It was our (me and Dayton) first in 2009, I came all the way from Europe to the US for the first time specifically to go to TBF, and Dayton drove from North Carolina.
The whole thing, from TP prefest, to the last second of the last nightgrass set, absolutely floored me. I never felt so lucky in my whole life to have been able to experience that. I think Dayton has similar feelings, and he's a much more seasoned festivarian.
We missed out last year because we were filing for a fiance visa in order to get me back in the country so that we could get married, so at the time TBF 2010 occured, US immigration would not physically let me in the country! Dayton was in the US, but in sympathy for his soon to be wife, he opted out (I'm sorry, I couldn't tolerate him going while I missed out!
).
It sucked, especially because TBF is what bought us together in the first place, so we were looking forward to celebrating our union there. Not to mention the announcement of Alison Krauss on the lineup. When I realized we weren't going to make it, I did my fair share of crying!
But, thanks to KOTO we were able to tune in from afar, me in London and him in Asheville, sometimes when the time difference permitted, we even tuned in simultaneously and listened together while on skype. Talk about new technology!
We were in the race early for this year, weren't lucky enough with the lottery, but grabbed a pair of Warner field tix as soon as they went on sale. We were lucky enough to get the tix as a Christmas present from Dayton's mum, so as far as financing goes, without her we wouldn't have had the $$ to get them in the first place! It's great to have bluegrass & festival loving in Laws
We're now faced with the tricky situation of planning for TBF, which involves a car drive from Western North Carolina and back, just for starters... And then there's food, drink, extra camping stuff, money for artist CDs (you have to get at least one, right?!?), time off work, surprise car repairs...
Add to the equation that as a result of my pending immigration, I wasn't authorized to get paid work for the past three months, and Dayton is a graduate student...
To cut a long story short, are finances are very lean, stretched to the max, almost to a point when I start to wonder whether TBF is a luxury we can't afford.
BUT, there's always a but, as a TBF addict, hooked from the very first festival, the idea of opting out just seems irrelevant, out of the realms of consideration. We just feel the NEED to be in that special place in June, fill up our festivation batteries to get us through another year.
And indeed, when you're a TBF lover with small cash flow, it's all about cutting superfluous expenses. It starts with our daily groceries, but it extends to the shows we attend the rest of the year.
We did treat ourselves to a Stringduster's Festival last October, but it was within close range and the tickets were CHEAP. But from this January forward, we won't be indulging much at all.
No two nights of Yonder Mountain String Band in Asheville (Dayton can tell you how sad he's about that one...), no Smilefest, no Del McCoury Band & Preservation Hall Band, We're not even allowing ourselves the short two hour drive to Asheville to get our regular bluegrass scene fix. It's tough, but we keep our eyes on the prize!
The point is, we're happy to make the sacrifices necessary in order to make TBF happen, it just comes down to: "if anything, we'll make it to Telluride".
Although, we are both aiming for earnings in the future that will allow us to comfortably indulge in all things bluegrass, musical, festival...
And when we're back to living in Asheville, we're making it even easier for ourselves by having top quality bluegrass on our doorstep, for little to no cost!
Wow, written a bit of a long one there! Won't blame you if you fall asleep!
All I wanted to say was, even with small financial resources, we make the cuts necessary to make TBF happen!
Listening to:
the silence of the 3rd floor at the library
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