The Colorboration Folk Fest

 "On a cold and gray Chicago mornin' anuther little baby child is born in the ghetto." - Elvis Presley

When Tali and I came out of the subway on State Street about to begin the first ever Colorboration Folk Fest all I could imagine were the lyrics to that infamous song by The King.

But, it wasn't that cold and we weren't in ghetto. We were just around the corner from there at 208 S. Wabash Avenue. Little did we know when we started out this day what it would end up like. There was no way of knowing.

I should tell a little about how this folk fest came to be. You see, about a month earlier we had a cancellation in our schedule by a musician and so we had a hole on our second day there that just happened to be a Friday night. So rather than do nothing we had a call put out for musicians, and as it was that call went out to and through the Old Town School of Folk Music and over the course of one weekend we had enough replies to have booked several sessions. But in typical Tali and Royce fashion; why do a simple one band on one night when you can do a whole day affair with lots of acts. Thus was born the Colorboration Folk Fest in cooperation with the Old Town School of Folk Music.

NEIL DIXON SMITH

We kicked things off around noon in the hopes that we would bring in a bit of the lunch crowd, which we soon learned is more interested in going to get lunch and get back to work than anything else. But today any people strolling by were being kept away by the monsoon rains that started about the time our lead off man, Neil Dixon Smith took the stage. There is always something special, or not about being the first on the bill.

Neil Dixon Smith with a Tali painting.

Neil most typically plays a lot of weddings and private parties. He expertly strums, plucks, picks and pounds his classical guitar melodies that are heavily seasoned with flavors of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Spain.

Painting with Neil's music also tinted our paintings with influences that were completely unique to many of the musics we have worked with in the past.

Erin Issac

ERIN ISAAC
Erin has just recently moved back to Chicagoland in fact the day she played was like day two for her here from her former digs in Colorado. This was the first time the Erin had played out in years and I have to say that you would not have guessed it. Colorado's loss is Illinois' gain. She played some original tunes that she has been working without missing a beat even though her glasses where sliding down her nose and ended up having to include that bit of reality to her performance.

Erin's Music by Royce

LINDA M. SMITH LTD.
After these first two solo acts things got changed up a bit as Linda M. Smith, Ltd. moved onto the stage with her entourage, which included a video crew, as well as Robert Arendt on bass and Nikos Brisco on guitar.

Linda sang some of her older music but used our little stage to try out some of the new material that will be on her next album which is about the Celtic legend of the Selkies, inspired by The Seal Children by author/illustrator Jackie Morris.

Music of Linda M. Smith by Royce

Linda M. Smith by Royce

This new album's music did indeed transport us off to some other world and some other time. That is a great thing to have happen when you paint music. It never ceases to amaze, but just as soon as you think you have heard everything, someone else comes along and changes that for you. Thanks Linda.

Linda's Surrender to the Sea by Tali

Next post (tomorrow) will include all the rest of the acts- Vessy Mink, Roth Mobot, Mike Felton, Shelley Miller, Kava, and near hemisphere.