Here's My First Experience in Festival Production Blog Post

So last weekend was the Blues Festival here in Humboldt for which I was the assistant director. It was a smalltime festival, as far as festivals go, but still bigger than anything I've ever put on before. I worked 82 hours last week alone. It was intense, amazing, crazy, challenging, wonderful, unexpected, thrilling, exhausting, eye-opening, successful, flattering, educational, brilliant. It was so much more than the adjectives I'm struggling to find to describe this experience.

We are still working on the numbers, but at this point we are looking at 2500 to 3000 people in attendance which was a pretty good turnout. The artists and bands were incredible, though I was running around for so much of it that I heard the music but didn't really hear the music. I was able to stand backstage and catch glimpses of some/most of the performances, but there were a few artists that I wish I could have seen their whole shows, like Corey Harris for one, and Zac Harmon for another. I've been promised a copy of the whole performance, so I really hope that I do get that and have a chance to really listen to and appreciate the musical talent.

Speaking of the musical talent, did I already mention it was incredible? The down-to-earthiness of these people was incredible as well. I met many of the bands and artists (there were 12 bands spanning over two days) and they were just such nice low-key chill people. It was a blast. As a matter of fact, a highlight for me was when one of our artists, Guitar Shorty, invited me to dinner. The director and his girlfriend, as well as our stage manager and of course my Mikey, came too. He even posed in pictures with me, which I'll of course post (he said I could - I asked him). That's Shorty, not Mikey. You see Mikey in pictures with me all the time, Sillies.

Now perhaps only true blues fans know who Guitar Shorty is. But this man is a living legend. At dinner we learned he got his start with the likes of Ray Charles. On a semi-unrelated note, I also learned that he is headed for Dodgeville, WI, though I do believe that is not until 2008. And that a month ago he played in a little town in Wisconsin that starts with a D, but not Dodgeville. It was not Deerfield or DeForest either. I'll have to brush up on my D-town, Wisconsin geography apparently. I'm probably forgetting a big one and am a d-d-d-dummy, no make that with a capital Dummy.

I feel like attempting to write this down and give it some level of due it deserves is pretty much impossible. But I can't just not tell you guys about it. This has been my whole summer and it finally reached its pinnacle. I'm glad I take photographs because they can speak volumes when I cannot.

And I'll also point out that though I made some awesome friends whom I hope to have for life, I wish my friends back home could have been there too! And because I'm a "foodie" I have to mention that the man who did the hospitality made some of the best food I've ever eaten, even if I never had time to really sit down and eat it like a normal person. I still got to grab a plate here and there.

So anyway I'm just now starting to recover. I'm looking forward, already, to next weekend, when I can just relax for a moment. I haven't had a lazy day in quite a while.

In other news, we are apartment shopping, and now that I'm done with the blues festival (this week is my last week at the office) I'm going full time at my other job. I have a lot of learning to do there is well. The crazy ride ain't over yet. Probably never will be. And that lazy weekend I'm looking forward to, well, there's apartment shopping to do, so yeah, never mind on that lazy weekend. With any luck we'll have our own place before the HSU students come back for the fall semester.

And of course, as I always say lately, I will post some photo album blogs soon. I have a lot of pictures to show y'all.