SOMERSET FOLK HARP FESTIVAL

I am here at the Somerset Festival, which is actually in Parsippany, NJ, but started out in the town of Somerset.  I put the picture on the top, because there I am in the program in the top middle picture.   I think this is the biggest harp event of its kind, and I love to come to it.  They had it in San Jose once, but I guess they didn't have enough people to make it financially worthwhile.

I was going to come from NY this morning, but realized last night that I could sleep at least three hours longer if I came last night.  

I made the mistake of trying to get on a commuter train at 6:22, which I should have known better than to do.  Penn station was so crowded that you could have rested your feet by just picking them up.  The system is that when the train comes into the station, they announce the track, and then everybody rushes for it.  If you aren't close to the right track, you probably won't make it onto the train, because you are one of several hundred people all hoping to catch the same train, which, by the way, was about 15 minutes late.  And if you don't know your NJ geography, you don't know what other train might also go through your station. Once the track for our train was posted, we all made for the door, which was pretty much the equivalent of cattle going into a chute, though the prize on the other side was basically better for us than it usually is for the cattle.   I did make it onto the first train I tried to get on, by dint of having a big backpack in front of me and looking like a sweet little old lady, but one with an NBA elbow.  

When I arrived  in Morris Plains the Hilton van came to pick me up, and when we arrived at the Hilton, which is having some construction work done, the driver pointed me to the wrong door and I walked all the way around the hotel.  That sort of pissed me off.  At least I  wasnt schlepping a harp.  

I'm sharing a room with a harpist from Madison, and she wasn't here yet.  Our room was located about two miles (maybe the famous 200 meters they always tell us in Europe) from everything that's going on at the event, and we have to lug our borrowed harps back to the room every night.  And my borrowed harp, which is very nice, is definitely not lightweight.  So we checked with the desk this morning and got moved to a room right next to the elevator.  And it's a much nicer room than the other one.

Events start at 1 pm.  I took a jazz workshop at 1 pm, with Maeve Gilcrist, then planned to take a historical harp workshop at 3 pm., But I got so much out of part one that I stayed and took part two.  These are really extra events for early birds.  So I'm very thrilled.  I can't wait till the exhibit starts tomorrow.  I promised not to buy a harp, but there are many other options of goodies to buy.  

And oh, yes.  They gave us free Internet while we're here.  What more could I ask for?

We went to a nice little Thai place for dinner tonight that I suspect is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel but it took us about fifteen minutes to get there in a car because you can't cross the road and its on the wrong side of a street.  I think the road is a highway, so you actually can't walk there either.  

There is a concert tonight.