Emerald City Blues Festival 2010

ECBF, an infamous event, happens in MY city every year. I get to host new people in my home, which is a different experience every time. I get to feel the pride of knowing that one of the year's top blues events happens 10 minutes from my home. That pretty much rocks.

This year was a little different for a couple reasons. First off, there were no tracks. All of the classes were aimed at all levels. This got rid of the stresses of doing a "placement" dance early Saturday morning. Instead, they did the prelims early Saturday morning.
It was also different because there was only one band that played twice as they created a live album of their songs. Solomon Douglas played for Kim Massie, and just about every song they did together was incredible. That woman can sing!

The energy level, just like every year, is so amazing I can't describe it. People come to this event from everywhere, and everyone's so excited to be there. Every person that comes contributes to the atmosphere, and I couldn't help but stop a couple times just to look out over the dance floor and watch as the music was interpreted differently for every person, for every dance.
I did not get to DJ this event, as this year, Martin did not hire local DJs. ECBF is a national event, not a local event, and is not made to reflect the local dance scene. The Seattlites that did work the event - Solomon Douglas, -topher and Karissa - travel nationally in their roles. As a DJ, I have not been able to travel as much as I'd like, but I was happy with my role as a venue coordinator for ECBF. I enjoy being part of the staff, regardless of whether or not I get to DJ.

The food, made by Matthew Blair, was great! The unique recipes are made with local food, designed to be much more than a snack. He had barrels full of different kinds of soups (one with kelp, another with squash, and others that I didn't get to see). He made pasta. There were snacks, but it was more than that. The food at this event is unlike late night food that I've seen anywhere else, ever. There was also the infamous espresso bar this year, since it was so successful last year.

The cabaret was not what I expected it to be. There were some really great performances in it, but it wasn't exactly the show that I was expecting. I can't individually point out the ones I like the best (okay, it was the fan dance), but I will say that Evelyn enjoyed it very much, despite the fact that she was awake until 1am.
The DJs were great. There were always 2 at the booth, so I never really knew who was DJ'ing when, but I enjoyed most of it (I'm not really one for funky-blues, which one DJ seemed to really like). For the most part, the songs were so great that I couldn't sit down.
I didn't actually get to experience the workshops since I was the venue coordinator, and I had Evelyn with me the whole time, so if you want insight on that, you'll have to ask someone else. :)

Hosting was a different experience this year as well. ALL 20+ of my guests were incredibly self-sufficient! I think they figured I had enough going that I couldn't do much for them. It was great having so many people in my house, and fun to see them interact with both Evelyn and the puppy. Thanks, everyone, for being such great guests!

I'm excited to see what next year will bring!

For those interested in what we did with our baby:
We've accepted the Eva will be awake at dances when we're rather she be sleeping. Going to dances with her means I don't really get to dance with other people, but I do get to dance with her, which is getting more fun every time we take her to a dance. I took her to the Cabaret with me, where she finally fell asleep at 1:45am. I skipped the late night and took her home. Michael went to the Friday late night. Saturday we got a babysitter (thanks, Nicole). Sunday we brought her again, but it was Michael's turn to entertain her. He missed Sunday's late night and I got to dance. Eva came with me to the workshop venues, since I was the main organizer for one of the workshop venues both days. She saw those buildings as big jungle gyms. Fortunately, the volunteer schedule was set up to have my best friend as my one volunteer. She took Evelyn for rides during lunch to get her to take naps in the car. All in all, it worked out. We finally got caught up on our sleep the Thursday after :)

Burn Blue has a blog

This blog defines my life! I'm so happy they started with a history of blues. This post totally resignates with me, especially Dan's comment about how big band is frozen in time, but blues is ever-evolving and continues to amaze it's followers (me). And I love the information about solo blues. It inspires me to let myself give in to the music more when I don't have someone to dance with. So many times I think "no one asked me, there isn't anyone for me to ask, so I'll just sit this one out even though I love this song." Of course, I've started to do more social solo dancing, because if Karissa and Brecca can solo dance like that, I can too. But today I learned that there's a history to it and it makes me want to solo dance all the more.
My blues community ROCKS. Thanks, Burn Blue, for putting this together. I LOVE it!

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