January 4, 2006
Blissfest feeling captured on DVD
DVD documents last year's music festival
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Despite the cold and dreary weather outside, 35 people were blissed out by sunshine and blue skies, music and fellowship Wednesday evening during a Blissfest DVD premier party.
Held at the Traverse Area District Library, the event featured a showing of last year's Blissfest music festival documentary produced by George Meredith. Every July for the past 25 years, the annual weekend music festival features local and national acts that draw thousands to Cross Village.
The DVD captures the feeling, featuring everything from breakfast and campsite jamming to crafts and music from bands participating in the 2005 festival. Interviews, candids and cameos of attendees are sprinkled throughout the nearly two-hour movie.
"I like to see all the people, I recognize a lot of faces," said Kathy Browning of Lake Ann. "I go every year, for almost 20 years."
Browning likens the experience of camping, eating, dancing and sharing good times with so many friends and acquaintances to a family reunion.
"It feels like you're going home to the family farm," she added. "My 17-year-old daughter has come to every one since she was inside of me - 18 of them."
The DVD is a promotional tool for the Blissfest organization. Copies will also be available for purchase by the public later in the year and at next year's event.
Veteran video producer Meredith has produced a Blissfest movie highlighting the happenings for each of the past 14 years. The Traverse City resident had never attended the event before being hired for the gig, but now he's a Blissfest convert who relishes the potpourri of world music. His own taste in music expanded from rock 'n' roll and southern rock to include what he terms the melange of music offered at Blissfest; his current favorite is Zydeco.
"You can feel it, they talk about the vibe, which is that everybody is happy and having fun in their own way," said Meredith. "There's jazz, Tex-Mex, Irish stuff, Cajun blues: that's the essence of the festival. It's like Michigan weather, except you don't wait five minutes - you walk five minutes and it changes."
Meredith began documenting the festival in 1992 using a handheld video camera. Having jumped to digital technology a few years ago, 2004 was the first year he had multiple cameras targeting the main stage and two other stages.
"Really I had four cameras, but we elected not to use the overhead camera because it was of poor quality," he noted. "I don't shoot every set, but I try to get three or four songs of each performer for the documentary."
Meredith also tapped into his extensive Blissfest archive, which he is converting to digital, to feature 'Blast from the Past' segments showcasing artists on their previous visits.
For a surprise at the premier's intermission, Meredith introduced Dori and Ryan Edwards to the audience. Members of the Like Water Drum and Dance ensemble from Ann Arbor, the pair played Balafons, a West African history keeping instrument.
Blissfest aficionados themselves, having fallen in love at a previous year's event, the Edwards love the atmosphere of the festival.
"The festival is by musicians, for musicians and music lovers," said Ryan Edwards. "These kind of festivals are honest music venues - you don't get asked unless you're into that, into authentic music."
The Blissfest organization decided 14 years ago to make annual documentaries to both promote the event and capture it for posterity.
"You get a little taste of it on the DVD, it's a great event, quite a cultural event in the northern area," said Jim Gillespie, executive director of Blissfest Music, whose office is based in Petoskey. "We seem to be able to put a pretty good party together. The DVD is a great way to archive the event, over time; I'm glad we started doing it when we did."
For more information on the 2006 Blissfest or the upcoming release of the Blissfest 25th Anniversary DVD, see the organization's website at www.blissfest.org.