Saturday concerts | Sat night party | Sunday concerts

Friday was cold and miserable.

The performers had a hard time interesting most of the kids, who spent a most of their only 'field trip' of the year playing their own games. But a significant percentage seemed quite interested and if you can influence a few children I think it's time and money well spent. Their teachers certainly had a good time and none of the kids escaped the enclosure. Like last year, all were well fed and watered for free.

Transport was a bit down-
market from 2003!

With three days and four stages this year it was quite a feat trying to see the best of everything! The Main Stage was named 'Banjo', the 2nd 'Arrow', the 3rd 'Star' and a new 4th stage, hidden in Marx Meadow, was named 'Rooster' - the festival symbol is a rooster. It seems that a certain French chicken, Jeanette, had heard of the rooster but mistakenly thought it was a real one. Jeannette spent a lot of time looking for the rooster, but in vain.

The Peasall Sisters (plus Dad) on Main Stage

Mr.Peasall and the girls leave the Main Stage (Banjo)

The first Friday act was the very popular, very young lady trio The Peasall Sisters, accompanied by their father Michael; they also played the 2002 and 2003 festivals. Today they played the Banjo stage, which was the only stage in use, but next day they played again on the Arrow Stage.

It's been interesting watching these girls develop: In the movie Down From The Mountain they really were young girls, but since then and especially at the festivals, they've developed into young ladies - well, Hannah has and the other two very soon will be! The poor girls seemed frozen an the open stage, with the wind coming off the ocean, but nonetheless they managed to do very well. In the photo Hannah in particular shows how important a great smile is, even when you're frozen solid! Our advice is this: when you're posing for photos, don't smile - laugh! It makes everyone feel good.

We were quite surprised in early January 2005 when we heard a program on the BBC Radio 4 (the UK's 'thinking man's radio station') called Three Chords and The Truth. Lo and behold if it didn't feature a discussion of the Peasall's, complete with an interview in their house! The really interesting bit was where the interviewer asked Hannah, "What where your impressions when you saw the finished movie?" "Well," replied Hannah, "We didn't get to see the movie until it came out on DVD - that was so Dad could edit out the profanities and cussin' bits!"

The Peasalls were far more successful in holding the attention of the school kids than was the second band, Poor Man's Whiskey.

Poor Man's Whiskey illustrate the Bluegrass Story

This group was expanded by narrators and others into a stage presentation, or show, explaining the origins of Bluegrass music. It was a really good idea, they played very well and it was well done. But in our opinion there were too many player/performers, there was too much going on and the explanations were too long and serious . Also it lasted too long to hold the attention of school children, especially in the cold weather. We think most of the adults would have benefitted more from it, but unfortunately few Bluegrass fans were there, what with it being the Friday School children's show, work beckoning and the fact that only children and their teachers could enter the actual enclosure.

Websites: The Peasall Sisters | Poor Man's Whiskey

It's all gone well!
Left to right, xxx (narrator), Chris Hellman, Paul Mann (MC) and Warren Hellman (promoter/funder). Also 'lackey', according to his pass - and that's a very interesting story you'll have to learn for yourself...

Haight Ashbury Free Clinics deserve a special mention. They have attended every festival for the whole weekend, providing free first aid and even drinks to all-comers. Last year they even fixed Derek's glasses when he lost a screw!  (Told you I'd make you famous!)

Footnote: At the close of the concert it was obvious that there would be what looked like tons of paper, cartons and other rubbish left behind all over the grass in the enclosure. Derek suggested to the guy who was going to make the bye-bye speech that it might be a good idea to make a request over the PA, asking every child to carry out a piece of rubbish; partly to reduce the burden on the clearing-up staff but mainly as part of their education: "Thou shalt not leave trash!" It didn't happen, but we think it should...

Derek & Jean Brandon, Chester, England. Write to us