Kristen

East Lansing Art Festival - May 17-18 th 2008

The East Lansing Art Festival has become my favorite spring weekend in recent years.  It offers fantastic music, beautiful and unique arts and crafts of virtually every kind you can imagine, delicious food, children’s activities, and (if Mother Nature is in a good mood) fresh air and sunshine in which to enjoy it all.  The music and activities are free, and the different art, craft, and food vendors make their creations available for purchase to those interested.  This year’s festival, held Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18, was number 45, and I spent the better part of both days among the participating crowd.  I’d been watching the weather reports in the days leading up to the festival and become convinced it was going to rain both days, particularly on Sunday.  As it turned out, Saturday saw a couple of mild, short showers throughout the day, and Sunday saw no rain at all, though the temperature was quite cold for this time of year, and it was very windy.  Still, I was deeply grateful to get through the weekend without getting soaked, and a mild sun and wind burn on my face and having to dress in layers for warmth offered little about which to complain. 
 

Most folks reading this won’t be surprised to learn my main purpose in attending The East Lansing Art Festival was to listen to several live music performances.  There were two stages set up, one on the east end of the festival area and another on the west end, and both featured performers concurrently throughout both days.  I attended five full performances in all, four planned and one by convenience that turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  I overhead portions of several other performances in passing, too, and all were enjoyable.  Wanda Degen, the East Lansing Art Festival’s performance coordinator who books all of the music performers, does a fabulous job of putting together an amazingly talent-filled and family friendly lineup every year, and this year was no exception.
 

My first stop was the first performance on the Main Stage (the east end) on Saturday afternoon – Jen Sygit and her band Spare Change.  Jen is a singer/songwriter based in Lansing whose original tunes have both a folk/roots and a blues feel.  She writes frequently about her environment and surroundings in Lansing, and her second CD, called Leaving Marshall Street, is named for its song Marshall Street, written about an actual street in Lansing of the same name.  In addition to a couple of cover tunes (one called When I Die by Australian band The Waifs, and one called Enjoy Yourself with which she frequently closes shows), Jen and the band graced us with three tunes from Leaving Marshall Street, mixed in with several new original tunes to be on an as-yet-unnamed third CD Jen has already begun recording and hopes to release late in the fall. 
 

This was a fabulous show!  Jen has a strong voice that draws you in when you hear her sing, and each member of Spare Change, all amazingly talented, shines on these tunes. Tahmineh Gueramy’s harmony vocals are an ideal compliment to Jen’s lead, and she makes playing the fiddle look like all fun and no work when you know a lot of the second is involved to sound that good.  I’ve seen Drew “Captain Midnight” Howard play more instruments than I can count in the years I’ve been following the local music scene, and his alternating between the dobro and the telecaster for this show added richness and polish to the tunes throughout.  Last but not least, the steady rhythm of Spencer Cain’s (of The Flatbellys) acoustic bass throughout the set was the perfect addition to the ensemble.  This was definitely a show where both the band and the audience had fun from start to finish. 
 

My second show was my pleasant surprise of the festival – pop and jazz performer Jocelyn Scofield.  I wasn’t at all familiar with her music before taking my seat in the crowd, but I’d arrived early for the performance that would follow her and decided to take a seat and have a listen.  She played primarily piano and a little guitar, and was accompanied by local musician Murray Stewart-Jones on drums.  In between songs, I learned Jocelyn had gone to high school in a community not far away and had then majored in jazz studies at MSU before traveling and living in various other places, including Los Angles and Chicago.  Jocelyn had a definite gift and flair for jazz music, as well as a clear and powerful singing voice that sounded equal parts pure and smoky.  She also had an excellent stage presence.  When she covered Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, she briefly reminded me of my very favorite singing/songwriting pianist Krista Detor, as in my head, I could hear Krista doing the song just as much justice in her own way.  For me to even mention Jocelyn in the same sentence as Krista will alone tell my readers who know me well that I was impressed with her performance.  I would listen to her again.
 

Immediately following Jocelyn was the show I had made my way to Stage West at the other end of the festival to see – local duo Laura Bates and Brandon Foote.  Laura and Brandon have been playing together in various groups and on various projects for years, and this familiarity is evident in how well they perform together.  On this day, Brandon played mandolin and guitar in addition to his vocals, and Laura played guitar in addition to hers (I’ve seen her play piano and flute, too, but not in this set.).  And I just have to say, as someone who has sung in some capacity (though never at the level of these musicians) her entire life, that Laura has one of the most truly beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.  I mean, I can’t even come close to being that good even on my best day!  They were joined by Drew Howard (on the pedal steel guitar this time) and Joe Bakitis (upright acoustic bass), and they played a delightful set of both original and cover tunes that I would describe as folk music with a very old-time feel.  Laura and Brandon’s fantastic CD called Jubilee has been out about a year now, and they performed several songs from that as well as a new original tune amid a small handful of covers of such artists as The Carter Family.  My friend Kellie joined me for this one, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Listening to Brandon and Laura perform just makes me happy.

 
Laura and Brandon were my last concert on Saturday, and would be followed by two more on Sunday.  I began Sunday back at the Main Stage in the same seat from which I had enjoyed Jen Sygit the day before, this time for Ann Arborite and local favorite Kitty Donohoe.  I was first introduced to Kitty’s music just over 3 years ago, and I was immediately hooked.  I love Irish music – for some reason, listening to it always makes me feel happy even if the tune isn’t or the lyrics aren’t -- and Kitty’s Irish heritage weighs heavily on what she writes and performs.  Her love of writing and performing is evident in both, and her voice is warm, sincere, and powerfully honest.  I always look forward to the times I get to hear her perform.  I also look forward to introducing friends to the music I love, and on this day, a friend/colleague and her husband joined me for Kitty’s set.  Judging from the CDs they purchased before leaving, they seemed to really enjoy it, which made the experience all that much more enjoyable for me.
 

When introducing her, Wanda told the crowd this was Kitty’s eleventh time playing the East Lansing Art Festival as a solo artist.  Kitty has a very loyal following of friends and fans in the Lansing area, many of whom turned out for this 11:30 AM performance.  She alternated between playing cittern and guitar, and was accompanied by David Mosher on fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and harmony vocals, and by Tyler Duncan (of Millish, who performed on the same stage 30 minutes after Kitty’s set was finished) on bodhran, whistle, saxophone, and other forms of percussion.  Aside from being an excellent solo performer in his own right, David is one of the best accompanying musicians I’ve seen and heard, perfectly complimenting Kitty’s lead vocals and instrumentation with his harmony.  Tyler impressed me with his versatility, his rhythm, and his ability to make creating music look easy.  Kitty played one song by request that it appeared Tyler had not played with her previously, or at least, not recently. He sat on the stage and just listened to the first verse, then picked up a shaker (my word for the percussive instrument that sounds like sand or rice or beads being shaken in a can – there’s probably a more technical name for it) and kept perfect rhythm with the remainder of the song, as though he’d practiced it just moments before.  I’d love to have that kind of connection to the creation of music.
 

Kitty’s big news during her set was the announcement that her new CD, called Northern Border, is complete, and that she’ll be having a couple of CD release concerts and begin selling it in June.  She performed 5 songs from the upcoming release, 3 from 2001’s This Road Tonight (including Jack Of All Trades, the aforementioned request), and 4 from other previous releases.  I’d heard each of the chosen songs at least once before, yet this concert had one experience that was new to me – a loud and disruptive audience member.  He sounded heavily influenced by something (maybe alcohol, maybe something stronger), and at times when all was quiet or Kitty was speaking to the crowd, he would holler things like “Fire up” or “Rock on” or would repeat something Kitty had said.  At one point between songs, he launched into a lengthy statement about freedom of speech that kept Kitty waiting to be able to introduce the next song to the crowd uninterrupted.  I saw police around by then, and I think he may have been removed at this point, but I refused to turn around and look behind me where he was sitting, as I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction or the musicians the disrespect.  And Kitty handled the disruption like a total pro, using it to introduce a song called Dangerous Boys and garnering a laugh from many in the crowd.  The rest of the performance went off without a hitch in spite of colder temperatures and very high winds that day – not exactly ideal conditions for playing instruments outside.
 

I had some time between the end of Kitty’s set and the start of the last concert I’d definitely been planning on attending, so I walked around for a bit, visited with some folks I encountered, and eventually wound up listening to a portion of the Mystic Shake show happening on Stage West in mid afternoon.  I was a fair distance away and in conversation during part of what I heard, but even so, I was struck by how incredibly entertaining this show was for everyone within hearing distance, whether a focused audience member or not.  Local musicians Dick Rosemont, Dick Johnson, Ben Hassenger, and Pat Malloy clearly know how to have a good time, and they’re not shy in front of an audience.  I found myself smiling throughout.

 
Finally, I ended my East Lansing Art Festival weekend attending the performance of crowd favorites Seth Bernard and Daisy May.  Seth and May live in northern Michigan, and they always draw a huge crowd when they play in this area.  This time was no exception, with every chair filled and people standing behind and alongside the chairs, standing by the fence going around this area of the festival site, sitting on the sidewalk between the front row of chairs and the stage, and standing off to both sides of the stage.  I saw multiple familiar faces I seem to see at all the Seth and May concerts I attend.  And to illustrate even further how popular and respected Seth and May are in the music community, several of the other musicians who had played throughout the weekend were in attendance for their set, including Jen Sygit and Spare Change and members of Millish.  This is the ultimate compliment, to me, that other musicians would make a point to hear your songs.  Both Seth and May are incredibly strong performers on their own, and what’s special about seeing them together is that they both shine, with neither one showing up the other throughout a performance.  They also perform almost all original tunes, and write a lot about Michigan, the environment, love, and life experience.  Each has also written a children’s song or two, and May has a fun one that tends to stick in my head after every show where she performs it, as she did here – one called Big Mama Brown, which she describes as “a song about fishing from the fish’s point of view.”  May is another performer with a voice that makes me wish I could sing like that, and both May and Seth are incredibly genuine.  Their set was a fantastic end to an enjoyable weekend of music!

 

Thanks for reading!  On to the next show…