Preservation Hall Jazz Band "Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea"

Five behind-the-scenes scenes at Newport Folk.

Interactions with artists are inevitably awkward. Here are three quick vignettes from Newport Folk, to illustrate.

I was looking forward to meeting Glen Hansard. As mentioned, I'd seen The Swell Season last fall, and was really effected by the experience.

Though I had to be over at the NPR Music/WFUV tent to do the Horsefeathers bit, I did have about a 1 minute window, where I wanted to get a hello in there.

His road manager introduced us, I shook his hand, and launched into a semi-rehearsed speech:

"I saw you last fall and it really, really moved me. Such a great live show. I really appreciate what you're doing and I'm really looking forward to seeing you play today."

While it was not me at my most eloquent, I said what I wanted to say, without being too over the top. What I didn't imagine in my rehearsals, is what would happen next.

Err. Not much.

"Thank you. Thank you very much." He said. He asked me when and where I had seen the show. "Oh yeah," he said, "It was really cold that day."

Awkward pause.

I said goodbye and headed off, thinking, well, what was he supposed to say next?

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When you are a musician, you sometimes get swept up in whatever scene you've been plopped down in.

Jason Spooner was playing in Newport on Folk Festival weekend, and came over to the Fort, after his gig. He's a super-sweet guy, and is very grateful and gracious to the folks who support him. mvyradio has started playing his new record, so he made a point to come say Hello and Thanks.

It just so happened that during his visit, we got permission from the Fort Adams staff to go up on the roof of the Fort. Normally, it's locked off to the public, but Joe had made arrangements for a Fort staffer to take the mvy crew up. So we pulled Jason along.

The view proved to be so beautiful, that someone suggested that this was where we should take a staff photo. Jason tried to politely decline being in the picture---pointing out he wasn't really a member of the staff. But he was pulled in anyway, caught up in a scene he'd been plopped down in. (Jason is on the right)

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Awkwardness goes both ways.

There were loads of people behind the stage watching Levon Helm. They cleared us all out of that space, to make room for Levon's getaway vehicle. Most people were herded around to the side of the stage, but I needed access to the mvy tent, so I walked through the tunnel, back into the Fort.

From that vantage point, you could still see the stage, and hear the music, and there were a handful of folks who had taken up that position.

One of them was Ben Jaffe, tuba-ist and leader of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

I shook his hand and said, "Great set today. Really great. And I love the record. Congratulations."

He smiled and said Thanks.

Remembering my Glen Hansard moment, I left it at that, with no further expectations.

"It's a really exciting time," he said.

"Is it?" I replied, not knowing if he was continuing the conversation, or just making a statement.

"Yeah, a lot of mmfmfmmfffmm" at which point Levon's Ramble got louder and I couldn't quite make out what Ben said.

So I just kinda looked at him and nodded and smiled (I'm sure, blankly).

And the conversation stopped.

In retrospect, I think he was excited to talk about the record, and how the band had been received, and how things were going, but his audience of one, while willing, was not able.

And I wonder if Ben walked away from that moment thinking, "I said 'It's an exciting time,' what did I expect the guy to say back?"

(Probably not.)