Shindig 2012 kicks off

The weather is setting unpleasant records and wreaking havoc all around the country. We set off for the first Shindig of the season anticipating a sweltering experience. But we had to go - the quilt Cheryl worked on was to make its public debut.  Before the program started the members of Mountain Circle Jam headed over to the sales tents to see how it was displayed.  Here are Cheryl's colleagues Alice and Ann.

You can see the quilt wrapped up on the table between them. (The organizers also have the quilt pictured on the Shindig website.) Studying Alice and Ann, you may detect there is a little breeze even in downtown Asheville, so the evening was not as uncomfortable as we feared.

Here's a shot of the vending area - with Norris bringing our dinners back, unaware he's being photographed.

The program kicked off as usual with a couple of numbers by the Stoney Creek Boys. They aren't getting younger - there's Leonard Hollifield on guitar, supplementing his lung function with portable oxygen.  He can still entertain!

Then we were treated with a clogging performance by an All-Star group made up of members from various teams that perform at all the Shindigs - 

They mainly danced to Glenn Bannerman's calls.  But here's a look at the men showing off their fancy footwork. Akin to how bluegrass music is played with each picker taking a turn at soloing, in traditional clogging there are places where the dancers get to show their virtuosity. In this case, the dancers approach the audience in a line, but each one is doing his own thing.

There are always two regular dance groups at Shindig - and usually one of them is made up of younger dancers. The Cole Mountain Cloggers are a very skilled group with a big range in age.

There's good music all evening, but there's also audience participation. Glenn Bannerman has invented the Sit-Down-Square Dance, so even the less mobile can dance at Shindig - 

Cheryl's quilting doesn't show from the stage - but we hoped the colors and piecing design would and the quilt is successful that way.

 

Cheryl's friend Earl is interested in the hand-made guitar donated by local luthier Caleb Smith. This guitar would retail for about $2500-$3000.  They had Jerry Sutton play it for just a few seconds - the sound was heavenly.

This is what the crowd looked like  - lots of folks who didn't have any special reason to attend showed up in the heat.

 

Study the above shot closely and you can find Norris - just right of center in the foreground.

Here's a view of the stage from the other end of Pack Square after the sun set. You can see the interesting contrast between the classical County Courthouse on the left, and the city's  Art Deco design by Douglas D. Elliott. 

The original plan had complementary designs by Elliott for these two buildings that anchor one end of the park - but this look was too radical for the more conservative County. This view of the decorations at the top of the city building was taken earlier.

Nearby at Asheville City Fire Station 1 were a couple of other listeners.