I’ve been going to the Strawberry Music Festival for well over ten years, and it’s still impossible to pick a favorite moment over this festival that runs over the Memorial Day and Labor Day each year: listening to music on the main stage, attending the workshops, catching up with friends, playing in camp until the wee hours of every morning, or just decompressing for four days in the Sierras without television or radio (sans “Hog Ranch Radio”, which broadcasts the entire festival throughout camp).
The Breakfast Club, however, always makes my weekend. This is basically the world’s best open mic. You literally sing for your breakfast: Play a few tunes onstage at the breakfast hall. You’re rewarded with a meal ticket. Your performance is aired throughout camp. Best of all, you’re in the more than capable hands of Larry Carlin, Margie Kaye, Sher Ennis, and Richard Beveridge. Here’s a shot of Larry in his signature hosting garb:
Larry, Margie, Sher, and Richard host the show and queue up the performers outside on the deck throughout the morning. I don’t think they get enough kudos for the wonderful job they do. So here it is in virtual print.
This fall, I got my usual 9:00 am Friday morning slot. I was joined by the lovely and talented Greg Scott on bass, Russ Van Scoy on harmonica, and Tom Sellers on mandolin. (Tom was just learning these songs. Always fun to play “stump the mandolin player”.) Here’s what four tired campers look like first thing in the morning. It’s quite impressive:
After playing three songs off my CD, Spotted Mule and Other Tales, we were rewarded with a chance to play another. We decided to do the title track from the CD. In my haste and delight at playing another tune, I neglected to tell Tom what key the song was in. Here’s a bumpy live cut of the happenings. It’s rough, but you can tell that we had a lot of fun with it.
So until Memorial Day 2007, here’s another big thanks to The Hog, the sound people in the Breakfast Hall, and Larry, Margie, Sher, and Richard.