President’s Letter
Folknotes 10/24/24
Hello Everyone,
Here’s the latest QCB news:
WoodSongs Hurricane Helene Instrument Drive
Old Time Jam
Leo Coffeehouse, Sunday, October 27, 2024
Looking Ahead, Leo Coffeehouse, Sunday, November 3, 2024
Reference Information For New Subscribers (Below my sign off)
WoodSongs Hurricane Helene
Instrument Drive
I’m going to leave this up for a while as a reminder.
Michael Johnathon and WoodSongs are once again collecting musical instruments to help the musician victims of another natural disaster.
From the WoodSongs website:
“The area around Asheville NC and east Tennessee is rich with musical heritage. With your help, WoodSongs will collect and deliver over 1000 FREE instruments to the musicians of the mountains who lost everything in the storms and help restore the music of the front porches of Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
“We were very successful organizing instrument drives for tornado victims in western Kentucky and again for the flood victims of the mountains. Nearly 2000 instruments were collected, restored and delivered absolutely FREE to the musicians who needed them.”
If any QCB member has a playable, good condition instrument that they would like to donate, bring it to Leo Coffeehouse on a Sunday night and hand it off to Neil Harrell or Janice Alvarado. We will deliver all donated instruments to Lexington. WoodSong volunteers will then deliver them, along with donated instruments from other areas, to Tennessee and North Carolina musicians. Find more information here.
Old Time Jam
I thought that I would add a little promo for the old time jam that is scheduled for this Sunday. I know, we have two jams this night, but if you would like to discover some old songs that don’t always get performed at our regular jam/song circle downstairs, the old time jam is a good place to be.
The old time jam is similar to our regular jam/song circle, except the songs performed date back before the folk revival, generally from the 1950s back. Of course some of these old tunes were later covered by folk, and other, musicians in the 1960s and beyond, but there are a lot that were not. Paraphrasing our friend Dennis Allen, a lot of these old tunes don’t get played anymore, but they should be.
Join us on the second floor for our old time jam.
Leo Coffeehouse
Sunday, October 27, 2024
5:15 PM: Old Time Jam
Join this song circle to lead and play along to old songs written before the folk revival.
5:15 PM: Open Jam
Anyone can bring songs to lead in the circle while others provide backup and harmony.
Performances: 6:40 - 9:00 PM
1st Set: Cerone Brothers
Three brothers from Milford who have been studying classical music since they were 2, 4 and 5 years old. Rhys (16) plays the piano, Beckett (14) plays classical guitar and Tennyson (13) plays piano and classical guitar. They have played in a variety of venues in OH, MI, IL, CT and NY including the Nature Center, Caffe Vivace, Longway Planetarium ( MI), One World Observatory (NYC) and Carnegie Hall.
2nd Set: Dynamic Duo
Pianist Al Wauligman and guitarist John Mann specialize in playing for seniors. They reach their audiences with songs to connect and promote good times. They also are accompanists for the Dunham Choraliers, a senior choir which performs throughout the city. In addition, they play for young people through the Stepping Stones program.
3rd Set: Ricky Nye
Traditional blues, boogie-woogie, classic New Orleans jazz and R&B all come flying from the fingers of this Cincinnati pianist and vocalist. Numerous awards and inducted into the International Boogie Woogie Hall Of Fame! His new CD is called "The Vevay Sessions"
Looking Ahead: Leo Coffeehouse
Sunday, November 3, 2024
3:00 PM: 1st Sunday Rise Up Singing
Tell all your friends and bring the kids! Everyone picks songs from Rise Up Singing and Rise Again song books which are available to purchase or to use in the circle. The incredible Al Wauligman will lead us on the piano.
5:15 PM: Open Jam
Anyone can bring songs to lead in the circle while others provide backup and harmony.
Performances, 6:40 - 9:00 PM:
1st Set: Laurelview Ramblers
This trio of old-time musicians includes Jeff Gushin, fiddle, mandolin, and vocals, Mike Boerschig, guitar and vocals, Jeff Custis, banjo, fiddle and vocals, and Rob Kranz on bass. They perform an assortment of traditional American music from the Civil War era up through the “golden” string band era of the 1920s and some contemporary folk songs. Throw in some ragtime and jug band music and you have the Laurelview Ramblers.
2nd Set: Greg Schaber
Bluesy, rootsy, swingin, good, original music! An accomplished, award-winning blues guitarist—in styles from deep delta bottleneck guitar to the lighter, countrified finger picking of the North Carolina Piedmont—Greg plays the old sounds with unparalleled conviction and skill. Chris Warner will join Greg on the bass. gregschaber.com
3rd Set: Raison D’Etre
Violet Rae Webster, Vickie Ellis, and Roberta Schultz are three women who live to sing together. According to Mike Breen of Cincinnati CityBeat, the folk trio offers "some of the finest three-part harmony singing you'll likely ever hear." You can expect traditional folk songs, a capella swing tunes, and cowboy anthems, all delivered in their pure Kentucky blend.
https://raison3.com/
That’s all for this Folknotes, I hope to see you soon.
Neil Harrell
President, Queen City Balladeers/Leo Coffeehouse
Facebook:
QCB/Leo Coffeehouse Membership
We are keeping our standard annual QCB membership dues at $20.00 for a family, or for a single person plus a guest. Last year, knowing that the pandemic cut into our contingency funds, as we continued to pay overhead expenses with no income, some members donated larger amounts to QCB. We very much appreciate the support of all QCB members at all levels.
We are exploring setting up our website to allow the payment of different levels of dues support. For now, if you’d like to pay the standard dues, you can pay them online here or by a check at Leo. (We’ve discontinued our P.O. Box, I will have a mailing address in the next newsletter for those who wish to mail their membership dues.)
If you would like to donate more than the $20.00 standard dues, you can do so by check, or through our website. When you get to the page with the box to relay instructions, just note that you are paying a larger amount for your dues.
For visitors who prefer not to become a member, a donation of $5.00 (cash) per person helps us pay the rent for our non-profit organization. Donations can be slipped in the box at the welcome table outside our performance room, Founders Hall. If you can’t afford that, pay what you can afford or nothing at all. We will welcome you to join us either way.