Folk Music notes – October 10
Hi folks,
Thanks to everyone who attended last weekend’s concert with Lou & Peter Berryman. It was a another outstanding evening and we enjoyed seeing so many new and old friends! Our next concert features Cheryl Wheeler and special guest Miche Fambro and will take place on Saturday November 7 at the FairLawn Community Center. Tickets are now onsale at www.hurdygurdyfolk.org. This is a great opportunity to share the music of one of our finest singer-songwriters in the intimate and comfortable space in our theater at the FLCC!! Great parking, great prices, great times!!
Thanks to everyone who recently signed up to become members of the Hurdy Gurdy. Remember, you can sign up at anytime and save $$ on tickets for concerts, receive a newsletter that is mailed to your home, and most important – know that you are helping to support live acoustic music right in your own backyard! Thanks!!
Here are some headlines from the world of folk music:
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Joan Baez will be the subject of a documentary that will air on the PBS series “American Masters”. The first broadcast will be this coming Wednesday, Oct 14. Check your local listings for times.
The documentary “Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound” will explore over fifty years of work and life of folk legend and human rights activist Joan Baez . Rare archival footage will include Joan’s performances at Newport, performing at Boston’s Club 47, marching with Martin Luther King, hercontroversial trip to Hanoi, right up to her current performances and work in the struggles for human rights.
Also included will be candid interviews with David Crosby, Bob Dylan, ex-husband David Harris, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Roger McGuinn, Steve Earle and more.
In addition, a companion CD and DVD (with additional footage and interviews) will be released on October 14th by Razor & Tie.
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One of the more curious CD’s of the year will be released on October 13 when Bob Dylan’s “Christmas in the Heart” hits stores. Yes, the man who was born Robert Zimmerman has recorded a CD of holiday standards. We will be “treated” to Dylan singing such classics as “Winter Wonderland”, “Here Comes Santa Claus”, “Silver Bells”, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and his crooning of the Nat King Cole standard “The Christmas Song”. This and much more.
As of this writing, I have not heard the CD and cannot pass judgement, but it should be noted
that this recording was made for charity.
All of the artist’s U.S. royalties from sales of these recordings will be donated to Feeding America <http://www.feedingamerica.org/, guaranteeing that more than four million meals will be provided to morethan 1.4 million people in need in this country during this year’sholiday season.
Bob Dylan is also donating all of his future U.S.royalties from this album to Feeding
America in perpetuity.Additionally, the artist is partnering with two internationalcharities to provide meals during the holidays for millions in need inthe United Kingdom and the developing world, and will be donating all of his future international royalties from Christmas In The Heart to those organizations in perpetuity.
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Musician, singer, anthropologist and musical historian, Mick Moloney celebrates the joyous and creative era in American popular song from the early 1890’s to the end of vaudeville and the start of the Great Depression on his new release If It Wasn’t For the Irish and the Jews. Each of the album’s 14 tracks is notable for having been created in a collaboration between Irish and Jewish lyricists and composers. Irish/Jewish Tin Pan Alley collaborations were commonplace in the heyday of vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley, and, though there were the usual business break-ups and make-ups, these collaborations represent a charming story of decades of good natured ethnic flux, competition and cooperation which left a lasting imprint on the history of American popular music. The end result is a fascinating and highly entertaining look at a historically critical point in American music.
The CD release party will take place on Saturday October 24th at Symphony Space in NYC. Mick Moloney will perform with guest artists including Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Liz Hanley, John Roberts, Billy McComiskey, Susan KcKeown, Nial O’Leary, Donna Long, Jerry O’Sullivan and more.
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Traditional music fans rejoice! Next weekend, October 16-18, the 2009 Eisteddfod Festival will be held in Catskill, NY. Hurdy Gurdy members can purchase tickets at a discount! I will be attending as the emcee on Friday night and I will be hosting two workshops during the weekend event.
The 2009 Eisteddfod is a fun-filled weekend of traditionalfolk/roots music which will be held at the Friar Tuck Inn in Catskill, NewYork. The Hudson Valley community isinvited to enjoy 38 outstanding performers in 40 workshops and three concerts,plus an open mike, late night singing, a contra dance. You can come for a concert, a day, or register at the hotel for the weekend and enjoy convenient hotel rooms and all the informal socializing and music making, plus good food, an indoor pool, ping-pong, game room, and more.
Some ofthe performers are:
They run The Vanaver Caravan, a dance troupe, and will lead a participatory folk dance workshop Sunday morning.
* Woodstock’s Happy Traum was a part of the legendary Greenwich Village folk scene of the 50s and `60s. Since then he has performed extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan, both as a soloist and as a member of various groups. He is an integral part of the “Woodstock Scene” and his series of teaching videos is acknowledged world wide.
* Montréal’s Claire Boucher is a native of Sarzeau, on the Presqu’Ile de Rhuys in southern Brittany, the Celtic region of France. She sings traditional songs in French and Breton, a Gaelic language similar to Welsh. Claire also teaches traditional dances from her region.
* Montréal’s Olga Zaric is originally from Serbia. She sings traditional duet material from Brittany with Claire Boucher and is a strong singer of a capella Serbian and Macedonian traditional music She speaksFrench, Spanish, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian.
* Rhode Island’s Paul Geremia has built a reputation as a first rate bluesman, songwriter, a “scholar” of early jazz and blues, and one of the best country blues fingerpickers ever with his tools – six and twelve-string guitars, harmonica, piano and a husky soulful voice.
* Grandview’s Sonja Savig learned her songs from her Norwegian parents. Her repertoire contains old medieval ballads, newer folk songs from rural traditions, and even written songs by well known composers.
* Albany’s John Roberts is a superb English singer who plays banjo, guitar, concertina, and hurdy-gurdy, as well as being a fine musicologist and music editor.
* And 30 others ranging among all the American and British traditions: Southern Mountain music, Sea Music, Blues, Gospel, Irish-American, Work Songs, urban folksongs, and many more.
The event is sponsored by the Folk Music Society of New York, with support of a number of other folk music organizations including the Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club. Eisteddfod is combined with the Folk Music Society’s FallWeekend.
See the website www.eisteddfod-ny.org for a full listing and to purchase tickets. I will present a “sneak preview” on my radio show this Sunday at 4pm – or you can listen via our archive at
www.wfdu.fm . Remember, members of the Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club can purchase tickets at a discount.
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That’s all for now! Hope to see you soon! Don’t forget – the next Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club Concert will take place on Saturday November 7th when we present Cheryl Wheeler and Miche Fambro. Cheryl was a favorite at the Hurdy Gurdy at previous performances in our old Paramus home. We look forward to sharing her brilliant songs and gorgeous voice on the stage at
the Fair Lawn Community Center. Opening the evening will be Miche Fambro, an incredible guitarist and singeer/songwriter who will leave you speechless with his jaw-dropping talent! Don’t miss this night in Fair Lawn! Get your tickets today – they will go fast! For more information visit our website at www.hurdygurdyfolk.org !