Catie Curtis and Tall Heights at The Iron Horse

Catie Curtis, with Liz Barnez

April 17, 1993. That's the first time I saw and heard Catie Curtis, playing the beloved bookstore / cafe Reader's Feast, on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford. No, I do not possess a photographic memory*; I just know how to dig through the internets to find stuff, and some old folk music listserv postings contained the date. I picked up her CD From Years to Hours (1991) that night. In the ensuing years, I've added Truth from Lies (1995) and My Shirt Looks Good on You (2001) to my CD rack, and my iTunes collection includes Long Night Moon (2006), Sweet Life (2008), Hello, Stranger (2009), and A Catie Curtis Christmas (2012).

I'm somewhat surprised at how much of her music I've bought over the years; she's an artist who sneaks up on you as her music wraps itself around your head and your heart. It's hard to queue one of her albums up without encountering a "so familiar that you forget where you heard it" song.

The point is, Catie has been on my radar a long time. And while I am sure I've seen her at Falcon Ridge over the years and perhaps at other fests and venues, it's been a long, long time since I got a real concert in a small space, and it was delightful. Mad props to Amy Putnam (photographer, stained glass artist, and blogger over at Freelance Folkie) for coordinating a get-together of camp friends.

First off, to paraphrase Dar Williams, Catie is aging well. She remains youthful and vibrant; she could be resting on her laurels, playing a greatest-hits kind of show to an aging but appreciative crowd. But instead she brought forth a lot of songs from her new album, Flying Dream, most co-written with Kristen Hall which were delightful. Check Amy's Freelance Folkie blog for a set-list; I happen to know Amy fastidiously records set-lists from all of the many folk shows she attends.  Picked up a physical copy last night, and listening as I write, and it's as much a treat in the studio version as it was live.

Along for the ride last night was Liz Barnez, a singer songwriter with New Orleans roots. Liz was a great sidekick / foil for Catie, contributing wonderful harmonies, cajon percussion, and stepping up to play one of her own songs, If I Had a Gun, a thematic mash-up of the Dixie Chick's Goodbye Earl and Fred Eaglesmith's Time to Get a Gun which was a direct and dark line in the sand regarding domestic violence.  She's got a great voice and great stage presence. Hope she gets to open up for Catie now and then on tour; would have loved to have heard more from her.  Catie was loose and funny throughout the set, improvising various sing-along and whistle-along parts, and Liz kept right up with her, sometimes egging Catie on. 

Tall Heights - Paul Wright and Tim Harrington

Opening up for Catie was the duo Tall Heights, who played this past year's Falcon Ridge emerging artist showcase. I've been a bit obsessed with getting to see Falcon Ridge showcase artists in smaller venues (the fest is just a taste, and I'm mostly getting to listen from the doorway of the merch trailer) and so I was thrilled to see that they were opening up for Catie. They did not disappoint, beautiful songs, great harmonies, and that lovely cello that was bowed conventionally as well as played like a bass.

There are a lot of women doing group harmonies out there in the folk world, but the men are a little less common, and these two really shine in that department. Was thinking of youthful Simon & Garfunkle a little as they played, as well as to Dar William's first album, with the haunting cello playing by Gideon Freudmann.

Some years, I pick up as many of the Emerging Artist's most recent works pre-fest, and listen in the month before the fest - but did not get that done this past year. there were some pretty awesome groups in the showcase last year, so Tall Heights kind of slipped under the radar. Remedied that last night, picking up their entire catalog (special live show price of $20) and getting a good earful this morning. It's lovely, sweet, and warm.

I know I'm referencing Dar three times in this piece, but "...February was so long, that it lasted in to March..." is a pretty apt description of this cold and snowy winter - so an evening in the warmth of good music, good friends, and good food and drink was welcomed. Could not have asked for better!

* However, if you do wish to poke around the Reader's Feast ephemera and archives, they have found their way to the CCSU GLBTQ collections.

Folk Fest vs. Camp

As I unpack from Falcon Ridge and start to prep for a week at camp, it's interesting to note the differences in terms of what I need for each. Mostly, I take a lot more to Falcon Ridge; the car will be much less crammed for Camp.

Things I'm not Bringing to Camp that I took to Falcon Ridge

1) Tent
2) Dining Fly / Tarp (with poles, stakes, tie downs, etc.)
3) Plastic tubs (2) for yoga supplies
4) Cooler
5) Merch trailer bin with printer, paper, ink, etc.
6) Laptop
7) 3 of 4 folding chairs (I'll bring one along)
8) Air mattress, pump (they have mattresses and bunks)
9) Cintronella bucket candles
10) Big Pile o' tarps
11) Folding Table

12) Tool bag
13) Inflatable Orca (aka Fudgie)
14) Alcohol, Cranberry Juice, Seltzer / Tonic Water, and Limes
15) A wash basin

Things I Bring to Both Folk Fest and Camp

1) Sleeping bag
2) Sheets and pillow
3) Towels
3) Musical instrument(s)
4) Yoga mats and props
5) Folding wagon
 6) Food (we have a little lawn party at Sappho beach, but probably less food than I brought to Falcon Ridge)

Even with some extra clothing (Camp has a barn dance, disco dance, and a tea dance, all of which require some sort of fashion statement) I ought to have plenty of room in the car up to Maine. 

Tell Me Your Name Again....

I have this issue with people. I'm pretty sure I have exceeded my mind's capacity to retain and remember all the people in my life.

Let's see - I teach yoga. There are perhaps 60-80 people I see each week, some weekly, some occasionally, some just once or a few times. I never really get to know their names; when a regular comes in early and I can sneak out to the desk I can match a name to a person, but I'm not all that good at keeping it all straight.

Then of course, there are all the yoga teacher trainees. 48 this year, 35 or so in 2010, 2011, 2012. That's a good 120 folks to remember - and I really do struggle with many.

I move through other worlds - music (my other members of my band, the Guinea Pigs, belong to the same UU church and many of our fans come from there), ballooning (probably 50-60 people), camp (250 or so, with a broader community of past campers), and my folk festival (perhaps a core of 40 key volunteers, with another 100 or so I ought to remember but usually do not). Add in musicians I meet, folks in the local arts, cultural and GLBT worlds, folks in the greater spiritual / yoga world. And of course, my extended family - a child of two roman catholics, I have close over 50 first cousins, and now they are breeding. It's way too much.

I have (as of this morning) 466 Facebook friends, and that's even a bit low, since I (a) almost never reach out to friend people myself and (b) accept friend invitations only from folks I have actually met in real life.

Last night, at our gig, a woman who clearly knows me came up, grabbed a hug. I had no idea. Turns out she is a friend of the other band members (goes to UU church), has a yogic name (shakti) and is on the merch crew at Falcon Ridge. I had no freaking idea.

This is a problem. Not sure how to deal with it, but it's annoying, inconsiderate, and kind of rude.

Camp Camp: Best Time Ever

I've headed north near the end of the summer the past two years for a week in the Maine woods at Camp Camp: A summer camp for GLBT adults.


I never had the opportunity (or sentence) of spending a week at summer camp - the closest I got was day camp through the local YMCA or churches. I was a kind of quiet, bookish, and therefore bullied, stick close to the walls kind of kid. Camp as a kid was akin to torture; and my parents were wise enough to recognize that it was not a good fit. And yet, everything that happens at camp - sports, crafts, campfires, music, swimming, nature - are some of my favorite things.

Camp Camp's motto is "Best Time Ever!" - but a secondary one might be "It's never too late to have a happy childhood!" If you are interested, follow the links. There are often opportunities to work off part of your fees - I teach yoga at camp, if you have a skill or craft that might be valuable at camp (or are simply willing to wash dishes!) it is surpisingly affordable. And, if you are (or have, or know of) a younger person (8 - 15) dealing with the trans, try Camp Aranutiq

Love That Dirty Water

One of the off-shoots of Camp Camp 2012 is that I met someone.

Won't go into too much detail, other than she is my age, is a lovely amalgam of goofball, sweetie, and hottie, and lives along the Boston greenway. And so my energy is drawn back to Boston, after many years. There is a largish camp enclave in Boston, and I think I'll end up visiting this coming year.

Kind of weird - I've lived in Connecticut my entire adult life - since graduating in college in '83. Yet Massachusetts was where I came of age - learned to drive, went to ball games and concerts, took the T. I have a certain familiarity and fondness for Beantown.

So when I drove up for a visit last weekend, it was all familiar, comfortable. And although I drove through more rotaries in one car trip than I have in the past calendar year en route to West Roxbury. It was altogether familiar.

We took two laps around Jamaica Pond, which was beautiful and fun - sort of like the WH Reservoirs in energy but embedded in the city - not reserved for the suburban crowd.

I miss having a queer community. I miss having friends who might drop by and visit, or who might call up for dinner, music, a movie, or a night on the couch watching TV. And finally, with my mom getting older, and we siblings starting to face our own mortality, the prospect of moving back to the Boston area seems a lot less like an unreasonable than it might have in the recent past.

I do not move around a lot - I've been in CT nearly 30 years and have lived in just three homes over the past 25 years. So the idea of picking up and moving is a lot to wrap my mind around.

But, if one intends to turn an aircraft carrier, one starts planning for that a long time before one makes the turn. let's just say I am thinking about it....

Camp Camp - Yoga

I went up to Camp Camp to teach yoga. I was on the schedule for 2 classes a day - a morning class from 7:00 am - 8:30 am, and an afternoon class from 3:30 - 5:00 pm.

I wanted to differentiate the classes a bit, so advertised the morning class (before breakfast, competing only with the morning swim and the fallout from late nights) as a stronger practice. I ended up doing a pretty basic power class most days. The afternoon class was more of a gentle / all levels class. Turned out to be a perfect call - I had a strong core of morning yogis (8-12 every day, a few came every day and most came a few time) who liked the core work, liked the flow. The practice was in an open building, so getting the body warm was an issue - I used flow and pranayama to get the heat up.

The afternoon class was a bit less well attended (6-10) and a bit more of a "drop in" feel; not surprising considering that it was competing with all the other great camp activities. But very sweet to have students who had never done yoga before.

I really loved teaching. It was a challenge to come up with a full week's worth of classes (especially the morning session, with lots of regulars) and it was such an honor to have students coming back every day. Although I am trained in power yoga and that's my normal practice, it was a bit out of my comfort zone to teach 6 power classes in a row. Good growth opportunity.

I brought up my yoga toys - mats, blocks, straps, tennis balls. There were mats at the camp but many of them were pretty funky. Next year I hope to invest in a pile of yoga blankets to bring up - would have been useful for gentle classes as well as the power classes.

I was really touched by the lovely "camp-o-gram" notes of thanks and positive feedback I got in my "Buddy Bag". Each day there was some little bit of positive affirmation, and folks came up to me all week saying "I've heard good things about your yoga classes"

So, call it a win. If Camp Camp will have me next year, I'll be back!

Camp Camp - Overview

Just back from a week at Camp Camp, a GLBT summer camp that celebrated its 15th season. I was supposed to be up there through this morning, but the impending hurricane cut the program short on Saturday and I decided to take off yesterday afternoon. I feel much better knowing that my home is secured, my dog underfoot, and I have no reason to travel today!

P.S. - I'm rewatching this video and now a lot of these folks I count as friends (Clink! Nick! Kerry! Phil! Shannon! Goody!). Kind of getting teary, watching with post-camp eyes! My friends!

I was officially at Camp to teach yoga; having applied for and obtained a Staff position to teach two classes a day. But it's an unpaid gig; staff positions simply get you a reduced fee for a week at camp (depending upon number of hours worked) so I was just as much a camper and participant as anyone else.

In a word, Camp Camp was amazing. 250 GLBT campers spent the better part of a week doing typical summer camp things, building community, and enjoying friendships, adventures, and night time celebrations.

I ended up bunking in Sappho cabin, a larger bunkhouse on the shores of the lake. It's a quieter part of camp, wedged in between the men's cabin Greg Louganis and "the condos", a cluster of interconnected men's cabins. The Sappho residents were a bit older "early to bed, early to rise" women (as opposed to younger, "hang out all night talking" women) and that fit my needs and preferences completely. Sappho was also fairly close to the place I taught yoga; quite handy. Very sweet energy in Sappho cabin.

The cabin was simple but functional. Screened windows, no shutters or glass, and rough single bunk beds that were functional. We all got bottom bunks (so we could double up mattresses), and used the top bunk for storage. Couples pushed their bunks together and used air mattresses. Decent toilets and showers, plenty of hot water. 12 women in Sappho and I never had to wait for the bathroom or shower. I slept OK - I tended to wake up early and start thinking about my morning class. One good trick was to line the sides of the bunk with a blanket (I used my yoga blanket) which kept the heat in, blocked the breeze, kept light and sound out (especially when I went to bed early) and let me do a little reading without disturbing others if I woke up during the night.

In addition to the cabin affiliation, everyone was assigned to a Rainbow Group - a small band of fellow campers who met daily to check in, communicate camp news, and who did a few of the evening activities together. I was in Yellow group, which ended up being 2/3 men and 1/3 women (probably close to the mix at camp) under the leadership of a veteran camper / staffer called a Rainbow Group Leader. We ended up having some good discussions during rainbow group each morning after breakfast.

I had my phone up at camp, but cell service was very spotty and electronic tethers (phone, text, web, music) were actively discouraged. So I used it primarily as a clock for yoga classes, to play yoga music on occasion, and to take just a few photos. As usual, I left my camera home and was way too "in the moment" most of the time to take pictures.

While at camp, I did the following:

* Took a kayak out, for a quick lesson, a solo tour of the lake, and a guided marsh nature paddle. A long time goal and now that I've been out, eager for more.

* Went swimming a few times at the beach / dock, I forget how much I love the water and swimming.

* Made the simplest of stained glass art (thanks, Amy!), I liked the process and would gladly take on a more challenging piece next time.

* Took a volleyball lesson (yay, Nick!) which ended up being one-on-one. Very helpful, although I never made it out to the sand court to play.

* Spent some time with Circus Arts (Tigger!) where I messed around with juggling (I already have some chops but we worked on my form), plate spinning (I totally loved and bought myself a set of plastic plates to play with), and stilts (pretty hopeless)

* Played a game of kickball (fun) although I got my bell rung falling over going back for a fly ball. Good to play again but at 50, maybe I do not need to again :)

* Got a massage on Friday afternoon, much needed and appreciated after a week of teaching yoga 2x a day but grabbing my own practice as I could.

Never made it to the climbing wall or the ropes course (I was busy during the introductory ground school). Did not find my way to the dance studio (no surprise there), cooking classes, drawing, pottery. Also missed out on tennis, basketball, softball, frisbee golf, flag football, drumming - my days were just too full. So lots of fertile ground for next year!

In addition to the daytime activities, there was fun stuff to do every night.

Monday: Welcome dinner, we sat with our rainbow group

Tuesday: Barn Dance. I loved the energy and the music, but did not dance, and burned out a bit halfway through.

Wednesday: Quincinera, a celebration of the camp's 15th year, sat with rainbow group and there were some competitions, including a "america's top designer" inspired outfitting of the group "princess and escort" using tissue paper.

Thursday: Tea Dance. Indoors due to weather but a blast, a few friends dragged me out to the dance floor where I boogied til I dropped.

Friday: Talent / No Talent Show. They asked for volunteers to work backstage so I ended up one of three backstage managers. Which was a lot of fun, meeting the campers who performed. A healthy mix of serious talent (music, spoken word, magic and juggling, broadway dance), semi-serious talent (music with some comedic bits), and some drag shenanigans.

Saturday: Camp Camp Dance Dance. I took off early due to the impending hurricane so I missed out.

There were also a lot of "late night" activities - campfires, movies, a pajama party. My duties called (7 am yoga class) so I was in bed early (10 or 11) pretty much every night.

Meals were a cut above institutional / camp food - salmon a few nights, veggie / vegan options, lots of greens (veggies and salads). Great desserts. I ate well, and with all the outdoor activities and walking around the camp, I was hungry. Meal time was a time to come together and talk, and I mostly sat down randomly - sometimes with cabin mates, sometimes with new friends, sometimes with yoga students, sometimes with strangers.

Bottom line: I had a blast, met some amazing people, and hope to be back in Maine next year!

Back to the Grind

And not a moment to soon. This weekend was really hard; a culmination of a holiday season that itself was difficult. It's my first holiday alone in many years, and although Zippy was never a big holiday person, still it's easier to be cranky about the season with a housemate and pets than it is to be in a place alone. So after spending a good chunk of the weekend in tears, I used one of my lifelines - phones (or more accurately, texted) a friend and called another. Before too long I had a few calls coming in and got a bit of it out. Was thinking I really ought to just surrender to the sadness and grief and dive into it all, but instead it came out in a little trickle of tears and sadness all weekend.

Behind this? Being alone, I guess. Getting older. Not seeing a path from where I am to a place of connection and relationship. Add to it a lot of unhealthy eating this holiday, and a bit of procrastination in terms of getting work done, and getting my place out of "moving in" mode and into "lived in" mode. And all these happy pictures of couples - holiday pics, winter fun, xmas trees, new year's eve parties, going to movies that I'd need to go to alone. All the things I was not part of and even if I were part of, would have felt detached from. Bleah.

So I am glad to be back at my desk and back to a routine. Last night I did start to claw my way back to life - besides my phone calls (thanks Amy, Nykki, Kristen, and Barb), I wandered over to Target to pick up some frames, and hung a few photos. I also signed up for a monthly pass at Weight Watchers . What a January thing to do, I know, but it has worked for me in the past. I know all the right things to do to lose weight and be healthy, I just don't do them. I'm going to go to a meeting this morning at 10. And I think I'm gonna give my old therapist a call.

I also stumbled across a GLBT summer camp for adults (Camp Camp) that I'm going to look into. It's been years since I took a real vacation (besides yoga weekends, work trips, and falcon ridge) and this seems like it might be right up my alley. Although I'm going to see if they need a yoga teacher :)

Monday, January 4th. Need to get caught up on work, get my invoicing out. Practice tonight with Barb. It's good to be back to normal.....