Hi Everyone, I'd like to let you all know about a wonderful concert happening December 1, 1999. It will be a great opportunity to see Pete Seeger, Stephen Wade, Christine Balfa and many other listed below at a fabulous venue and to contribute to a new fund to benefit folk and traditional performers. In the concert we're presenting a variety of performers who have used our archive and resources, contributed to our collections, and/or are represented in the AFC's collections. The State Theatre is a fabulous space for music performance. The accoustics are great, the food is great, and you can buy beer! The State Theatre was a deco movie palace and has been lovingly converted into a musical venue. Alot of the original deco design is still present, but it's been renovated beautifully. The balcony holds 218 in original theater seats and the sound is the best up there. The ground floor has two levels of wood floor that can be cleared for dancing, although in our case the floor will be used for seating 300. The performances will take place on what was the movie stage. The owners have installed custom sound and lighting equipment as well. Here's the full description:

Henry Reed Fund Benefit Concert

This benefit concert is to establish a gift fund named for West Virginia Fiddler Henry Reed (1884-1968). The fund's purpose is to financially assist folk and traditional artists with research projects in the American Folklife Center's Archive of Folk Culture or to support artists' performance here at the Library of Congress. The concert is being sponsored by the American Folklife Center, The Folk Alliance, and the Folklore Society of Greater Washington.

The concert is scheduled for Wednesday, December 1, 1999 at the beautiful State Theatre, 220 Washington Street, Falls Church, Virginia.(www.thestatetheatre.com) All proceeds from the concert will be applied to the Henry Reed Fund. Tickets are $25.00 and are available for purchase through the Folk Alliance Web Site (www.folk.org) and by phone at 202-835-3655. Tickets will also be available at the door of the State Theater. The show will start at 7:30 pm and probably run 2 hours. The State Theatre has four full-service bars, one serving the balcony area and three on the main floor. Dinner can be ordered on the main level during the show. Lighter snacks can be ordered at the balcony bar. The State Theatre's web site has driving directions and great information about parking nearby.

Each performer or group of performers will do a set of around 15 minutes, capped by a finale to include everyone. Performing will be the following:

*Pete Seeger (collector, researcher, activist and performer) and grandson Tao Rodriguez

*Several members of the Henry Reed family will be in attendance and will play in a set with *Alan Jabbour. Henry Reed was Alan's fiddle mentor.

* Christine Balfa and Dirk Powell will play a set with *Geno Delafose

* Hazel Dickens will sing with *Dudley Connell, who will also play guitar.

* Stephen Wade is a folk music researcher, musician,author and performer of "Banjo Dancing", and editor of the album "A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings". In addition to a solo set, he will accompany Alan Jabbour and the Henry Reed Family's set.

* Prophecy is a 6-member male gospel group that sings quartet-style gospel music. The group is made up of former policemen from the District of Columbia Police Force.

Hope to see you there! Thanks, Thea Austen American Folklife Center Library of Congress 202-707-1743 taus@loc.gov