Vancouver Folk Festival 2023: quick notes from Day 1

I did not stay much for Day 1 of the fest! There was a kitten that needed babysitting, waiting alone in the apartment (my wife and our kitten-sitter were otherwise engaged) and there were only two acts I specifically wanted to catch today: Amythyst Kiah and Twin Flames. I wanted to get a bit of merch, wanted to get oriented, and wanted to get an interview request or two in (and do what prep I could for said interviews, which is not so easy to do when you know little about the artists in question. One must be a fast study indeed, and I in fact am not; the interviews I am best with are with people whose music I know very well, and I had never heard of Amythyst Kiah or Twin Flames before this past week!).

Twin Flames, July 14, 2023. All photos on this post are by Allan MacInnis

Truth is, I barely got to see Twin Flames; having worked until 4:30, I arrived midway through their set, heard one song, and then had about fifteen minutes to get my media business set up (including putting in an interview request for Twin Flames) before Amythyst Kiah went on the main stage (which she ended up doing a few minutes before schedule, adding to my sense that I was zooming around like a maniac, which was aided not at all by a bit of THC oil I had imbibed on arriving at 4th and Alma; it does aid me, SOMETIMES, in coming up with interesting questions and perspectives on the music I hear, but it also greatly increases the likelihood, as I discovered last year, of getting lost on the trails! And buying more merch than is wise, which Ben Frith does not mind at all). 

Still, I managed to put in a request to talk to Twin Flames (that will be my subsequent post) about the song from their set that I did hear, because I thought I had an interesting question for them based on that: I had arrived just in time to hear a wholly unexpected Tragically Hip cover, and some interesting comments from stage about their respect for the gesture that Gord Downie made, choosing in the last years of his life to focus not on his illness but rather to advance the conversation about residential schools and reconciliation. More on that to come - it was an interesting chat! 

Anyhow, today is the big day, by me: if you are curious about indigenous artists doing a cover of a song by the Hip, Twin Flames will be playing again at 12:05, as part of the Harmoniously Yours summit, also involving Ruth Moody, Tiny Habits, and Cedric Watson and Jourdan Thibodeaux. If you are ambitious enough to arrive even earlier, you can also catch Amythyst Kiah in the 11am Heart Full of Soul Summit, with Rich Hope, True Loves, and Celeigh Cardinale. And remember, those are only the afternoon workshops I'm mentioning (and only two of them - there's more! Check the full schedule here; Headliners tonight include Toubab Crewe, William Prince, the American Beauties Grateful Dead project, and True Loves, previously linked.) 

BTW, Sharon Steele got some great photos of Amythyst yesterday, but we'll save those for the actual conversation...

I've already shilled about how relatively inexpensive it is for the value you get ($155 for a full day of music), but let me add that it's easy as pie to get there, too: just get on the #4 bus (the earlier in its route the less crowded it will be) and make it to the 4000 block. There are other routes, as well.

Besides two or three yet-to-come interviews - definitely Twin Flames, tomorrow - I won't be doing much else, writing-wise; I already wrote a general introduction to the festival last year, with tons of photographs and observations, so I'm not going to do that again this year, this post aside. It all feels very much familiar, but maybe a bit more precious in that we almost lost it. Best not to take it for granted - if you've never been, and want to check it out for a single day, today would be a great one. 

The Hawaiian shirt guy still doesn't have any shirts larger than 2X, though. Ah well, at least I got that out of the way! Might actually get to listen to some MUSIC today (and hit a food truck or two). 

More to come!