“What a long, strange, wonderful trip it’s been.” This is what losers in the 70’s wrote for their yearbook quote. At least it is if That 70’s Show has taught us anything. I never could quite understand that quote, but after spending a weekend at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, I think I understand it just a little bit more. “WGWOF ’06 – Bras Optional” was a long strange wonderful trip. For those of you that don’t know, WGWOF stands for Woody Guthrie Weekend O’ Fun. ’06 stands for the year of our Lord two thousand six. And Bras Optional means that several of the women at this gathering were unencumbered by the restraints that “the man” puts on them. Now that we have the formalities out of the way, I’ll start from the beginning. It was a hot Wednesday in south central Kansas when I decided to give my new tent a trial run. Problem was, I tried to set it up in my living room. My new 8x10 tent needed some more room in order to give it a real test. It probably didn’t help that I had a belly full of calf fries and Coors beer. But I felt confident that when the pressure was on, I would be able to pitch the tent like a pro. My alarm went off early Friday morning and after I had loaded the pickup, I turned my sights south and headed for the Van Marsalis hacienda and spa. When there, we loaded into his jeep, or as I like to call it, old faithful. Guaranteed to start by the third start, or you get to try again. Apparently, someone between Perkins and Okeema named Kirk is running for office. I have no idea what their politics are, but they have my support. After all, a name like Kirk just screams integrity, trustworthiness and honor. We got to Okeema at about 12:30, so we set up our tent and ate some of Kelle’s sandwiches. We put up the tent in record time, (like I expected) then I impressed Van with a rousing rendition of My Bologna Has A First Name; I still feel that it was the best singing of the weekend.
Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Mmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy bologna has a first name
It’s O-S-C-A-R
My bologna has a second name
It’s M-A-Y-E-R
And if you ask me why
I love to eat it every day
‘Cause Oscar Mayer has a way
With B-O-l-O-G-N-A
HOW’S THAT?
We headed to the Brickstreet Stage to catch back-to-back shows of The Dedringers and Travis Linville. Regular readers of my reviews know that I’m a big Linville fan, and he didn’t disappoint me at all. I hadn’t heard him live in quite some time, and I was way overdue. Man is good, that’s all I have to say. It was my first time to hear The Dedringers, and I was impressed. They claim to be 19, looked like they were 16, but played like seasoned pros. But definitely worth checking out if you ever get a chance. I have a feeling these kids will be around for a while. Next we dug further into Kelle’s stash of goodies and found a bag that was my dream bag of snacks. It had Doritos, pretzels and cheese puffs all in the same bag. Talk about heaven, each is good in its own right, but when put together. Wow. Then we sauntered (but you never pictured me for the sauntering type) off to the Crystal Theater Stage to catch The Burns Sisters. This trio played up the old sibling harmony like so many brother/sister acts are want to do. They had a song about how democracy is coming to the USA. I thought we already had democracy. At least we do out here in the middle of the country, but apparently, women can’t vote in Ithaca, NY. Yet another reason not to live anywhere near New York. (And I thought that New York was this big liberal state and Oklahoma was this super conservative state, but apparently, I had them mixed up) All the singers at the festival had a HUGE crush on these girls, as they were constantly asked to come on stage and sing with everyone else, what with their “sister harmony” and all. It was all right the first time, but by the 1,238,795th time I heard them, I was tired of listening to them. Once done there we quick footed it back to the Brickstreet to catch Randy Crouch. The place was packed and hot. While there, we ran into Stillwater’s own Super Dave and Jake “Dynomite” Walker. Turns out they had set up camp right next to our camp. More on them later. Van spotted fellow Whiskey Avenue songwriter Bob Childers and had a nice conversation with him. He was just down there to listen to some of the other artists. Jimmy LaFave, who was singing later that night, was also hanging out and listening to the music. That’s one of the cool things about this event, singers get a chance to listen to other artists, right along side us fans.
There was a short break before the evening concert so we went back to the campsites to get primed up for the evening show. Lies, half-truths and other stories were told before we headed to the main stage to watch the Red Dirt Rangers. These guys are the most underrated band to ever come out of Oklahoma, and that includes Hanson. Early pioneers of the Red Dirt Sound, they have done a lot to help younger bands that some are more familiar with. Worst part about the first time slot was that the sun was still up and it was still hot. Another problem was we had left our chairs at the tents. I know, not our brightest move of the weekend, but then again, not our dumbest either. So we went back to the tents to sit in the shade. Dave and Jake had some brats and hot links, so we fired up their cooker and enjoyed some brats and links to go along with the beer, lies, half-truths and other stories. We missed Kate MacLeod and Joel Rafael, but since none of us had ever heard of them before, we don’t know what we missed. We got back to the show, chairs in hand, (don’t say we never learn a lesson) in time to catch Ellis Paul. We sat right down in front of the speakers. I had heard him before; I just didn’t know it at the time. If you’ve seen Me, Myself and Irene, you’ve heard him. The World Ain’t Slowing Down is the song playing at the end of the movie. Anyone good enough to be in a Jim Carey movie is good enough for me. All enjoyed Mr. Paul except for Dave, who thought he sounded like James Taylor. I never saw the similarities and we all chalked his displeasure up to being inebriated, a bad hot link or being dropped on his head as a kid. Personally I liked him and can’t wait to hear more of him. (Ellis Paul that is) During the intermission, Jake and I went to check out some of the food vendors that were set up and found our self-drooling over the Cajun food cart. Both for the thought of getting some good crawfish in our bellies and for the sweet girl handing out the aforementioned grub. Both were a little spicy. The night was finished off with Jimmy LaFave, who is a favorite of most of those attending the festival. At the end of the night they had everyone come on stage to finish with three songs. LaFave has a voice that is made for a melodic song. One cool thing about LaFave is that he doesn’t try to sing songs that don’t fit his voice. Many try to be something they are not. Dave liked him because he sang a lot of Bob Dylan songs. For those of you keeping a Dave scorecard at home, he likes Dylan but doesn’t like Taylor. Go figure. If you were at the concert that night and are wondering who Dave is, he’s the one that confirmed that LaFave’s guitar player was using a fender amp. The rest of our crew were the one’s saying, “who’s that guy? Do you know him? No, I don’t know him.”
After the evening concert, we went back to our tents and Dave, Jake and Van pulled out their guitars and put on their own concert. It was real cool as people would come by and sit in for a song or two then go on to the next impromptu concert at the campground. We also drew a small crowd and those that had been to several different sessions said ours was the best. Some girls from Sterling came by and wanted to know if we knew any Robert Earl Keen. Do we know any Keen? Is the pope catholic? Does a duck like water? Of course we know some Keen. As the boys tore into yet another Keen lick, one of the girls and I talked about the stories that Todd Snider tells before his songs. It’s good to see young people enjoying good music. Yep, the world’s definitely in good hands if teenagers are requesting REK and talking about Snider. This show ended about 3:30. Van, Jake and I headed to the tents to sleep, but Dave grabbed the last of the Busch Light and Coors Light and headed off into the night for a night of fun and jocularity.
When the sun hit the tent at about a quarter till 8 (or was it 7:45, I can’t remember) it was impossible to keep sleeping so I poked my head outside and what should appear, but Dave finally making his way back home. He had traded in his Coors Light and Busch Light for a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. He regaled me of stories about being put into a chokehold by some girl at the Randy Crouch tent and eating some brownies from some hippies that smelled kinda funny. Then he tripped over one of the stakes holding his tent down. We all chuckled. I headed over to the pool to take a shower and the guy that checked in right before me was Robert Zimmerman. Who new. Van and I decided to go down to the pancake feed, but it was packed, so we went to the café down by the interstate. If your driving past Okeema, would you please stop off at the café and pick up our order as it’s probably ready right about now. Since we never got our breakfast, we took an early lunch at Mazzio’s. Van’s parents were on the way out from OKC so we had lunch with them. (hi mama Marsalis) After a hamburger pizza, we all headed down to the Crystal Theater to see the “Songwriters in the round.” It was real cool and well worth it to see the show. It was getting very hot so we hung out in the merchandising room for a while. Easily the best air conditioning anywhere in Okeema. I left Van to talk with his parents and Jake, Dave and I headed to the pool to take a swim. I impressed Jake and Dave with my world-class dives. Then we watched some of the local kids compete in a splashing contest. The cool pool was a definite relief from the hot east Oklahoma heat. I guess you could say the cool pool rules. The only down part is I didn’t get to see Tom Skinner or Bob Childers. We met back up with Van and headed down to the local Mexican restaurant. Let me just take this chance to say, if you go to WGWOF ’07, either bring your own food, eat at the vendors that set up at the evening show or drive into OKC to eat, because the service was once again sub-par. (Mazzio’s was OK, but the rest left something to be desired) Since when did Mexican food start being topped with American cheese? That’s just wrong. Van had ordered an enchilada dinner. We were talking when the waitress came and said “enchilada?” Since Van was the only one that had ordered enchiladas, we all pointed to him. There were three on his plate but no rice or beans. No one else at our table was served, after a little time, Van decided to go ahead and eat his food. He was done about the time the rest of our food showed up. She informed him that it was indeed not his plate and of course, she had one extra plate. She asked if she could sit the extra plate on our table so it wouldn’t be in the kitchen, where they would know she messed up. Dave had already put his fork on the plate when she decided she would take that plate to the other table. Quick work by Dave kept his fork from going with the plate, but I would have loved to see someone’s plate come with a dirty fork already on it.
Our bellies now full of gringo Mexican food, Van and I headed off to the night shows while Jake and Dave broke camp and headed back to Stillwater. The one act we were waiting the whole weekend was up early on Saturday. Slaid Cleaves put on a great show just like we expected. He sang several songs from his new CD that I reviewed a little while back. He also played a few of his earlier songs. This one show was worth the whole weekend. It was everything I expected. A late addition to the night was Butch Hancock. When I heard he was going to be on before Joe Ely I was excited because that meant that I would get to see two thirds of the Flatlanders. I was sorely disappointed. He sang four songs and all four were “protest” songs. Just give it rest already. I expected some because after all, it is a Woody Guthrie festival. But four in a row was all I could take. I enjoyed Joe Ely’s set, till he invited Hancock on stage to sing a song with him. It was a song about dry land farmers. I come from a long line of dry land farmers and was really enjoying the song until the last verse, when it took a huge left turn and suddenly, the troubles that dry land farmers face is “G.W’s” fault. Maybe they can find a way to blame the dust bowl on him also. Perhaps the plague. I guess I just don’t get it. Another highlight was the girl that wore a sun hat with a daisy on it, but didn’t wear a bra. (Thus the “bras optional” part of the title) She was cute.
We retired early that night and headed back to Stillwater early Sunday morning. We ate lunch at El Tapitio to remind us that there still is great Mexican food in Oklahoma. We watched a Hee Haw DVD and then I headed home; ready to face the world full of more lies, half-truths and stories to tell at some point in the future. I left Van and Kelle singing:
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener
That is what I truly want to be
Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener
Then everyone would be in love with me
So what have we learned today:
- Slaid Cleaves is the class of the field at WGWOF ‘06
- The food service industry in Okeema leaves something to be desired.
- Bob Dylan showers in Okeema
- I can handle two protest songs, but four in a row is to much
- You might hear my voice an a luncheon meat commercial
- And we have a new generation of REK fans
I’ll give WGWOF ’06 4 and a half out of 5 bras.