President’s Letter
Folknotes 5/15/26
Hello Everyone,
We are down to the last two Leo Coffeehouses with scheduled performers, and we are finishing the 2025/26 season strong. As usual, we have three great musical acts lined up to perform for us at Leo Coffeehouse this Sunday. If you can, join us. You’ll be happy you did.
Here's what's going on:
• Board Members/Elections
• Leo Coffeehouse, 5:00-9:00 PM, Sunday, May 17, 2026
• Looking Ahead: Leo Coffeehouse, 5:00-9:00 PM, Sunday, May 24, 2026
• Reference Information/QCB Membership (Below my sign off)
Board Members/Elections
All of our current QCB board members have committed to continuing as board members in 2026/27. We have a great team and I believe most QCB members would agree that QCB/Leo Coffeehouse is running strong.
We have not held elections for a number of years, mainly because elections generally indicate that more than one person is running for a position. The board members we have are the ones who have volunteered, or who have been recruited by other board members, for their positions, and they are the backbone of the many volunteers that make QCB/Leo Coffeehouse run.
That said, any QCB member is eligible to volunteer and run for one of the board positions. With this in mind, we are planning to hold an election this year sometime in June to reaffirm our current board members. If anyone would like to run for any of these positions, let me know.
Our election will be run via the internet. QCB members who paid for the 2025/26 season will receive an email with a link for the website to vote. I will provide more information on this in future Folknotes.
The current QCB Board Members/Positions are as follows:
• Neil Harrell, President
• Janice Alvarado, Vice President
• Sharon Riegler, Secretary
• John Mann, Treasurer
• Ed Riegler, Historian/Librarian,
• Kelli Domke, Outreach Coordinator
• Dick Males, Support Team Representative
Leo Coffeehouse, 5:00-9:00 PM
Sunday, May 17, 2026
5:00 PM Motown Singalong/jam led by Robin Roland
Not a performance, just a good time singing along to great songs from ’60s Motown. This is a stripped down, acoustic, unplugged version of Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations, Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke.
5:00 PM Song Circle/Jam-Downstairs
Anyone can bring songs to lead while others provide backup and harmony.
5:15 PM: Guitar Roundtable Workshop
Mike Helm leads this forum for players of any skill level to exchange ideas so we can all make better music together. Bring a question, share a tip. Learn a new lick or chord. Gain a new perspective, share your own with us. Enrich your guitar experience.
Performances 6:40 - 9:00 PM:
1st Set: John Fonner
You can often find John as Emcee for the Leo Coffeehouse but tonight he’s on the bill performing on tenor guitar with bassist, John Gardik. The music will include several original songs, and an eclectic mix of old country classics, mid-century gospel and odds and ends. Remember: if folks like it, it’s folk music.
2nd Set: W. Montys
A folksy acoustic get up in greater Cincinnati comprised of W. Brian Ferry, Denny Davis, Graham Hentschel, & BJ Johnson on guitar and harmonica, fiddle, tenor guitar, and mandolin respectively. They've played together for well over a decade as opportunities present themselves from barns to front porches, the Southgate House to Birdie's Coffee.
3rd Set: Mike Oberst
An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, old-time musician, and songwriter best known as a co-founder of the Cincinnati, Ohio old-time group, The Tillers.
Looking Ahead:
Leo Coffeehouse, 5:00-9:00 PM
Sunday, May 24, 2026
5:00 PM: Woody Guthrie Songbook led by Mark Dvorak
Woody Guthrie was America’s great folk ballad maker. His best songs, This Land Is Your Land and countless others - endure as living documents of the times in which he lived, and are still resonant in today’s world. This workshop session is for singers, instrumentalists and listeners. Chicago’s
Mark Dvorak has followed in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie as a musician, song writer, educator and community builder. He served as an integral member of the faculty at the venerable Old Town School of Folk Music for 31 years. He is currently the resident artist with Music & Potlucks, a non-profit organization committed to supporting our neighbors in need.
5:00 PM: Song Circle/Jam-Downstairs
Anyone can bring songs to lead while others provide backup and harmony.
Performances 6:40 - 9:00 PM:
1st Set: Cheryl McKinney And Creech’s Caravan
We travel to different places and times in music, celebrating some of the varied cultures of our vast world. Cheryl will be joined by Chris Bieri, Cynthia Barry McCarthy, David Johnson, Larry Sparrow and Richard Males.
2nd Set: Rupert Wates
Rupert Wates is a London-born, award-winning songwriter who signed an exclusive publishing deal with Eaton Music in the 1990s and has been writing full-time ever since. Since relocating to the U.S. in 2006, he has released eleven acclaimed full-length albums, earning airplay across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Israel, and Australia. His work has inspired over 50 songwriting awards and more than twenty cover recordings by other artists, including two full tribute albums recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles. Performing an average of 120 shows a year across North America and Europe, Wates continues to captivate audiences with his haunting, melodic brand of acoustic art-folk.
3rd Set: Mark Dvorak
Chicago’s “official troubadour”, Mark has performed in Finland, Canada, Ireland and almost all of the US. He has won awards for children’s music, journalism and was honored with the FARM Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance International.
That’s all for this Folknotes, I hope to see you soon.
Neil Harrell
President, Queen City Balladeers/Leo Coffeehouse
QCB/Leo Coffeehouse Membership
Annual QCB membership dues continue to be $20.00 for a family, or for a single person plus a guest. Membership gets you into every Leo Coffeehouse performance for a year. Where else can you get that kind of musical entertainment and camaraderie for that amount of money?
It really helps us out if you pay through the QCB website.
The easiest way to pay your dues for the 2025/26 season is via PayPal right here.
If you prefer to pay by check, click on the link above and print the membership form. Then mail the form and your check to Treasurer: John Mann, 6514 Meis Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45224.
To donate more than the $20.00 standard dues, you can do so by check, or here on 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.
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Reference Information/Links
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.