From
the folknik July/August 2005
(Volume XLI, Number 4)
e-zine of
the San Francisco Folk Music Club
(click here for membership
info)
The San
Francisco Folk Music Club is a nonprofit corporation
dedicated to the enjoyment, preservation and promotion of
acoustic music in individual, family, and community life.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Camp Harmony NewsNew Years? It's only
July! Camp Harmony will be Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2005-Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006
at its usual place near Boulder Creek in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains.
Turn this Folknik over and check your mailing label. If your subscription
expires in the next few months, renew now (only $10/year) to be sure you
receive the issue with the Camp Harmony registration form. You must be
an SFFMC member to register for camp. It .nally happened: Camp Harmony
did not have a positive .nancial year in '04/05. Consequently, we will
have to signi.cantly raise the price of camp this year. The committee
is looking at ways to mitigate the .nancial impact for our dedicated Camp
Harmony family of campers. Those who register early and come for the full
5 days will have a big advantage over weekend visitors and those registering
after Nov. 1. Plan now to join your musical friends at New Years and set
aside a few vacation days for camp so you can take advantage of the better
rate for full camp. Some Campership funds will be available to campers
who need them. If you are flush this year, please consider donating to
this fund. You can contribute on the Harmony registration form, or send
an extra check to SFFMC. Please mark it "Camp Harmony Donation."
Remember, all donations to SFFMC are tax deductible! The camp shuttle
bus will be back! It was a big success, and we are extending its operation
hours and days. We look forward to seeing you all for New Year's 2006. Labor Day Campout 2005We camp once again in the Redwoods at Boulder Creek Scout Reservation. It's near Boulder Creek (off Hwy. 9, south of Big Basin State Park), on Bear Creek Road-the same place as this year's July 4 campout. We'll have the usual activities-informal musical jams, concerts, and a community potluck. Please register early; the ranger wants an approximate count of attendees in advance. The registration form is here. We'll send you a confirmation form and directions after you register. If you have friends who are interested in folk music, please invite them to come to this campout. We usually have plenty of room-tent spaces, tent cabins with cots, plus parking for RVs. Day Use/RV Parking Showers Workshops Anyone can lead a workshop. List a workshop with the subject, the leader's name, and the place, e.g. in the kitchen, around the pool. So, who would like to volunteer to coordinate workshops for this camp? Contact Phyllis Jardine, folkniked<at>earthlink.net, 925-846-4549. We may have some volunteers who will start the ball rolling with some workshops; watch for notices at camp. Parking and Unloading Musical MeetingsMusical meetings of the San Francisco Folk Music Club are held every other Friday at 885 Clayton Street, between Carl and Parnassus Streets in San Francisco. Singing and jamming in three separate rooms start at 8:00 p.m. Snacks are provided through $1 food kitty donations or finger food contributions. Guests are always welcome, no one is expected to “perform”, and there is no charge.“There
is no standard set for the singing here, but we set a very high standard
in listening.”
—motto of the Góilín Traditional Singer’s Club, Dublin, Ireland
Board MeetingsThe SFFMC board meets on the second Tuesday of each month — potluck at 6:30 p.m., meeting at 8:00 p.m. All Club members are welcome to attend the potluck dinner and the Board meeting.July 11: Ed Hilton’s house
August: No meeting! September 13: Melissa Sarenac’s house NEXT folknik
FOLD-IN/FOLK SING: Sunday, August 28, at Marian Gade’s house.
Club NewsFaith's 90th birthday will be observed at the Freight and Salvage on September 17, a benefit for the Freight featuring Faith and many friends.Steve Goodchild, from England by way of Texas, recently visited a Club songswap at Faith’s and says he will plan future trips to the West Coast to coincide with our Friday evenings. He’s a fine musician; we hope he’ll be back soon. Lovely Nancy, Sylvia Herold’s CD of folk songs from the British Isles and North America, is getting great reviews, including one from the folknik. Backed up by Euphonia (Paul Kotapish on mandolin, Charlie Hancock on accordion and piano and Brian Rice on percussion) Sylvia sings traditionals like “Fennario,” “Tide Full In” and “Dublin City.” You can hear her live at 8:30 p.m. July 2 at Epic Arts Studio, 1923 Ashby Ave. in Berkeley. Epic Arts is not big, so get there early. You can get CDs at the concert for $15, or by mail for $17; write to Sylvia at 2557 Wakefield Ave., Oakland, CA 94606. Congratulations! On Sunday, May 15, 88-year-old folksinger and harmonica virtuoso Sam Hinton received the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest’s Music Legend Award. The plaque is inscribed: “For over 70 years, he has combined his knowledge of folk music, art, teaching and natural science, and shared it with great ability and enthusiasm.” Sam’s new double CD, Sam Hinton – Master of the Solo Diatonic Harmonica, is available from Eagle’s Whistle Music, P.O. Box 620754, Woodside, CA 94062, or at www.samhinton.org. Folksinger and autoharp virtuoso Adam Miller looks to be spending all his time either performing or traveling to his next gig. He’s doing free family concerts at libraries all over the West and the Northeast, and the odd radio show or music camp in between. His touring schedule and his new CD, Along Came a Giant — Traditional American Folksongs for Young Folks, are available at www.folksinging.org. If you’re in the South Bay, listen to him on KKUP 91.5 FM on July 7 at 3:30 p.m. The Marin Folk Club will suspend meetings until they find a new location. St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ross, where they have been meeting, is undergoing extensive remodeling. If you know of a possible meeting place in Marin County, please call Phil Morgan at (510) 525-1965. Ulla Sköld of Vara, Sweden, reports that the “Singingest Holiday” (next to Christmas) in Sweden is April 30 as folks gather around great bonfires, a custom originating long ago with the purpose of scaring away the wolves before cattle were released into the forest. Over the years it became a celebration and singing and speeches were added. “Winter’s Rage is Spent” and “Welcome Sweet May” are among the most popular songs. Guitar for sale: James Goodall Grand Concert Guitar (1998) Excellent condition. Beautiful, clear, sweet, bright voice; easy action; precise intonation. Gorgeous curly mahogany back and sides. Engelmann spruce top. Maple body, fingerboard and headstock binding. Gold Schaller tuners with ebony buttons. Abalone rosette and fingerboard inlay. Bone nut and saddle. Old style winged bridge and beveled fingerboard. Photos and further description at www.womensheartsandhands.com/sale.html. Contact Kay Eskenazi at (415) 647-9642, #2 or at kay<at>yogaprops.net. The Freight & Salvage Coffee House is looking for a Campaign Director to lead a $4-5 million capital campaign to raise funds for a new performance and education facility in the downtown Berkeley Arts District. They’re looking for someone with five or more years of experience with capital campaigns, major gifts, boards, personal solicitation, foundations, events, and grassroots; ability to develop and manage fundraising systems, budget and staff; creativity, persistence, a hands-on, can-do style, and progressive values. Enthusiasm for and knowledge about traditional music are a big plus. Send your resume, cover letter & sample gift proposal to: Search<at>freightandsalvage.org British folksinger Cyril Tawney died April 21 after one of the longest careers on record, 45 years. Local folks sing so many of his songs – “Grey Funnel Line” and “Chicken and a Raft,” for two. He was certainly one of the greats. Correction: The Songs of Biggs Tinker mentioned in the March/April folknik is a DVD, not CD. For information email Ed Bronner, edbron<at>earthlink.net. Having a hoot, a wedding, a baby or a new CD? Put it in the Club News; email folknikp23ed<at>yahoo.com. The New Folk Scare?Over the last decade, a lot of folkie friends have bemoaned the lack of young people playing folk music. Concerned grayhairs like me often ask, how can we get more young people involved?Well, as the proverb says, watch what you wish for. You just might get it. The style-meisters and music critics at the Village Voice and the New York Times paid an inordinate amount of attention to a couple of odd-duck young folkies in their “Best of 2004” polls: Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, both in their 20s and both from the Bay Area. They specialize in strange, arty, poetry-infused, deeply personal music decidedly not aimed at the mainstream audience. Thanks to the recent East Coast praise, the local critics and trendsetters have located the new folk sound on their radar. Music writers across the country are weighing on the relative worth of the new sound. Our own Jo Ann Mar, host of KALW’s fine show Folk Music and Beyond, recently devoted a show to the new folk sound and its origins. You can’t have a burgeoning cultural phenomenon without an annoying and apt name, and this movement is no exception. The name that seems to be catching on is Freak Folk. Put that in a search engine and you’ll get hundreds of thousands of hits. And Newsom and Banhart are far from the only adherents of the Freak Folk sound. Anyone under 30 playing slightly spacey acoustic music is in danger of being lumped on the freaky bandwagon. And those who prefer Emmylou Harris and Greg Brown are not likely to be immediately enamored of the New Folk Thing. Sometimes it’s gliding, wistful and hauntingly melodic; other times it’s theatrical, shrill and intentionally off-key. To find a reference point, as Joann Mar says, you have to go back to the psychedelic folk of the late sixties. After all the heat and hyperbole, what will the Young Folk Music movement amount to? Only time will tell. But it’s good to hear folk music being discussed again as a cultural phenomenon, and to see young folk taking up the traditional instruments and songs and reinterpreting them their own way. — Richard Rice Into the Woods for MusicA new summer concert series started June 12 in the Santa Cruz mountains above Los Gatos with Mike Marshall and Choro Famoso. Upcoming concerts feature the Joe Craven Trio (July 30) and Evo Bluestein’s Lyquid Amber (August 20). For information and tickets, go to www.lakesidelosgatos.org or call (408) 354-2372.In Harmony's WayAs noted in the last folknik, eighteen local singers are featured in upcoming concerts and on a CD called In Harmony’s Way celebrating Bay Area a capella folk singing with Irish, English, Scottish, Anglo-American and Afro-American folk songs.The group will sing live on KALW 91.7 FM on July 2, at 3:00 p.m.; at the free ceili at the Starry Plough in Berkeley on July 3 at 8:00 p.m.; and at The Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley on July 8th at 8:00 p.m.; tickets cost $18.50 in advance and $19.50 at the door. Copies of the CD will be available at the concerts or from Steve Baughman at talltree<at>aol.com. Santa Rosa Sessions StartingMitch Gordon writes:The Black Rose Pub and Restaurant (formerly the Rose Pub) in Santa Rosa is now hosting traditional music sessions every Wednesday night. Musicians and interested listeners are more than welcome!
See you there! Want to Try for a New Ax?Young musicians who’d
like to win a Regal Resonator guitar, a banjo, a scholarship, a recording
session, or a cash prize should check out the National Traditional Country
Music Association Festival. Festivals 'n' SuchHayward-Russell
City Blues Festival: July 9-10
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||