Here is my folk enews for the rest of February. Lots of cool stuff is going on and lots of “this and that” are at the end of this blog. Thanks to all my loyal readers for keeping me up to date!
Good Eats & Good Tunes in Bernalillo, Feb. 16
The Sandia Hots are back at the Range Cafe on the main drag in Bernalillo, New Mexico, about 15 miles north of Albuquerque and 45 miles south of Santa Fe, just off I-25. You’re all invited to join the band on Thursday night, February 16th, from 7PM until 9PM. Great food, good company and live music played by your friends. Sandia Hots are husband-and-wife teams Scott Mathis, Linda Askew, Liz Stevens, and Mike Gallagher.
Las Cruces Contra Dance, Friday, Feb. 17
Lonnie, Lewis, Cynthia (aka Chole), and Sam, Cynthia’s soon-to-be father-in-law, will be giving the introductory lessons, briefly teaching each dance and calling with music provided by the SNMMDS HOUSE BAND. 7:30-10:30 pm. The theme is “Red Hearts” Contra dance, a colorful dance with 4, count ’em, 4 contra callers. Theme is RED, RED, RED, so check your closets. Newcomer lessons start at 7:30 pm — come early and help the first-timers or get a refresher. NEW SPACE: Las Cruces has a WOODEN DANCE FLOOR again and stage for the band!!! The new location is: SAN ANDRES LEARNING CENTER GYM, 2355 Avenida De Mesilla / S. Highway 28, Las Cruces (Mesilla). It is on the main street going through Mesilla and 5 blocks east of the Old Mesilla Community Center where we danced for 15 years, very easy to find. DIRECTIONS: I-10 exit 140, Avenida De Mesilla, go west exactly 1.1 miles to Mesilla. There is a brown “Historic Mesilla Plaza –> ” sign in front of the building. Turn left (east) BEFORE you pass this sign and park in back, entrance in back. (Note: the new Mesilla Town Hall & Visitors Center is next door, so there is loads of parking.) For a map, go to web: http://www.zianet.com/lcludeman/contra/map.htm Also, I-10 exit 142 W. University, go west to Hwy 28, turn right, go past school to north end, turn right and park in back.
The January Las Cruces dance was the largest in history, 68 dancers plus 8 musicians and callers. Amazingly, at least 50 were there at 7:30 to help 22 newcomers get off to a great dance start. They also had Pete and Sue from Kansas and 2 other contra dance gypsies passing through and dancing with them. They filled the dance hall completely and the “down the hall four in line” became eight in line, a sea of faces flowing to the music.
Albuquerque Contra Dance, Saturday, Feb. 18
Santa Fe’s Chris Kelly is calling and Megaband is playing. 8-11 p.m., acoustic jam at 7 p.m.; newcomers class at 7:30. Albuquerque Square Dance Center, 4909 Hawkins NE, one full block west of I-25 and 1/2 block north of Ellison. See www.asdc.org for directions. $5 members, $6 others. Here’s Chris’ dance bio for your enjoyment: “Chris Kelly loves to dance and to make dancing fun for others. She has been calling for contradances, weddings, schools, dance weekends, and camps since 1995 in Austin, throughout Texas, and in Arkansas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Michigan, California, and British Columbia. Her past professional work includes writing and the corporate management of technical writers. She’s still called on to write and edit speeches, textbooks, memoirs, screenplays, and to teach writing classes, and she is currently in the process of editing a book of her own contradances. Before her five children were born, she taught preschool, first grade, literacy and ESL classes, and was director of two private schools in Dallas. She regularly teaches contradance classes and seminars that teach adults to teach dancing, for the Austin Waldorf School, Down Home Ranch, Pioneer Farms, the Kodaly Music Teachers Conference, Austin Children’s Choir, as well as calling several contradances each month. She now lives with her family in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and teaches Grade Three at the Santa Fe Waldorf School.”
FOLKMADS Board Meeting, Sat., Feb. 18, 4-6 p.m.
Board meeting is at Scott and Linda’s house, 1116 Columbia NE, Albuquerque. All are welcome!
Free Albuq. Concert, Feb. 18
If you can’t dance, Elliott Rogers, Wayne Shrubsall, and Janice Rogers are playing a free concert at Solid Grounds Feb.18th, 6:30 p.m. Located in the Lower Worship Area of the St. Stephens Church, 4601 Juan Tabo NE , Albuquerque, NM 87111, (505) 293-9673 Ext. 111, solidgrounds@ssumc.com
Another ABQ Concert, Feb. 18 & 19
Baroque Music concert of Bach, Telemann, Corelli, Marais performed on period instruments. Albuquerque concert is Sat., Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m., Los Altos Christian Church, 11900 Haines NE. Corrales concert is Sun., Feb. 19, 3 p.m., Historic Old San Ysidro Church, just off Corrales Road on Old Church Road. $12 general admission, $10 seniors (62+), $5 students. Call 255-7089 for reservations. See also www.unm.edu/~sbpatric
Taos Contra Dance, Saturday, Feb. 18
Rejoice, and get ready your dancing shoes and outfits for Saturday, Feb. 18!! We have secured the “elegant and spacious” dancing-room of the San Geronimo Lodge for this month’s regular dance! By the San Geronimo’s rules, we must be finished by 10, so we’ll start the music — and dancing — at 7 p.m., rather than 7:30. No driving ten miles or more, up to the wilds of Arroyo Seco, when you’re not feeling well on a cold wintry night! The musicians have been learning a few new tunes, and they’ll be dancing to those tunes and more. There was great music and dancing at the retirement party for longtime Taos fiddler and district court judge, the Honorable Peggy Nelson, a few weeks ago. “Hey!” people said, “This is fun! When do you do it! Where?” Right here, in New Mexico, all over!
ABQ Concert, Sun., Feb. 19
The Kennedys at The Windchime Champagne Gallery, 518 Central SW (Downtown)
7:30 PM
Even after ten years, over a thousand gigs and 500,000 miles of touring as a married, music-making couple, singer-guitarists Pete and Maura Kennedy still like each other. The duo savors each instance in life and in each others’ company, and it shows in their music. Their first gig together was in the Beatles’ hometown of Liverpool, England, as part of Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra. With a shared love for the roots of American rock ‘n’ roll, and a passion for British pop from the Fab Four to Fairport Convention, Pete and Maura Kennedy have brought their wide-ranging influences together for a fresh contemporary pop sound. Visit www.abqmusic.com for details.
Taos Concert, Sun., Feb. 19
Radio Free Bassanda!
Music from the Mediterranean, Near East and Balkans at the Adobe Bar in the Taos Inn
Sunday, February, 19th, 6:30-9:30pm
Radio Free Bassanda! was founded by Roger Landes, Mason Brown and Chipper Thompson out of a shared interest in the various modal musics from around the Mediterranean, the Middle & Near East, and the Balkans. Modal music is one of the oldest types of music, while remaining the dominant musical language in many parts of the world. Modal musics emphasize melody and rhythm rather than harmony and they invariably contain a great deal of improvisation and spontaneous invention. It is helpful to visualize western musics, because of their fascination with harmony, as vertical, sky-grasping structures built of sound ? like a Gothic cathedral ? a technique often called ?architonics.? Modal musics, however, are mostly horizontal in nature. They are highly ornate, much like the designs adorning a mosque or an eastern orthodox church. Roger Landes: plucked string instruments Arabic Oud (lute), Arabic Buzuq, Turkish Lavta, Irish bouzouki, Greek Laouto. Mason Brown: bowed strings, bass Viola da Gamba, and the smaller Pardessus viol. Chipper Thompson: percussion, Arabic Dumbeq and Riqq, Turkish Darabukka, Persian Zarb, Be Wright: Double Bass. For more information contact: Lisa Wright at: 505.758.7095, or: ljthered@taosnet.com
4th Santa Fe Contra Dance, Saturday, Feb. 25
Contra Dance in Santa Fe happens Saturday, Feb. 25, 8 p.m. -11 p.m., IOOF Hall, 1125 Cerrillos Rd., Open Mic for callers and SF Megaband playing. $5 members, $6 others. Instruction at 7:30 p.m. And for those of you who drive up to Trader Joe’s in Santa Fe to shop for dark chocolate-covered ginger, Albuquerque’s Trader Joe’s is set to open on March 10. It’s on Paseo del Norte about 2 stoplights east of I-25 at Ventura.
4th Sunday Contra Dance, Albuq., Feb. 26
Artie Walsh and friends calling, Cypher (Juli Palladino and friends) playing. 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Lloyd Shaw Dance Center, 5506 Coal SE (2 blocks south of Central, 1.5 blocks east of San Mateo). $5 all. Call Artie for more info: 332-3737 (new number!).
This & That
Planning Ahead: Ken and Jeanie of Bayou Seco fame are looking forward to playing the March 4 and 25 dances with Scott and Linda in ABQ and SF. Also on the 3rd of March they are doing a (Post) Mardi Gras Party with other Bayou Seco members -also know as Jasper – Terry Bluhm, Jefferson Voorhees and Frank McCullough at Harlow’s on the Hill on Nob Hill. $5 cover, 9-12 PM. Prizes for the best costumes. Jeanie writes, “We were very sad to hear about Mike Smith. He came over here January 7 when Scott and Linda were visiting, and we had a great night of music. We were so looking forward to him being in the Silver City community. He and Cate had just bought a house here.”
Mike Smith Report: Laura Hebenstreit sent me a report on Mike Smith’s Celebration of Life on February 4 in Tucson. She writes, “There was a very well-attended memorial celebrating the life and person of Mike Smith in Tucson just before the contra dance at O’Malleys. Buz and I attended, and there were people who had come from everywhere (including Alaska) to play music, remember, support each other, and honor a man badly missed. I was unaware that he was a master craftsman in wood – there was a slide show of his youth, some of his wood creations (including an incredible spiral staircase), and many photos and some video of music scenes. Multiple people from different circles in his life provided memories and stories. Music was provided by harp players, then Trim the Velvet and Round the House. There was a notebook for memories and tributes to be written, and a compilation of sympathetic and supportive emails. It was a celebratory atmosphere and toward the end, all the musicians were called up to the stage. The room rocked and a group of children from a local school of Irish dance demonstrated their light-footedness and expertise! It was quite a tribute. They had kind of settled on having the new guitar player join them before all this happened since Mike and Cate were planning to move to Silver City. The remaining band played alone for a while, and Claire sang a very clear and soulful tune. After a few songs they brought out the new guitar player (can’t remember his name) and introduced him. He had previously had the opportunity to play with Mike and appreciated learning from him, shared some memories and a song that he played by himself in Mike’s honor. It is interesting that you felt your dance atmosphere on February 4 was charmed, as there was a strong music family affection coming out of Tucson that night.”
Gene Hubert Very Ill: Famous caller and dance choreographer Gene Hubert and wife Jenny were married 5 years ago and have a little boy who is 4 or so. Gene and Jenny live in Durham, NC and have not been out and about in the dance world as much since becoming parents. Gene has been ill and the Huberts got the diagnosis last week: Gene has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. This is a most difficult time for them and they need our prayers, thinking of you cards, etc. We all wish we knew what to say…send love, send messages, send whatever healing energy you can muster, dance Gene’s dances with joy and good thoughts. Gene and Jenny’s address is: 1001 Goodwin Road, Durham, NC 27712.
Roger Landes Classes: Well-known musician and organizer Roger Landes is happy to hear from those of you who might be interested in private lessons or participating in a workshop. He has a new website and invites you all to take a look at it and let him know what you think: http://rogerlandes.com It has an “Instruction” page. There you will find information on possible workshop topics. Please don’t hesitate to email or call him for more information.
Folk Harp Needed: A Vermont musician is looking for a small folk harp to rent for March
and April 2006. She will be in Taos – can’t get to Albuquerque, but can get to Santa Fe. Any ideas? If so, email Joan Shimer at shimer@VALLEY.NET
Folk Bloggers Wanted: Are you learning to like blogging? FOLKMADS web mistress Jane Phillips just set up a cool FOLMADS blog. http://folkmadsroadtrips.blogspot.com/ Any FOLKMADS dancer, musician or member who wants to post a tale of travelling to dance, play, listen or otherwise experience another community is welcome to do so. Contact Jane at heyjane@yahoo.com for details on how to post an entry. Come on, all you budding writers, once you blog, there’s no going back!
Remember that www.folkmads.org has calendars and info on FOLKMADS events. FolkMadness Camp registration for Memorial Day weekend is open! Don’t miss this smashing combination of contra, English country and waltz workshops with some of the nation’s finest dance musicians and leaders. Let me know of events to list for March by February 28.
Thanks,
Merri Rudd
Albuquerque, NM
www.merridancing.com