Some Leftover photos and other ramblins from Merlefest, April 1998

Mark's brother Mike and one of his favorite Salmonytes, Helen, guard The Mayor backstage before the show on Thursday night.

The Mayor's Security Guard!

Leftover Salmon, Thursday Night on the Watson Stage

Thursday Night on the Watson Stage

Sam Bush joins the boyz for the rest of the evening

Sam Bush joins the boyz

Mark pickin' the 5-string tree stump on into Friday morning!

Mark @ Watson Stage

Here's what LoSer Ed Crowley <terapin@pop.erols.com> had to say about the Thursday night show later:

Leftover Salmon main stage thur nite. Hot Hot Hot. Great performance. Leftover was on. Sam bush joined in with some killer fiddle playing. The music was so hot a guy dancing on stage took a head first dive off the stage into some muddy ground. Vince actually incorporated this into the lyrics of the encore song. The next morning we immediately checked this tape out. After this show we knew we had to see all the leftover performances the next 3 days.

Vince and his son, Silas -- at the Pet-a-Pet zoo

Vince, Silas, & Goats

After the PaPZ,, we wandered over toward the band's bus and just as we approached we saw Vince heading out with his guitar. We were too far away to catch him so we just headed off in his direction and discovered the Creekside Stage! Inside we saw Julie Griffin, Laura Boosinger, Jon Randall (Stewart?), John Cowan, and Vince on stage getting ready for a vocals workshop. What luck! Great time, beautiful singing, AND some great tips about how to "warm up" your voice before belting out a tune! Vince got the whole tent singing ("Ain't No One to Blame, But Me") -- no surprise there! At the end somebody requested John sing "Dark as a Dungeon." At the end the entire crowd gave John a standing ovation! VERY well deserved. The folks at the microphone were at a total loss for words, 'til somebody finally just said, "John is a god..." That said all that needed to be said. If you EVER get a chance to hear this man sing, don't miss it.

Again, LoSer Ed Crowley <terapin@pop.erols.com> reporting:

Leftover Salmon dance tent fri afternoon. Another great Leftover show. These boys were on the whole weekend and really enjoyed themselves. I saw Mark Vann later in the food tent with some friends having a great time.

I thought I'd add the following about the Dance Stage show:

We "met" Debbie Ryder, a rather serious lady managing the Dance Stage -- tent, really. Took some serious diplomacy to keep her from throwing us and some others out of the backstage area. All I can say is the band was "in their element" in a dance setting. Half way through the boys' set (maybe during Wheel Hoss -- which was going about 120 mph -- I KNOW brother Bill Monroe was looking down and smiling on ALL of us!), she was bouncing around like everybody else. At the end she could hardly get the words out when she tried to make the announcement about where the band would be playing on Saturday. I think the band won another new fan. I don't think I've ever seen so many tightly packed smiling faces before. There were at least 800 folks INSIDE the tent and at least that many again OUTSIDE. If that keeps up, we're going to have to change the fans' name from LoSers to Sardines... At one point Vince made the suggestion that everybody just "hip dance," keep your feet in one place and just dance with your hips -- to let everybody have a little space. Kudos to the guy who brought the bubble machine -- the whole stage area was treated to a huge bubble display. The finale was a rousing "Pasta on the Mountain" -- haven't heard that in a LONG time!

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