I am remiss that I have not blogged the Central Ohio Folk Festival before now. It will be May 6-8 at Battelle-Darby Creek Metropark, southwest of Columbus Ohio. Friday evening will include a buffet dinner and folk jams. Saturday’s schedule includes morning and afternoon workshops and showcases topped off with an evening concert from Tom Rush, Ann and Phil Case, and The Sisters of the Strings. Sunday will feature more workshops, an open stage and a closing song circle.
I will be there all day Saturday and am looking forward to meeting people in the Central Ohio folk community and hearing Tom Rush. If you’re planning to be there, please find me.
For more details and pre-registration information, visit here. The price goes up for registrations not postmarked by May 4.
1 response so far ↓
1 Anonymous // May 8, 2006 at 3:48 pm
The Central Ohio Folk “Festival” sucked out the ass for the second year in a row. Columbus and Columbus musicians have always had the reputation of being square as hell, but not only was the COFF bad, it was laughably bad.
I had the opportunity to watch Phil and Ann Case perform to an absolutely empty field, I watched an “authentic Irish folk band” strum-strum-strumming their pretty little chords on their Ovation guitars along with their electric bass.
I also had the opportunity to “jam” with authentic, traditional, electric lap steel players, authentic, traditional electric bass guitars and at least one authentic, traditional electric Gibson Flying V look-alike all plugged into authentic, traditional electric Marshall Half-Stack amplifiers. Then they would all strum-strum-strum REALLY REALLY SLOW versions of 60’s country top forty songs. whoooo-hoooo! You had to see it to believe it…
Fortunately, the “jam tent” was WAY over in the back corner, presumably where actual playing folk musicians “wouldn’t bother anybody”. Not that there was much chance of that happening as the “jam” sessions were mostly thirty or so people sitting quietly with cheap import guitars in their laps who would struggle with a few chords then shrug their shoulders, giggle and then quit.
The food was every bit as bad as last year, and somebody (anybody) needs to figure out how to run a concession to avoid the forty minute waits. A hot dog stand at a local high school football game is better run and considerably cleaner. (maybe one of the Columbus folk art-eests could ask someone who has actually done this kind of work before…)
Leave it to Columbus to suck the life right out of what anywhere else in this state is a vibrant living tradition.
See you at Clifftop…
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