Day 9, 10 and 11 - Dawson City Music Festival

Day 9, 10 and 11 - Where did you get that hat?


The Dawson Music Festival Day dawned sunny and bright.  We did some sightseeing around the town - Dawson City is a great place for walking around.  The buildings are all heritage buildings with false fronts and lots of character.  Front Street is right along the river with lots of quirky stores and restaurants.  The visitor's centre is like a museum itself and has very knowledgeable staff to help you decide on what to do.

Earl met up with an old friend from the Milepost "Amazing Dave" who does the graphics among other things and had a good visit with him.  Then we found the information booth, picked up our passes and the program.  We did not know many of the names listed this year except The Sojourner's (black gospel group) and Al Simmons (children's entertainer) but that's what music festivals are all about - find new artists (or old ones you never heard of)!

The DCMF has six venues - hmmmmm - which is fine I guest except often you find yourself wanting to be at more than one place at the same time!  Friday night we chose the Palace Grande as our first concert experience as the Sojourners were part of the program.  The concerts started with a unique violinist who uses a loop pedal to record herself and build her music.  By the end of her songs, it sounds like a whole group of violins playing together.  Her music was soft, gentle and lyrical and just lovely.  Oh but then, the Sojourners got up on that stage ~ their close harmonies, wonderful lyrics and great patter and rapport with the audience make these three fellows just wonderful to experience.  They sang Sue's favourite song of theirs - "People get ready - there's a train a coming, don't need no baggage, just get on board!"  This is a very famous Negro Spiritual (even Rod Stewart does a cover of it) but I like the Sojourners version the best - so soulful and amazing!  The last band at the Grand for the opening concert were called Drea and the Naysayers.  It was fun to see their excitement!  They are a local band that got called in at the last minute when a band from Toronto cancelled at the last minute!  They were an indie rock band but with a good sound and lots of fun.  They were very humble and grateful about the opportunity this was for them and that was great to see.

We had a break before the concerts at the Mainstage so we headed to our favourite eating spot in Dawson City - The Drunken Goat!  This is the most delicious Greek cuisine with great service and atmosphere.  We ate more than our fill after a modest wait for a table (very popular place) and then headed to the Mainstage Tent for more fun and music.  There were a variety of bands up tonight and there was not one we didn't enjoy tonight.  We have to say though, our favourite artist of the whole weekend was not a headliner at all!  His name is Derek Durrham and he played with Wanda Jackson and the Trilliums Thursday night, several other artists and workshops and his own band the Beauties!  He played bass, guitar, keyboards, piano, drums - sometimes two at the same time!  He was everywhere, and so talented - oh he sang too!  He was fascinating to watch and we told him he needs his own show.  Another great things about Derek was how much he loved our dog!  Just thought Corona was the greatest dog he'd ever seen.  I think this illustrates just what we like about festivals.  You get to really interact and talk with the artists and they are all so personable.  We had a lot of fun at this festival.

I won't bore everyone with a blow by blow of the whole weekend, but suffice it to say it was wonderful.  From the Old Time Religion Workshop to the great fun with Al Simmons, to meeting some great folks from all over the world we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves

On Saturday, Earl found a vendor booth selling hats that were made of fun fur - looked like costumes for Where the Wild Things are!  So of course, Earl bought one and wore it into the tent.  Caused quite a stir.  Earl was handing out cards all weekends for the people who sold the hat to anyone who said 'nice hat' - quite a few.  On Sunday, the lady who had the booth told him she had almost sold out and gave him matching arm warmers (like leg warmers but for the arms)  He really does look like the monsters from Where the Wild Things Are - he is ready for Hallowe'en  - the kids will love it!

Then on Sunday afternoon, we finally got to see Al Simmons (so many artists - so many venues) and it was the funniest show I have seen in a long time.  He puts on a great show but his best song is "Where did you get that hat?" throughout which he dons some pretty crazy hats he has created.  My cheeks were just aching by the end of the show.  "Where did you get that hat?" is now Earl and I's favourite song and it is a bit of an ear worm that rolls round and round your head!  After Al Simmons, was a great band called the Brass Knuckle Society - all brass instruments plus an accordian with a Big Band sound from the forties and so much fun!

The evening concert was amazing as well, and closed with a group from Iqualuit, Nunavut called the Jerry Cans - they now how to party!  They have a very East Coast Sound with fiddle and accordian but with some Innuktatuk language and throat singing thrown in.  The closing was fun too, with all the artist and the audience singing Hit the Road Jack!  I think I may be hoarse for a week from singing and shouting and wahooing!

And so, our festival time has come to a close.  We are glad we did both.  They were very different - Atlin much more family oriented and the DCMF more geared to a 20's/30's crowd but we had fun at both and found new artists and music to keep us going for a quite a while.

Tomorrow we leave Dawson City for the Top of the World Highway that will take us to Alaska.