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Mason stories and life
Feb. 13th, 2008 10:20 amI forgot to tell you all about Mason's big adventure on Saturday night. Despite below zero temperatures and a 7:00 pm bedtime, the three of us went to Ginko's coffeeshop to see Garnet Rogers play. Those of you who know me from WAY back, know that some time in high school I discovered Garnet's brother Stan Rogers. I own everything that Stan produced as well as some pirated radio shows that are still on the cassette tape I used to record them off Wisconsin Public Radio (and much worn down.) Mason has listened to several of those recordings of Stan's and has, like I did, fallen much in love. So, when we heard that Garnet was in town, Mason insisted we go.
I tried to explain to Mason that we shouldn't expect Garnet to play anything of his brother's (although Shawn tells me that Garnet has now done a recording of Northwest Passage for one of his albums.) Garnet is a musician in his own right and it's not fair to expect him to be a "tribute band" to his brother, who died in 1981. Mason said he understood and that he still wanted to go. If I had been smart, I would have pulled out some of the recordings I have of Garnet on his own and with Archie Fisher to prepare Mason for how Garnet sounds on his own, which is VERY different from Stan (good, of course, but not the same.)
The place was packed. Ginko's is kind of an odd venue for Garnet, who I think could easily fill a place on par with the Cedar Cultural Center (though, being out of the folk scene for several years now, I have no idea if that still exists.) Anyway, the coffee shop is just that a regular sized coffee shop with all the ligistical problems of jamming over a hundred people into chairs and dealing with walk-in traffic, etc. Shawn, I should mention, has clausterphobia. We started out in good seats -- in the back for an easy toddler escape -- with lots of leg room and and aisle for Shawn. As people continued to arrive, more chairs were added behind us and Shawn got paler and paler and twitchier and twitchier. Luckily, we had a spot with a table, so we were never quite a pressed in as some of the people in the rows in front of us.
Mason did really well until about 8:15 pm. He amused himself with activity books which we brought until the show started (unfortunately due to the continuing stream of people trying to get seats, Garnet went on a half hour later than scheduled.) So, really, once the music itself started, Mason was already getting a bit fried. We got to hear about three songs before we got the sense that Mason was going to loose it. He started raising his hand, and when I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I want to ask a question." Knowing Mason, I suspected that if Garnet had actually acknowledged Mason (which he might have, despite the lowered lights) Mason might have blurted out something embarrassing like, "I'm bored! When are you going to sing 'Captain of the Nightingale'?" (which is actually, of course, a Stan song.)
Shawn and I managed to hussle him outside before that happened, I'm sure much to the relief of the people around us. Like I said, it wasn't that Mason was ill-behaved, but he was the only person there (besides Shawn and I) that was under the age of fifty. There were no children there. We probably should have realized that this wasn't the best venue or time for Mason, but Garnet doesn't come through our area very often (the next time will be in two years,) and we decided to risk it. I think, too, that even though we only caught a precious few minutes of the actual show, we felt like it was worth it. Mason got to stay up late, which for him is almost more exciting than the musicial event, AND we supported Garnet's life's work (there was a $16 charge/per adult for the show.)
It made me realize how much the folk scene has changed since I was really active in it (in my teens and early twenties.) I was really surprised how few younger faces I saw. What does this mean for the future of folk music? I'm really hoping to eventually take Mason to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, but now I'm thinking we should go sooner rather than later.
I tried to explain to Mason that we shouldn't expect Garnet to play anything of his brother's (although Shawn tells me that Garnet has now done a recording of Northwest Passage for one of his albums.) Garnet is a musician in his own right and it's not fair to expect him to be a "tribute band" to his brother, who died in 1981. Mason said he understood and that he still wanted to go. If I had been smart, I would have pulled out some of the recordings I have of Garnet on his own and with Archie Fisher to prepare Mason for how Garnet sounds on his own, which is VERY different from Stan (good, of course, but not the same.)
The place was packed. Ginko's is kind of an odd venue for Garnet, who I think could easily fill a place on par with the Cedar Cultural Center (though, being out of the folk scene for several years now, I have no idea if that still exists.) Anyway, the coffee shop is just that a regular sized coffee shop with all the ligistical problems of jamming over a hundred people into chairs and dealing with walk-in traffic, etc. Shawn, I should mention, has clausterphobia. We started out in good seats -- in the back for an easy toddler escape -- with lots of leg room and and aisle for Shawn. As people continued to arrive, more chairs were added behind us and Shawn got paler and paler and twitchier and twitchier. Luckily, we had a spot with a table, so we were never quite a pressed in as some of the people in the rows in front of us.
Mason did really well until about 8:15 pm. He amused himself with activity books which we brought until the show started (unfortunately due to the continuing stream of people trying to get seats, Garnet went on a half hour later than scheduled.) So, really, once the music itself started, Mason was already getting a bit fried. We got to hear about three songs before we got the sense that Mason was going to loose it. He started raising his hand, and when I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I want to ask a question." Knowing Mason, I suspected that if Garnet had actually acknowledged Mason (which he might have, despite the lowered lights) Mason might have blurted out something embarrassing like, "I'm bored! When are you going to sing 'Captain of the Nightingale'?" (which is actually, of course, a Stan song.)
Shawn and I managed to hussle him outside before that happened, I'm sure much to the relief of the people around us. Like I said, it wasn't that Mason was ill-behaved, but he was the only person there (besides Shawn and I) that was under the age of fifty. There were no children there. We probably should have realized that this wasn't the best venue or time for Mason, but Garnet doesn't come through our area very often (the next time will be in two years,) and we decided to risk it. I think, too, that even though we only caught a precious few minutes of the actual show, we felt like it was worth it. Mason got to stay up late, which for him is almost more exciting than the musicial event, AND we supported Garnet's life's work (there was a $16 charge/per adult for the show.)
It made me realize how much the folk scene has changed since I was really active in it (in my teens and early twenties.) I was really surprised how few younger faces I saw. What does this mean for the future of folk music? I'm really hoping to eventually take Mason to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, but now I'm thinking we should go sooner rather than later.