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Show Thursday, August 2, 1979 Page 3 Bluegrass Turns Green And Much Enthusiasm BACK TO SCHOOL SALE CLOVER MEADOWS SUBDIVISION HeberCity FHA-VA-245 vr V sully , -$f-&r -r' nftMf Bryan Bowers gets the crowd on its feet Sunday By Jay Meehan In the lexicon of concert promoters, . it is nice not to "take a bath". That is, it is nice not to lose a bunch of money; to blow the whole wad as it were. Last year, after putting on the 1st Annual Park City Bluegrass Festival, the Shupe Family of Ogden left town with $10,400 less than they arrived with. They also left with the thought that maybe bluegrass couldn't be supported at the festival level in Utah. They had indeed taken a "bath". Sunday evening past, however, Jim Shupe had a smile on his face. His brother Ted Shupe announced he was "extremely delighted", while Ted's wife Sandy was "especially pleased" by the events in Treasure Hollow the preceeding 48 hours..The 2nd Annual Bluegrass Festival, you see, had been a "rousing success from every standpoint". stand-point". Coupling last year's event with the long-established Arts Festival had proven to be an unwise choice with logistical and general transportation problems proving a bit too complex with upwards of 100,000 people on Main Street and the Bluegrass Festival at the other end of town. Many afficianados in search of Bill Monroe's "high lonesome sound" returned to Salt Lake City after spending spen-ding over an hour attempting to navigate the road in from Kimball's Junction and never even getting close to the festival. Many of them never even got close to Snyderville. But this year the festival had less competition. Only a two-day rugby tourney featuring teams from most of the west's ski towns and a once-in-a- lifetime Willie Nelson concert at Sundance. Sun-dance. Evidently, there were enough folks to go around as close to 5,000 people chose to kick back on the grass of Treasure Hollow and enjoy two days of excellent picking and singing. And if their enthusiasm was any barometer, then one would have to assume that American traditional music is indeed alive and well in Utah. It almost took a crowbar to get them to leave once it was over. Headlining this year's festival were Park City favorites, The McLain Family Band, along with autoharp virtuoso Bryan Bowers and Summer Dog, a "bluegrass mariachi swing ensemble" en-semble" out of Tuscon, Arizona. The McLain Family, out of Brea, Kentucky performed in their usual tight and highly polished style and put on an especially rousing set to end the festival Sunday evening. As this set was getting underway many of the musicians who had performed the previous two days joined the McLains on stage for an elongated and hot-pickin' hot-pickin' communal version of "Bile 'em Cabbage Down". This one chance for all these musicians to play together at the festival received a slight dampening at the outset, however, as a gentleman gen-tleman who introduced himself to the crowd as Tom Lingren of KSOP radio in Salt Lake City, and who seemingly knew as much about bluegrass as Richard Nixon knows about chittlins, got hold of one of the stage microphones. After demonstrating his ability to intersperse innocuous ramblings with Woltman Jack imitations, he correctly correc-tly interpreted the quizzical looks of both the audience and the musicians and quickly abandoned whatever it was he was doing and allowed the music to proceed. Bryan Bowers, who gets rhythm, melody and four harmonies out of an autoharp, totally won over the crowd at each of his four sets. As unique a performer as there is on the folk music circuit. Bowers has taken the autoharp from Mother Maybelle Carter's Car-ter's Wildwood Flower era to an almost orchestral setting. And he has done it without forgetting the roots of the instrument. At the least, he is tremendously gifted. The biggest surprise of the festival, however, was "Summer Dog". These "four golden voices of the great American Southwest" completely captivated everyone who saw them. Mixing traditional and progressive bluegrass with Duke Ellington and mariachi music, Summer Dog seems to have found a blend which has everyone agog. Hopefully, one of Park City's entrepreneurs will bring them back before too long. Here are four guys who know what entertainment is all about. A Saturday fiddle contest, won by Jim Shupe Jr., a Sunday banjo contest won by Mike Iverson, and a gaggle of some of Utah's better traditional groups rounded out the festival. The Deseret String Band provided the variety of their older Scots-Irish' and Southern traditional tunes which give bluegrass a foundation upon which to reflect and when handled by these guys are pure entertainment. 1 Vr -u i 1 Summer Dog: 'Biggest surprise of the festival' Festival Celebrates Anniversary Continued From Page 1 show in the festival. He so liked the town that he decided to move here with his family. For director Lewis, the job of organizing the festival has meant hectic hec-tic days of final preparation with little time for sleep. Said Ms. lwis: "It's been a wonderful won-derful experience; crazy and chaotic and I thrive on chaos." "You have to be a Jack-of -all-Trades in this job. You have to be able to paint signs, lay out ad copy, deal with the city, merchants and police, request donations and get volunteers. "There are so many people volunteering volun-teering that we can put on the festival for comparatively little money. Everybody is Wrapped up in this; we'll all need a vacation afterwards." "I don't known if I would direct the festival next year, I can't think about that now." NEW 3 bedrooms, fireplaces, built-ins, carport or garage. Immediate possession, choose your colors. Don't Delay! QU A LI FYby September 15 and receive free from the builders your choice of either a Whirlpool microwave over No. REM 7200 or Sylvania 19" color T.V. at time of closing. CALL NOW Sales Person on Duty Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday From 12:00 noon to 6:30 p.m. Sales Office Lot No. 2 CALL COLLECT CALL COLLECT TRICO REALTY CHATEAU REALTY 566-5196 R 266-2822 Subscribe NOW OPEN HOWSE HO main I ClshertnmS Chowder Jtomettutde Chill lib, JSurger deluxe, ilk .Burner deluxe Chillbmaer cfish &, Chips lame Small cRshbumer deluxe 3rabwurslr ddtm Cold Cheese Scmdwcch-ColdJlanL Scmdwcch-ColdJlanL & Cheese Sandwich-Shrimp Sandwich-Shrimp Salad & Cheese Salad Coffee , oka , Milt , Saft&rAifc Jake Qui Service Available '3 |