Getting My Folk On

The last two days I attended the Montana Folk festival. It was beautiful weather and the entertainment was good. Elaine Benner went with me, because Jim, Ryan and Bode went backpacking in the back country of Montana. We had a fun time.

Last week, I also got to see our nephew Michael who made a whirlwind trip to Butte. It sure was nice seeing him. I found out last night that Martha and Dwight are also going to make a visit in August. So all three Benner kids will have made it to Butte for a visit this summer. Janice and Ken are also going to come up for a few days in a couple of weeks. Our niece Hannah and her family will also be passing through on their way to Portland.

So getting a lot of family time. I know Jennifer is up in heaven and wishing she was here. She would have so enjoyed getting to see everyone.

It still hurts a lot when I realize she is not here. After the folk festival yesterday, Elaine and I went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. The last time I was there was when we had a Dysingerjw family gathering for Jennifer’s Mom’s funeral. That was a fun night and Jennifer’s brother Mike was in rare form that night. It is so hard to believe that both Jennifer and Mike have departed us. As I walked by the private room we had for that night, I got a flashback to that night.

The human mind is a funny computer, amazing how the flashbacks can seem like the event was just yesterday, when in fact it was years ago. I could see and hear Jennifer laughing at Mikes colorful and maybe just a touch embellished recollections of family events. While I enjoy the flashbacks they really tug at the old heart strings.

At the festival yesterday, the first group we listened to was a Zydeco band. That also brought back memories for both Elaine and I of when they visited us down in Lafayette. The band was good, but it was more a blend/combination of Zydeco/Creole music. However, everyone enjoyed the music. There was one lady that really was having a good time. She gyrated and got in a full Zumba workout during the performance. I will say one thing about her, she was in phenomenal shape. Like I said she was getting after it for the whole hour long performance and she did not even break a sweat. Now when I say this lady was moving, I really mean it she was going full out for the whole time. I think she may have had some recreational type medicine flowing through her, but she was having a grand time. However she was pissing a few people around her off when she was doing her leg kicks. It was amazing she did not take somebody out. At the beginning of the performance the venue was jammed packed, by the end it had thinned out some and she really got after it then. It was quite the performance.

They were a lot of other characters floating around the festival. I was amazed at the number of people in bare feet. Uptown Butte is not known for for its smooth streets and there is a lot of foot hazards, plus it was a pretty warm day (hot by Butte standards, but the folks up don’t know what hot is). I have tender feet so there is no way in hell that you would catch me walking around barefoot and you sure as hell would not catch me barefoot in uptown Butte.

The amazing thing about the festival is that it is free to attend and they do one hell of a job (thanks to the many volunteers that work it) putting it on. It orginally started when Butte got the National Public Radio folk festival and they had that for three years and then it moved to the next location. However a group of folks decided to keep the festival going and called it the Montana Folk Festival. Personally I think it has gotten better each year.

There is a Irish Band called Solas that has played the festival several years ago and they played again this year. They actually recorded a album about Butte called Shamrock City. It is centered around one of the band members Uncle who had migrated from Ireland to Butte and then passed away. The family in Ireland really did not know what transpired with him. However, the band member was able to research his fate while in Butte and found out that he lived here three years and then passed. He was able to find out where he was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery (same cemetery where Jennifer is). He was in a unmarked grave, but now has a tombstone on it, thanks all to the band member coming here to play. So that was interesting.

I really like one song from that album. It is called “Tell God and the Devil”. We got to hear them play both Friday and Saturday and they played it both times, so that was nice.

So it was a nice weekend. I just so wish that Jennifer was here to participate in it. She certainly was in spirit.