Boo Here.

Herself has asked that I give you guys the lowdown on the whole Kerrville thing. She being a bit overwhelmed by – and still recuperating from it all. Yep. What a ride! The Short One was rather excitable the entire trip but who could blame her. She was on her way to a very important occasion and $4.00 per gallon of gas and 20 hours on the road was not going to dampen her spirits.

Now, me? I thought I was spending another weekend at home so imagine my surprise when I was pulled from my dashboard armchair only to be placed in a window seat in the biggest truck I’d ever seen. I know these girls were camping but you’d think the Diva’s were staying for a month the way they packed this behemoth.

Iowa – sometimes it feels like you’ll never get to the border, especially when you take a left at Des Moines. Missouri – thanks to all the by-passes Kansas City was a cinch. Oklahoma – we watched the most magnificent lightning storm, it crawled along the belly of the clouds - amazing. And, finally, Texas! Texas was hot!

We got in Friday morning and set up camp – home sweet home. It only took 5 minutes before these northern beauties were drenched in sweat. So, as soon as they could it was back in the truck and off to San Antonio where we spent the evening in a real bed, with a real shower and a real toilet – for the last time.

Saturday morning and back at the ranch. We were very fortunate to be staying at the famous Rouse House campsite. Lindsey, Deb and Liz were on hand at all times to keep all the little fledglings in line. Thanks to the Rouses for keeping herself from exploding with the sheer energy of, “whatdoInowwheredoIgonow?”

The Kerrville Folk Festival was wall to wall to wall music. Campsite fires burned till all hours of the morning with music going round in circles. People would stop in the middle of the road and start up an impromptu jam session. Even the mainstage lasted until midnight.

Every morning, the little fledglings would start their day by serenading each other. They would show off their deep intellectual understandings of themselves and their world. Songs of love, snow, jesus, underpants…

And, sometimes they’d do it all night, too. That’s Michelle & Scott Dalziel and our new friend, Hans York. This particular evening they eschewed the normal fair of deep, philosophical, introspective folk music for the more mundane and mood-lightening cover songs. There was everything from Leo Sayer to Hogey Carmichael to They Must be Giants. And this one guy from Columbia who even made Gordon Lightfoot sound fun.

Finally, here’s herself. Onstage. On her Birthday. Doing the one thing she loves to do more that anything else in the whole universe – playing music.

Happy May Day!

Yes. I’m late. I know.
Doesn’t matter – it’s all so wonderfully spring!
The Mourning dove has been singing to me every morning and all the other birds are doing their best to bring the chorus to a magnificent crescendo.

I’ve been playing for some wonderful audiences invited by some wonderful hosts in some beautiful locations; Cape Girardeau, Lawrence, Cedar Rapids. That’s right – the Midwest is a beautiful place. I especially want to thank the Underberg’s and the Veatch’s for their hospitality. They both put on a great concert and made me feel right at home. If you've never been to a house concert I suggest you search one out. It has to be one of the best ways to experience the music and most importantly, the musician.

May Day itself was spent with my friend, Carolyn Cruso in the quaint little burg of Fairfield (home of the Maharishi’s). We played together and we played solo and we had the most wonderful time. The weekend was spent in Des Moines jamming with my friend Adam and a few other friends at Demicon. It’s always a groovy time when I’m playing with Adam and everyone around us could tell.

As I look around me and the signs of spring are everywhere. The magnolia, pear and locust trees have bloomed and feathered the landscape with their petals. The Mississippi (yes, we have one here, too) swells its banks to overflowing – simultaneously cleaning the streets and filling its waters with all the debris of all the cities from the north to the south.

And that, my friends is where I shall flow myself. South – to Texas… to Kerrville.
The Kerrville Folk Festival is something I’ve thought about for many years - and even tried to get in to once or twice. It’s been a while since I’d thought about it until recently when some friends told me about this great festival that they went to and how wonderful it was and how wonderful the people are and all the groovy music and musicians and… everything. Suddenly, Kerrville was in the forefront of my thoughts once more.

I was naive when I first tried out for the festival years ago - I tried out for mainstage… yeah, oops – so, thought I’d try the more regular route this time. I sent in my songs and my money and then tried to put it out of my mind once more. You see, I’ve never entered a song competition before, ever. So when I got the e-mail – 4 months after entering – that said, “You may be a winner” I went to the website not really expecting to see my name… yet, there it was! “Logo Russo - Davenport, IA”. (Yes, they’ve since fixed my name on the site.) It’s taking awhile to sink in – and mostly I’m just trying to keep it level and do my best to be myself. I’m going to Kerrville to play some music, meet some groovy people and enjoy myself. And, if I happen to win a songwriting contest - well, wouldn't that just be the thing!

So, on May 25th at approximately 2:30pm CST if you would be so kind as to put a few good thoughts out into the universe (in a southerly direction) it’d be most appreciated.