Poetry Festival

We are in Nevada at the Cowboy Poetry Festival. Right now Shelley and I are sitting in a Starbucks using the WiFi and collecting our thoughts. Being in Nevada we are of course surrounded by the flashing lights and non-stop beeps and bells of countless slot machines. There is some sort of a casino in almost every building of this town it seems. Even the grocery store has slot machines. Odd. Although, it sort of adds to the excitement of the town. It always feels like there is something exciting going on in a casino. So much activity has to lead to something, right?

Anyway, we finished our shift volunteering and caught a really cool poetry/cowboy music performance before we headed out to find a coffee shop w/ WiFi. It's a great setup here. There are intimate performances of poets, songwriters, essayist, and storytellers all around town all day. There are also workshops you can attend on dancing, rawhide whip braiding, knot tying, basket weaving, and many other western crafts. Historical films play in several theaters. Round table discussions take place to discuss current events that affect the cowboy lifestyle and music/poetry trends. Many of these events cost nothing at all. Several of the better known poets and singers will have smaller free performances during the day and then the big performance at night will be ticketed. The central theme to all of these activities is to celebrate and educate about the cowboy lifestyle from all over the US, Canada, and Mexico. The performers range from full time musicians to real cowboys who write poetry and/or music on their down time at the ranches where they work. Some of them own their own ranch, while just as many work as ranch hands. Whether you have grown up living the life of a real cowboy or you have simply embraced your love of the life and history of the American cowboy all people intermingle to celebrate their passion for the cowboy lifestyle.

This year a Zydeco band from Louisiana is one of the artists from farther afield. Tonight is their big concert and dance. Earlier in the day they had a workshop to learn Zydeco dances which we skipped because it cost $20 a person. But even if we don't know the actual steps it should be fun to attend the dance tonight. I've never taken a polka class but dancing at the Viennese ball was always a blast, so how bad could this be?

Tomorrow, I'd like to take a class on something. Not sure what though. The whip braiding looked cool.

More tomorrow....