RI Music -- Home or Tunes and Lyrics or Jam Sessions or email Matt McConeghy for older stuff, see OldStuff20002001
This is Old Stuff Year 2002
December 6 2002 5:30 - 8:30 Buffalo Gals Taunton, Mass...part of Taunton's "Lights On" celebration. On the green right in the center of town. The music will be indoors and BG will be in the furniture store. Lots of comfortable seating for this show! See you there.
Dec 6th 2002 Annual Bluegrass Christmas Get -Together... this year at Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River with the usual suspects! :)
Nov 29 2002 Friday Chris and Lisa and the rest of the Parallel String Band are playing the Rehobeth Contra Dance on Friday November 29 (a "Fifth Friday Event"!) For directions see: http://www.contradancelinks.com/rehoboth.html
Sat Nov 23 -- Magnolia at the Blackstone River Theatre- Dance instruction starts at 7:30, and the dance starts at 8pm. Even though it is called a Theatre- it is a really a beautiful dance hall renovated by our friends- Pendragon, and hundreds of volunteers. For more info www.riverfolk.org or 401 725-9272 It is wise to call for tix- ahead of time- they often sell out!
Sunday Nov 24th Monthly Shape note "Sacred Harp" singing in Providence -- see contacts below...
Nov 25, Dec 9 -- South County Kingston, RI Jam Sessions -- 2nd and 4th Mondays 7:30 - 9:30 pm, American Legion Hall, 1958 Kingston Rd south of URI on the road to Peacedale. For more info contact Harry Buffam Email: HPWBUFF at@aol.com and see the jam page
8PM Friday Nov 15 Avoid the crowds... wait til tomorrow to see Harry Potter and instead go to Hatfield McCoy -- Sandol and Rory's band the Hatfield Mccoy Trio is playing at the Mediator Fellowship Hall in Providence, Old-time, county western, gypsy jazz, swing, blues, surf music, you name it... The Mediator is at 50 Rounds St, a short distance north up Reservoir Ave from Route 10 in Providence.
Friday Nov 8 7:30 pm Narrows Center for the Arts 16 Anawan St. Fall River, MA. (508) 324-1926/www.ncfta.org Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem Daisy Mayhem is a funky soulful, acoustic string band with rich four part harmonies, sublime lead singing and a 100% recycled drum kit. They dip into country blues, swing, gospel, Appalachian, funk and folk. In short, it's a bracing, energetic fusion of American roots music. Their latest release Cocktail Swing released on Signature Sounds is receiving rave reviews throughout the country. For more about Rani Arbo, her music and her band try her page at www.signature-sounds.com or visit her own website at www.raniarbo.com. Opening Act: Buffalo Gals Doors 7:30 Show 8:00 Admission $12 benefit: Sunday Afternoon (Nov 10?) 3 - 5pm Rory's "other" band, the Rockabilly Planet, is playing a "kid friendly" Rockabilly Get Well Soon Party at the Stepping Stone Ranch this Sunday afternoon 3:00 to 8:00 pm. Jack Smith & Rockabilly Planet members past and present and Sugar Ray Norcia, in honor of Jacks wife & sound engineer Mary Smith who has been bravely combating cancer for the past 3 years. see http://www.steppingstoneranch.com Tickets $10 at door, all proceeds to the Smiths."
fiddler Alan Jabbour Sun Nov 3 at the Natick Center For The Arts 7:30 ** 31 Main St., downtown Natick ** 508 647 0097 www.natickarts.org Alan Jabbour is the former leader of the Library of Congress Folk Music Division and a famous collector of fiddle tunes from Appalachia. He is also a fine fiddler and a really nice guy.. Check it out!
Nov 2 Saturday The Brooklyn Coffee and Tea House 209 Douglas Avenue Providence, RI 02908 (401) 575-2284 Proudly Presents An Evening of Home Made Music featuring Rhode Island’s Own Frank Steven Silva 8:00 PM - 10 PM
Oct
25, 26, 27 NOMAD - Northeast
Music Arts and Dance Festival 203 453 3263
Oct 29th 8:30 PM, an Old Time music night at Johnny D'S, Holland St. Davis Square, Somerville... as many people or groups as there is time for and of course around 10:00 PM the Dreaded Banjo Orchestra will be featured. So bring all those strange banjo shaped objects such as banjo mandolins, guitars, ukes, and all sizes of banjos. call Sandy Sheehan for information ---------------------------------------------------
Thur Oct 17 8:00 PM Old Time music concert and reunion at the Emerson Umbrella, 40 Stow St., Concord, MA featuring a reunion of the Highwoods String Band-their first appearance together in many years. Walt Koken, Mac Benford, Doug Dorschug, Bob Potts, and Jenny Cleland Also Tom Paley-one of the founding members of the New Lost City Ramblers and Tom, Brad, and Alice-Tom Sauber, Brad Leftwich, and Alice Gerrard then starting Friday an Old Time Music Camp at Grotonwood in Groton, MA. It will be a weekend of workshops, classes, jam sessions, and concerts. The instructors include all the people from the Thur concert except Doug and Jenny who had prior committments. For further information go to http://www.mugwumps.com/bcn.html
Friday 10/18 the Bull Run in Shirley & 10/20 bluegrass rhythm guitar workshop 1:30-4:30 at the Minor Chord in Acton www.flatpick.com/ostar
October 19th -- FolksTogether opens for the legendary Eric Anderson at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River...located behind the Water St. Cafe in Fall River, MA (adjacent to Battleship Cove) For more information (including directions) click on the links and visit their website...
Oct 18-20 Old Time Music Camp North Mike Holmes' Music Camp at Groton, Mass, well known banjo and old-timey guru Mike has arranged an awesome, outstanding staff -- Should be a Great Camp!
Tuesday
Oct 22 6:30-8:30 Making Your Mando Sing
Orrin Star, at Sandy's Music, 896-A Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 For
novice through intermediate players(all but total beginners) bring your mandolin
and a recording device limited to 12 participants includes written handout Cost
40.00 Call or e-mail Sandy's at 617 491 2815 sandy@sandysmusic.com
Friday October 4th (8 - 10pm), FolksTogether will appear at the Brooklyn Coffee and Tea House on Douglas Ave. in Providence. There is no cover charge. For more info., click on the link (above) to visit their website.
Oct 5th Saturday Magnolia Cajun Dance at Trinity Brotherhood Hall 7:30 dance instruction. Check it out at the Magnolia web site Cajun Band
October, 4-6 -- Wind On The Bay East Coast Flute Symposium featuring Skip Healy, The House Band’s John Skelton, woodwind historian Friedrich von Huene, and percussionist Jim Clark. Offering instruction and entertainment on flute, fife, bombarde, and music theory in scenic East Greenwich, RI. For details call 401-885-2502 or visit http://www.skiphealy.com/frames/fr_windonbay.htm
Sunday Oct 6 at Mahoney's garden center, Rt. 3, Winchester, MA 781 729 5900 a live hoedown with the Dixie Butterhounds-Southern Appalachian clog dance and music shows at noon and 2:00 ---------------------------
Friday and Saturday Oct 4, 5th -- 27th Annual New England Sacred Harp Singing Convention
Dennison
Hall, 214 Concord Street Framingham, Massachusetts
Friday, October 4, 2002, 7:30pm to 10pm
Saturday, October 5, 2002, 9:30am to 4pm (Pot-luck dinner at 12:30pm)
Admission: free-will donation to cover expenses. Hosted by Sacred Harp singers
of eastern Massachusetts and Norumbega Harmony. Everyone welcome (both singers
and listeners) regardless of experience or ability. Children welcome (but child
care will not be provided). We will sing from The Sacred Harp, rev. 1991.
General Information: Bill Holt, 617-797-1895, bill_holt@compuserve.com Directions:
Take the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) to exit 13 (Natick/Framingham) to Rte
30 West. At 5th set of lights, turn LEFT onto Rte 126 South (Concord Street).
Go about 1.5 miles (crossing over Rte 9) to Dennison Hall, which will be on
the right just past Lincoln St. Ample on-street parking on main and side streets,
all meters free evenings and weekends.
Magnolia Cajun Dance Saturday Oct 5, we will be playing at Trinity Brotherhood Hall 7:30 dance instruction. Magnolia reminds us that they will be starting their Fall Cajun Dance Series soon and that Michelle will be starting her ONCE A YEAR 8 week dance lessons series. Now is the time! Check it out at the Magnolia web site Cajun Band
Jimmy Devine's latest schedules for his outstanding Irish Fiddle Lessons -- Group Workshop Series for 2002-03 is Wednesdays - Beginners Group 6-7 pm Intermediate Group 7-8 pm September 25 - December 4 at the home of Jimmy and Sorrel Devine 40 Harding Avenue Cranston, Rhode Island 02903 Phone: (401) 461-8347 Email: sorreld@cox.net -- Highly Recommended!!!!! (Private lessons also available of course)
Note on Irish Classes ...have just returned from a rejuvenating and music-filled trip to Ireland this summer with new ideas for approaches to teaching Irish Language ... the medium of song will continue to be an important and fun aspect of these classes. Beginning Irish language (Cranston) September 26, 2002 Thursdays 7-9 pm 10 weeks, Rhode Island Irish Ceilidhe Club 50 America St. Cranston, Rhode Island and Beginning Irish language (Providence) Brown University Orwig Music Building 7-9 pm 12 weeks for Information: Sheila Hogg 265 Transit St. Providence RI 02906-3039 For any questions, call me (evenings) at (401) 274-9804 -- Le gach dea-daoibh, Sighle "
Note from Doc Wood "Greeting to fellow South County jammers. I am performing Friday the 13th of September at the Cross's Mills Library in Charlestown, RI. I will be joined by my friend Joe Miller. If you want to sample some of the music we'll be playing, check out www.mp3.com/docwood. The concert starts at 7:30 and is free. Joe and I will also be performing on the 21st at 11am at Newport's Taste of Rhode Island. Just thought you might like to know . . ."
Sept 20, 21, 22 Northeast Squeeze-In Accordions, Concertinas, Extravaganza! Possibly too much of a good thing, but check it out!
Sept 21, 22 Boston Folk Festival
Sept 22 Fall River Festival of the Arts Buffalo Gals will be on stage Sunday at noon. OTherwise, not really a big Folk presence, but some interesting jazz or modern groups with folk connections, such as the funky and wild Tarbox Ramblers....
Sept 13, 14, 15 2002 Highland Games The 26th Anniversary New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain, in the White Mountain National Forest Lincoln, New Hampshire
Sept 13, 14, 15 FSSGB Fall Getaway Weekend Folk Song Soc of Greater Boston - Plymouth MA, friendly, mature crowd, lots of singing!
Sept - ? Westport Dock Sessions - Last few Wednesday Night Summer Jams on the dock at Westport Point -- Directions: Route 195 east to Route 88. Follow 88 to the last light. (Drift Road intersection). go right until the road ends. then left until you end up on the pier.
Aug 30- Sept 1 Rhythm and Roots Festival, Charlestown, RI www.rhythmandroots.com 888 855-6940
August 31st Saturday 8pm FolksTogether at the Coffee Depot Main St. • Warren RI (adjacent to Jamiel's Shoe World)
Aug 29 - Sept 1, 2002 Thomas Point Bluegrass Festival
Sept 1 New England Fiddle Fest -- Hartford
Philadelphia Folk Festival Aug 23 - 25, 2002
(hundreds of performers at Philadelphia Folk Festival... including Throat Singers from Tuva "Huun Huur Tu")
AUGUST 18 Service -- I received this note from Cora Pierce in New Bedford re Barbara Carns
As you know, we all lost someone very dear to our hearts when Barbara Carns passed away July 9th. We had a wonderful memorial on July 12th at Goddard College in Vermont. Now many friends have requested a memorial near to her sea faring roots... So it is my pleasure to invite you to a Celebration of Barbara 's life, Sunday, August 18th at 2 p.m. at Gallery X 169 William street (1 block north of Try Works) New Bedford, Ma. This is a celebration, so please bring your stories, songs and instruments. We will also have a pot-luck of sorts. Also in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Gallery X in Barbara's honor, to support the Senior art shows. Barbara was a great supporter of this cooperative art gallery, so I know that her Spirit will look kindly and quite amusingly at our Celebration. If you would like further information, directions or lodgings etc. please phone me at home 508-997-6323 Love and Peace, Cora
Scots -- August 17 Maine Highland Games
Received this note from the Magnolia Cajun Band Aug 12,
Hello Folks, We hope your summer is going well... We will be in Warren Wednesday night at the band shell and on Thursday in Providence at the John Brown House. Saturday we will be at Bishops Castle in Exeter, RI. Check out our website for information on all these events. Cajun Band Should you come to the Bishops Castle be sure to bring your bathing suit and a pot luck dish to share and your friends. Time is 4-9, $10. This is always a nice party with a lot of nice folks...Hope to see you there, we miss you.
Canadian Maritime Folk Festival Lunenberg Nova Scotia Aug 8 - 11, 2002
Aug 2 - 3 - 4 Champlain Valley Folk Festival - Kingsland Bay Park, Ferrisburg VT
Bob Dylan on Saturday -- Newport Folk Festival, RI Aug 2, 3, 4 2002
Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival Aug 2 -4, 2002, New Hampshire
Lowell Folk Festival July 26-28,2002 Lowell, MA July 27 - A long list of really terrific performers, especially some really interesting ethnic bands from a variety of traditions... check it out!
Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, July 26 -28, 2002 NY Winterhawk 2000 - Bluegrass and Beyond, will be held in the same location the following weekend: August 02, 03, and 04, 2002.
Folks Together Saturday July 27th • 8-10PM The Brooklyn Coffee & Tea House Douglas Ave., Providence. RI (near Sticky Fingers) No Cover Charge, Free Parking (off street), great deserts.... more... for more info. visit: www.brooklyncoffeeteahouse.com
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Note from John Hinsley and the Buffalo Gals received July 19 "Buffalo Gals...going to be a busy week. Hope to see you there. Sunday Peace Dale Village Green - 6:pm Wednesday Warwick, Pawtuxet Park - 6:30pm Friday Barnstable County Fair - 7: & 9:30pm"
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Sad News - Barbara Carns dies in Vermont 7/2002
Perhaps it was at the Tryworks in New Bedford, at the Indianeck Festival, or at Fox Hollow, or at her own home where she often welcomed musicians in the 1970s -- many of us will always remember hearing Barbara Carns rich voice leading us in a spiritual or blues. Can we forget her owning "Tramp on the Street." Her death marks the passing of an era for many of us who began our folk music lives in SouthEastern New England. After complications affecting her heart, lungs and legs, Barb had had enough of oxygen tanks and pills; the doctors helped her to have a pain-free, peaceful exit. Cards can go to her regular address c/o Danny Carns, and will be forwarded to Danny's house. (Address:190 Northwood Drive, D-2, Plainfield, VT 05667.)
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Folklorist Alan Lomax dies at 87 -- An Amazing Life for Music -
"We now have cultural machines so powerful that one singer can reach everybody in the world, and make all the other singers feel inferior because they're not like him. Once that gets started, he gets backed by so much cash and so much power that he becomes a monstrous invader from outer space, crushing the life out of all the other human possibilities. My life has been devoted to opposing that tendency."
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax, Who Raised Voice of Folk Music in U.S., Dies at 87
By JON PARELES NY Times Saturday Jul 20, 2002
A lan Lomax, the legendary collector of folk music who was the first to record towering figures like Leadbelly, Muddy Waters and Woody Guthrie, died yesterday at a nursing home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 87. Mr. Lomax was a musicologist, author, disc jockey, singer, photographer, talent scout, filmmaker, concert and recording producer and television host. He did whatever was necessary to preserve traditional music and take it to a wider audience. Advertisement Although some of those he recorded would later become internationally famous, Mr. Lomax wasn't interested in simply discovering stars. In a career that carried him from fishermen's shacks and prison work farms to television studios and computer consoles, he strove to protect folk traditions from the homogenizing effects of modern media. He advocated what he called "cultural equity: the right of every culture to have equal time on the air and equal time in the classroom."
Mr. Lomax's programs spurred folk revivals in the United States and across Europe. Without his efforts, the world's popular music would be very different today. "What Caruso was to singing, Alan Lomax is to musicology," the oral historian Studs Terkel said in 1997. "He is a key figure in 20th-century culture." In an interview, Bob Dylan once described him as "a missionary." Mr. Lomax saw folk music and dance as human survival strategies that had evolved through centuries of experimentation and adaptation; each, he argued, was as irreplaceable as a biological species. "It is the voiceless people of the planet who really have in their memories the 90,000 years of human life and wisdom," he once said. "I've devoted my entire life to an obsessive collecting together of the evidence." To persuade performers and listeners to value what was local and distinctive, Mr. Lomax used the very media that threatened those traditions. By collecting and presenting folk music and dance in concerts, films and television programs, he brought new attention and renewed interest to traditional styles. "The incredible thing is that when you could play this material back to people, it changed everything for them," Mr. Lomax once said. Listeners then realized that the performers, as he put it, "were just as good as anybody else."
Mr. Lomax started his work as a teenager, lugging a 500-pound recording machine through the South and West with his father, the pioneering folklorist John A. Lomax. They collected songs of cowboys, plantation workers, prisoners and others who were rarely heard. "The prisoners in those penitentiaries simply had dynamite in their performances," Mr. Lomax recalled. "There was more emotional heat, more power, more nobility in what they did than all the Beethovens and Bachs could produce." Discovering the Greats One prisoner recorded by the Lomaxes in Angola, La., was Huddie Ledbetter, known as Leadbelly, who began his singing career after John Lomax helped secure his release in 1934. Alan Lomax produced Leadbelly's albums "Negro Sinful Songs" in 1939 and "The Midnight Special," prison songs performed with the Golden Gate Quartet, in 1940. The Lomaxes held part of the copyright to his song "Goodnight Irene," and the royalties they received when the Weavers' recording of it became a huge pop hit in 1950 helped finance their research trips.
Alan Lomax recorded hours of interviews with the New Orleans jazz composer Jelly Roll Morton in the 1930's, an early oral-history project that resulted in both a classic 12-volume set of recordings and a 1950 book, "Mister Jelly Roll," which remains one of the most influential works on early jazz. In the early 1940's, Mr. Lomax made extensive recordings of songs and stories by Woody Guthrie, both for the Library of Congress and for commercial release on RCA Victor as "Dust Bowl Ballads." In 1941, he made the first recordings of McKinley Morganfield, a cotton picker and blues singer better known by his nickname, Muddy Waters. In 1997, Rounder Records began issuing its Alan Lomax Collection, a series of more than 100 CD's of music recorded by Mr. Lomax in the deep South, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the British Isles, Spain and Italy. A recording Mr. Lomax made in Mississippi in 1959 of a prisoner, James Carter, singing the work song "Po' Lazarus," opens the multimillion-selling, Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (Universal).
From Harvard to Texas Mr. Lomax was born in Austin, Tex., in 1915. He attended Choate and spent a year at Harvard. But in 1933, he left to enroll at the University of Texas, where he graduated in 1936 with a degree in philosophy. Later, he did graduate work in anthropology at Columbia University. He had already become a folk-music collector, recording songs with his father. "My father was fired from the University of Texas for recording those dirty old cowboy songs," Mr. Lomax said. "Cowboys were lowdown, flea-ridden and boozing, so a guy who associated with them — even though he romanticized them a lot, as my father did — was looked down on." The Lomaxes' book "American Ballads and Folk Songs" was published in 1934, followed by "Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly" (1936), "Cowboy Songs" (1937), "Our Singing Country" (1938) and "Folk Songs: USA" (1946). John A. Lomax became the curator of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress; his son joined him there as assistant director in 1937. By the end of the 1930's, John and Alan Lomax had recorded more than 3,000 songs on 78-r.p.m. discs. Generations have grown up with these Library of Congress recordings. NY Times Article
July 12 -14 New Bedford Summer Fest will have many familiar artists Bruce Molsky, Paty Larkin, Livingstone Taylor, Cliff Eberhardt, Garnet Rogers, Lucy Kaplansky, Jeff Davis, Jeff Warner, etc., $7 weekend pass. This will be a great festival!
Folks Together -- Saturday July 13th 7 - 11pm at The Hardware Cafe located in the Sippican Hardware/Sugar Shack building just off RT6 in Merion, Mass for info. and directions visit: Hardware Cafe
Thur July 11 House Concert : The Copper Family, Traditional English Songs - (sold out -- email for waiting list FSSGB Copper Family tickets)
June 28, 29, 30th Old Songs Festival Altamont Fairgrounds, Altamont, NY
June 20 - 23, 2002 Blistered Fingers Bluegrass Festival The 16th Blistered Fingers Family Bluegrass Music Festival Sidney, Maine
JUN 22 Magnolia plays for dancing at Waterfires BALLROOM UNDER THE STARS Go for a stroll along the Providence River - See the fabulous Waterfires!! Providence Waterfire and Sovereign Bank join together to bring the coolest nighttime venue- with a special dance floor built just for this event!!!! great dance floor, very cool lights, food and drink available nearby
Sat June 22 Jon Gailmor -- Kids Silly Songs $15 family Folk Song Soc of Greater Bosto
Mystic Seaport Festival -- Baroullie Whalers Steal the Show!
This festival, as always, had some terrific musicians, mostly focusing on music of the sea. That is, sea chanteys, work songs, songs about sailors leaving home or coming home. There is a lot of great singing, especially harmony group work, and some pretty good instrumental work, This year the big names were Martin Carthy, the seminal English guitarist and singer who influenced so many of the current generation of British Folk (and even rock) musicians, and, Louis Killen, who is well known to New England folk fans.
The total surprise and hit of the Festival was the group "Barouille Whalers." Wow!!! This is a group of four older guys who as young men took part in the small whaling industry off the coast of St Vincent in the Grenadines of the West Indies. The men described how in those far off isolated and impoverished days they went into the forest with axes to cut the trees for their boat, then rowed (yes, with oars, folks) out to sea to find and chase Sperm whales, pilot whales and killer whales with harpoons. The whale being struck, the smoking rope would run out (yes, exactly like in the Moby Dick movies) as the whales sounded, and sometimes the wounded animals would attack and destroy the boats. Then after killing the whale, they would have to row back to land towing the whale carcase for rendering on the beach. During these passages they sang worksongs to fight off boredom, exhaustion and thirst... what songs? oh,just some old songs that they learned from their grandfathers grandfathers...
For many listeners, this was a time warp. Real breathing, walking whalemen who had struck a whale from an open, rowing boat, taken Nantucket sleigh rides and flensed and boiled out. And to the tune of Billy Dawson, Shenandoah, and many other recognizable songs from Colcord, Hugill's books, only, learned by word of mouth passed down 200 years in the colorful dialect of the islands. It was an amazing experience for an audience of city folkies, many of whom have only seen a whale on the Discovery Channel, or in their furthest trips to sea aboard some whale watch cruiser.
And, they were exciting, noisy, energetic, entertaining, enthusisastic -- they "blew the roof off" in the evening concert according to Craig Edwards. This was a great folk music moment. Much credit is due to Craig and the several folks who were influential in getting them through US Customs to Mystic.
Pet Festival Mini-Peeves: 45 people standing in line at the Galley while 1 of 3 cash registers is unmanned and the cashiers are drawing the customers drinks betweens each order. Concert listed in the program as at the North Stage -- no signs for the north stage and it isn't on the Seaport Map... duh! just ask around, ok?... Minor performers who bitch about the sound men -- Princess Missy complaining that the sound men didn't rush up to adjust her mike fast enough. When the (volunteer) soundman hurried up and asked her "what would you like?" She responded, "I don't know what I like, Just fix it." in a kind of Barbara Streisand tone. Only a truly obnoxious and inflated ego is capable of that level of brass. She should take herself somewhere where she could feel more charitable with the other contributors, say, maybe Chile or Tasmania. There were a couple other rude comments as well. Give the tech guys (volunteers) a break, ok? Later Craig had to call the sound guys up for a special round of applause -- they really were doing a good job and deserved at least common courtesy from the performers. I noticed that Lou Killen, Martin Carthy and the real professionals were uniformly appreciative.
Pet Favorite things about the Festival - Gosh, is the Seaport Gorgeous or what? And volunteers get treated very well by the Festival guys -- sleep on a ship, lots of food, don't have to work too many hours -- what more could you ask for? And, Craig and the other organizers really trying very hard to preserve and promote the music. M.
BOB MCQUILLEN WINS 2002 NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP > >Bob McQuillen, well-known piano and accordion player from Peterboro, NH, has >just been awarded a prestigious National National Heritage Fellowship from the >National Endowment for the Arts > >(from the National Endowment for the Arts Press release): > >The National Endowment for the Arts today announced the 2002 recipients of the >National Heritage Fellowships, the country's highest honor in the folk and >traditional arts. Thirteen fellowships, which include a one-time award of >$10,000 each, will be presented to honorees from 13 states and jurisdictions. >Two of the awards will be shared by collaborative partners. Fourteen awardees >were chosen for their artistic excellence, authenticity and contributions to >their field. One was selected to receive the Bess Lomax Hawes award >for service to the folk and traditional arts field as a whole. > >Contra dance, a form of social dance done in straight lines, was >brought to New England with its earliest Anglo settlers. During the >past 200 years, it >has become part of life in the region's town halls and community centers. Bob >McQuillen, pianist and accordion player, has held a central position in that >scene for more than 50 years. He was born near Boston, but his >family moved to southwestern New Hampshire when he was a child. >Although his grandfather >played accordion and his father played the piano, McQuillen did not turn >seriously to music until he returned from service as a Marine during >World War II. Some friends took him to a local dance, and he became >interested in playing the accordion. He continued his day job >teaching industrial arts at the local high school in Peterborough, >New Hampshire, but also began playing accordion and piano for dances >throughout the region, working with the legendary contra dance >caller and historian, Ralph Page. In 1973, McQuillen wrote his first >tune, Scotty O'Neil, named for a student who died tragically. Since >then, he has written more than 1,100 dance tunes, many of them >national and international classics throughout the expanding contra >dance universe. Still, it appears that his greatest joy comes from >what he sometimes modestly calls "boom chucking," providing the >propulsive rhythms for a contra dance band that set feet and bodies >moving on the dance floor. > >The actual award ceremony takes place in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, >September 18th. Plans are underway for a celebration dance in New Hampshire, >tentatively in Peterborough, NH, on Sunday afternoon, September 29.
Jams -- June 19, June 23rd, June 24th
Providence Sacred Harp coming up again on 4th Sunday June 23rd, 3-6pm at Beneficient Church
June 16 - 22 Gaelic Roots - http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/irish/gr.html Teaching Conference with All Ireland Greats! at BC... was sold out in 2002
Jun 14 - 15 Songs of Sail - Kennebunkport, Maine - artists include Gordon Bok, Don Sineti, Shipping news, Baggywrinkle, etc... 207 985 4802
Thur June 13 Newton 8pm Folk Song Soc of Greater Boston Baggyrinkle - Welsh Shantymen. These guys are fun. a little different perspective on chanteys...
Poor Lazarus -- An Ex-Convict, a Hit Album, an Ending Fit for Hollywood
March 3, 2002
By BERNARD WEINRAUB LOS ANGELES,
March 2 - On a mid-September day in 1959, an inmate in the Mississippi State Penitentiary named James Carter led some of his fellow prisoners in singing "Po Lazarus," a bluesy, melancholy old work song about a man who is hunted and gunned down by a sheriff with a .44. In the course of a long, hard life that followed, Mr. Carter, a sharecropper's son, forgot about that day, the song and the man who captured it on tape, Alan Lomax. Until about two weeks ago, when two people visited him in his Chicago apartment to give him some amazing news - and a $20,000 check. Last week, he boarded an airplane for the first time, flying to Los Angeles, where he was celebrated for contributing to the Grammy Awards victory of the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, which won album of the year honors. The album's producers used the version of "Po Lazarus" Mr. Carter recorded in prison for Mr. Lomax, a musical archivist and music writer who was traveling the American South with his tape recorder. For more than a year, as "O Brother" climbed the charts and sold millions of copies, its producers searched for Mr. Carter, 76, not only to acknowledge his contribution but to pay him thousands of dollars in royalties. How they found him is an unusual story in an industry rampant with tales of swindled royalties, corruption and stolen song credits. Searching through the archives of the Mississippi penal system, Social Security files, property records and other public records and various databases, the record's producer, T- Bone Burnett; the Lomax archives; and an investigative journalist for a Florida newspaper found Mr. Carter in Chicago with his wife, Rosie Lee Carter, a longtime minister of the Holy Temple Church of God. Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Lomax's daughter, Anna Lomax Chairetakis, who runs the archives, and Don Fleming, director of licensing, visited the Carters and presented a platinum album of the soundtrack and a royalty check for $20,000 - the first installment of what may become several hundred thousand dollars in payments. Mr. Carter, a former shipping clerk, told them he had never heard of the album or the film. Mr. Fleming mentioned that the album was outselling the latest CD's of Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey. "I told him, `You beat both of them out,' " Mr. Fleming said. "He got a real kick out of that. He left the room to roll a cigarette and when he came back, he said, `You tell Michael that I'll slow down so that he can catch up with me.' " Mr. Burnett said he first heard the work-gang song about five years ago when he was listening to music in the Lomax archives in New York City. "It just made a deep impression," he said. "It was such a beautiful version, a soulful version of a great song." Later, when Mr. Burnett began working on the album, the song was placed first on the soundtrack of the film, which was made by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film is a sort of Depression-era fable loosely based on "The Odyssey." The soundtrack, on the Lost Highway label of the Universal Music Group, features a powerful cross section of Southern roots music by performers like Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss and Union Station, and Emmylou Harris. The soundtrack won four other Grammy Awards in addition to album of the year. Mr. Carter will earn royalties for being the lead performer on the Lomax recording used on the album. Because "Po Lazarus" is in the public domain, he will also earn songwriter royalties, which go to the performer once the copyright expires. Mr. Burnett said Mr. Carter's royalties could run "well into the six- figure range." The album has sold five million copies and was the No. 2 country music album on the Billboard chart this week, after Alan Jackson's "Drive." The Grammy triumph is expected to push sales far higher. Mr. Carter said over the phone that he was not sure what he would do with the money. His daughter Elizabeth Scott, a real estate broker, said she and her two sisters were relatively well-off. Their children include a Chicago police officer. Ms. Scott said that although her parents were comfortable in a large apartment of a building they own in the Austin area of Chicago, they might use their windfall to find an apartment more appropriate to their needs. Mr. Carter often uses a wheelchair. Mr. Carter's early life was not easy. He left home at 13, and ended up in the Mississippi prison system four times, the Lomax organization found. Two convictions were for stealing, another was for a parole violation for possessing a gun and a fourth was on a weapons offense. Mr. Carter said he remembered being in prison only once. The Lomax organization said Mr. Lomax recorded the song at Camp B at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Lambert. Mr. Lomax, who is 87 and lives in central Florida, has explored and promoted folk music around the world for more than six decades. In the 1950's he focused on the American South, and issued 16 albums on the Atlantic and Prestige International labels. In his Southern trips, Mr. Lomax, using a tape recorder, often sought out the music of the African-American South. Mr. Fleming, the Lomax licensing director, said the assumption early on was that Mr. Carter might be dead. He began searching for Mr. Carter by checking Social Security death records. Then, using the Freedom of Information Act, Mr. Fleming began looking through the files of the parole board in Mississippi and found evidence that Mr. Carter had moved to Chicago around 1967. At the same time, Chris Grier, a reporter for The Sarasota Herald- Tribune who was working on a project about Mr. Lomax's life, came in contact with Mr. Fleming. Using the newspaper's databases, Mr. Grier came up with a list of James Carters in the Chicago area. Because the name was common, Mr. Grier said, he began concentrating on spouses. He tracked down Mrs. Carter's name on property records. "She owned a storefront church," Mr. Grier said. When he met Mrs. Carter, Mr. Grier said, she told him her husband's birth date and said he had spent years in Mississippi. Further investigation convinced Mr. Grier that this was the James Carter he was looking for. The Lomax group, after meeting Mr. Carter, confirmed that he was the man they were seeking. In the years after prison, Mr. Carter worked at a number of jobs, including as a shipping clerk, but seemed unable to focus on any one occupation. Mr. Carter was initially reluctant to fly to Los Angeles for the Grammy ceremonies, but Ms. Scott told him it was "the chance of a lifetime." He flew with his wife, Ms. Scott and his other daughters, Hattie Tucker and Corie Macklin. He said over the phone on Friday that he was flattered by all the attention, but that he just wanted to get on with his life. He said he barely recalled "Po Lazarus." "I sang that a long time back."
May 3 Hatfield McCoy trio at Providence Atheneum? No details available, sorry.
MAY 4 Magnolia Cajun Dance --MONTHLY DANCE moves to BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE Cumberland, RI 401 725-9272 www.riverfolk.org
May 4 8pm Watertown Robbie O'Connell Folk Song Soc of Greater Boston Outstanding Celtic Act award winner of Boston Music Assoc. Nephew of the Clancy's and a fine songwriter and teacher.
Saturday April 27, at 8:00 at the Pepsi Forum, Johnson & Wales University, Providence, the Providence Mandolin Orchestra will play
American Landscapes: From Bluegrass to the Blues.
The range of songs spans Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe to Jazz queen Billie Holiday including works by Mingus, Copland, Porter, Sondheim and the Allman Brothers. Our special guests for this program are Nashville recording artist Butch Baldassari and Providence Jazz singer Rose Weaver. Tickets for the show are $15 ($10 seniors/students) and are available at the door and on the PMO website at http://mandolin-orchestra.org/upcm_form.htm. Directions to the Pepsi Forum are also available on the website at http://mandolin-orchestra.org/pepdirct.htm.
APR 20 NEFFA festival, Natick, MA 4pm Sat wide variety of folk workshops and dances www.neffa.org
Sunday April 14 2:00 - 3:30 "Bound for Glory" -- Performance of songs honoring Woody Guthrie, benefit for Huntington's Chorea foundation, at the Museum of our National Heritage Lexington, $10
"This Friday April 5th is Magnolia Cajun Band's monthly dance in East Providence, RI We usually have this dance the first Saturday of the month but we had to change the day. So please tell your friends who usually come to the dance about this change. We are looking forward to seeing you on Friday at the dance. Visit our web site for direction and more information. Thanks for coming and making our dances so fun!" (Magnolia Cajun Band )
Thursday, March 21, the Pandora Mandolin Quartet, featuring Josh Bell and Sarah Bell on mandolin, Mack Johnston on mandola and Dan Moore on mandocello will perform at the RISD Museum (Benefit St in Providence) from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. The concert is free to the public. The program will include a variety of musical styles including pieces by J.S. Bach, Gustav Holst, Percy Grainger, Peter Warlock, Tim Ware and Providenceís Will Ayton.
March 24, March 28 ShapeNote "Sacred Harp" Singing in Providence -- see below for details...
March 23 Ricardo Frota - music of Brazil, and March 30 David Jones and Jerry Epstein, English Folk Songs at Folk Song Society of Greater Boston
March 12 Annual Old Timey Nite at famous Johnny D's music bar, Somerville MA
March 14, March 24, March 28 ShapeNote "Sacred Harp" Singing in Providence -- see below for details...
March 10 is a West Gallery Sunday. See below for details -- combined Shape Note and Instrumental!
Saturday, March 9 "8:pm Narrows Center for the Arts 16 Anawan St, Fall River, Mass ($6) ...Enjoy the music of Buffalo Gals plus the excellent Back Eddy bluegrass band. The Narrows is in a mill building on the Fall River waterfront, near the battleship, but with the Braga bridge in between. The directions below are provided by NCFTA on their web site (www.ncfta.org). It seems complicated but what's happening is that as you exit the highway you are almost on top of your destination... literally. You are about 50 feet too high in the air to be making any kind of turn. So you need to loop around back to return to the same point but at a more useful ground level. Directions: From Providence - Take I-195 East. Go over Braga Bridge. Take exit 5 (RT-79/RT-138)Taunton/N.Tiverton RI. Go towards N. Tiverton - Stay LEFT at 1st fork then turn RIGHT on MILLIKEN BLVD. Turn RIGHT at first light onto COLUMBIA ST. About 30 yards BEFORE end of street (Columbia ends at Broadway) turn RIGHT onto Ponta Delgada. Stay right at fork and continue on Water Street. Go about 1/4 mile and turn RIGHT onto ANAWAN ST. Look for "NARROWS" sign immediately on left. See ya then, John"
March 8 New Bedford Whaling Museum Conert Series presents, from Ireland, "Na Dorca" a wonderful Irish band featuring the singing of Mary Cunningham. For more information 508 997 0046 x140
The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University (PRC) is pleased to announce the exhibition of photographs by John Cohen - the musician who provided inspiration for the Grateful Dead song "Uncle John's Band." The exhibition of over 130 stunning black and white images, "There is No Eye: Photographs by John Cohen," January 18-March 1, 2002. As co-founder of the band the New Lost City Ramblers in 1958 and a regular writer for Sing Out Magazine, Cohen was central to the emergence of the urban folk revival of the 1960s. A Smithsonian Folkways CD, featuring music of those pictured, will be available for purchase.
Feb 25th A Night of Films and Music by John Cohen Monday, 7:30 pm Photographic Resource Center (PRC) at Boston University 602 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 Upper level, in the Morse Auditorium (Blandford T stop on the B Green Line) Back by popular demand, John Cohen will introduce two of his artist-cut films, followed by an encore live musical performance. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see John Cohen, of the New Lost City Ramblers and "Uncle John" from the Grateful Dead song, accompanied by the Dixie Butterhounds The High Lonesome Sound, 1963 (film) Songs of church-goers, miners, and farmers of eastern Kentucky express the joys and sorrows of life among the rural poor. This classic film evocatively illustrates how music and religion help Appalachians maintain their dignity and traditions in the face of change and hardship. 30 min. B&W The End of An Old Song, 1970 (film) Filmed in the mountains of North Carolina, this documentary revisits the region where English folklorist Cecil Sharp collected British ballads in the early 1900s. It contrasts the nature of the ballad singers with the presence of the juke box: although the lyrical tradition has changed, the singing style continues. Features Dillard Chandler, who sings with rare intensity and style. 27 min. B&W.
Feb 24 Sacred Harp Sing in Providence. See below for directions and details...
Feb 9 Sat 6pm Celebration of Black History Month -- Gospel Music at the Pepsi Forum, Johnson & Wales Univ in Providence, and Gospel Music Workshop at JWU on Mon Feb 11, 8pm 401 598 1000
Feb 15 - 17 The 17th Joe Val Bluegrass Festival at the Dedham Holiday Inn (just 30 miles from Providence) -- features The Seldom Scene, Perfect Strangers, North Country, Gibson Bros, James King Band, Gail Davies, Gopher Broke, Buddy Merriam, Adam Dewey, Back Eddy. Make reservations to stay at the Holiday Inn -- 3 days of continuous music! Wo!
Feb 14, 15 Special Concert at Harvard -- Welsh Music and Dancing from outstanding set of traditional musicians -- see long explanation below...
Feb 2 Hauk Buen - Master of the Hardanger Fiddle -- at Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St, Cambridge, 8pm $12 -- Information 617- 422 - 1650
Feb 1? Hatfield McCoy Band concerts at the Atheneum? Further information at 401 765 3735 or 789 4128 -- No more information is available...
Jan 26 The Providence Mandolin Orchestra will perform this Saturday at 8:00 at the Pepsi Forum at Johnson Wales University in Providence. (A map and directions to the concert are available at (http://mandolin-orchestra.org/pepdirct.htm). Tickets are $15 ($10 for seniors and students). This concert reflects the international musical exchange that took place at last year's Providence International Mandolin Festival. The Brahms Intermezzo was sent to us by Oliver Kalberer, Director of the German Ensemble Roggenstein. The two Brazilian pieces Pedra Terra and Terra Nova reflect the sparkling music provided at the festival by the brilliant Trio Quintessencia. 'Music for Play' was written by the conductor of the Italian orchestra Citta De Brescia. 'Suite Española' was a gift to the PMO from the noted Spanish bandurria virtuoso Pedro Chamorro. And the prize-winning 'Concierto De Media Luna' was brought to us by the Spanish group Cuarteto Assai. The virtuoso harmonica playing of Chris Turner will be featured in Owen Hartford's Elegy.
"Wellllllll, Buckarooos, January is going to cooperate with our plans to throw a shindig at the Mediator, Friday(Jan. 25) so unfetter yourself of the younguns, make up a good one about why you can't be playing canasta with Aunt Mergetreude, heck even drag her on over if she's a mind to. Just so's you get there. Here's a plan: right at the bottom of Rounds Avenue is a minimall with the Four Seasons southeast Asian restaurant in it. After you've had all the nime chow you can handle, head on across the street, picking up your favorite beverages at the packy on the corner of Rounds and Reservoir, then head on up the hill to #50 Rounds to where the action is. Showtime is 8 or 8:15ish, and we're usually done the second set by 11:00 ish. This is good clean family fare, and folks do bring their chilluns with them. Pack some snacks or a full blown picnic. Interstate 95 to exit 16, puts you on Rt 10 N. Go one exit to Rt 2 N, which is Reservoir Ave. At the end of the ramp, go left, and take the second right (right across from the Four Seasons/Job Lot minimall) Aim between the sign store and the liquor store on up Rounds Ave. Go thru one stop sign. It's in the middle of the next block on the right. Park on the street. We will have CDs of last winter's WRIU radio shows for sale. Hope you can wiggle free and keep us company. We are: Sandol Astrausky, Jerry Miller, Todne Texeira, Rory MacLeod, and Bob Zuck. Buzz us at 401 765 3735 or 789 4128 for more particklers, or e us here. P.S. We also start our concert series at the Providence Athenaeum on Fri. Feb 1. " from Hatfield McCoy Band........
Jan 19 living legend -- Luther "Guitar" Johnson -- traditional West Side Chicago Rhythm and Blues at Chan's in Woonsocket -- great fun in a great venue! Munch Beijung dumplings while listening to Blues!
Jan 18 "Rocky Hollow will be performing at the Blackstone River Theater in Cumberland, 8PM. Please join us! ... This is the first big gig for Rocky Hollow since we've reformed as a band. We sure would appreciate all your support. ...For more information about the show or directions to get there you can visit the web site at www.riverfolk.org. or call 401-725-9272. Hope we see you all there!!" Nance and Dick -- Rocky Hollow
Jan 19 Priscilla Herdman at Folk Song Society of Greater Boston -- and March 8, Pete Coe, March 23 Ricardo Frota - Brazil, and March 30 John Roberts
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