The Times They Are A Changin'

It's light. It's clean. It's not crowded. Things have really changed at Ray's Place in Kent.

Two years ago, husband Paul and I went to Kent for the Kent State Folk Festival, a campus tradition for 43 years. I never went to the Folk Festival when I was a student at Kent State--Steely Dan was more my style.

Today, I can appreciate any kind of music where the magicians jam up a storm, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson included. We heard Dr. John's classic New Orleans guitar playing in the Kent State Auditorium in the Student Center. We heard the classical folk songs of Peter, Paul, and Mary. Good music, good lyrics, my head bopping, hips swaying.

While we were sitting in the Student Center listening to music, I kept thinking about the beer and burger we had at Ray's Place. Ray's is different (older crowd, no more 3.2 beer), but the same. The crowd has changed from long-haired philosophers to fraternity boy business majors. The entryway has been updated and windows were added. The bar, Uncle Sam's poster, the moose, the black bulletin board that Gerty wrote on, and the Budweiser horses in the rotating chandelier are the same. They still sell good beer, not Budweiser. The pub food is still good. Is there less philosophizing, less trying-to-save-the-world going on these days?

It may be time to go back to find out, knowing the food's still good. This year's Kent Folk Festival events are spread out over nine days, starting with the music of Edwin Colon Zayas/Masters of Puerto Rican Roots Music [pictured] on Thu 11/5. Folk music is by definition “roots” music--it comes from regional tradition, the backwoods porches of Tennessee and Louisiana, the mountains perches of Utah or Romania, home-spun and true. From places like Puerto Rico and the lawns of immigrants who made America their home.

The music started last week, continued on Friday, November 6, with Greg Brown and Jorma Kaukonen. Jorma's guitar playing . . . let's just say it shouldn't be missed. Experience the Old Crow Medicine Show and openers The Unsparing Sea [pictured at top above] on Wed 11/11, or Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros Thu 11/12. The concerts take place on the Kent Stage, downtown, on Main Street. The Festival's website profiles the musicians and their music--it could be cool to experience not-so-mainstream or commercial folk music. Featured musicians are the Del McCoury Band, a Grammy-award winning group with numerous prizes from the International Bluegrass Music Awards.

Rhythm In Shoes [pictured] performs on Sat 11/14, and The Folk Alley 'Round Town on Fri 11/13 will take you all over town to 35 venues with the largest number of performers that have ever rocked Kent. Hear music by the likes of The TwistOffs (at the Water St. Tavern) and Jon Mosey (at the Frankin Square Deli). Check out the town's coffee houses, churches, street corners, and bars to hear music on the streets. Too bad your best friends no longer live in that house on Franklin so you can spend the night, but hotels nearby make it possible to have a real getaway.

You can get a button sporting “I survived a Folk Fest workshop” if you attend a community workshop this Saturday at the Kent State Student Center. Open lessons in mandolin, dulcimer, banjo, guitar, blues picking, clogging, songwriting, harmonica, and contra dance may be just the thing to see your children's eyes open wide at their own talent, or yours. After the workshops, show off what you learned in the Talent Show, which takes place in the Student Center at 5, or just watch others with more courage than you have. Oh, I liked the music at the Folk Festival, but I don't get back to the town I grew up in and the bar where I sipped from large glasses of wine in the afternoon after my creative writing class often enough. The sights and sounds of Kent . . . can be enjoyed during the Folk Festival. It's not just a KSU event, it's a town event, and that's something for a community where the townies and the students have historically kept separated.

The 43rd Kent State Folk Festival runs Sat 11/5 through Sat 11/14, with performances at the Kent Stage on Main Street, music around town on Friday the 13th, and workshops and talent competition at the KSU Student Center on November 14. You can buy tickets on-line at Kentstage.org or visit Spin-More Records of Woody's. More information can be found at http://www.kentstatefolkfestival.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia Taller, whose passion for words has led to creation of the Lakeside Word Lover’s Retreats, an outgrowth of her work with Skyline Writers. Her favorite foods are red wine, salmon, ice cream, and chocolate. She loves to read, write, tour wineries, ride her bike, ease into yoga, and cook gourmet meals for friends. Find her at http://www.claudiatallermusings.blogspot.com.