The FALL-2012 concert is coming together quickly!

This one will be a more modest affair.  The Spring concert will be the bigger one And it's looking like this might be the direction we will go.  One evening, 5 or 6 acts in the Spring, individuals or smaller groups. In May we had about 40 musicians here.  This time it will be less than 10.  But the quality won't be any less! We're really happy that Lynn & Lindy will be here this time. They were on the road when we had the previous events so we tried to schedule around them this time.  They'll be off on an east coast tour right afterwards.  Vanessa Peters appearance here is one of those small world things.  She's the stepdaughter of a guy I worked with for many, many years and she's here as a result of a call made by another friend that we also worked with for many, many years who's been keeping up with the MusicFest.  Vanessa has been in Europe for much of the last 10 years or so and has toured there. Now she's back home in Texas and is going to play at Wildernest.  Randy Brown and Shannon Monk are also local.  They are both folks that we wanted to have at one of the earlier concerts but the scheduling just didn't work.  Kurt Bittner will be playing guitar with Shannon.  He's a cum laude graduate of Berklee school of music in Boston and has toured internationally.  Gus is the MusicFest Producer and is also a performer and owner and operator of Crossroads Music Company and Listening Room in Winnsboro.  He's listed as "Gus and Friends" and the friends will include Alex and Amy and maybe a few others.  You'll hear them at the Jacob Hayes Memorial.

So - some great musicians and a night of music at the Wildernest Stage.  We'll be keeping the website updated - www.wildernestmusicfest.com

Woodyfest

We just stumbled on the fact that there is such a thing less than two weeks ago but, on seeing some names in the lineup, we booked our Best Western room and made our plans.  We were hooked by a few names from the 60's and 70's as well as some of the older Kerrville performers.


First a few basics.  It's free! It's a five day event that takes place in three venues.  The opening show is on Wednesday and it's a ticketed event.  On Thursday afternoon there is music at the Brick Street Stage.  On Friday and Saturday afternoon there's music at the Brick Street Stage and in The Crystal Theater - concurrent shows - take your pick.  All three nights have performances at the Pastures of Plenty outdoor stage.  There is $15 parking for this.   Afternoon shows run from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM and then there's an hour and a half to have dinner and get to the outdoor stage.  The closing event starts at noon on Sunday in the old Crystal Theater.  They call it a hootenanny!  There is no schedule.  Any performer can show up and do one song.  That show was worth the trip and we almost skipped it to start the trip back home.  All-in-all - the whole thing was very well organized!  During the evening performance there was a 30 minute or so stage changeover but that was the only bad mark on it. (There are many other events throughout the town during the week.)


We saw and heard lots of performers, some we knew nothing about, and we really enjoyed them all.  Not enough room to talk about all of them.  I'll just do it in pics. (I'm beginning to master stage photography with my new lens but the Crystal was really challenging with hot spots and colored lights.  The mike for the soloists was in the white spotlight but only one of them used it. Twenty minutes early got us aisle seats on the second row on the right side of the right aisle - was able to take most of these shots without moving. )

At  the Crystal Theater

Ellis Paul on the "Pastures of Plenty" stage

Glynda at the Woody Guthrie homesite.  They are going to rebuild the house

Me at the Woody Guthrie mural.  I wore a "Wildernest Musicfest" t-shirt both days!

Joel Rafael

Butch Hancock

Susan Herndon

Barry Ollman

David Amram. Incredible 80+ man.  Know him from Kerrville He's also a classical composer and conductor.  The backup musicians on stage were in awe twice.  Once when this guy sat at the keyboard and sang a song as he was composing it.  You knew that was true because it was referencing happenings at the Woodyfest as well as the musicians onstage at the time.

Audrey Auld

Bob Livingston.  In Texas music forever!

Burns Sisters (I think)

Andrew Hardin

Radoslav Lorkovic - this was the other time the musicians didn't know what to do.  He was singing a Serbian folksong.

Dan Duggin.  Had to do a lot of Googlin' to find this guys name.  He was a stage musician but this is my favorite of the almost 300 pictures I took!

Butch Morgan

'Nuff said here!

An incredibly sad loss!

Kent Gooding died on July 4th - in his 33nd year!  A wonderful person and incredible musician.  We had just really become friends in the last year as we enjoyed his music at several of the Winnsboro venues and at our JamFest in October and again at the MusicFest in May.  It was an honor to have him here.  We will miss him greatly!  He leaves behind a wife and daughter that would appreciate your prayers.


Here's a video of one of the songs he sang here in October. Kent at the JamFest

A new Shutterly Photo Book for Susan

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Pancho - the early times!

Wildernest Treehouse MusicFest

See the Musicfest website here!

The dates for the MusicFest are May 4-6th.  Buy tickets on the website or call 903-342-1854.

Only 250 tickets will be sold.  

See the website for important information about attending.

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MusicFest on the internet

A Google search just turned up these hits on the MusicFest:

Winnsboro Online Guide weekly email

Winnsboro Online Guide

Wood County Electric Coop website

Winnsboro Center for the Arts website

Winnsboro Chamber of Commerce Facebook page

Heather McCready's press release in several locations

Mineola Monitor

Heather McCready;s Facebook page

Tyler Lenius website

American Classifieds website

Crossroads Music Company website

and all kinds of things on my blog where you are seeing this!

The treehouse tree after its' cut back yesterday

. . . lot's of wood on the ground to burn -

MusicFest posters going out today!

 

And the website www.wildernestmusicfest.com is already up!

Louisiana Iris

We've told the irises that they can have the whole lower pond now and they are working hard to fill it up.  I also moved some cuttings to the BOD pond and they are doing well - even after last years' drought that almost dried up the pond.

I think this is the worst flooding we've seen in Jacobs' Creek!

The pond from the BOD.  You can see the "V" support at the end of the zip line if you look very carefully on the left side of the picture.

"New Creek" - new because it wasn't there before!

"Lake Oscars' Pasture"

We had about 5 inches of rain in a little less than 12 hours.  This is as close as I could get to the west bridge without wading more than shoe top height.  The bottom posts of the stairs show almost two feet of water depth. Along the path to the Treehouse, the water is over 200 feet wide!.

MusicFest

There's been a lot happening with the MusicFest and we're now beginning to put some check marks on the to-do list.  The website is up, tickets are designed and ordered, the Chapel Worship Service program is in final draft.  The community is being very supportive and we are signing up some sponsors!!  Next on the list is working on the CD cover - looks like either a six-panel or the standard jewel case with an insert. Lots to say!  Gus is still working on the musician line-up but we've already got enough confirmed to put on a great show!  And still a lot happening that I can't put out here yet.  My blog used to be a personal/family thing but having referred to the MusicFest in previous posts Google is now sending quite a few people here.  If you're one of those I hope you enjoy your visit but note that you can get all the info on the new website.  The page up above is a link.  And remember to check the Crossroads Music FB page for future updates.

And if any of you are coming up on retirement and wondering what you're going to be doing with yourself, my recommendation is to find yourself a Gus (Gustafson) and put on a music event.  You will stay busy!

Wildernest - Featured in the (February 29th, 2012) Mineola Monitor Spring Lawn & Garden Section!

"Master Gardener Wields Light Touch on Natural Masterpiece" - What's not to like about that headline!  This lady knows a lot of adjectives!  After reading the article I had to go walk the trail again to see what she saw!  I'm really happy with the write up - it touches on most all of our favorite outdoor things about our home. Five nice color pictures too.  (If you double click the pictures you can read it.)

Nostalgia overload!!

This little place used to be the library.  I went here a lot! 

So we've driven through Irving several times in the last few years but yesterday Glynda attended a Dulcimer festival that was in, of all places, the First Methodist Church in Irving which is where I went to VBS when I was a kid - they didn't have things like that at the Christian Science Church.  So yesterday I spent a couple hours walking around old downtown Irving and our old neighborhood.  Overload!  Anyway - here's some pictures I took - with captions. 

Irving Shoe Repair - It was just a couple doors down from dads' "Ray Willis Paint Store" in the early 1950's and it's still there now and a guy took in a pair of shoes while I was there.  Who repairs shoes anymore?  Back then you always re-soled shoes at least once!

Not at all as it was then so I just took a photo of the number - 120 S. Main Street.  Used to be dads' store.  Now it's a florist that looks sorta like a head shop once you're inside. 

Big State Drug store - opened in 1948.  Glynda had lunch at their soda fountain and later in the day I had coffee there.  Lots of old folks eating there - looks like their clientele will die off in a few years.  I also took a picture of a shelf of old prescriptions - looks like they have them all from the beginning!

306 High School Lane - Dad had it built while we were living next door at 704 E. Third Street - a house that he had built using concrete blocks.  Both are still there.

704 East Third Street.  I was probably 4 or 5 when we moved here.

On the right - Griff's Hamburgers - they were 5 for a dollar.  Straight ahead - the Irving Theater - movies for a quarter.  And to the right a convenience store - nickle candy bars and nickle cokes.  For $1.00 Linda and I could go to the movies and have a hamburger and coke afterwards.  (No sales tax then either.)

One of my favorite stores was the Army & Navy store.  It's still there only it's now called the Army & Navy Pawn Shop.  I bought my back pack for school there - army surplus - and they still have them and they are close to the same place in the store!

Different building and even a different denomination now - but it used to be the Presbyterian church.  My Cub Scout pack and Boy Scout troop met there and Suzie and I got married there.

A community building - it's where I went to take my tests to get my drivers license.

Around the corner was the fire station

The little white building was a barber shop and was where I got my hair cuts.  The house on the right faced one street and the little building faced another street.  It was just a few blocks from our house on High School Lane.

519 Union Bower Road - Herb and Meree sold it to us when they moved and it's where we lived when Bambi was born.

Dads' lodge - the same sign was there then.

I know I'm sounding like an old guy here but that's the way it is! 
And now I'm learning why old guys act like old guys and don't even care!