Tell me about Spencer Bohren

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 25 Sep 04 - 05:27 AM

Save me a ticket please Sooz. Best wishes.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 05:32 AM

Everything seems to work together for good at your Club Les....Be proud.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 05:26 AM

Sounds like I am promoting a music shop rather than a Folk Club :-)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 04:00 AM

You could also but a Mr and Mrs Sooz C/D if they bring some along...
Best wishes.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 01:07 AM

If you want tickets for Spencer Bohren, then come to Market Rasen Folk Club tonight and get them off Mr & Mrs Sooz. You will also be able to listen to Mr & Mrs Sooz (aka Stitherum) :-)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Sooz
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 10:21 AM

There's a great article about Spencer in our local paper today - hope it helps us sell lots of tickets.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 01:34 AM

Sooz
Have you got fliers to hand out at Market Rasen Folk Club this Friday - I hope so as he sounds really good and worth pushing at my place. Bring tickets with you.

I will go to see him.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 11:17 PM

daily refresh

Come on out, you Brits, and see my buddy Spencer at one of his UK shows this week.

If you can't make it to Yorkshire or Lincolnshire, listen for him on BBC radio Tuesday evening.

Details (including links to www.spencerbohren.com) above.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: PoppaGator
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 02:48 PM

refresh

(I'll try to keep this thread on the "1-day" display for about a week -- until the day of Spencer's final gig in England.)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Sooz
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 01:16 PM

Hear Spencer playing live on BBC Radio Lincolnshire on Tuesday 28th September at around 6.15pm. (94.9FM) Not on the net yet unfortunately.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 12:43 PM

Sorry about the geography error. I don't claim to know *anything* about that corner of Britain; all I did was copy the info from Spencer's website.

So, you can blame him! (Unless, of course, I copied incorrectly, in which case it's all my fault after all.)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 09:03 AM

Put me down as a definite maybe! :0)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 08:11 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Sooz
Date: 19 Sep 04 - 06:07 AM

Details of the gig:
Venue - Castle Hills Community Arts College Gainsborough DN21 1PY
Time - 8pm
Cost - £5

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 19 Sep 04 - 03:11 AM

Hey Poppagator, you almost started a Civil War here - Doncaster's in Yorkshire, not Lincolnshire! Yorkshiremen are very jealous guardians of their territory - considerable amounts of blood have been spilled over the years for lesser insults!! :0) ROFL!!

SJ (Still laughing!)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Sooz
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 12:20 PM

I've notice that as well - and no it wasn't a last minute booking. I'm furious trying to contact the guy who is organising the tour. More news as soon as I get it.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: PoppaGator
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 10:12 AM

Kat --

Looks like this has turned into an almost-private conversation between the two of us, but hopefully folks in the area where Spencer is currently touring will read it and be intrigued!

Sooz --

Checking the "schedule" page of Spencer's website, I didn't see any listing for the 29th. After four stops around North Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire over the coming week, he's at The Farm in Skegness, Lincolnshire on Sunday 9/29 and then at the Doncaster Golf Club (also Lincolnshire) on Saturday 10/2.

Was your gig a last-minute booking, perhaps? At any rate, whether or not you can be added to the schedule on *his* site, you could certainly provide some more details for us *here* (i.e., name and address of the venue, time, etc.)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Sep 04 - 06:32 PM

Thanks, Poppagator. I knew that about Marilyn birthing babies, but not the other. That's terrific! I was ver impressed by her when I visited her in Casper that one time.

Thanks for the clarification, too. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't misunderstood.:-)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: PoppaGator
Date: 17 Sep 04 - 06:28 PM

No, I wasn't quoting you, Kat -- I just used quote marks to indicate a common expression. Their kids and mine kids know each other but grew up separately, as the Bohrens lived on the road for so many years. Looking back now, I can see how I might have let myself be easily misunderstood. (Not the first time!)

I'm pretty sure that Marilyn and Spencer are both from Wyoming and may even both be from Casper -- they certainly arrived in New Orleans together -- so *they* may well have "grown up together."

Incidentally, in addition to her experience as a musican's manager and as a schoolteacher -- she is certified to work in the school system now, after many years as a home-schooler -- Marilyn is also a licensed midwife and has delivered many many babies!

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Sep 04 - 04:52 PM

Hmm, Poppagator, thanks for the more detailed info on Spencer. I'd never heard as much when in Casper. ( BTW, I hope you weren't quoting me about the "growing up together" as I don't think I said anything about that.:-)

Also, I guess I was confused. I did visit Spencer's wife, one-time, at their home in Casper, sometime in the mid-90's at which time they were selling that house and moving to New Orleans. It doesn't really matter; I just had the impression they'd been in the Casper house for awhile.

I think just about anything that family set their minds to would be successful, from what I saw of his brother, Dale, and from what I've always heard about their mom. I am glad to hear that Spencer is doing so well.

Thanks, again,

kat

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: PoppaGator
Date: 17 Sep 04 - 01:49 PM

Spencer's website, referenced by katlaughing (above), should tell you most of what you need to know. He puts on a solo folk/blues/gospel act featuring his very impressive collection of guitars (acoustic boxes plus a couple of rare and beautiful electric lap-steel instruments). If he is in an area where he's played for years, he usually brings one or two local guest artists onstage to perform with him.

We've known each other for years, having both relocated to New Orleans from elsewhere back in the 70s. Our wives are very close friends (moreso than he and I, actually), and our kids are about the same ages and know each other also.

The kids did NOT, however, "grow up together," because for years the Bohrens enjoyed such an unusual and enviable lifestyle, touring North America full-time in a '57 Chevy towing a vintage Airstream trailer. The two oldest kids never attended "regular" school but were home-schooled in the trailer. The younger kids transferred from home schooling to New Orleans schools several years ago, when the family quit the road and began living in New Orleans full-time after years of just using the city as a "home base."

Spencer has actually become more popular/successful in Europe (especially Scandinavia) than here in the States, so he's cut back on domestic touring and begun to concentrate more on periodic trips across the pond.

It might be an exaggeration to say that Spencer has been so successful as a musician that he's *never* had a day job, but I know that he has had very little work experience outside music. A few years ago, he began to get scared that he'd have to start making a living at age 50, at some unknown new career for which he was not at all prepared.

Fortunately, it was right about then that he got his first gig on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" NPR radio program, which pretty much rejuvenated his career. Keillor really likes him, has asked him back to appear more frequently than just about any other musical guest, arranged for remote broadcasts from Casper WY featuring Spencer with his mother and family and from New Orleans where Spencer not only played but also helped decide which other artists to book.

One other little note of interest to you UK folkies: When Martin Simpson spent a few months here in New Orleans a year or two ago, he and Spencer spent a lot of time playing together. I don't think any recording came out of their collaboration, but I mention this as (a) an endorsement and (b) a hint that these two guys found a good deal of common ground.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Sooz
Date: 17 Sep 04 - 02:32 AM

Thanks - our gig is on 29th September. Hope we get a good crowd!

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 07:01 PM

ou can read all about him and listen to mp3's at his website here.

He grew up in Casper, WY where we used to live. I knew his brother, Dale, pretty well, helped him out in the office when he was manager of the symphony and later he offered me a job at the Chamber of Commerce! Dale now owns and runs a great little newspaper there called the Casper Journal which just recently ran an article about yours truly.:-)

They come from a great musical family and performed together, along with their mother, on stage in Laramie, WY with Garrison Keillor. Spencer's music is not to my taste, but a lot of people really love his stuff and his delivery.

Spencer's wife is a really sweet person who has done a LOT over the years to promote him and his music. Their children are equally talented. It was Casper's loss, imo, when they removed to New Orleans. They've been on my mind this week of *hurry-caynz* down there!

Have fun and if you get a chance tell him "Yee-Haw" from ol' Wyomin'!

kat (Kat LaFrance)

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 05:49 PM

By coincidence I saw Spencer Bohren at Grouchos Lounge in Lyness's Bar at Rich Hill, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland on Tuesday evening (14th September 2004). Although there were little more than a dozen people (it is a small venue and has only recently started to hist musical events) there he performed as if there were 70000 people (he told me in conversation later has appeared before a crowd of that size). He did a mixture of blues, gospel, traditional folk, etc, and I can highly recommend him.

Subject: RE: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Mark Ross
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 04:24 PM

Great bluesman and showman! Met him when he was touring Montana 15 years ago. He's definitely worth seeing.

Mark Ross

Subject: Tell me about Spencer Bohren
From: Sooz
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 02:33 AM

Spencer is touring Lincolnshire very soon and not many people have heard of him. What do we tell people so they come to his concerts?