I have to say that I'm in full agreement with the writer. I haven't even gone to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in a couple of years and the last time I did it was because I had a paid gig there.
I played my gig and I played at the Open Mic stage at Duncan Little Creek Gallery that Billy Rose hosts. I never even went to the Convention Center and only crossed the parking lot to the Folk Life Center to visit with friends at the bar. I just don't have that much interest in seeing all the same "Big Stars" that grace the Elko stages.
In my opinion, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering would be a much better show with more and equal if not better performers if they would go back to their roots. Put the lesser known performers up. Take my night show list from the Townsend Gathering or take the list from the Cowboy Poets of Idaho show in St. Anthony. The audience would be just as entertained...maybe more so and the Elko Gathering would go back to doing what they started.
If you want to see good authentic Cowboy Entertainers then come to St. Anthony, Idaho in April, White Sulphur Springs, MT on Mothers Day weekend or the Townsend Cowboy Entertainer Gathering June 2nd.
A place to read stories, facts, opinions, ramblings and rants of your basic low income, working poor, old fashioned and often seriously disheartened Old Guy
1 comment:
(Comment copied from my Facebook page)
The Folklife Center has even taken over the radio during the Poetry Gathering. Billy Rose has been hosting an open mic over at Duncan Little Creek Gallery for almost ten years now. It was started because entertainers coming i...n from out of town, no longer had a venue to get themselves and their music/ poetry heard anymore. And every year, Billy would go on the radio, a couple times a day with a variety of people, to introduce them and let people know where they were going to be. To let people know that there was a place in town where you could go for some very good entertainment, which didn't cost you an arm and a leg, was actually free. This year, you had to go through the Folklife center to get on the radio and of course, there was no room for any one other than "their" people! It really is a shame that that financial gain has overpowered the true nature of the event!
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