Friday 11th September 2009 - Square Dancing with Grown-up Ladies

Someone is alleged to hava said to Joseph Heller that he had only ever written one book, to which Heller is said to have retorted, "Yes, but that was a masterpiece". Catch-22 is certainly the best book I have ever read, and was my candidate for best book of the 20th century (one day they'll listen to me, you know).
I myself am now trapped in a catch-22: the immigration people won't extend my stay because I haven't got a ticket home at the end of that extension, and I can't buy a ticket until they tell me if I can stay. If there is any parallel, I think I must be the Soldier in White.

The Rockbridge Festival had plenty of fringe activity during the afternoon, with quite a few jam sessions going on. It seems musicians come from all over just to play with each other. The structures of the music seem to allow them to do that. And they seem to enjoy the "no, I do this way" pauses that happen some times. More 'apprentice' players stand a little way off, where they can hear the band, but the band can't hear them, and join in.
My father used to love to tell a story about Mendelssohn who, asked, after playing one of his pieces at some soiree, what it meant, said "I'll tell you what it means" and proceeded to play it again. "That's what it means", he said.
The musicians here seem to approach explanations in much the same way. Almost all the discussion and explanation seems to involve playing bits.

Later that night I extend my knowledge of American beer technology: The big bags of ice from the supermarket are emptied into the cooler, and the six-pack is then buried in the cubes. Expecting the bag to hold the water after the ice melts, so that, for instance, food can be kept in there as well, is not how it works. I dispose of the salt, etc., and practice this a little bit before the main event of the evening, which is a dance.
At the dance, I find myself being dragged, almost literally, into the company of grown-up ladies, so that we might form into dance sets. To my astonishment, one of the group is herself a good dance caller (I only find out the following evening quite how good). This is the first time I have ever been to what I would call a "square dance" in the company of someone who not only knows what she is doing, but can anticipate what I need to be told so I can do it. I was terrific fun.
After the dance, there were jam sessions going on all over the place. I managed to co-ordinate listening to different groups with passing the cooler a regular intervals. Until I just had to climb past the cooler into the back of the van and go to sleep; with the music still playing around me.

[I failed to find out the setting I had left on while trying out my new pocket camera which stopped the flash from working, so the pictures are a bit too 'arty' for putting up here]