“Well, you must have thought something right, you got me here!”

5 weeks, 6 visits, this time 10 days. Is there any chance of me getting to Maldon even it is just for the weekend for the Folk Festival to catch up with old friends.

I bought early bird tickets back in September and was really looking forward to going to the Maldon Folk Festvial; camping there for a week without having to worry about dialysis.

But then the creatinine went a bit off and I got all puffy and huffy. Agar was concerned so I was packed off to St Vincents for a biopsy to see what was really happening with Eric the Kidney. Since then it has gone from disaster to disaster.

Og learning why patients are called patients!

I went from spending a few days in, then back home, to staying in and struggling to get a few days at home. It became endless. Days disappearing one into another.

Maldon was looking less and less likely. I had already accepted that I wouldn't be camping the week and instead Somerled had arranged for me to stay in the bus at Lady Bear's, even if just for the weekend.

I was already into the time that I should have been there and nothing was being resolved at the hospital. I still had tubes coming out off me and it looked like I would be here for the weekend instead.

Somerled had said he would drive me up and back, maybe Friday night or Saturday morning. Then, back on Sunday night or Monday morning.

On the Friday morning I asked Dr Sara and Dr Jean if there was any chance of getting away for the weekend when they did their rounds that morning. Extremely unlikley was the response.

I hadn't actually expected anything else. It was just a grab, a hope that there might be a chance.

But no, now I just had to accept it. Not going to Maldon without having to dialyze somewhere for the first time in 8 years, not going to Maldon at all.

The day drifted on and just after lunch the doctors were back with a bit of a cheeky smile on their faces.

“We have another plan for you,” they said.

“Oh, plan number 6,” I cyincally said.

“Oh not that sort of plan” came back.

I was getting almost a little irritated. What now I thought and responded, “More tests I suppose?” I drolled.

“No, not that sort of plan” was the reply, adding,. “We believe you have somewhere to go this weekend? Some sort of music festival?”

“We realised that with the long weekend no one would be back for us to organise anything till after it.”

I couldn't believe my ears!

“Oh, I will be back Sunday night.” I said.

“No, you can take longer than that, come back Wednesday” the doctors responded.

I was stunned, I couldn't believe it, I was going to Maldon, followed by a few days at home to get the other things done I needed to do! I just couldn't believe it.

I texted Somerled at work, “How quick can U get here?”

“Right away!” came immediately back.

“No hurry,” I said when I rang him on the mobile. “It will take an hour or two to get things organised at this end.”

So I quickly got organised. Dressings done, the nephrostomy bag sorted out and to be set up with a “hand bag”. That would be the price of going. I had to accept that it would still be with a tube coming out of my tummy “peeing” into a bag. I wasn't quite sure how I would handle it if I met someone I really liked!

Soon we were heading up the Calder towards Maldon. A bit of shopping in the IGA at Castlemaine. What would I do if they want to checking my “hand bag”. I would gladly let them.. That should make them wary of asking again for a week or two!! Ha Ha.

Lady Bear's bus where I stayed over the festival [Photo: Og Bear]

A few minutes later we in Maldon at Lady Bear's. The bus was set up and we all headed off to pick up the “vibe”.

It had been unusually quiet on the road out and even though there were people about it had a quiet feel to it. Was it the economic situation biting? Had the Festival got a bit stale? Many friends had said they weren't coming this year. Other things were on. Hell, I nearly didn't make it myself!

Somerled soon made an excuse and went off to find his “own” space.

Though new arrivals, Jan and Edward Badge are well on the way to becoming a Maldon institution [Photo: Og Bear]

Lady Bear and I checked out the Maldon Hotel with a band already in force and found Leary and company there with a few of the other regulars. Suddenly, there were the Badges, Jan and Edward. It was good to see them. Some may remember me meeting them at Apollo Bay earlier in the year, then later again at the Maldon Blues Club. They have bought a block at Maldon and were in the process of moving a house on and renovating it.

It was good to catch up with Jeanete and Patrick. Always a cheerful reminder of the days when Fatty ran the Festival [Photo: Og Bear]

Later as we approached a strong session in front of the Grand Hotel we came upon Patrick and Jeanette.

Jeanette said, “We were thinking about you earlier today”.

“Well, you must have thought something right, you got me here!” I retorted filling them in on the details of the day and that I nearly didn't make it.

A few others were to comment that they had thought of me earlier in the day. Maybe they all helped to get me there?

Lady Bear was getting hungry, but I still wanted to get to the Kangaroo Hotel then go up to the Butts, the main festival site with the Guinesss Tent, the Wine Tent, Main Stage and all the campers.

Then my alarm went off. I knew I had forgotten something, my medication! I had a window of an hour to take the anti-rejection drugs for Eric the Kidney. So after the Kangaroo we headed back to Lady Bear's to rectify the situation.

The food as always was excellent at Maldon, especially the currys and the vegie burgers [Photo: Og Bear]

Then we headed up to the Butts and had some tea at the numerous foods stalls. Always a good fare; Lady Bear a vegieburger and myself an Indian combo. So much that I gave some to Lady Bear.

I could see Lady Bear was tired and I wanted a bit of space for myself so I drove her home and came back.

The rest of the night was catching up with old acquantances and listening to the bands in the Guinesss Tent and the Wine Tent.

A good camp this year, despite many of the regulars not turning up [Photo: Og Bear]

I went to the usual camping place and even though it was choc-a-block there was only a few of the regulars there, hardly any compared to previous years. I found Thomas's tent, but no sign of Jill. Also, I had been told that my festival friend, Carol would be here, but no sign of her either.

When I had run Lady Bear home we passed a “bush dance” at the RSL, so I went back there figuring that was where they would be. I quickly spotted Thomas, but no Jill or Carol?

Speaking to Thomas, I found he was with a new lady, though he did expect Jill to still come.

Eventually after doing the rounds things wound up around 1am so a made my way back to the bus for a good rest. I was very tired. It had been a big and eventful day.

The Maldon Primary School market lived up to it's reputation of being one of the hi-lights of the weekend [Photo: Og Bear]

The usual routine for Saturday morning is the primary school market. So once I was abluted and breakfasted I headed off to it. A good market this year. Saw a few familiar faces from the old Maldon days and a few market regulars that also come down to the Tranquility Fair in Ocean Grove each January. Bought some sarongs that I needed and had a few snacks from the food stalls.

One of the great strengths of Maldon are the numerous street sessions, especially the one in front of the Grand Hotel [Photo: Og Bear]

I wandered back down to the centre of Maldon to checkout the sessions and the atmosphere around the venues in the hotels.

Then it was up to the Badges to checkout their block of land and the house. Very impressive. A nice sheltered block with a really nice old style house on it. I was pleased as some moved houses can be real dives with a lot of work to be done. A drink in their temporary shelter of an old farm shed where I met their friends, Vincent and Sarah.

It's all a bit hazy from there, but the rest of the afternoon was moving around various venues, meeting old friends, renewing acquaintances and listening to the music.

The festival seemed to have more of a country flavour to it this year and fortunately very few of the “pop folk” bands that played on ad nausiam in previous years.

It was good to see some more interesting bands this year, especially the Maltese band, Skorba [Photo: Og Bear]

There where a few interesting individual acts that were really interesting such as the Maltese band, Skorba. I only just caught the end of them in the Guinness Tent where they had a very Islamic sound running with a slide show of all the ancient temples etc in Malta. Fortunately I was to catch them on the Main Stage the next day. In fact they were of Orthodox Christian background, but as Malta is one of those places where East meets West many of their practices are adopted from the Muslim faith such as their word for God which is “Allah”. Also their word for peace was the Islamic one too. They emphasised that there was no reason why Christians and Muslims can't live together as brothers.

A real Maldon institution are the "North Country" male singers such as Danny Spooner (pictured here) and Duncan Brown [Photo: Og Bear]

I also loved it when Danny Spooner and Duncan Brown got up and did their “North Country” songs. There is something especially magical about their unaccompanied voices that I never seem to tire of, even after many years.

Presenting for their debut gig was the Myra McRae Band with old friends, Ade, Sandy and Matiss. [Photo: Og Bear]

An exciting new act was the Myra McRae Band who made their debut at Maldon. Old acquaintances, Ade on the bodhran, Sandy on the bass and Matiss on the fiddle. I was very pleased to make the acquaintance of the very stunning Myra McRae on vocals whose accent was so broad I thought she was singing in Gaelic or Erse rather than English at first!

SEGUE are a 12 piece ukulele band that created a great atmosphere in the Wine Tent [Photo: Og Bear]

I didn't spend much time in the camp this year as so few of my friends were there. But this also presented an opportunity to make myself known to new people, many who I have seen for years at Maldon, but never got around to speak to.

It was weird, each time I met someone new, later on in the day I would find them sitting with people I knew really well. Small world!

No one seem really fussed about my “hand bag”, in fact they were quite oblivious to it as I had traded in the horrible green “recycle” one for a more sophisticated dark blue one that tended to blended with my clothes a lot more. I am sure a few must have wondered, “Who is this 'bag man'?”

I caught up with Matiss later and he was heading to join Unwanted Men in Black and a Lady at the Penny School, that's right, I heard a few people raving about these guys, so I better go and have a look.

Outrageous, as only they could be, The Unwanted Men in Black and a Lady certainly lived up to their name [Photo: Og Bear]

When I arrived there was Matiss with the usual suspects. When I saw Coatsie fronting the band I thought we were in trouble, but then when I saw Tex on the drums I knew we were really in trouble!

I knew that Coatsie played the banjo, but I never knew he had such a good “Johnny Cash” style voice that really suited the old classics. A mottley crew dressed as ranch dudes, that included Arthur on the harmonica and Miss Kitty on accordian, they were very entertaining indeed.

When they wound up we were commenting on one group sitting in the front row who had been at Maldon for as long as I could remember. They all centred around a tall gentlman in a cream linen planters suit with matching hat, long blonde hair, a goatie with a very curly blonde moustache. I have been coming for 27 years, only misssing one. I caught up with him the next day and found his name was Ron. He said he had been coming for 30 years, but his friend corrected him saying 29! Again, it turned out that he knew all the people I knew.

It was good to make the acquaintance of Ron who has been coming to the festival longer than I have, only to then be joined Geoff Perrie from the real old days [Photo: Og Bear]

All a sudden a really familiar face from long ago appeared, to join the throng, Geoff Perrie, blast from the past, not just having last seen him at the Festival 15 years ago with “the Turkeys”, but from old Jika Jika days (with Nipper and Tex) of 30 years ago.

Musiki Manjaro is a bit of a standard at Maldon as the last band left standing at the end of the night [Photo: Og Bear]

Saturday night finished up at the Guiness Tent with Musiki Manjaro, their african drumming sound always a good wind up after a long day.

Sunday morning I caught up with my old friend Duncan, his wife Thanh and kids, at their mudbrick house in Maldon. Always good to see them.

The house that Duncan built with the help of friends, it is one of the better examples of owner building and has a character all of it's own. Despite the drought, the garden blossoms, a result of the skills that Thanh has brought with her from her native Viet Nam.

The rest of the day was spent grazing the acts between the Main Stage and the Wine Tent enjoying good food, music and just relaxing.

Late rain forced the Main Stage concert into the Guiness Tent for for the last few acts which then ran into the night concert scheduled for that venue.

Caught up with the Badges, then Lady Bear there, and we all decided to head off to see Kinga and The Croakers at the Penny School. Great, I was sorry I had missed their CD launch on Friday night then missed the Blues Concert on Saturday where they also played.

Kinga, a local legend, ready to go in and perform with The Croakers at the Penny School [Photo: Og Bear]

As Kinga introduced them, they are basically a group of the local musicians who have played the blues together in one form or another for the last 30 years.

A mixture of blues covers plus originals written by Marni with one of the hi-lights being her song “Judgement Day”.

Kinga excelled on harp in duos with Marni singing and playing guitar. They were supported by others including Roger Davies who was Merls and Somerled, my boys', first guitar teacher.

This band could hold their own anywhere else, but are content to be the “local” band.

Local band, The Croakers, lead by Kinga were one of the must see act this year [Photo: Og Bear]

After staying to watch comic fiddler Peter Denehy followed by guitar picking Nick Charles we headed to the Maldon Hotel to see what was possibily the worst act I have ever seen at Maldon.

We didn't stay long. Lady Bear headed home and I drove the Badges home, then headed back to the Butts to try to catch the food stalls before they closed for the night as I hadn't yet had tea. Lightning was flashing and a real storm was begining to rage.

Those who were not ready to give up flocked to the Guinness tent, the last bastion of the revellers [Photo: Og Bear]

The night finished, still raining, with the bands in the Guinness Tent and for me Maldon was over for another year. After a good nights sleep in the bus Somerled drove me back to Merl's place the next day, then I made my way home to fulfil a few obligations before returning to St Vincents on Wednesday morning.

The Festival is over for another year for Og and Somerled is ready drive him home [Photo: Lady Bear]

[Og the Bear man]

Weis - a little touch of heaven

For more photos go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/OgBear/MaldonFolkFestival2008#

For a slideshow go to:
https://picasaweb.google.com/OgBear/MaldonFolkFestival2008#slideshow/

For Maldon website:
https://www.facebook.com/MaldonVictoria

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