we hadn’t done in a while. We slipped right into them effortlessly like a pair of favorite old shoes.
The Tucson Folk Festival is May 4 & 5 in downtown Tucson. It’s FREE!
We perform at 4:30 PM on Sunday 5 May on the La Cocina Stage at Old Town Artisans.
Please join us! I’ve been told that the Darrell Elmer Rodgers Fan Club here in Casa Grande is planning a special caravan down to Tucson just to see us. That’s great. They surprised me last year when they showed up in special T-shirts bearing my logo. It was FANtastic!
(You might notice in the photo, they’re all ladies. Yep. That’s how we roll.)
I’ve wanted to play at Old Town Artisan’s for years but always got put on other stages (last year, the main Plaza Stage). This year, we get to experience the “cozy” feel of OTA!
And be sure to check the schedule for other great performers. I recommend: JC & Laney, Heather “Lil Mama” Hardy, Kevin Pakulis, Greg Morton Band (bluegrass), Robby Roberson, Oh man this is a list too long to finish….
So, I finally signed up with ReverbNation. I’ve added this “widget” link to my ReverbNation page over on the right hand side of this one. Go there and listen to some “Trio versions” of six songs as we performed them for the 2010 Tucson Folk Festival.
On that ReverbNation page I can post mp3 files of new songs as I record them. I think I’ll be putting up a few over the coming weeks, like “Arizona Time”, and “Storm Comin’ Through”, and “Complicated Man”, and “Oh Bury Me”, and “Snuggle Up to My Good Side Baby”, and,,, hey,,, you know what? I think I have enough for a new album! hmmmmmmm………
After fasting, I’m trying to get back into VLOG-ing. It has been a while since I made one, so I thought I would make one this morning. Here it is:
I hope you can come see us at one of these festivals!
///Darrell
Darrell Elmer Rodgers and Rick Heyman are performing as a duo at the Glendale Folk and Heritage Festival this weekend!
We will be appearing on the “Maintenance Shed” stage on SUNDAY, 24 March at 11AM. Clink the image below for a link to the festival website.
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Sahuaro Ranch Park – Driving Directions
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DIRECTIONS TO THE MAIN ENTRANCE
9805 N. 59th Avenue 59th Avenue and Mountain View Road North of Glendale Community College From Phoenix and the East Valley From the West Valley From the North Valley |
This will be my first experience with this festival that has been a favorite of many of my musician friends who live near there and are among the 150 acts who will also be performing on the 5 stages set up in the park.
I’m looking forward to the experience. Perhaps you can join the fun!
Saturday, March 16th, was day 15 of the annual Baha’i 19-day Fast. On the Baha’i calendar, that’s a month (19 months of 19 days each with an intercalary period to fill the year).
Saturday was also the day that we here in Casa Grande, AZ saw exactly 12 hours of daylight between sunrise and sunset (6:35 AM to 6:35 PM) splitting the 24-hour day precisely in half between daytime and nighttime. One might think that day should arrive on the Vernal Equinox, but that’s not so. And because of the Earth’s slightly elliptical orbit and some “tricks” played by diffraction and reflection, such a day doesn’t even happen at the equator – ever (ask folks in Singapore). The Vernal Equinox occurs the moment the sun crosses the “celestial equator” (an imaginary line in space above the Earth’s equator) from south to north. This happens every year on either March 19, 20,or 21. On any other day of the year, the Earth’s axis tilts a little away from or towards the Sun (depending on how you look at it – ask Australians). But on the two equinoxes, the Earth’s axis tilts neither away from, nor towards the Sun.
When you Fast, abstaining from both food and drink, from sunrise to sunset, you get curious about such things. At least, I do. So where am I going with this? Well, I’m reflecting a bit on the nature of human knowledge.
Seeing an equinox requires a perspective we cannot really get from here on the Earth’s surface. Yet it is a “mile marker” considered for centuries by religions throughout history, as significant. At the nearby Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, an adobe structure dating back 600 years, there is a small circular window in the upper left portion of the west wall. This opening aligns with the setting sun on the summer solstice (June 21), the longest day of the year. They apparently left out the winter soltice. But, there’s another window on the other end of the building, in the wall of the upper chamber, where the sun shines through and also through an interior opening (like a gun sight) on the day of equinox (twice annually).
This is old knowledge. And it might have come through observation, but it also might have come through “revelation”. Through observation and the scientific methods we gain “acquired knowledge” (as my friend Dr. Sam Delchad calls it), but through religion we gain “revealed knowledge”. And when these two sources align, we can be pretty sure we’ve gotten it right. So as we approach the Equinox on 20 March, and my fellow Baha’is around the world end their fasting and celebrate Naw Ruz, their new year, let’s be grateful for BOTH acquired and revealed knowledge. And let’s rejoice whenever we can see the two types of knowledge align for Science without religion is materialism, and Religion without science is superstition.
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