Gainesville, Florida, October 31, 2003

by Dave Schlenker

When weaving through the art tucked under Micanopy's grand oaks this weekend, you will hear the delicate melodies that trumped Jim Brickman on Billboard's New Age chart.

But harpist Lisa Lynne and collaborator George Tortorelli won't perform their soothing sounds on a stage at the Micanopy Fall Harvest Festival.

Nope. This duo will be one with the festival, one with the spirit of Micanopy, one with the thousands of humans celebrating the town's biggest bash. Fact is, they'll take a shady oak tree over a grand concert hall any day.

"Quite often, a festival will ask us to go on the stage, and we try to avoid it. There's that whole separation with people, so we prefer to stay rooted in one beautiful area the whole time," Lynne says. "We've done really nice, very fancy concert tours, and we don't get as close to the people."

Lynne is no stranger to Alachua County's people. She is a staple and local art and garden festivals who contends she knows more people here than in her native Los Angeles. But this will be her fist venture into Micanopy, the antique-laden town south of Gainesville that time has ignored. This festival -- the town's 29th -- should prove a perfect fit for the duo's organic approach, Lynne says.

"When we get there, we look around first to find the exact, perfect magical spot. We always look for a magical tree and some space where people can sit around us. We love to create a scene where people can come all go all day."

"They just sort of walk up on this vibe, " add Tortorelli, the bamboo flute player and Gainesville bamboo grower who used to sell his hand-crafted wares at the festival.

"Its so ironic because in 1980, Micanopy was the first festival I ever did," he says. "I was selling -- and it worked. And I was like, "Whoa! Maybe I can make something out of this." Boy, 23 years later, it's unbelievable."

Now he tours with Lynne much of the year, and the only things he hopes to sell in Micanopy are CDs.

That's not such a hard thing to do these days, especially since Lynne's most recent release, "Hopes & Dreams," hit No. 6 on Billboard's New Age chart in July, five notches above "Love Songs and Lullabies" from the wildly popular romantic pianist Jim Brickman.

The disc lingered in the Top 10 for the best part of a month. "There is hierarchy at the top that's unbustable - Enya and Yanni and John Tesh. So we've never gotten up there" Lynne says. "So it was quite a surprise this year that we actually got in the club."

In between gigs, Lynne brings her music and efforts to the City of Hope Cancer Center near Los Angeles. There, she donates harps, performs, conducts workshops and simply watches the patients interact with the instruments.

"In the daytime, [patients) can even take harps into their rooms and actually just play them. Its just a sweet way to pass the time and get empowered. When you feel excited and love for something, that has to be good for your body."

With her work there and frequent touring, she burns quite a few air miles. Last weekend, she performed at the Fine Arts For Ocala festival. This weekend, its Micanopy, and two weeks later, it's Ginesville's Downtown Festival and Art Show.

She loves the festival scene, which, of course, leaves one last question: Does she eat funnel cakes?

"Oh, boy, if I did, that would be bad," she says laughing. I'm able to resist that but not the kettle corn."