Writer's Festival 2012......honest stuff !

      Did you attend the writers' festival in Woody Point this summer?
      I really enjoyed the Writer's at Woody Point Festival 2012 in Woody Point, Newfoundland this August. There were excellent writers and musicians there, and Steve Brunt and Gary Noel, organizers, are to be commended. Shelagh Rogers, who I finally got to meet at Peter and Robert's house, was charming. I also met the daughter of the late Peter Gzowski and she was pleased to hear of my once 8 minute radio interview with her father concerning my 1960 unopened can of Dunlop Fort tennis balls. I still have them, by the way...still unopened too!
      The evening my trio, The Sharecroppers performed, was August 25th and we were pleasantly accompanied by Newfoundland writers Tara Manuel and Donna Morrissey in the beautiful Warehouse Merchants Theatre. Both women gave outstanding very humorous introductions to their works, but Donna stole the show. Tara's reading of her twenty minute story was interesting too, but as it progressed it got darker and darker and by the end, many of us were wondering why she chose such a risque piece. But I guess it is a writer's festival afterall!
       One of the highlites of the week for me and many was the Al Pittman tribute....both the special night hosted by Clyde Rose as well as his reading of Al's "Seabreeze Lounge" poem as a Project Bookmark. Clyde read Al's poem with 100% heartfelt emotion that day with everyone standing around where the Seabreeze used to be. I was touched by his comments and friendship.
     The evening tribute to Al Pittman was the best of all the Writer's Festival, I thought. The acting performance of Al's poetry by the art students was amazingly well done. They made his poetry come to life, and the expressions on those actors' faces were perfect, profound and  professional!
        I thought our own eight original tunes performed by my Sharecropper Trio the night of August 25th was well received. It gave us a chance to put our poetry to music with songs like Yesterday's Fisherman, My Grandfather's Fiddle, The Simple Things, Grenfell, A Traditional Song, The Hangashore, One Room School and This New Founde Lande. I suggested later to Gary Noel if we ever did this again, it would have been nice to do a longer set and finish off with some good ole Irish-Nfld pub style songs since everyone had a drink in their hands anyways. But I think our host Angela Antle was a bit too eager to get everyone out to the Legion for 11pm.
     The last evening I attended -  which was Sunday night- was quite a show with Shane Murphy and Sandy Morris. Shane and Sandy ended off the evening with a Jimmy Hendrix song Hey Joe and it was electrifying! You might even say it was "sum shockin' good!"!! I watched them (Sandy, Shane, two drummers and a bass player) from only 15 feet away. I always knew Sandy Morris was a good guitar player, but it's the first time I had ever seen him in the rock mode. Both he and Shane (the master of rock perfection) played wild heavy sounds with smooth fingers! It was fun to watch and quite frankly, I had never seen this great guitar playing up that close! It was awesome, thrilling, loud and magnificent!
    The group All the Wiles were excellent too. It was nice to see them getting the crowd going too.
      I would like to commend Jenny Galliott of Galliott Studios for her beautiful art gallery turned into a coffee and Spirits lounge of poetic readers and guest musicians. Great job, Jenny and everyone loves your place. Great venue and I hope you also sold tons of your beautiful artwork and pottery!
      I have a few criticisms I'd like to share. Not all the writers were good readers! I'd suggest some get others to read their work like Clyde Rose did of Al Pittman's. Of course Al is deceased but sometimes it takes someone else to read a good piece of literature other than the author himself.
       I also attended Alan Doyle's second evening. Although I am not a fan of his often harsh singing style, he delivers quite a vibrant show. But I couldn't understand why Corey Tetford's guitar that second night was so dominant. I asked Max Simms about this and he said Corey's guitar was not controlled by the master board but was amplified right from the stage. Too bad as the excellent fiddler was drownd out continuously. Perhaps all instruments should be controlled from the soundman's board. Max and crew do a fantastic job, as we all know and appreciate!
        Finally...one more criticism. Although  it was good to see locals attending the events,  there were not enough. Is it the price of tickets? I think so. One may as well call a spade a spade. Maybe special prices should be given to the folks who live in Woody Point and nearby towns. The Heritage Theatre that Charlie Payne runs is a beautiful  wooden venue with good acoustics. My trio played there 3 years ago to a crowd of 57 and last year at the Legion to well over 150 folks, mostly locals. I think pricing is a factor. Something to re-think perhaps?
        Writers at Woody Point 2012 was a wonderful experience. I'm glad I was there attending and participating. I'm also glad Kathy and I have a home and 82 year-old house there too...for I believe Woody Point is the gem of Bonne Bay in Gros Morne. Don't you?
Cheers!
~Mike Madigan (mike_madigan@yahoo.com)