Autumn is my favorite season with the beauty of the changing leaves and all the activities that take place. College football games, fall festivals and the crisp, October air always have my full attention. So it is always a great joy for me and for our whole group when we are asked to play during this time of the year.
Saturday, Oct. 14 we played for the first time at the Rogersville, TN Heritage Days Celebration. As we all arose from our homes, we awoke to a “balmy” 28 degrees. Guess what? The festival is all held outside and we were on tap to play at 10 am. When we arrived the main street of Rogersville was beautifully dressed in hues of burnt orange, browns and yellows. These decorations, with the backdrop of old historic buildings, made for a very eye-pleasing site. Vendors adorned the streets as music wafted above the crowd. Our friends Ted Olson and Katie Doman were on the line up and it was great to see them again. Our very smart fiddle player took on the role as “mama” for the group and had us well equipped with finger-snipped gloves and packs of heat to put in our shoes and pants pockets. I kept singing from the commercial..”hot pockets” to the rest of our group. 
Those items sure did come in handy! Thanks Linda and thanks to Shirley Price for inviting us and asking us back for next year’s festival.
Last week we played for local college, Virginia Intermont, for an alumni event. The audience seemed to appreciate our music and I am sure we gained at least one new fan. He was quite the handsome male. He cared not what others thought and danced without abandon to our music. My guess was he was at least 2-3 years old. During our break we were served dinner by the wonderful chef of the college. The food was great and the folks so kind and accommodating.
The night before, on October 6th, we played for the Appalachian College Association at the Higher Educational Center in Abingdon, VA. Representatives for 35 colleges in the association were present. Dinner was provided by the Troutdale and we had the honor of sitting with Martin Ramsey and his charming wife Charlie. After dinner we took the stage to present out music. If any of you are SNL fans (that would be Saturday Night Live for those who are not avid watchers) you will appreciate what happened during our set. One of the songs that we performed is called The Cowbell. The audience really seemed to enjoy that one with members clapping in time with our music. At the end of the song, way back in the corner, someone yelled out, “More cowbell”. I laughed and immediately said into the mic, “I gotta have more cowbell, baby”. This, of course, is what the record producer “Bruce Dickenson” said to the Blue Oyster Cult in the SNL skit when Will Farrell’s character was getting out of hand and on everyone’s nerves with his cowbell playing. And…needless to say, the guy who yelled “more cowbell” and myself must have been the only two people in that crowd who had watched and remembered that skit from the show. It provided a great chuckle for me none the less. One more very neat thing was that two of the colleges that were represented at the Summit were Davis and Elkins College from Elkins, WVA and Warren Wilson College from Swanannoa, NC. Both of these colleges have had a direct affect on Fire in the Kitchen as 3 of the four of us have attended the workshops that they offer on their campuses. So, we gave a big shout out to them. We had a very enjoyable time that night thanks to Martin and his wife and the response that we received from the audience.
Rhythm ‘N Roots… What an awesome festival! This was the 4th year our group has been honored to play at such a prestigious festival. If you are local and you have never attended be sure to put it on your festival to-do list for next year. There is music of all kinds that represent the roots of our area. Vendors for crafts and food line the streets and every corner of space both inside and out provide an opportunity for musical groups to showcase their talents. Java J’s is our home at the festival. We have always played our first set there. The folks there are great and treat us as family. This year our second set was took place at K.P. Duty. Both provide a great atmosphere and great food to go along with the music.
At the end of August we played at a local Contra dance over in Damascus,VA. The dance is held once a month at the old rock school in the town of Damascus. Even though that building is no longer in use for educational purposes, it provides a wonderful atmosphere for contra dancing. The caller for the dance, Martha, came all the way from Asheville, NC to provide the directions for the dance. Many folks turned out and seemed to enjoy the music and the good times that the dance created.
Today we are headed off for a new festival in the area. Blountville, TN has decided to begin a harvest festival and we are playing in the afternoon for the lineup. Until our next post…keep enjoying music, no matter what kind!
