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TMFVirtual2020

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TMFVirtual2020 Wrap-Up

Tumbleweed Virtual Music Festival 2020:  A Success at last!
 
As with everything and everyone else in 2020, Tumbleweed was knocked for a loop by the COVID-19 pandemic.  As early as April, we’d begun thinking about and discussing potential options for this year’s festival; as Coordinator, I attended some online meetings of the “Large Events Coalition,” which included representatives from the Tri-City Water Follies, the Convention Center, the Washington Festivals and Events Association (WFEA), and more – at that time there was as yet no centralized guidance for safety in these situations, and we began to work together to build such a document for Washington State.

Shortly after this, the Washington State Department of Health began releasing guidance documents for various types of activities and events.  It quickly became clear that there was no way for us to safely hold a traditional, live-in-the-park Tumbleweed festival this year.

The Planning Committe, however, did not AT ALL like the idea of a straight-out cancellation, and the idea of going virtual with an online form of the festival was quickly raised and adopted.  Then, all we had to do was to DO it (and learn how to do it, and learn who we needed to get to do it when we didn’t have the skills already at hand, and more, and more, and more . . . .)

Right off the bat, we knew that one of our major design goals was to make sure that the virtual festival would have as much of the same feeling of community, of family, that Tumbleweed has always had for both the attendees and the performers.  That set us right away into the structure we used:  a number of “Stages,” named after our traditional stages, and programmed with the same types of performances as the live stages are by, as always, the inestimable Micki Perry.  (In fact, Micki had to invent names for several MORE stages when our submissions exceeded what we had planned for each of the traditional stages!)

Given that structure, we quickly realized that we were going to have to very severely limit the number of live events:  given that it’s virtually impossible to manage a competent, synchronized music performance from more than one location, we knew that we were going to have to go with pre-recorded performances for all the stages, and for the concerts.  Our truly live events would be limited to the Workshops, the Sea Shanty Sing-Along, and the Contra Dance.

After developing the technical requirements for the recorded performances, we polled as many Tumbleweed performers past and present as we could as to whether they’d be willing to participate in a virtual festival.  We received a LOT of very positive reactions, with very few folks backing out, preferring to wait until they could once again perform live.

There followed a considerable period of time in which we were mainly wrestling with file transfers and keeping things organized.  Tom Reitter, who had begun working on a documentary film last year, intended to lead up to next year’s 25th Annual Tumbleweed, stepped in and gave us fabulous service as a video editor, taking each recorded performance and tweaking as needed to make sure it was the highest-possible quality video and audio we could manage.  Tom also made the header section that appears on each performance, leaving room and time for the MC introductions.  We believe that these are about the best we’ve ever seen, so we give continuing THANKS to Tom!

We also had some other fortuitous finds, as people with exactly the right knowledge base for things that we didn’t know we needed popped up at just the right time to give us just what we needed!  Anne Schur, with decades of User Experience Design behind her, helped lay out and assure that the festival was as easily navigable as possible, and that every possible direction someone wanted to go from within any given screen was ready and waiting for them!

Chris Glanister, who normally runs the sound on our North Stage, turned out to have been working on taking live events online for some months before we called, and he was able to make sure that we could do all the various tricks for livestreaming that we needed, as well as turning in a performance as a part of The Whateverly Brothers.  Thank you, Chris!

Wes Weddell stepped up to coordinate almost all matters pertaining to the Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest, including contributing his own MC spots for the collection of the 10 finalist performances.

Terri Widergren stepped up to help us with our merchandise and most things related to the store – so there are quite a few happy, happy people wearing Tumbleweed merch thanks to her energetic action – thank you, Terri!  One fun day in the Park had a number of the committee come to model our T-Shirts for the photos in the store – thank you to Gene Carbaugh, Micki Perry, Anne Schur, Al Drake, and (of course) Trish Daly-Welle for that.

Along with the shorter, individual performances, we were also collecting performances for our traditional three concerts of the weekend – the Friday Night “New Horizons” concert for and by younger performers, the Saturday Night “Tumbleweed Benefit Concert” with our three headliner acts, and the Sunday Night “Theme Concert.”

Jude Noah, himself a member of at least three performing bands, really stepped up for us by assembling a large (11 acts!) group of wonderfully diverse and skilled younger performers for the Friday Night “New Horizons Concert,” 
which has gotten great reviews!  Jude also provided MC duties for this concert.  The Saturday Night Concert was, as always, MC’ed by Dan Maher, and presents longer performances by The Go Janes, David Maloney, and Shanghaied on the Wilammette.  Micki Perry, as is traditional, MC’ed the Sunday Night “Theme” concert, featuring performances by ten of our Tumbleweed performers all centered around this year’s festival theme, “Wind.”

As July, then August began to pass by, and our scheduled opening date for the festival drew closer, we worked with a remote company, StartupWebTech, based in India, to build the actual Wordpress template pages that would make up the festival site itself.  Coordinating this activity from literally halfway around the world (their time zone was 12 ½ hours ahead of us) proved sometimes challenging, but in the end, we have it almost exactly as we’d imagined, and beautiful to boot!

This period wasn’t entirely without fun, though.  Getting to see what performers had sent us overnight was always a treat.  Even better was that we had more than one “Wild-Caught” band!  A performer from Indiana, and two bands from Ireland, heard about our festival from friends or saw our Facebook page, thought it sounded interesting, and got in touch to ask if they could play!  We immediately answered “yes, yes, yes!” and so now, we’re literally entitled to call ourselves the Tumbleweed International Music Festival!  One more joyous catch was getting Tom Lewis to send us a performance as well (also from Ireland), which gave even that much more sense of family and community to our festival!

Labor Day weekend came and, while the first day or so had some bumps and lumps, the 2020 Tumbleweed Festival went live almost on time, and the views started coming in immediately.  We pulled off our seven live workshops, the Shanty Sing (hosted by Jonathan Lay and Gordie Euler, AKA Shanghaied on the Willamette), and the live Contra Dance (Live music safely performed from a single location by Yakima’s Contraversatile, with Walla Walla’s David Gloor as caller).  Many sighs of relief were heard when the last livestream closed down!

The Tumbleweed Virtual International Music Festival 2020 remained live for all to see until mid-August 2021.  But, you may still see all the performances and workshops at http://tumbleweedmusicfestival.org/archives/.  There are eight “Stages” featuring over seventy performances, three Concerts, the ten Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest finalists’ performances, seven Workshops, the Shanty Sing, and the Contra Dance.

At that site, we also have our Shop, where you can pick up your Tumbleweed merchandise, including T-shirts, guitar picks and guitar-pick earrings, buttons, stickers, and the 3RFS 2-CD set “Front Row Seat,” which features 31 performances recorded live at past 3RFS concerts.

A great, inclusive “Thank You All!” to everyone on the planning committee, and some people who popped in to help with specific tasks during the long, hard days of July and August – if I haven’t called your name out here specifically, it’s only because the mental blur is still with me.  But you are certainly valued and not forgotten!

And as always, another “Thank YOU!!” to our Sponsors and Co-sponsors this year:  Sponsored by the Three Rivers Folklife Society and the City of Richland; co-sponsored by Northwest Public Broadcasting, KBOO-FM, OneWorld Telecommunications, Southam Creative, and Print Plus.

(The following information remains from the original opening day of TMFVirtual2020 - all events referred to below as upcoming have already occurred, and the recordings are available to view on tumbleweedmusicfestival.org)

The pandemic has turned the entertainment world upside down.  We all miss gathering together for concerts, coffeehouses, workshops, and of course, the Tumbleweed Music Festival in Howard Amon Park.

So, what is the best way to experience the Tumbleweed Music Festival this year?  Virtually, of course!  In 2020, we’ve become “TMFVirtual2020!”  And the best part is, you’re almost certainly already ready to be there!  You can attend on your internet-capable device of choice - Computer, Laptop, Phone, Tablet, what-have-you.  You can attend from the Place of your choice - Home, Deck, Back Yard, On the Go.  And, until NEXT August, you can attend at the time of your choosing!  As always for a Tumbleweed,  almost all of the TMFVirtual2020 Festival will be FREE, and it will be On-Demand!  Here’s how it’s going to work:
1.  Choose your own way to watch.  You can find TMFVirtual2020 on any internet-connected device:  computer, laptop, smart phone, or tablet.  Go to the festival website:  www.TumbleweedMusicFestival.org, where you will be able to choose from any of our 8 “stages” to watch and listen to the great variety of music Tumbleweed is known for.  The preliminary schedule is below.
3.  Choose your own time to watch.  Much of the festival has been pre-recorded.  You can watch those performances at any time that is convenient for you – for once, you’ll have no worries about your favorite performers having their sets on different stages at the same time!  How is this different from YouTube?  The performers have put together sets specifically for Tumbleweed, there will be MCs announcing their sets, and the lineup of performances is available on our easy-to-navigate festival website.
2.  Choose your own place to watch.  One of the advantages of a “virtual” festival:  you can watch or listen from anywhere using your electronic devices!  Stay in your air-conditioned home and watch TMFVirtual2020 on your largest computer screen.  Or, you can take TMFVirtual2020 outside with you, to your deck or back yard.  Or, you can take it on the go with you to wherever you have to go!  Some folks might even bring TMFVirtual2020 with them to Howard Amon park, to have a “socially- distanced” festival experience.
4.  Share TMFVirtual2020 with your family and friends.  Are there people in faraway places you have always wished you could have come to the festival with you?  This year is a unique opportunity to share the Tumbleweed festival experience with them.  Introduce them to your favorite performers, take a workshop together, and sing and dance together even when apart!

You Can Support Tumbleweed and the performers directly.  There will be opportunities to support the individual performers through links to their tip jars and websites, where you can purchase their CDs or downloads.  There will also be an opportunity to support the festival through ticket sales for the Saturday night concert, the Sunday Contra Dance,  festival merchandise sales, and of course, direct donations to the festival.  Your support will help defray the costs incurred this year, as well as work toward next year’s BIG 25th anniversary Tumbleweed festival.

We look forward to “seeing” you online!  The festival website will be at www.TumbleweedMusicFestival.org, once it opens on Thursday, September 3rd, and will remain up until about 2 weeks before #25thTMF, in 2021.  Here are the Stage schedules as of August 24th; they may well still change before the festival.  Note that normal Stage performances are approximately 10 minutes per set; the Saturday Night Benefit Concert Headliners' sets are approximately 30 minutes each.​

AND!!  The Saturday Night Concert, which previously required a donation to be able to view, is now FREE!  You may watch the Saturday Night Concert here.
North Stage:  Bigger Acts / Bigger Names
Fine Company -- Folk Songs Old and New
Trillium-239 -- Tight Harmonies, Loose Cannons
Mare Wakefield and Nomad -- American Folk from Nashville
Heidi Muller and Bob Webb -- Original Folk from Joseph, OR
Dan Maher -- Participatory Folk
Harmony Ridge -- Eclectic Folk Trio
Pennies on the Track -- Colorado Folk Trio
Hank Cramer III -- Traveling Folksinger from Winthrop
SeaStar -- ​Dusty dreams, salty seas, with a sunbeam of hope from Seattle
West Stage:  Singer-Songwriters
Burgundy Pearl -- Rich Vocals Mingling                                 
Hank and Claire -- Zestful Sweet Harmony Duo
Mike Murray -- Award-winning Songs
Rob Kneisler -- Songwriter / Fingerstyle Guitarist
Patrice Webb -- Award -- winning Original Songwriter
Wes Weddell --  Frontman, Sideman, Writer, Teacher
Chris Baron -- Portland Singer / Songwriter
Megan Cronin -- ​Heart-felt Northwest Songwriter
Dan Weber -- American Country Folk
Michael Henchman -- Progressive Folk
Art Gallery Stage:  Mixed Media
Early Birds and the Worms -- Mountain Dulcimer Music
Mark and Cindy Lemaire -- Great Guitar and Harmonies
Woman Alive (Lauren Wanamaker) -- Acoustic Singer / Songwriter
Waterbound -- Melody Magic with Mando and Autoharp
Bella Rosa -- Rich 3-Part Harmonies
Fl!p Breskin and Zeke Hoskin -- Bellingham’s Favorite Duo
Joshua Hope -- Neo-Folk
​Jaquelin and the Clones -- Beautiful harmonies with Herself
Sun Shakers -- An Irish Psychedelic Soul Band
Second Singer Songwriter Showcase
Mo Mack – Folksinger / Songwriter
Deb Seymour – Folk Music Whimsy
Meander -- Innovative Modern Folk
Elbridge Fletcher -- Folk American
Released from Quiet -- Acoustic Blues Rock Duo
Betsy Wellings -- Smooth and Poignant Originals
Mike Buchman -- Songs from Deep in the Well
Thaddeus Spae -- Old Man Shouts at Clouds
Robin Embry -- Midwestern Songwriter / Storyteller
Steve & Kristi Nebel – Original American Duo
Friday Night Concert – Local and Young Bands
Wonderbad -- ​Neo-Grunge/Alternative
Mr. Sunshine -- Acoustic Singer Songwriter
Terms of Service -- Reunited Tri-City Rock Band
Spencer Carlson -- Lyrically Finding Hope in the World
Rylei Franks -- Modern Singer/Songwriter
Noelle Sollman -- Singer/Songwriter from Ephrata
Desert Rovers -- "Irishy-y, Folk-y Band of Friends
"
Dawn Madsen -- Sweet Sultry Folk, Powerhouse Blues
Chuky Charles Band -- Raging Bluegrass from Soap Lake
Bourbon and Bellows -- They Just Want to Play Some Music


Sunday Night Concert:  Theme Is “Wind”
Micki Perry -- October Winds
Bella Rosa -- Hickory Winds
Julie Reddick -- Who Has Seen the Wind?
Hank Cramer III -- Chilly Winds
Deb Seymour -- Tropic Winds
Trillium-239 -- Termination Winds
Mike Murray -- Range Fire
Mark Williams -- Listen to the Wind
Dan Maher -- They Call the Wind Mariah
Tom Rawson -- Blowin' in the Wind
South Stage: Traditional Folk and Nautical
Tania Opland and Mike Freeman -- Acoustic World Music
The Drunken Maidens -- British and American Harmonies
Barbara and David Denz -- Eclectic Celtic
David Ingerson -- Irish songs, Current Importance
The Whateverly Brothers -- Broad Spectrum Folkies
Les Strompettes -- ​Hurdy-Gurdy Divas and Their Beaux
William Pint and Felicia Dale -- Music of the Sea
Tom Lewis -- Retired Royal Naval Submariner with Sea Songs and Stories
The Blow-Ins -- Modern Traditional Irish from Dingle
River Stage:  No Age Music, for Children of All Ages
Micki Perry -- Storysongs and Dancealongs
Dave:  The Man with the Big Green Hat (David Maloney)
Sam Rasmusson -- A Teacher / Songwriter / Singer
The Eyer Family Band -- Folk, Kids and American Classics
Julie Reddick -- Time-tested Folk and Country
Chico Schwall -- Folk Songs:  Vintage and new
Cecilia Eng -- Science Fiction Fantasy Folk Music (Filk)
Tom Rawson -- ​User-friendly Songs
Alexander James Adams -- The Faerie Tale Minstrel
Eric Herman -- World-Famous Music for Kids and Families
Carl Solomon -- 
Weaver of  Americana FolkTales
Community Center Stage:  Bellies, Blues and Bluegrass
Troupe du Soleil -- Middle Eastern and Turkish Belly Dancers
Lyle Morse -- Traditional and Original Blues
Alan Kausal -- From Folk to Swing and In Between
Michael "Hawkeye" Herman -- Award-winning Venerable Bluesman
The RooTsters -- Acoustic Blues With Attitude!
Jerry Callahan -- ​Singer / Songwriter / Guitarist
Badger Mountain Dry Band -- 29 years of great old and new grass!
A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll
Kay Miracle -- Benton City’s Prodigal Songwriter
David Prince -- Singer / Songwriter / Storyteller
Kerry Grombacher and Aspen Black Duo -- ​Contemporary Western Songs
Larry Lotz -- Country Folk Americana
Carl Christensen -- Storytelling Singer / Songwriter
Appaloosa -- High Desert Americana Duo
Hank Cramer IV -- Colorado Contemporary Acoustic Rock
Saturday Night Concert (Dan Maher is Emcee)
The Go Janes -- A Trio of Songbirds and Songwriters
Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest Winner and Prize announcements
David Maloney -- Still Writing Great Songs
Shanghaied on the Willamette -- Songs Plundered from Land and Sea
Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest Finalists
(Wes Weddell is Emcee)

Patrice Webb -- Cold Winds of Winter
The Go Janes -- Who Can Name the Wind
Sam Rasmusson -- Cherry Tree Breeze
Tania Opland -- A River
Kay Miracle -- I Love the Wind
Jeffrey Minnick -- The Wind in This County
Lynette Hensley -- Solo Flight
Michael Henchman -- Saddle the Wind
Lynn Graves -- Trying to Stop the Wind
Ron Dalton -- The Wind and I

Although TMFVirtual2020 is made up of largely prerecorded content, we will have some live events:  our traditional Workshops!

The workshops will be held via Zoom, and also livestreamed.  The number of direct participants for any particular workshop will of necessity be limited, but everyone will be able to watch the livestreamed version, which will be recorded and will remain available online for most of a year, as will the rest of the festival.  All times PDT.

Saturday, 5 September 2020

Workshop #1:  11:00am – 12:00:  “Chord Science for Songwriters.”  Presented by Chico Schwall.

     Finding the drama in chords you already know:  triads, 7ths, a harmonized scale, passing chords, and cool                           substitutions.

Workshop #2:  1:00pm – 2:00pm:  “Capoeira Martial Arts Workshop.”  Presented by “Find Your Center” of Pasco.

     Capoeira combines acrobatics, dance, and music into a beautifully deceptive martial art. It emerged on the streets of       Brazil as a form of cultural expression and self defense in times of slavery. We invite you to come explore this fun           and fascinating martial art in a workshop open to all ages.

Workshop #3:  2:30pm – 3:30pm:  “Flamenco Dance Workshop.”  Presented by “Find Your Center” of Pasco.

     Flamenco dancing comes from southern Spain and is influenced by both Middle Eastern and European dance. In             this workshop we'll demonstrate the Sevillanas dance from Seville, and teach basic foot, hand, and arm work.

Workshop #4:  4:00pm – 5:00pm:  “Lead Guitar Made Easy.”  Presented by Steve Peterson.

     This workshop provides a start to playing something over chords using patterns, including ways to identify which           patterns go over what, and how patterns can be used to play ‘lead’ in different musical styles.

Sunday, 6 September 2020

Workshop #5:  11:30am – 12:30pm:  “Western Swing for Guitar.”  Presented by Patrice Webb.

     Have you ever wanted to swing like Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys?  Now is your chance!  Come to this virtual           beginning Western Swing for Guitar workshop and learn a few of the chords that make up the backbone of this               iconic style of American Music.  Tab will be available and we will learn a classic song or two!

Workshop #6:  1:30pm – 2:30pm:  “Bottleneck Slide Guitar.”  Presented by Stanislove.

     1. History of the style
     2. Tunings (Sebastopol [D] and Spanish Dobro [G])
     3. Right-hand techniques - Fingerpick vs. flatpick; Damping
     4. Left-hand techniques - Tremolo; Damping; Finger selection; slide types
     5. Sample songs

Workshop #7:  3:30pm – 4:30pm:  “Running a Zoom Music Event.”  Presented by Chris Glanister.

     As many have learned during the pandemic quarantine, trying to play music together over the internet can pose a           variety of problems that can make it seem impossible!  With extensive experience in helping peope run successful           online music sessions, Chris Glanister will lay out the special considerations, settings, and actions you can take to           make your online music gathering a success.

TO APPLY TO PARTICIPATE IN A WORKSHOP

Because spots in our workshops are limited to 15 direct participants (due to Zoom considerations), direct participation will be determined on a largely first-come-first-served basis.  For an optimal experience, we strongly suggest running the Zoom app directly on a desktop or laptop, but a tablet should work almost as well, except you won’t be able to see everyone attending at the same time.

To apply to directly participate via Zoom in one of our workshops, please send an email to tumbleweedworkshops@gmail.com with “Workshop #x” in the subject line, with “x” being the number of the workshop as given in the list above.

In the body of the message, please include your name, and a good contact phone #.  (We will not sell or otherwise divulge your personal information).

You will be notified within days if you will be participating directly, and then will receive a Zoom meeting invitation for the workshop session at the email from which you applied.​

LIVE SHANTY SING!  Sunday, 6 September, 6pm - 9pm

Although TMFVirtual2020 is made up of largely prerecorded content, we will have some live events, including our traditional festival-ending Shanty Sing as an Afterparty!  The Shanty Sing will be led by long-time Tumbleweed favorites Gordie Euler and Jonathan Lay, Shanghaied on the Willamette!

The Shanty Sing will be held via Zoom, and also livestreamed.  As with our workshops, the number of direct participants will of necessity be limited, but everyone will be able to watch the livestreamed version, which will be recorded and will remain available online for most of a year, as will the rest of the festival.

​To apply to participate in the Live Shanty Sing via Zoom, please send an email to tumbleweedworkshops@gmail.com with "Shanty Sing" in the subject line.  In the body of the message, please include your name, and a good contact phone #.  (We will not sell or otherwise divulge your personal information).
LIVE CONTRA DANCE!  Sunday, 6 September, 8pm - 9:30pm

Our band will be Contraversatile from Yakima, with caller David Gloor from Walla Walla.  Please only apply for the Zoom session if you are willing to dance. When you sign up you will be sent some helpful hints on how to dance without a partner in the comfort of your home.

​To apply to participate in the Live Contra Dance via Zoom, please send an email to tumbleweedworkshops@gmail.com with "Contra Dance" in the subject line.  In the body of the message, please include your name, and a good contact phone #.  (We will not sell or otherwise divulge your personal information).
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