#edmonton folk music festival

[lifemod17]

"that's the kind of love, I've been dreaming of"

Edmonton Folk Music Festival || 08/08/2019

And uhhh... gif version for you know. Science purposes...

[yegphotographer]

Edmonton Folk Music Festival 2024 - August 11 by Paula Kirman Via Flickr: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

[oscarisaacasimov]

Hozier performs at Edmonton Folk Festival, August 2022

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I went with my dad to see Bobby Watt the other day. He’s a Scottish-Canadian folk singer (has been in Canada since he was about 20 and he’s 70 now, but he still has a Scottish accent so strong that he must be keeping it on purpose, I have music in my collection by several other singers who grew up in Scotland before moving to Canada and all of them have a bit of an amalgamated accent, while Bobby Watt’s got a stronger Scottish accent than Frankie Boyle) whom my dad last saw live at the Edmonton Folk Festival in 1991. Which means I probably saw him live then too; I lived in Edmonton from when I was born until I was 8, 1990-1998, and my parents took me to the local folk festival during every one of those years (including 1990, when I attended as a fetus). So I must have seen him in 1991 as well, but I was under a year old and don’t remember. He then got off the folk festival circuit so we hadn’t seen him since, though we have one of his albums and it’s great.

He was playing this new-ish venue this week that’s local to me (very far from Edmonton, but he lives around here now), and my dad and I went, and it was so good. It was just the right mix for a trad Celtic music night. 85% tradition Celtic songs, only a couple of tunes (that’s just my preference as I like most songs better than most tunes, nice that his preference lined up with mine), three or four more modern Celtic ones, a Stan Rogers cover (White Squall, one of his best ones), exactly one quite left-field Bob Dylan cover, and one even more left field Mark Knopfler cover that surprised me by being really lovely. A reasonable amount of patter between songs to tell us exactly what regions they come from and a few references to economic socialist and pro-union political views. One guy backing him up on fiddle and one guy on mandolin and swapping through about eight different guitars throughout the night. That’s what the people want when they turn up to something billed as a trad Celtic music night. It was perfect.

I’ve been to this venue a few times in the last year, it’s only been open since 2021. It’s such a good place. Small enough to feel intimate, big enough to feel like a community atmosphere (about 80 people). People who understand the technical side of music better than I do have praised the excellent acoustics. And it’s a folk club, of the kind our city hasn’t had in many years.

I went to this city’s local folk festival every year from when we moved here in 1998 until about 2015. In 2012 they sold it to this big company that brought in a bunch of “indie rock” acts to try to draw in a younger crowd, and they succeeded, because it turns out that you can successfully make a folk festival into something that attracts a different demographic, if you make it so that it’s not a folk festival anymore. The only drawback will be that it’s not a fucking folk festival anymore. I carried a resentment toward indie rock over this for many years, until relatively recently, when I listened to Daniel Kitson’s radio shows and said “Actually a lot of this is pretty good, it doesn’t belong at a folk festival or anything but it’s still good, it’s technically not Bon Iver’s personal fault that my folk festival died.” I mean, it die. It just sucked. It attracted the young people it wanted and they all got drunk and shouted things and ruined the atmosphere and the number of folk acts in the lineup got smaller and smaller over a few years until I just stopped going. I still went to folk festivals, just not to that one anymore.

Also, it’s not like traditional folk music is the only thing I enjoy. There are plenty of sub-genres of rock and country and general Americana/Canadiana that I love. I have some mainstream tastes! I really like The Clash and 1.5 Led Zeppelin albums and Joan Jett and even Nirvana. I went through a phase in my late teens/early 20s when I got into a lot of classic rock, and still listen to it sometimes. And at this point my catalogue of American and Canadian alt country is rivaling the size of my collection of folk music from this one tiny Canadian island (Cape Breton Nova Scotia, they make a lot of music there). But there is a time and a place. And the place for anything that can be described as any kind of “rock” music is every single place in the world besides a folk festival. Let us have our one thing!

Anyway. This new venue draws out the old folk festival crowd, just as it was before 2012, I love it. All the grey ponytails are back! It turns out those people never went away, they’ve just been waiting for a venue like this to open so they can go see music again.

The concert was followed by a “jam session”, on which I think my dad and I both had the same opinion: “That sounds really cool and I’d love to stay and see it, but would feel way too self-conscious.” So we left. They do this Celtic night once a month, I’m going to try to go back in April and maybe I will stay. I’m pretty sure you don’t actually need to bring an instrument and play it or sing to stay for the jam session. I just worry that I’d feel self-conscious sitting there with no musical talent whatsoever and watching everyone else play. Also, the audience was clearly made up of mostly musicians and people who know each other through music, and my dad and I are just tourists there. Still, it would be cool.

I’ve now been to see live music five times since last July, which is less than I used to do, pre-COVID, but significantly more than in any other year since COVID happened. I’m really glad I decided last year to start doing this again. Live music has been such an automatic part of my life since I was born, I think I took it for granted. Didn’t realize what a big part of my happiness it was until I stopped doing it. Sitting in a room full of other people who are all feeling the same thing you are with the same music is an unparalleled experience, and rather than taking it for granted, I should feel ridiculously lucky that I got to consider it so normal for most of my life.

I’ve said that there’s a kid at work for whom I play music sometimes, and looking at it through his eyes (his ears?) really is a cool way to remind me of how special things are, even things I’ve gotten used to. The other day I played him Runrig for the first time. They’re a band from Scotland that I know about because for a while their lead singer was Bruce Guthro, who’s from Cape Breton in Canada. For ages as a teenager I just vaguely knew that one of my favourite singers, Bruce Guthro, is in a band in Scotland called Runrig for some reason. Then I actually got into that band and learned that they are much, much bigger than Bruce Guthro, they existed in one form or another from 1973 to 2018, they were very successful and I don’t know why they put some guy from Canada on lead vocals for a while. But I’m grateful that they did because otherwise I wouldn’t have got into them.

They have this compilation album called 50 Great Songs, which is exactly what the title claims and therefore excellent value for money, and buying that was my introduction to them. It has a live version of this song Hearts of Olden Glory, which is breathtaking. Seriously, if you have bothered to spend your precious time reading the insignificant thoughts that I write down, I promise it will be a much more worthwhile use of your time to listen to this song:

I played it for the kid at work, and realized I probably shouldn't expect it to have the same effect on him as it does on me, because he has an extremely limited vocabulary, he doesn't understand the world around him, he doesn't know what a live music gig is. He doesn't know what it means when you can hear the whole crowd singing this together.

But I watched him as I played it for him, and he reacted in all the right places. He stopped and listened and when the music swelled or stopped he froze and closed his eyes and grabbed my hands and shivered. There is something universal there. Even if you don't know what it means, there is something that any human can understand is special.

On the same day I played him Madison Violet for the first time. That's a band of three women who are all from Cape Breton (and one is related to the famous fiddler Ashley MacIsaac), but formed in Toronto. I first saw them at a folk festival in, I think, 2009. I bought their album No Fool For Trying, and it immediately went into regular rotation. (I feel like I only ever mention male musicians on here. I'd like to clarify that while my music collection is more male dominated than I'd like it to be, it is less male dominated than it probably seems according to my blog posts.)

I've listened to this album in lots of years, but it always makes me think of the year I listened to it most often, which was 2011-2012, when I lived in Halifax for a year, and I had my first girlfriend, and I had commitment issues that meant I would hang out at her place for as late as she wanted but would never sleep over, and this was one of the albums I most frequently played while walking home from her place. So whenever I hear it, I still think of walking for 40 minutes through the streets of Halifax from her apartment to my dorm, at 2 or 3 or 4 AM, with a vague feeling of guilt because I knew she wanted me to stay over and be a proper girlfriend but I couldn't bring myself to do that, but also with a feeling of excitement because the streets of Halifax at night are a lovely place to walk and I had this nice music to keep me company. Anyway it's a great album. Every song is strong.

I played it for this kid for the first time recently, and I started with a couple of the faster songs, thinking he'd like those. He wasn't that into them. Then I played him this one, the really slow and melancholic one, and he stopped in his tracks, closed his eyes, and just listened:

I was a bit surprised, because I've always thought of this as a song where the thing that makes it most special are the lyrics. This song gets to me emotionally because it's really lyrically beautiful, but this kid barely understands basic language, he won't know what lyrics mean. And yet, in that moment where the key changes (I think, I don't really know enough about music to say) and it says "Now your father's building you a box" - which is the exact moment that always really gets me and sends shivers down my spine - I saw him wrap his arms around himself and raise his shoulders around his ears and grin at me, clearly affected by the music. Something gets through even if he doesn't understand the words.

Anyway, that's the point of this post. Music is nice. I do not believe in taking video recordings of any type of show, for the usual reasons: it takes you out of the moment when being in the moment is supposed to be the entire point of the experience, and it's annoying for other people if they have to look at your phone screen instead of the event. However, my dad was really excited to see this guy he hadn't seen live since 1991, and he took this 30-second video, and I got him to send it to me, and to be honest I'm glad I have it now. It was hopefully worth mildly annoying the nice old school folk music people who were sitting behind us. This is a cover of what's actually the first Stan Rogers song I ever heard, when I was a kid, White Squall. Great song.

[murderballadeer]

so the reason we're going to france is bc my dad booked some gigs at festivals there and it's gonna be interesting bc i haven't been in that position (experiencing music festivals as a family member of a performer) since probably like 2018 so this will be my first time as an adult. and also i genuinely have no idea how folk festivals in france might compare to folk festivals in canada in terms of organization and general culture & vibe. so i'm trying not to construct an image in my mind of like. the 2016 edmonton folk festival bc a) we will not be in edmonton and b) i am not 13 anymore. i'm curious as to how it's actually gonna play out tho much to think about

[singemall-stayallnight]

Edmonton Folk Music Festival, 11 August 2024. | © Paula Kirman/Flickr

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant

Alison continually claims that singing harmony means singing the same thing as the people you're singing with. Robert has said the first time he sang with Alison she shaped his concept of vocal harmony. It's a story he's told many times:

“I was singing away, saying to her, ‘Why don’t you harmonize here?… Maybe if you want to play the fiddle here’…” Exasperated, Krauss stopped the rehearsal and said to him, “If you want me to sing, how about you sing the same thing two or three times so that I can harmonize?”

It was like a light came on. Plant had never given a moment’s thought to their different musical worlds: his, the spontaneous, off-the-cuff rock ’n’ roll of Led Zeppelin and hers, tightly perfected bluegrass (she began playing the violin at the age of five). “She said, ‘I don’t think I can do this if you don’t sing the same thing twice.’ It was an absolute revelation."

They're both committed to the idea that singing harmony means each singer sings the same melodic line. No one is forcing me to pay attention to their interviews, but it's aggravating to hear them repeat this error over and over again. Bear with me.

Homophonic, or chordal, music consists of a central melody supported by harmonic accompaniment.

Homophony is what Alison is referring to when she speaks about coming from a background of regimented harmony singing, singers having to sing the same thing if they're going to harmonize, etc. Songs with one main melody are what she's used to singing. Her view of vocal harmony is limited to this specific type of musical texture.

Counterpoint, a type of polyphony, consists of two or more independent melodies being sung or played simultaneously. The different melodies should complement each other and observe the rules of harmony. Combining distinct melodies creates a rich, intricate, and layered sound.

God Only Knows by the Beach Boys is an example of counterpoint in pop music.

Alison and Robert don't have to stick exclusively to homophony when they're singing together.

Also, Robert is skilled at improvising. Singing contrapuntal music can be beneficial in terms of improvisation and singing harmony.

New photos of Alison Krauss and Robert Plant holding hands during a performance at the 2023 Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana. April 28, 2023.

📸 Erika Goldring

[brookston]

Holidays 8.8

Holidays

Abbey Road Crossing Day

Agricultural Worker Health Center Day

Anjin Matsuri (Ito City, Japan)

ARDS Awareness Day

ASEAN Day

Bā bā Day (Father's Day; Taiwan)

Bonza Bottler Day

Bubble Wrap Day (Japan)

Bullet Journal Day

Burry Man Festival (Scotland)

Colorism Awareness Day

Ceasefire Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)

Dalek Day

The Date To Create

Digital Nomad Day

D23 Day (Disneyland)

Dying to Know Day (Australia)

Eleanor Roosevelt Day

Emancipation Day (Kentucky; Tennessee)

Father's Day (a.k.a. Bā bā Day or 爸爸節; Mongolia, Taiwan)

Five Night’s at Freddy’s Day

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International Mountaineering Day

International Ophthalmologist Day

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Kranti Diwas (a.k.a. Freedom Day or Quit India Day; Mumbai, India)

Lion’s Gate Portal Day

Mar-A-Lago Search and Seizure Day

Moon Bear Day

Mount Vesuvius Eruption Anniversary Day (1767)

Namesday of the Queen (Sweden)

Nane Nane Day (Farmers' Day; Tanzania)

National Africa-US Rising Cashew Day

National Anne Day

National Assistance Dog Day

National Boundaries Awareness Day

National Braiders Day

National CBD Day (a.k.a. National Cannabidiol Day)

National Clog Dancing Day

National Dollar Day

National Garage Sale Day

National Infinite Possibilities Day

National Liam Day

National Love Your Inmate Day

National Melvin Day

National Perler Day

National Pickleball Day

National Reporter’s Day (Iran)

National Tarantula Appreciation Day

National Taxi Day (Japan)

National Vaping Day

Nixon Resignation Anniversary Day

Odie Day

Panda Cares Day

Peace Festival (Augsburger Friedensfest; Germany)

Safe Sport Day

Salt Water Day (Uruguay)

Scottish Wildcat Day (UK)

Severe ME Awareness Day

Signal Troops Day (Ukraine)

Silver Dollar Day

Stakeholder Appreciation Day

Tendong Lho Rum Fiat (Sikkim, India)

Thistle Day (French Republic)

Top 8 Challenge Day (Australia)

TR-808

Universal and International Infinity Day

Vore Day

Wakulima ya Nane Nane (Peasants’ Day or Farmers’ Day; Tanzania)

Wear Your Mother’s Jewelry Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Frozen Custard Day

National Africa-US Rising Cashew Day

National Fried Chicken and Waffles Day

National Mochi Day

National Oatcake Day (UK)

National Spam Musubi Day

National Whataburger Day

National Zucchini Day

Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbors Porch Night

Independence & Related Days

Batavia (a.k.a. Duchy of Batavia; Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Cote d'Ivoire (a.k.a. Ivory Coast, from France, 1960)

Delhi (Becomes Capital; India; 1947)

Karachi (Becomes Capital; Pakistan; 1947)

Majerówka (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Montosh (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Poulo Wai (Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

2nd Thursday in August

August Thursday (Anguilla) [2nd Thursday]

Crayfish Festival (Kräftpremiär; Sweden) [Date Varies]

Miracle Treat Day (Canada) [2nd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning August 8 (1st Full Week of August)

Fardagar (Iceland) [Thursday of 7th Week of Summer thru Sunday]

National Hobo Week (thru 8.10)

Festivals Beginning August 8, 2024

Edmonton Folk Music Festival (Edmonton, Canada) [thru 8.11]

Fairport’s Cropredy Convention (Cropredy, United Kingdom) [thru 8.10]

Gone Wild Festival Norfolk (Wells-next-the-Sea, United Kingdom) [thru 8.11]

Grand Tasting Alpharetta (Alpharetta, Georgia)

Henry County Fair (Napoleon, Ohio) [thr 8.15]

Hope Watermelon Festival (Hope, Arkansas) [thru 8.10]

Illinois State Fair (Springfield, Illinois) [thru 8.18]

Iowa State Fair (Des Moines, Iowa) [thru 8.18]

Key West Lobsterfest (Key West, Florida) [thru 8.11]

Melbourne International Film Festival (Melbourne, Australia) [thru 8.25]

Mendota Sweet Corn Festival (Mendota, Illinois) [thru 8.11]

Missouri State Fair (Sedalia, Missouri) [thru 8.18]

Mozamboogy (Lopes, Mozambique) [thru 8.12]

National Blueberry Festival (South Haven, Michigan) [thru 8.11]

Northwest Washington Fair (Lynden, Washington) [thru 8.17]

Podunk Bluegrass Music Festival (Goshen, Connecticut) [thru 8.11]

Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) [thru 8.10]

Skowhegan State Fair (Skowhegan, Maine) [thru 8.17]

State Fair of West Virginia (Fairlea, West Virginia) [thru 8.17]

Sweet Corn Festival (Oakland City, Indiana) [thru 8.10]

Sycamore Steam Show & Threshing Bee (Sycamore, Illinois) [thru 8.10]

The Upstage Music Fest (Clearfield, Pennsylvania) [thru 8.10]

Way Out West (Gothenburg, Sweden) [thru 8.10]

Worldcon (Glasgow, United Kingdom) [thru 8.12]

Feast Days

Altmann of Passau (Christian; Saint)

British Thermal Unit Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus, and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Dominican Order (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Venus Eve (Ancient Rome)

Finest Fairy Finals (Shamanism)

Four Crowned Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Fourteen Holy Helpers’ Day (Christian)

Friedrich Georg Weitsch (Artology)

Godfrey Kneller (Artology)

Happiness Happens Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Hormisdas, Pope (Christian; Martyr)

International Cat Day (Pastafarian)

International Goat Day (Pastafarian)

Jan Pieńkowski (Artology)

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (Artology)

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Károly Reich (Artology)

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Smaragdus and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Spaghettini (Muppetism)

Triskal Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Venus Festival (Ancient Rome; from sunset to sunset)

Virgin Mary Nativity (Christian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unluckiest Day of the Year (India)

Premieres

Alice the Beach Nut (Ub Iwerks Disney Cartoon; 1927)

Another Side of Bob Dylan, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1964)

The Boss (Film; 2016)

Bully for Bugs (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

Cardigan, by Taylor Swift (Song; 2020)

Eleanor Rigby, by The Beatles (Song; 1966)

Farewell, My Lovely (Film; 1975)

Folklore, by Taylor Swift (Album; 2020)

Forty Pink Winks (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1975)

Gangsta’s Paradise, by Coolio (Song; 1995)

Heavy Traffic (Animated Film; 1973)

An Innocent Man, by Billy Joel (Album; 1983)

Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, recorded by Les Brown (Song; 1941)

Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain (WB Animated Film; 2017)

Lookin’ Out My Back Door, by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Song; 1970)

The Old Oaken Bucket (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

One Crazy Summer (Film; 1986)

Ozark Lark (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1960)

Pest Pilot (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1941)

Pictures at an Exhibition, completed by Modest Mussorgsky (Piano Suite; 1874)

Pink Plasma (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1975)

Revolver, by The Beatles (Album; 1966)

The Sheep Look Up, by John Brunner (Novel; 1972)

She’s Gotta Have It (Film; 1986)

Stand By Me (Film; 1986)

A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin (Novel; 2000) [A Song of Fire and Ice #3]

Straight Outta Compton, by N.W.A. (Album; 1988)

Sunday Go to Meeting’ Time (WB MM Cartoon; 1936)

The Wee Men (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1947)

Welcome to the Monkey House, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Short Stories; 1968)

Whiplash, by Metallica (Song; 1983)

The Wizard of Arts (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1941)

Xanadu (Film; 1988)

Yellow Submarine, by The Beatles (Song; 1966)

Today’s Name Days

Cyriak, Dominik, Elgar, Gustav (Austria)

Emil, Emilian, Emiliya (Bulgaria)

Dinko, Dominik, Nedjeljko (Croatia)

Soběslav (Czech Republic)

Ruth (Denmark)

Silva, Silve, Silvi, Silvia (Estonia)

Silva, Sylvi, Sylvia (Finland)

Dominique (France)

Cyriak, Dominik, Elgar (Germany)

Triantafilia, Triantafilos Triantafyllos (Greece)

László (Hungary)

Domenico, Emiliano (Italy)

Gotlibs, Mudite, Vladislavs (Latvia)

Daina, Domas, Dominykas, Elidijus, Gustavas, Tulgirdas (Lithuania)

Evy, Yvonne (Norway)

Cyprian, Cyriak, Cyryl, Emil, Emilian, Emiliusz, Niezamysł, Olech, Sylwiusz (Poland)

Oskár (Slovakia)

Domingo (Spain)

Silvia, Sylvia (Sweden)

Amelia, Amillian, Emil, Emily, Fedir, Leonid, Theodore (Ukraine)

Dustin, Dusty, Merrill, Meryl, Muriel, Myron, Myrta, Myrtle, Vic, Vick, Vicki, Vicky, Victor, Victoria (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 221 of 2024; 145 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of Week 32 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 6 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Ren-Shen), Day 5 (Jia-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 4 Av 5784

Islamic: 2 Safar 1446

J Cal: 11 Purple; Foursday [11 of 30]

Julian: 26 July 2024

Moon: 16%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 24 Dante (8th Month) [Mme. de Lafayette]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 50 of 94)

Week: 1st Full Week of August

Zodiac: Leo (Day 18 of 31)

Calendar Changes

As (Gods) [Half-Month 16 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 8.22)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 8.8

Holidays

Abbey Road Crossing Day

Agricultural Worker Health Center Day

Anjin Matsuri (Ito City, Japan)

ARDS Awareness Day

ASEAN Day

Bā bā Day (Father's Day; Taiwan)

Bonza Bottler Day

Bubble Wrap Day (Japan)

Bullet Journal Day

Burry Man Festival (Scotland)

Colorism Awareness Day

Ceasefire Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)

Dalek Day

The Date To Create

Digital Nomad Day

D23 Day (Disneyland)

Dying to Know Day (Australia)

Eleanor Roosevelt Day

Emancipation Day (Kentucky; Tennessee)

Father's Day (a.k.a. Bā bā Day or 爸爸節; Mongolia, Taiwan)

Five Night’s at Freddy’s Day

Flag Day (Sweden)

Global Infinite Possibilities Day

Global Sleep Under the Stars Night

Happiness Happens Day

Horticulture Day (India)

International Allyship Day

International Cat Day

International Character Day

International Consensual Spanking Day

International Female Orgasm Day [a.k.a. 7.31]

International Mountaineering Day

International Ophthalmologist Day

International War Folly Day

Karkidaka Vavu Bali (Kerala, India)

Kranti Diwas (a.k.a. Freedom Day or Quit India Day; Mumbai, India)

Lion’s Gate Portal Day

Mar-A-Lago Search and Seizure Day

Moon Bear Day

Mount Vesuvius Eruption Anniversary Day (1767)

Namesday of the Queen (Sweden)

Nane Nane Day (Farmers' Day; Tanzania)

National Africa-US Rising Cashew Day

National Anne Day

National Assistance Dog Day

National Boundaries Awareness Day

National Braiders Day

National CBD Day (a.k.a. National Cannabidiol Day)

National Clog Dancing Day

National Dollar Day

National Garage Sale Day

National Infinite Possibilities Day

National Liam Day

National Love Your Inmate Day

National Melvin Day

National Perler Day

National Pickleball Day

National Reporter’s Day (Iran)

National Tarantula Appreciation Day

National Taxi Day (Japan)

National Vaping Day

Nixon Resignation Anniversary Day

Odie Day

Panda Cares Day

Peace Festival (Augsburger Friedensfest; Germany)

Safe Sport Day

Salt Water Day (Uruguay)

Scottish Wildcat Day (UK)

Severe ME Awareness Day

Signal Troops Day (Ukraine)

Silver Dollar Day

Stakeholder Appreciation Day

Tendong Lho Rum Fiat (Sikkim, India)

Thistle Day (French Republic)

Top 8 Challenge Day (Australia)

TR-808

Universal and International Infinity Day

Vore Day

Wakulima ya Nane Nane (Peasants’ Day or Farmers’ Day; Tanzania)

Wear Your Mother’s Jewelry Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Frozen Custard Day

National Africa-US Rising Cashew Day

National Fried Chicken and Waffles Day

National Mochi Day

National Oatcake Day (UK)

National Spam Musubi Day

National Whataburger Day

National Zucchini Day

Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbors Porch Night

Independence & Related Days

Batavia (a.k.a. Duchy of Batavia; Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Cote d'Ivoire (a.k.a. Ivory Coast, from France, 1960)

Delhi (Becomes Capital; India; 1947)

Karachi (Becomes Capital; Pakistan; 1947)

Majerówka (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Montosh (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Poulo Wai (Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

2nd Thursday in August

August Thursday (Anguilla) [2nd Thursday]

Crayfish Festival (Kräftpremiär; Sweden) [Date Varies]

Miracle Treat Day (Canada) [2nd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning August 8 (1st Full Week of August)

Fardagar (Iceland) [Thursday of 7th Week of Summer thru Sunday]

National Hobo Week (thru 8.10)

Festivals Beginning August 8, 2024

Edmonton Folk Music Festival (Edmonton, Canada) [thru 8.11]

Fairport’s Cropredy Convention (Cropredy, United Kingdom) [thru 8.10]

Gone Wild Festival Norfolk (Wells-next-the-Sea, United Kingdom) [thru 8.11]

Grand Tasting Alpharetta (Alpharetta, Georgia)

Henry County Fair (Napoleon, Ohio) [thr 8.15]

Hope Watermelon Festival (Hope, Arkansas) [thru 8.10]

Illinois State Fair (Springfield, Illinois) [thru 8.18]

Iowa State Fair (Des Moines, Iowa) [thru 8.18]

Key West Lobsterfest (Key West, Florida) [thru 8.11]

Melbourne International Film Festival (Melbourne, Australia) [thru 8.25]

Mendota Sweet Corn Festival (Mendota, Illinois) [thru 8.11]

Missouri State Fair (Sedalia, Missouri) [thru 8.18]

Mozamboogy (Lopes, Mozambique) [thru 8.12]

National Blueberry Festival (South Haven, Michigan) [thru 8.11]

Northwest Washington Fair (Lynden, Washington) [thru 8.17]

Podunk Bluegrass Music Festival (Goshen, Connecticut) [thru 8.11]

Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) [thru 8.10]

Skowhegan State Fair (Skowhegan, Maine) [thru 8.17]

State Fair of West Virginia (Fairlea, West Virginia) [thru 8.17]

Sweet Corn Festival (Oakland City, Indiana) [thru 8.10]

Sycamore Steam Show & Threshing Bee (Sycamore, Illinois) [thru 8.10]

The Upstage Music Fest (Clearfield, Pennsylvania) [thru 8.10]

Way Out West (Gothenburg, Sweden) [thru 8.10]

Worldcon (Glasgow, United Kingdom) [thru 8.12]

Feast Days

Altmann of Passau (Christian; Saint)

British Thermal Unit Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus, and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Dominican Order (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Venus Eve (Ancient Rome)

Finest Fairy Finals (Shamanism)

Four Crowned Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Fourteen Holy Helpers’ Day (Christian)

Friedrich Georg Weitsch (Artology)

Godfrey Kneller (Artology)

Happiness Happens Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Hormisdas, Pope (Christian; Martyr)

International Cat Day (Pastafarian)

International Goat Day (Pastafarian)

Jan Pieńkowski (Artology)

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (Artology)

Jostein Gaarder (Writerism)

Károly Reich (Artology)

Mme. de Lafayette (Positivist; Saint)

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Writerism)

Mary MacKillop (Christian; Saint) [Australia]

Rye Day (Pagan)

Sara Teasdale (Writerism)

Season of Bureaucracy begins (Discordian)

Smaragdus and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Spaghettini (Muppetism)

Triskal Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Venus Festival (Ancient Rome; from sunset to sunset)

Virgin Mary Nativity (Christian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unluckiest Day of the Year (India)

Premieres

Alice the Beach Nut (Ub Iwerks Disney Cartoon; 1927)

Another Side of Bob Dylan, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1964)

The Boss (Film; 2016)

Bully for Bugs (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

Cardigan, by Taylor Swift (Song; 2020)

Eleanor Rigby, by The Beatles (Song; 1966)

Farewell, My Lovely (Film; 1975)

Folklore, by Taylor Swift (Album; 2020)

Forty Pink Winks (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1975)

Gangsta’s Paradise, by Coolio (Song; 1995)

Heavy Traffic (Animated Film; 1973)

An Innocent Man, by Billy Joel (Album; 1983)

Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, recorded by Les Brown (Song; 1941)

Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain (WB Animated Film; 2017)

Lookin’ Out My Back Door, by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Song; 1970)

The Old Oaken Bucket (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

One Crazy Summer (Film; 1986)

Ozark Lark (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1960)

Pest Pilot (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1941)

Pictures at an Exhibition, completed by Modest Mussorgsky (Piano Suite; 1874)

Pink Plasma (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1975)

Revolver, by The Beatles (Album; 1966)

The Sheep Look Up, by John Brunner (Novel; 1972)

She’s Gotta Have It (Film; 1986)

Stand By Me (Film; 1986)

A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin (Novel; 2000) [A Song of Fire and Ice #3]

Straight Outta Compton, by N.W.A. (Album; 1988)

Sunday Go to Meeting’ Time (WB MM Cartoon; 1936)

The Wee Men (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1947)

Welcome to the Monkey House, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Short Stories; 1968)

Whiplash, by Metallica (Song; 1983)

The Wizard of Arts (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1941)

Xanadu (Film; 1988)

Yellow Submarine, by The Beatles (Song; 1966)

Today’s Name Days

Cyriak, Dominik, Elgar, Gustav (Austria)

Emil, Emilian, Emiliya (Bulgaria)

Dinko, Dominik, Nedjeljko (Croatia)

Soběslav (Czech Republic)

Ruth (Denmark)

Silva, Silve, Silvi, Silvia (Estonia)

Silva, Sylvi, Sylvia (Finland)

Dominique (France)

Cyriak, Dominik, Elgar (Germany)

Triantafilia, Triantafilos Triantafyllos (Greece)

László (Hungary)

Domenico, Emiliano (Italy)

Gotlibs, Mudite, Vladislavs (Latvia)

Daina, Domas, Dominykas, Elidijus, Gustavas, Tulgirdas (Lithuania)

Evy, Yvonne (Norway)

Cyprian, Cyriak, Cyryl, Emil, Emilian, Emiliusz, Niezamysł, Olech, Sylwiusz (Poland)

Oskár (Slovakia)

Domingo (Spain)

Silvia, Sylvia (Sweden)

Amelia, Amillian, Emil, Emily, Fedir, Leonid, Theodore (Ukraine)

Dustin, Dusty, Merrill, Meryl, Muriel, Myron, Myrta, Myrtle, Vic, Vick, Vicki, Vicky, Victor, Victoria (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 221 of 2024; 145 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of Week 32 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 6 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Ren-Shen), Day 5 (Jia-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 4 Av 5784

Islamic: 2 Safar 1446

J Cal: 11 Purple; Foursday [11 of 30]

Julian: 26 July 2024

Moon: 16%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 24 Dante (8th Month) [Mme. de Lafayette]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 50 of 94)

Week: 1st Full Week of August

Zodiac: Leo (Day 18 of 31)

Calendar Changes

As (Gods) [Half-Month 16 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 8.22)

[celtic-cd-releases]

https://www.paulmckennaband.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thepaulmckennaband/

https://thepaulmckennaband.bandcamp.com/album/setting-sun

https://open.spotify.com/album/21uN55BZxaWpuaW7eKKokG

[avnnetwork]

Exploring Edmonton: The Vibrant Heart of Alberta's Cultural Scene

Nestled amidst the picturesque landscapes of Alberta, Canada, lies Edmonton, a city pulsating with an energy that stems from its rich cultural tapestry. Beyond its reputation as the capital of Alberta, Edmonton boasts a dynamic arts and cultural scene that captivates visitors and locals alike. From its world-class museums and galleries to its thriving performing arts venues and diverse culinary offerings, Edmonton exudes an undeniable charm that invites exploration and discovery.

Check video:

One of the city's crowning jewels is its extensive array of museums and galleries, each offering a unique glimpse into Edmonton's past, present, and future. The Art Gallery of Alberta, with its striking architecture and thought-provoking exhibitions, serves as a testament to the city's commitment to fostering creativity and artistic expression. Meanwhile, the Royal Alberta Museum showcases the natural and human history of the region, providing visitors with an immersive journey through time.

For those seeking to immerse themselves in the performing arts, Edmonton does not disappoint. The Francis Winspear Centre for Music stands as a beacon for classical music enthusiasts, hosting performances by renowned orchestras and soloists from around the world. Meanwhile, the Citadel Theatre offers a diverse repertoire of plays and musicals, showcasing both local talent and internationally acclaimed productions.

Beyond its cultural institutions, Edmonton's streets come alive with a myriad of festivals and events throughout the year. From the lively Edmonton International Fringe Festival, where performers from all walks of life converge to entertain audiences with their creativity, to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, which celebrates the rich tapestry of folk music from around the globe, there is never a shortage of excitement in the city.

Edmonton's cultural vibrancy is further enhanced by its thriving culinary scene, which reflects the city's multicultural makeup. From cozy cafes serving up artisanal coffee and freshly baked pastries to fine dining establishments offering innovative takes on global cuisines, Edmonton is a paradise for food lovers. The city's diverse communities contribute to its culinary landscape, ensuring that there is something to tantalize every palate.

In addition to its cultural attractions and culinary delights, Edmonton's natural beauty provides a stunning backdrop for outdoor exploration. The North Saskatchewan River Valley, often referred to as the city's "green ribbon," offers a vast network of trails and parks for hiking, biking, and picnicking. Whether strolling along the riverbanks or admiring the panoramic views from one of the many lookout points, visitors can connect with nature without ever leaving the city limits.

As evening falls, Edmonton's nightlife comes alive with a plethora of entertainment options. From trendy cocktail bars and live music venues to cozy pubs and underground speakeasies, there is no shortage of places to unwind and socialize. Whether seeking a quiet corner to enjoy a craft cocktail or dancing the night away to live music, Edmonton offers something for every nocturnal adventurer.

In conclusion, Edmonton's cultural scene is a testament to the city's rich history, diverse population, and unwavering spirit of creativity. From its world-class museums and galleries to its vibrant festivals and culinary offerings, there is no shortage of experiences waiting to be discovered. Whether visiting for the first time or returning to explore anew, Edmonton never fails to leave a lasting impression on those who venture into its vibrant heart.

[independentartistbuzz]

Edmonton Indie Pop Band, Baby Jey, Releases Sophomore Album, ‘Crop Circles,’ feat. Adamant and Soulful “I Can’t Just Stop”

Baby Jey, Edmonton, Alberta’s cosmic indie pop band, are sharing their sophomore album, Crop Circles, in full. 

“The album is born from an unusual balance: trying to write music that reflects on trite Alberta stereotypes: ranchers, cowboys, lumberjacks, while also hypothesizing about something foreign and otherworldly. 

Alberta has a long history of folk festivals and singer-songwriters. While that might be a musical starting place and an important memory for us, it’s not an aspiration or ultimate goal. The challenge is to be true to where you’ve come from without stopping yourself from dreaming wild dreams,” explains Jeremy Witten, vocalist and co-writer, whose main collaborator on the record was bassist and co-writer Dean Kheroufi.

Crop Circles includes “I Can’t Just Stop,” a song which captures a relationship falling apart during a cold Edmonton winter, as Witten reflects on an inability to let go of deeply felt emotions.

“Everyone knows that the pandemic created a lot of stress…and that stress either drew people closer together, or else did the opposite and exacerbated relational fault lines,” Witten explains.

The jaunty pop number belies its heartful and frustrated lyrics: “When I called you it was freezing cold out and when I told you I still love you, you hung up. I could see my breath though–that’s when I knew that my love was just steam.”

Crop Circles takes a darker approach to the band’s infectious pop melodies, which feel as if they were born out of the middle of a deserted plain. The album is interspersed with old radio interludes from when Alberta farmers began finding crop circles in their fields in the 1980s. 

And yet, the band's fascination with "crop circles" moves beyond their Canadian prairie context, floating high above the stratosphere, reaching for the ones who formed crop circles in the first place, with an impressive arsenal of spacey synthesizers and an array of cosmic samples.

[yegphotographer]

Edmonton Folk Music Festival 2024 - August 11 by Paula Kirman Via Flickr: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I got to see Garnet Rogers live last night, the last time I saw him was probably at the Edmonton Folk Festival when I was seven years old. The tickets were my Christmas present to my mother this year, which I loved because it was the first the in a very long that I could afford to get her an actual gift. I had a lot of years of financial precariousness where I’d do nice sentimental things for gifts, and of course my parents are lovely people who appreciate the thought that I put into things, but it was nice this year to be financially stable enough to get her a regular gift (I mean, I’m not doing financially well by any means, I’m just not in imminent danger of losing my ability to pay rent if I buy a few non-essential things, and that is true even once I take into account the money I’ve set aside for/already spent on a trip to the UK this summer, so I feel pretty lucky these days). The tickets weren’t expensive or anything, but still, the price of two of them was more than I’d have spent the year before.

Someone at work asked me if I had any plans for this weekend, which immediately made me feel awkward, for which I mainly blame the backlash against hipsters that took over all of culture in about 2010. When everyone became obsessed with making fun of the prototypical hipster who, when you ask them what music they’re listening to, says “You’ve probably never heard of it.” This has caused a problem for me, as it leaves me with no polite and acceptable way to answer if someone asks me what music I’m listening to.

There’s no winning. If I say the name of an artist they haven’t heard of as though I expect them to know it, then it just sounds weird, they look at me strangely and I feel the way I did when I was ten years old and brought my Lennie Gallant CD in for show and tell and all the kids made fun of me. If I explain who the singer is, then that sort of feels more pretentious, or at least, gets into a longer conversation than the person was asking for when they just asked what my weekend plans are. And the people who perpetuated anti-hipster backlash have taken away the option of saying “Oh it’s a guy you won’t know.” Like. I don’t think I’m better than you for it. Quite the opposite, my personality today is largely driven by the inferiority complex I developed when I was ten and other kids thought my music was weird. It’s fine that you’ve probably never heard of it, I’m not saying that as some sort of power play. I’m just saying it because, you probably haven’t heard of it. And you don’t want me to explain who it is, and I don’t want to explain who it is while you listen politely and try to get out of the conversation, why can’t we just bring back “You probably don’t know it” as a normal and value neutral thing to say?

Anyway, this time, I was pleased that I did have a way to explain who I’m seeing via a reference point that most people know. Because Garnet Rogers is the older brother of Stan Rogers, a very famous Canadian folk singer. He died in 1983, and I think my music collection contains at least five different songs, written by various other Canadian folk singers, in tribute to his death, which is how you know he was a hell of an influence on the culture.

There’s an entire folk festival dedicated to his memory, called StanFest in Canso Nova Scotia. I’ve traveled the 15-ish-hour drive to attend that festival twice in my life and it’s been two of my favourite weekends ever.

Stan Rogers was so famous that he became one of the folk singers to break the containment of the folk niche, and he’s a cultural touchstone for most people in Canada. I’m pretty sure most people in Canada can sing at least the chorus of his most mainstream successful song, Barrett’s Privateers. So when my coworker asked me who I was going to see, I said, “Okay, you know Stan Rogers?” And she said “No”, and I just wanted to call in a referee and say "Hey, that's not fair! I know that usually a flaw in the social interaction is my fault, but this one can't be on me, it was a reasonable expectation on my part that a random person would have at least heard of Stan Rogers. This social interaction field has been stacked against me, how can I be expected to perform under these conditions?"

Anyway, I was totally unprepared for that answer to I sort of stammered, “Oh, right, well I’m seeing his brother,” and she looked at me like “Why have you told me that you’re seeing the brother of a guy I’ve never heard of?” and I looked at her like “Because I’m not allowed to just tell you you’ve never heard of it for some reason” and it was awkward and this is why I don’t usually try small talk with coworkers.

Anyway. I remember being a kid and asking both my parents who their favourite singer was; my dad said Gordon Lightfoot and my mom said Garnet Rogers. My dad briefly revised that to Emmylou Harris when I was a teenager, but I think my mom’s answer has stayed the same for about thirty years. My dad likes Garnet too, but not as much, and this is a rare music thing that I share more with my mom than my dad, which is cool.

My mother likes music, but not normally as intensely; she’ll come along for the first day or so of the folk festival, if it’s nice weather, and doesn’t want to do the whole long four-day, rain or shine adventure the way my dad and I do. Music has always been a big bonding thing for my dad and I, so I really enjoyed getting to have it as a bonding thing with her last night. She was so excited, she kept talking about how she used to see him at folk festivals all the time but hasn’t seen him since about 2006. She bought his book at intermission and got him to sign it. She had two glasses of wine and had me drive her home.

He was great; he looked older than his age (which is presently 68), but his voice hasn't started fading at all. He played mostly acoustic, but plugged the bass guitar in for his really famous song called Night Drive, about touring with his brother, which was amazing. He did some of his old stuff and some new stuff and an unexpected Greg Brown cover and ended on a Stan Rogers cover. It's got to be weird to spend 40 years best known for being a dead man's brother.

And the crowd was great. First of all, great Canadian folk singer James Keelaghan was in the audience, and it's always cool as fuck when that happens. When you go to one person's gig and someone else is just walking around. That used to happen all the time when I lived in Nova Scotia. In one Halifax bar, I once saw Bruce Guthro with Jimmy Rankin in the audience, and a few months later saw JP Cormier with Lennie Gallant in the audience.

Anyway. It was at this folk music club that just opened in 2021, and it brought all the folk people back. All the people who used to go to our local folk festival, until 2012 when they sold the festival to some people who overhauled it and brought in the "indie rock" acts, and then the just regular rock acts, to draw in younger crowds at the small cost of having a folk festival with no folk music. I kept going for a few years, and then stopped bothering because it had stopped being a folk festival at all, it was full of drunk young people and indie rock bands (I've recently started getting over my prejudice against things labeled "indie rock" that was caused by that, because some of that music I quite like, I just don't like it taking over folk festivals) and it was shit, it still is. Folk festivals are meant to be for hippies who are 60+ years old, wearing tie-dye and makeshift ponchos and with grey ponytails. I fucking love going to a folk festival and seeing all the grey ponytails, on men and women. Makes me less anxious about getting older, seeing that some people who reach that age don't feel the need the cut their hair or dye it.

Anyway, it turns out all the hippies with grey ponytails in the city didn't disappear when the folk festival got sold, they just stopped coming out. But now this folk club opened and that's where they all were last night. Both my parents and I have tickets to see JP Cormier and Dave Gunning there in April and I can't wait to go back.

I've realized this is the only thing in my life where I get to be in the liberal bubble. The rest of my life has been taken up with this sport where you're considered fairly left-wing if you were open-minded enough to be willing to get a COVID vaccine, even if you still had "concerns" about it. I've now started sometimes hanging out at local comedy places; I went to a club comedy night the other night with 8 men and 2 women on the bill, almost all the men had some amount of racist or sexist material, and that's still considered one of the more progressive nights because they had women on and most of the material wasn't like that. I know that sometimes I overlook bad stuff because my standards of what counts left-wing is skewed by a community where only being mildly bad is considered centrist.

But folk festivals. Folk festivals have always been my one point of access to the liberal bubble. The performers and the audience full of people who were hippies in the 60s and then just kept on being that way after everyone else stopped. It's fucking great. I'm a big fan of the liberal bubble, and have less and less tolerance these days for people who deride it, because even if it's imperfect it's so much better than the alternative.

My favourite Garnet Rogers song is Underpass, and annoyingly there's no good quality version on YouTube of just that song, but here's a video of him playing it along with Twisting in the Wind, which is another great song. It's from 2011, apparently, but last night he looked pretty similar to that, aside from a few more wrinkles in the face. He definitely still has the same hair as in that video, though. Last night, the most impressive grey ponytail in the room was on the guy on stage.

While we're at it, here's my personal favourite Stan song:

There's this thing at the end of the John Robins/Elis James radio show called the Keep it Sessions Sessions, as an outro to the podcast and separate from the live radio broadcast, where they'll take turns picking a musician or band they love, will talk for a few minutes about who they are and what they do, and then they'll play 30 seconds (all they can do without running into copyright issues) of a song by them. Usually used for bands that are not on the Radio X playlist, so they can share music they like the listeners even if it's not something the station will let them actually play.

I've quite enjoyed those segments, and it's introduced me to a couple of singers where I've ended up downloading and enjoying their stuff (like I said, I am overcoming my anti-indie rock prejudice, to be honest listening to Kitson's radio shows went a long way toward getting me to overcome that and a lot of the Robins/James recs are in the same vein). But every time I hear it, I think, that sounds like fun, I wish I had a platform to just spend a few minutes every week telling people about a band or singer I like, explaining where they come from and what they do and then playing people one of their songs and offering recs on their best stuff.

Then I remembered, I have a Tumblr blog where I can post whatever I want. So I might just start doing that. Here, this is a decent quality version of his song about touring with his brother.

[murderballadeer]

hiii lucy, for the ask: 6, 35 and 41!!!

6 - who's an artist you really like but it's embarrassed to admit it? i've gotten shit abt it from my friends before but i love merle haggard... ultimate dad country but it's so fun To Me. shame free zone tho i refuse to be embarrassed

35 - a song you like in a language you don’t speak

i don't speak ladino/judeo spanish at all but this song (& the whole album) is rly fun!

41 - have you ever been to a music festival? if not, would you like to go? i have been to so many music festivals... when i was younger my parents would take me along when my dad would go on tour in the summer so i attended my first edmonton folk festival at the age of four months. my mom still has a $5 bill that solomon burke gave her at that festival bc as part of his performance he was "blessing" all the babies and small children in the audience and giving $5 bills to all the parents

[dijidweeeb]

Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Edmonton Canada

[piperambury]

This weekend made me very happy, thank you for coming and sitting in the rain with me @growingupisbeyondus