Music in My Blood

My father was not musical, but my mother was.  She sang in a choir called "Musichorale", an amateur group, but a very dedicated one.  She encouraged me to join when I turned 16, which I did for one year.  I enjoyed it, but I lacked the dedication of all the other members.  When they scheduled their big Christmas concert on opening day of deer season, I handed in my resignation.  Before that, I took piano lessons for a couple of years, but experienced the same lack of discipline and dedication.  I sang in the church choir at Elsdon, but not during hunting season.  We sang in the Boy Scouts and in elementary school, and I thought everybody did in those days.  I used to sing along with the radio and our records, especially once the neo-folk revival of the 60s got underway.  When I was in the army, one of the guys taught me a few basic guitar chords, I soon bought my own guitar and a Bob Dylan song book, and I was on my way. 

The first Bliss Fest was held in 1980, but I didn't find out about it till 1984.  My wife, daughter, and I dropped in for a few hours to check it out the first two years, after which my wife dropped out and my daughter and I started camping for the whole three days.  In 1987 we came out a day early to help them set up tents and stuff.  The festival lost its Bliss Township venue in 1988 and moved to another farm in neighboring Redmond Township, but they kept the Bliss Fest name.  About that time, I started hanging around on Monday to help with the take down and clean up, and also to attend what we called the Survivor's Party on Monday night.  Being in no shape to drive home after that, I camped one more night and finally packed it in on Tuesday morning.  Sometimes I had to work at the paper mill one or more of those days, but I stayed the whole five days whenever I could.  After the mill closed down in 1990, I totally immersed myself in the Bliss experience, including all the extracurricular activities that take place throughout the year.  The last time I attended was in 2007, for reasons I have previously explained.  I lost touch with the Bliss folks after that.