Folk in Arizona in April?

Subject: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: Irene M
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 02:32 PM

I will be in Arizona for the first 3 weeks of April 2009.
Are there any folkie gigs or regular get-togethers that I should know about?
I have this knack of being in the right area on the wrong day/week/month. I managed to miss Pierre Bensusan in Barre VT in 1987, and Dave Goulder in Blue Hill, ME in 1992, so watch this space!

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 11:32 AM

You might try getting onto Dolan Ellis' website at dolanellis.net and seeing what he has posted. Dolan is the "Official State Balladeer" of Arizona and has a lot of folk contacts in the region, including Travis Edmonson (Bud & Travis) and many others. Travis' website may also have some information at travisedmonson.com.

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: artbrooks
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 11:56 AM

Arizona is a big place. PM Desert Dancer in Tucson. This will get you to the Tucson Friends of Traditional Music site, which is current. Here is some Phoenix information, but I'd call before depending on it...I don't know how up-to-date it is.

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:41 AM

What part of Arizona will you be visiting? And what are your interests?

I'm in Tucson, and connected with the contra dance and related music scenes...

I'm afraid the TFTM site is not being well-maintained at the moment, so it doesn't have a good local calendar, and some of the links are out of date. But, the names of organizations may help you find current web info.

~ Becky from Tucson
in New Jersey at the moment, actually

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:49 AM

Isn't Travis Edmonson still very ill?

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: Irene M
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 02:57 PM

Becky,
Thanks.
We are flying in and out of Phoenix. After that it is fairly fluid, tho I prefer to stay off the Interstates. I was looking at a sort of loop over to Safford, up to Window Rock, Canyon De Chelly and Shiprock and back through the Res to the Payson area, with a mooch along the Rim area which I love.
Music?
I sing unaccompanied folk (more contemporary than trad),like Bluegrass, but can do without Blues.

Irene

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 04:15 PM

Travis is gravely ill. I was only referring to his still-active website, managed by others. As I was told, he had a lung cancer biopsy. The conclusion was that the lesion was operable, with a favorable outlook. However, air escaping from his lung began invading the rest of his body and causing severe swelling, creating a life-threatening situation and making the cancer surgery impossible for now. I have not yet learned whether his doctors were gaining control of this.

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:50 PM

Irene,

It'll be tricky to find things going on outside of the big 4: Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott (in descending order of size), which is not to say there isn't anything. In fact, I'm thinking that just recently I was surprised to see a note of someone recognizable performing in Safford, but not elsewhere... I'll see if I can dredge that up.

On the reservations there's likely to be even less of "unaccompanied contemporary folk", although bluegrass is a good bet.

...

I've retrieved the Safford event: Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble is going to be there next week. That doesn't help you, but they're being presented by the Gila Valley Arts Council, who have a schedule of other events.

This is a link to a pdf list of local Arizona arts agencies from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. That might get you to similar events in out of the way places, since Arts Commission funding helps the smaller communities bring artists in.

I originally found the Footworks event on the KXCI (Tucson community radio) web site. I'm not sure why they're listing things quite so far afield, but what the heck. They don't have any April events listed yet, but you can check there closer to your visit. KXCI Events Calendar.

Hope this helps!

~ Becky in Morristown (for now)

Subject: RE: Folk in Arizona in April?
From: Irene M
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 03:27 PM

Thank you so much Becky.