A film of false perception peeled away. I'd only imagined till now. It was a memorable night, even after my neurons settled, and the Friday dances have continued to be part of my life, something I can count on. I know no better, more reliable way to blow off stress and lift sagging spirit at the end of the week. A doctor friend says heart disease would disappear if everyone did this regularly.
Community is built into the form.
It can be stimulating. Music that was unplugged before it was hip, played by musicians plugged into something better than amplifiers. Who knows, but he might show up at the Edgewood Club. The same underground stream that nourished Garcia is the bedrock of bands like the Lackawanna Longnecks, who often play the Friday dances. Longnecks fiddler Mark Tamsula played guitar, John Fahey and Leo Kottke style, until the first time he heard an old-time stringband.