July 22, 2019
We had a truly lovely, fun and funky, more intimate, drier Drum ‘N’ Splash for 2019. The weather was much more cooperative, and the Thunder Nation thankfully spared us deluges, in favor of a few passing blessings. We’ll take it!
We can’t say enough about our presenters, who went over the top to make the event a blast for everyone attending. Ken Crampton was the everywhere man with healthy doses of delightful lunacy to delight all comers, including duck herding. Newcomer Nina Amaya stepped up and into the Casbah and more than represented for the Middle Eastern Side of Drum and Dance, and the Faeries!. In addition to the usual Native American sounds, Kurt Griffith also introduced Japanese Taiko to Drum ’N’ splash, and his workshop students bravely demonstrated Miyake Daiko at the Saturday Night Drum Circle with fierce thunder! Kudos and huge gratitude to Billy West, Kristen Arant and the ladies of Belebele, Kewku Owusu, Erro Gutshall, and Gloria Mahin. Thank you all so much for your talent, creativity, and improvisational chops.
With a smaller crowd, we discovered something quite delightful. The Drum Circles became somehow more rhythmic and magical, with more room for everybody to be heard, more accessible to beginner and intermediate drummers without being intimidated by the Wall Of Sound. We were also blessed with an abundance of little ones filling the camp with their happy cries and hurtling little bodies. Reminding us all of an important reason why we do what we do.
D&S 2019 – Red Nose Time!, Akan Rthymn workshop. Billy on the Bridge, Ice Cream Social!, Ducky Race, Shiny!
Rainbow Bridge was a huge hit with attendees, for many, their first experience of the engineering coup we’re so proud of. Building a bridge is a lot of work and even more money. $75,000 so far with another $25k to finish it off, much more than Four Quarters total annual construction budget. We need your help! Really, we do! The Big Dub folk have put up a GoFundMe fund raiser to help pay for it, check it out here.
New for this year was the Open Mic & Drum Percussion Plus Coffee House, open to all comers to perform and share. We set up at the Coffee Dragon, put up a microphone and said, “bring it on!” It was amazing to see and hear what people brought, everything from poetry, to spoken word, Celtic folk, Native American Flute, intimate solo drum performances, a choral rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” New Wave Punk Rock percussion, to even blow-your-socks-off opera. It was straight up wonderful, and if you weren't there, you missed out!
Sweat crew provided two well attended Sweat Lodge ceremonies, we were happy to provide a place to pray and be purified. As always, kudos to the sweat crew and ceremony leaders.
Huge shout out to the 4Q Staff for their exemplary efforts to make everything smooth and safe.
D&S 2019 – Jammin' at Hands on Drums, Sand kids, Percussion Plus Coffeehouse, Sparkin' up Satruday Night. Ken has a Flame Stick!, BOOOM! Ahhhhhhh!
As always, the stream, good sounds, good fellowship, good food, good times … and fireworks! — once again expertly provided by the happy pyromaniacs of Creative Pyrotechnics Eastern Shore MD.
If you can walk, you can dance.
If you can talk, you can sing.
If you have a heartbeat, you can Drum.
See you next year. Tell people! Bring friends!
Aché Aché!
Kurt Griffith, Lead Facilitator
and Everyone at Four Quarters.
Photo Credits: Ken Crampton, Mike McConnel, Hazi Hazé Simone.