DjangoFest NW

cbwim

Nobody here is talking much about DjangoFest NW which starts tomorrow. Anyone going?

I'll be there Saturday only and will bring that guitar conversion that I described last year in this forum, if anyone is interested. The neck is still unstained and unfinished so people can see what was done. It started as a cheap Japanese-made parlor guitar that got converted into something similar to our Selmacs. The old fingerboard was planed to a long wedge and a new fingerboard applied, then set up with a Selmac style bridge and tailpiece. Shaller tuners applied to the head. It has a little too much sustain but it makes for a great travel guitar. I might camp in the camp grounds and do some of the late night djamming if that is happening.

Hopefully things will be safer for me this year than my last time 2 years ago. Sunday during the concert break Nick wanted me to show him the lunar eclipse. He had to rush back in tight away and get the concert started so he had just a minute. So we headed down the walkway to the circular parking lot. Both of us looking at the moon and not where we were walking. All day there had been a food truck parked at the end of the walkway and usually there are cars and one normally avoids hazards. Instead no cars thanks to the now absent food truck and we both tripped over those diagonal parking curbs. Nick recovered. Not me. I slammed hard into the gravel face first and bruised my nose which was bleeding profusely, as well as possibly cracked a rib (still hurts occasionally) and banged up my knee. Nick asked if I was okay and I was definitely not. Others helped me as he had his duties.

I hope WICA has removed these and if not I may give them a hard time about it this weekend. I still have another year to pursue a lawsuit for medical expenses which were and may still be incurred from this accident. The week afterwards I got an interesting runaround from them - they said these were the city of Langley's responsibility. The city said No, they were the school district's. The school district said No, these were WICA's and they had the documents to prove it. Nick apparently has tripped on these before and said that he has been after them for years to remove them. I keep wondering why they keep DjangoFest at WICA when there are other better venues available in Puget Sound, such as CENTRUM in Port Townsend where even affordable housing could be arranged, not to mention the blimp barn which is used for all the concerts which is much more comfortable than that lousy middle school auditorium. There is a fantastic campground. The town is full of lodging as well as houses that put up musical guests. A great food co-op, and a larger diversity of restaurants. The former commissary. Lots of workshop space and good housing for guests and visiting musicians. A lovely beach to walk on. Easier to get to for Kitsap County folks - one ferry instead of two. FiddleTunes and other well attended festivals happen there. Maybe I'll mention this idea to Nick if I see him. Langley on he other hand is really proud of itself in terms of what they charge for housing. Its a bit too big for its britches in my humble opinion.

After that experience, I decided to cut bait and leave early. Someone very nice (a local) helped me with an ice pack for my face. On my way out the door I ran into Bireli Lagrene who remembered me from his masterclass and the questions I pestered him with. His eyes got rather huge - he probably thought I got into a fist fight with another musician over bar chords or something. I warned him about the bad juju in that parking lot. Later on sent a note through FW's Facebook page to tell Bireli I was okay and healed. But at least I got to shake his hands (gently - most important for us who use our hands for playing or making instruments) on the way out and thank him for his great music and musicianship.

On my way to the car I tripped again on one of those horrid things! But didn't fall that time. I'm not going to park there Saturday!

Casey