The 10th annual 1998 Napa Valley Music Festival invites writer/performers to submit entries for the Emerging Songwriter Showcase. The festival, held September 25-27, will provide all songwriters and performers opportunities to attend workshops and to participate in jamming and traditional song circles. The Emerging Songwriter Showcase reflects the true spirit of the festival and honors all songwriters. Napa is the premiere and longest running showcase for songwriters on the West Coast and continues the "New Folk Concerts" tradition of the Newport and Kerrville Festivals.
Songwriters are invited to submit a cassette tape with two original songs to: Napa Valley Music Festival, P.O. Box 10227, Napa, CA 94581. Tapes must be accompanied by a $20 check made payable to The Napa Valley Folk Fellowship. Twenty finalists will be selected to participate in the showcase concert. At the festival, five winners will be chosen by a distinguished panel of three judges to receive a cash prize of $250 each and an opportunity to perform a full set of original material the following day. Those entering and not selected to showcase will be entitled to a one day pass to the festival. Tapes should be received no later than July 30, 1998.
Please make your tapes as simple as possible. Expensive and complicated studio recordings are not required. Most important is that the songs be clearly audible.
The songs may be performed solo or with a group. All songwriters retain rights to their songs. Make sure the tape is rewound and ready to play. It must have your name, address, phone number and e-mail address (if you have one) on the cassette. Do not send the tape in a case. Tapes will not be returned. Rules and guidelines can be accessed at the web site: www.napafest.com. Toby Roodman, the Showcase Director, can be reached at (408) 358-3505 or e-mail: tobynita@earthlink.net.
The festival is produced by the Napa Valley Folk Fellowship, a non-profit, all-volunteer organization which seeks to promote education and cultural awareness through traditional forms of acoustic music. Proceeds from the festival are used to underwrite music programs in schools throughout Napa Valley.
The third annual Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival will be on June 27 & 28, 1998, 11:15 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. at the Caswell Vineyards, Sebastopol.
On Saturday, June 27, the M.C. will be Utah Phillips, and the performers will include Laurie Lewis with Tom Rozum and Todd Phillips; Ferron with Jamie Seiber, Dan Benedictson and others; Greg Brown, Cheryl Wheeler, Terry Garthwaite, Cyrus Clarke Band, Sara Elizabeth Campbell, and the Rincon Ramblers including Alan Thornhill, Jon Wilcox, and Phil Salazar and Nina Gerber.
On Sunday, June 28 the M.C. will be Wavy Gravy and the performers will include Nanci Griffith, Greg Brown, Utah Phillips and Rosalie Sorrels, Guy Clark, Jennifer Berezan Band, The Cache Valley Drifters, Paul Kamm & Eleanor MacDonald, Hugh Shacklett and Nina Gerber.
Ticket prices: 1-day adult $32, 2-day $60. Seniors 1-day $27, 2-day $50.
To order by credit card, call the Sebastopol Community Center at 707/823-1511, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
To order by mail using check or cash, contact Cumulus Productions at cloud@monitor.net or 707/829-7067. More info at http://www.monitor.net/kate.
For more details visit our website at : http://www.katewolf.com/festival
The 23rd Annual CBA Father's Day Bluegrass Festival will be on June 18, 19, 20 and 21 at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.
The lineup includes Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, The Lonesome River Band, Laurie Lewis and Grant Street, The Lynn Morris Band, Dry Branch Fire Squad plus 10 additional bands and cloggers to be announced.
Tickets for 4-day Adult: $65, 3-day Adult, (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) $55. These include camping at the festival site (lots of grass and big pine trees). Single day tickets are also available. For further information about tickets, call (707) 762-8735.
For mail order tickets, send a self-addressed stamped envelope with check made out to the California Bluegrass Association: Address:
CBA Festival Advance Tickets, David Runge, 215 Grant Avenue, Petaluma, CA 94952.
The CCMC Jamathon will happen May 9, 1998, from noon until 4 PM at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto. This music-filled afternoon of jamming in circles led by CCMC faculty and alumni is a great way to have fun and meet others interested in the same type of music you are! Leslie Evers will lead the beginner's folk jam. It costs $10 to sponsor yourself, but any number of people can sponsor you as well. The proceeds will fund scholarships for CCMC, which runs a week-long music camp in Gualala, CA. For more info, contact <Pergamond@aol.com>.
The second annual Lark in the Morning Music Festival will take place in San Francisco the weekend of May 16-17. The Lark Shoppe is located in the Cannery Shopping complex at Fisherman's Wharf. There'll be lots of music, dance, and jamming, all for free!! The San Francisco Folk Music Club has been offered "booth" space to get the word out about the SFFMC. If you can help by sitting at the table for an hour or two, (10:00 am - 6:00 am either day) please respond to Kerry Parker by e-mail at < kerryp@sirius.com> or by telephone at 415-282-5868. You can also leave a message on the Folk Club phone machine at 415-661-2217.
The Bay Area Story Telling Festival is all set for May 16 and 17 at the beautiful Kennedy Grove Regional Park in El Sobrante, just on the other side of the mountain from Tilden Park. If you have never been to a Story Telling Festival, you are in for a treat, it is wonderful stuff. Call 650-952-3397 for more information.
The sixth annual Wild Iris Folk Festival is scheduled for May 29, 30, and 31 at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville, CA. Performers this year include Richard Thompson; Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum, and Todd Phillips; Alice DiMicele; The Immigrants; Sharon Burch; Tour de France; and others (including Holdstock & Murphey). Weekend tickets are available in advance for $40 with camping and $30 noncamping; the phone number for advance purchase is 707-895-2148.
The first annual Long Steel Rails Festival celebrating the ongoing influence of the railroads in American folk culture, will be held on June 13 and 14, 1998, at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum and the Bristlecone Convention Center in Ely, Nevada. There will be a variety of free workshops, demonstrations, concerts, and exhibits, including railroad music, stories, and poetry; whistle making; old- time hand signals and railroad jargon; songs and tales of the miners; live steam demonstrations; photo and art exhibits; toy and model trains; a hobo jungle, and a special run of the Ghost Train of Old Ely. A Saturday-night concert will feature U. Utah Phillips, Larry Penn, Mark Ross, "Haywire Brack" Brackney, Bob Suckiel, and Diana Suckiel. For additional information, contact R. Kuddie Krestner, PO Box 1314, Nevada City, CA 95059; phone 530-292-9207.
June 22-26, 1998 will be the time for Fiddlekids, a summer camp for children ages 7-12. This will be a day camp devoted to traditional fiddle music, where children will explore Appalachian and Irish fiddle styles through tunes, songs, dance and music crafts. The final day of camp will culminate with a performance extravaganza! All levels of students are welcome. Camp will be held from 9:00 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. at Prospect Sierra School, Tapscott Campus, located in El Cerrito, California. For a brochure or more information contact the director, Bobbi Nikles by e-mail at <bobbinik@aol.com> by phone at 510-235-0370.
The Twenty-Fourth Annual Retreat of the Vancouver Folk Song Society is set for Friday, June 26 through Sunday, June 28 at Camp Alexandra, in Crescent Beach near White Rock, British Columbia. This is an organization that has offered us reciprocity (i.e., if you're a member of SFFMC, you can go to their campouts). Registration deadline is Friday, May 29, 1998, so contact Allan Davison & Mark Hamill, 120-6911 Graybar Rd., Richmond, BC V6W 1HR as soon as you can! Phone number is 604-291-4480, and email address is <adavison@sfu.ca>.
The Santa Cruz Monterey Country Dancers' 1998 May Swing 'n Hey takes place Friday through Saturday, May 15-17 at the Felton Community Hall. Featured callers for the weekend will be Fred Park from Central, South Carolina and Julie Ann Keller from Fresno. Fred will teach Scandinavian and American couple dancing, as well as call and teach contra, square, and circle dances. Julie Ann will teach Irish Ceili dancing, passing steps, variation, and style.
Music for the weekend will be provided by several bands, including Fresno's Flatlander (Terry Barrett, Lennart Kullberg and Jon Adams), Santa Cruz's Percolators (Laurie Rivin, Janet Dows and Paul Rangell), and the Brothers Brothers (Mark Mueller, Chris Jong, and Leon Bumanglag).
For further information or to receive a registration brochure and application please contact Leon Bumanglag at 408-457-2347 or by e-mail at <Leonbum@aol.com>.
Golden Gate in Ninety-Eight, the Statewide International Folk Dance Festival, happens on May 22-25 at the Russian Center, 2450 Sutter Street in San Francisco (between Divisadero and Broderick). Plan on 3 days and nights of dancing, plus a welcoming party hosted by the Berkeley Folk Dancers.
Highlights of the festival include a teaching institute on Saturday, with Loui Tucker teaching Israeli dances in the morning, and Ned and Marian Gault teaching Austrian dances in the afternoon; a Sunday concert by Westwind; and a picnic on Monday at June and Max Horn's farm at 6200 Alhambra Avenue in Martinez. Housing is available at the Laurel Motor Inn and the Miyako Inn. RVs can be parked at Marin Park in Greenbrae, Candlestick RV Park in SF, and Pacific Park RV Resort in Pacifica. Max Horn will also permit some camping on his farm (contact him at 510-228-8598).
The dates for next year's Tropical Dance Vacation in the Caribbean on St. Croix, USVI, are set for the following:
For more information on either of the dance weeks, please check out the web site <http://www.he.net/~bmd/TDV.99.html> or contact George Marshall, Tropical Dance Vacation, PO Box 602, Belchertown, MA 01007; phone 413-323-9604.