Anyone heading to BOXWOOD this year?

[RudallRose]

I'll be there.
Pat Olwell, too. And Emer Mayock, which should really be neat.

Whom else is going?

[jemtheflute]

I think Adrianne Greenbaum is going? Wish I could!!!

[Loren]

I REALLY wanted to go this year, but I missed out on the billeting and couldn't swing the cost of regular housing for the week. I love Emer's playing, and of course there's Pat. Matthew Olwell is teaching dance as well, right? Sounds like it's going to be an awesome week at Boxwood this year.

Loren

[Hoovorff]

I wish I could go. It was a wonderful experience when I went a few years ago. That year we had Kevin Crawford and J.M Veillon, among others. This year looks like a fantastic line up. I wonder if they didn't get as many families willing to billet this year?

[crickett]

I'm really sad I can't swing it this year. I went last year for the first time and it was an incredible week. I highly recommend it.

[RudallRose]

One week to go.

Saw amazing photos of whales taken this weekend by folks using the same outfitters we're using next week.
Wow.
Simply.....wow.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 440&type=1

[Peewit]

Just to note that Brier Island whale cruises are not near Boxwood, which is in Lunenburg... those cruises, in another part of NS, are great, however. And Lunenburg will be hosting the Tall Ships during Boxwood.

I have been at Boxwood the last 5 years, but can't attend this year due to the birth yesterday of my second grandchild; I'll be in Toronto with our new baby. It's always a fantastic week and as long as you can find accommodation - there are some motels which are reasonable, as well as a good campground - it's usually possible to register at the last minute. I highly recommend it!!!

Over my years we've had June MacCormack, Mary Bergin, Brian Finnegan, Conal Ó Gráda, Gary Hastings, Paddy Keenan, and Sylvain Barou. There are also dance classes, singing classes, baroque music for those who lean that way (Rachel Brown is coming this year, as well as Mathias Maute and Sophie Lariviere), along with fiddle, harp, and other instruments. There's a children's program too.

[RudallRose]

Peewit was dead-on.
We went to Briar Island for the whale watching ....and it was incredible. Beautiful humpbacks.
and Seals.
and Dolphins
and Porpoises
and Puffins
and...
and...
and...


and....boxwood was pretty nifty, too. Nice people; good food.

Best Boxwood moment #1: being a fly on the wall during a conversation between Chris Norman, Pat Olwell and Forbes Christie in Norman's little flute workshop behind his home. Nifty.

Moment #2: being asked by Pat Olwell to "come on down to the pub with me and let's cause some trouble." When i told him I didn't have a flute with me, he says: "that's okay. Use mine." his personal custom cocus pratten -- keyed of course. Pat played a keyless flute.

Moment #3: Playing Olwell's flute, i note that it plays very easily compared to one he made for me. "Pat, this one is like the one I asked you to make me." Says he: "they're exactly the same." Says I: "no way. really?"
Says he: "it's just flute envy, dave."
LOL

Moment #4: sitting in the session with Matt Olwell to my left playing bodhran; Pat Olwell to my immediate right on flute; Chris Norman next to him playing his Cameron.
We played some incredible tunes in that couple of sets.

Moment #5: Pat Olwell and I in the pub ripping on George White's Favorite (that somehow the others in the room didn't know or simply let us go) and mid-tune Matt Olwell and wife, Emily, hop up to do their dancing routines that are out of this world, trading moves back and forth, creating them as they went along. It's all i could do to concentrate on what I was playing. Huge applause for their phenomenal footwork.

Moment #6: Pointing to a boxwood flute on a workbench in Chris Norman's shop and asking, "Is that 742, Chris?" Says he: "It is" as he picks it up and hands his famous Rudall/Rose to me to try out. Sort of like having Molloy hand you his Boosey for a blow, wouldn't you say?

Moment #7: watching the Talent Night and the incredible amount of talent among the individuals there. Skits that made me roar; tunes that made me move; and a really great sense of group that filled the room.

Moment #8: Noticing that the large mural in the Parish Hall was actually the Royal crest that's also on the crown of the Rudall Patent Head crowns. Taking a photo and then watching as others do the same after I point it out to them. No one realized it -- not even Chris. Funny how we just overlook our natural surroundings sometimes.

Moment #9: Playing Klezmer. Very very interesting. Thanks, Adrienne!

[jemtheflute]

Sounds fantastic, David. Bloody Pond! It's one I'd really love to attend one day, if I ever win the lottery....

Did you "meet" my piccolos when Adrianne managed to retrieve them and fetch them along at the end? We had all sorts of postal mishaps, so she got her sale stock of fixed pitch ones late (she very kindly offered to tout them for me!), and didn't have her prototype multi-body tunable set either - they arrived after she'd left home.....

[RudallRose]

ah, those were yours? Indeed. She was having a great deal of fun playing the small flutes.
She had one in D, a piccolo without keys.
loud little bast-rd!
She's such a fun lady, though, isn't she?

[jemtheflute]

ah, those were yours? Indeed. She was having a great deal of fun playing the small flutes.
She had one in D, a piccolo without keys.
loud little bast-rd!
She's such a fun lady, though, isn't she?

She is indeed. I met her in person/did one of her mini Klezmer courses when she was at the BFA Convention in Manchester 2 years back.

Yup, the keyless PVC b.....ds were mine.