Your band/act/talents.

Subject: Your band/act/talents.
From: Big Mick
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 01:14 AM

In a couple of threads, we have had folks indicate that they didn't want to be accused of self promotion. My intent in this thread is for 'Catters to tell us about their bands/acts/ and talents. Whatever you feel like saying..I will start.

I play in a band called the Conklin Ceili Band. The name is something of a misnomer as we play a lot more than ceili music. There are five of us in the band and between us we play the following: 6 string guitar, 12 string guitar, Irish bouzouki, mandolin, bodhran, fiddle, banjo, hammered dulcimer, 48 button concertina, bass and accordian. I sing the majority of the vocals, there is another singer who sings a considerable number of songs, and then the others fill one in here and there.

Our mandolin/bouzouki player is truly gifted as is the hammered dulcimer player. Mike and I sing very well together and put some great harmonies out. I am basically a fair rhythm player. I continue to perfect fingerstyle and flat picking techniques. I have a great sense of time. The members of our band play very well as an ensemble. We generally pack 'em in wherever we play. We play mostly in Michigan, with several gigs in the Northern Indiana/ Northern Ohio area.

Let's hear about your music.

Mick

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: SeanM
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 02:18 AM

Did somebody say shameless self promotion?!?

Me next! Me next!

Hi folks! I'm SeanM, of Smokey Knot and the Bollweevils (or The Barnacles, or whatever else we're calling ourselves.). I sing bass harmony and melody, as well as play pennywhistle, jawharp, jug, and hammer.

Our show tends to be comedic base with music. One or two of our songs get dolled up with a comedic treatment (Old Woman from Wexford, and Paddy on the Railway where the lead gets roasted), but we also do a fair amount of harmony work on a couple of numbers...

Our band numbers between 5 to 7 people, depending on the gig and who's available. Our rep is fairly shanty-heavy ('cause we like 'em) with other songs added for the gig... recently we played at the Sacramento Railfair, and we added several railway songs for that particular show.

We have two members who currently run solos, but noone really could be called a 'lead singer'... we trade vocals on several songs, and all of us sing on several others.

That's us... we play mostly Northern California, and the last few shows have specifically been as part of an event coordinator's 'core performers' group.

Next?

M

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: j0_77
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 02:23 AM

BEER BEER BEER
Been silent for a couple of years - three bands worthy note

Crn ONE- trad folk Harmonica -playing celtic reels hehe (me) -Autoharp, Guitar, Bodhrawwwwn, - plus Finger whacking Guitar (me) ...crowds went wild - band broke up by amazing Trad English Female Singer -looked as good as she sounded -very beautiful- internal arguements(guess how that all happened) early 80's.
TWO 4 piece 2 tenor banjos Guitar and Fiddle (me) Very bad to start but a great bar band in the end (all band members Irish) Gureat vocals 4 part harmonies. We sold a lot of beer :) Broke up over too much drinkin by some of the band.
THREE Mountain Music band Fiddle Guitar and Clawhammer Banjo(me) Would've made a pile of bucks cept the fiddler would not play where there was beer! Recent exploits - play the 10 key and make it sound better ...than all the rest- hehe. I notice there is sooo much err competition in Celtic ( being a player since before the flood ---of cd 's I mean) that people cannot see the wood for the money. I sat on a log in a festival playing 'the drunken landlady' on the 10 key while within earshot a fiddler and guitar crawled through another tune - at snails pace they then went into more fancy polkas (ouuu arnt we clever) I kept goin over the warmer- over and over. Had I been any where west of Paris or east of Clare at a festival there would have been a mighty session - I rest my case and practice bass- celtic is a class war here Mick -I need to wise up and get a blues band - play for the workers they pay better money.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 04:02 AM

I've described my band in the past--up to 11 members: three guitars, two five-string banjos, one autoharp, one mandolin, one keyboard (preferably real piano), one fiddle, and a couple who play nothing but sing harmony. I'm one of the banjos and I double on harmonica (I can also play guitar and autoharp, but don't, usually). Several of us sing leads or vocal solos, including me, and everyone sings harmony. Our fiddler, although he is quite good, doesn't think he's ready for public performances so our performing maximum size is 10. We play parties for food and drinks. Our ages range from 10 to 70, about half over 50. Our abilities vary greatly, but we sound pretty good--if we had an engineer we might be recordable on some of our numbers. We get together every Monday night, and tonight one of our two lead guitarists presented us with three great songs he had written (the lyrics, that is): two are to traditional tunes--"Over the Waterfall" used as a setting for a traditional style ballad of unrequited love--Charlie [the lyricist] sings AB and we play instrumentals breaks BA; "Dona Dona Dona," a beautiful Spanish California song not at all related to "Dona Dona," recorded by Joan Baez--these lyrics tell the story of a 19th century Mexican soldier; and a satirical anti-smoking song in the style of Tom Lehrer set to "Puff, the Magic Dragon." These are GOOD songs, maybe great songs. Their writer, Charlie, is the head of a small but successful law firm--but graduated from Duke University with a bachelor's degree in musicology before deciding on law.

None of us is a professional musician (Charlie played professionally when he was in college). Two of our members are professors at Cal: Dick, the other banjo player, is Regents professor of electrical engineering, and Walter, our piano player, is professor of geophysics and recently published a great narrative of his and his associates' discoveries which led to a theory suggesting that the dynosaurs died out suddenly after earth was struck by a large meteorite-- a highly entertaining read: T. Rex and the Crater of Doom. Our bass player, second or third youngest of our members--and father of our youngest, is an electronics and computer technician in the geology department at Cal. Our autoharp player is a retired Summer Session executive, our other lead guitarist owns a bicycle store, our mandolin player is an activist for the blind and volunteers in a variety of programs, I can't remember what the fiddler does (he's been gone a while; we used to have at that position a doctoral student whose PhD supervisor was the electrical engineering prof. When she got her degree she went to work in Silicon Valley and hasn't been able to make any more Monday nights). The two vocalists who don't play instruments in the group are the daughter of the bass player and the wife of the geophysics professor, who is herself director of a psychotherapy clinic. A very interesting group, as you can see--all except for me: I'm a retired teacher (I still teach in an independent studies program).

This is probably (certainly) a lot more than all of you wanted or needed to know about our amateur band. --seed

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 06:08 AM

Uh-oh, first solo act.

I bill myself as an "Entertainer in the Folk Tradition." What I mean by that is my focus is entertainment and my repertoire varies throughout several areas of "acoustic music". I play songs I have collected from local songwriters, from less well known national songwriters, and from the folk tradition. My set lists are usually heavily sprinkled with humorous songs.

I do gigs at a local coffee emporium where I am billed as a blues singer and my set list is all blues related.

I have a mellow baritone voice and I play 6 and 12 string guitar, both flat pick and fingerstyle. I am prone to do spoken introductions for all of my songs, but I have not yet achieved the folk ideal (to have the introduction be longer than the song).

I mostly take gigs as they come so I average 12 or 15 a year. I did go through a period where I was playing out 2 or 3 times a month. When I send my youngest off to college next year I plan to work towards that goal again. I have fantasies of making a CD in the next year or two as well.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: bbc
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 08:06 AM

Here's a plug for the profiles page. If you are a performer & want to share that info w/ other Mudcatters, ask us to do a personal profile page for you on bbc's Mudcat Resources site. It will have your photo, contact info, & whatever bio you want (within reason). Just a free service to support our community. It will also link to your homepage, if you have one. You don't *need* to be a performer, though; we'll do them for any 'catters. Check it out: Profiles

bbc

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Vixen
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 08:59 AM

Well, most all of you know I play in a double act with Tim, and we call ourselves VicTim. This is my first experience with musical performance, so I've only been "playing out" since March 97. Tim's been in bands since he was 11. Right now, he's performing in VicTim, Springwater (party band) and Shady Creek (strictly bluegrass). He plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and hammered dulcimer, and sings harmony and lead. I play guitar, recorder, and pennywhistle (learning flute and piano) and sing harmony and lead. We play Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music for some gigs, our originals (what we call contemporary folk) at others, and a mix of old-timey bluegrass, traditional folk, and specialty songs (like the WWII stuff y'all were so helpful with) at yet others. We keep busy!

V

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: WyoWoman
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 10:04 AM

When I win the lottery, or sell a novel or a screenplay, I want to travel around the world and sit in with everyone on Mudcat! One song with each band. It could be a life's work.

WW

(P.S. My talents: I sing and play a mean tambourine. Also whistle through my fingers, which is impressive when you're wanting to hail a cab...)

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 10:45 AM

Hi Mick, well I guess it was me who was antsy about self-promotion. I just think that mudcat has become a nice social part of my life, and as much as I hope I meet (almost) every "cat" at least once at some gig before I croak, I'm very loathe to plug those gigs here. However...since you asked.
I LOVE teaching folks how to play music! (probably more than performing) I was considered worse than hopless by a local guitar teacher when I was in my teens, and I know that didn't do much for my questionable self-esteem at the time. I've worked with so many people over the years that felt they were "unteachable" and watched their attitudes and skill level improve to where they've been able to know that special joy of making music. Sometimes it's hellishly difficult, - and they've got to trust that some of my seemingly bizarre approaches, will eventually pay off, but when the results come, it can be like a break through on the shrink's couch. (and a damn sight cheaper!)
Often they don't find themselves learning the same instrument that they came for (they will eventually) and are very reluctant to try and use their voice as part of the process, but I think trying to overcome self-conciousness (even for one hour a week in someone's basement) can be a huge step in the right direction. I try to make it fun, but truth be told, about once a year I encounter someone who just can't deal with my odd sense of humour. (which tries to de-mystefy those things that we can be shy about) You can't win 'em all, but by golly I try!

Rick (who didn't think Prof. Henry Higgins was a good teacher)

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Big Mick
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 10:49 AM

Posts like that are why I have come to love this man, and am proud to call him my friend. Got room for an extra student, Mister?

Mick

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Dave Swan
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 11:02 AM

Wyo Woman, I used to sing with a guy who would grab someone else's fingers and whistle through them! Got him women in droves.

Anyhow, my little band of idiots is resurrecting itself. Formed as way to trade beer for song, Oak Ash & Thorn lurched into being in 1974. I was made a partner in 1980 and through the 80's, when corporate money was big we played a lot of events. Busy seasons would see us doing three gigs a day. Came the 90's and personnel changes we hibernated for a while, but now we're booking jobs again and excited as can be. We're greatful that out friends Dick Holdstock and Alan McLeod have asked us to open the season at the castle Folk Club this year, it's a great shot in the arm for us. I hope that's not shameless self promotion, it's really a public thank you to Dick and Alan.

We do a cappella mostly (though we've got about 75 music hall songs in the rep), mostly British and American 1550-1850, mostly trad. very few art songs. We try to keep about 150 songs ready.

OAT was founded by three guys, swelled to five (so that we could always field at least three) and was billed as a four man trio for most of its life.

We're back to three for the time being. Two originals and the new kid, who's got 19 years on the job. I can't believe I've been lucky enough to sing with my best friends for this long.

We all play instruments offstage but keep them out of the act.

The name was a gift from a friend.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Llanfair
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 02:35 PM

I've always been able to sing, and discovered folk in my late teens. Learned enough guitar to accompany myself, and did quite a lot of gigs. Husband No 1 approved as long as I was making money. Didn't do much when I was a single parent with 2 young kids and a full time job, but taught guitar(3 chords) in a youth club. Husband No2 was tone deaf, and never understood what music was for!!!!! Started singing again 10 years ago, and met No 3.We played in a band called Dorian Grey...none of us looked our ages!! We mostly did Folk Rock. Jim plays Bass. Now we run a music night once a month, do the odd gig with Simon, who does blues. I like to sing slow ones, some acapella, some Steeleye Span and Fairport. I also do the noisy ones that the local people like. The Bass adds a wonderful dimension. I sing what I like, and can do a whole set when needed all by myself. Other skills... I can cook, maintain an organic garden, drive a narrowboat, craftwork? no problem. Thank goodness I now work part-time!!!!!!!!!! Hwyl, Bron.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 02:42 PM

I sing camp songs and tell stories for groups of kids. The kids call me "Crazy Joe." Part of the mystique is that I never call myself "Crazy Joe," but the name gets around somehow.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 02:48 PM

Gee, do we have to say how good we are or can we say we are pretty awful if we want to? 'Twould be the British thing to do, old chap.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 03:42 PM

Crazy Joe? Hardly. You are a beacon of sanity around here whenever our little blood vessels start to bubble and boil. You're probably the only person in the universe I MIGHT take orders from.
ricky (still suspicious of all authority)

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 03:58 PM

Well, Rick, when I get in front of an audience, these voices come into me, and they take me off on interesting adventures. It's kinda hard to describe the voices, but one that sounds a lot like Ross Perot comes to me quite often. Then there are my trusty companions, Fred the Frog, Herbert my Pet Bear, and Bob the Dog, who insists that he's a professional dog and not just any old run-of-the-mill mutt. The frizzy blonde wig or the antlers I sometimes wear might make you question my sanity, too. The kids love all this, but the parents who don't know my sane side can get a little....worried.
-"Crazy" Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 04:09 PM

If you're in drag, forget my post!
rick

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: j0_77
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 06:31 PM

Ahh Llanfair and if so do ya know Llanbedar ? 'Singing was a ringing thing there in the mountains, dark nights warmed with long long glasses of good ale ...'- :) Merrioneth - would've been there for ever (in Ted's)but the need for dough sent me far far away - maur !

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: rich r
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 08:00 PM

My only bands are a rubber band and banned in Minnesota.

rich r

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Winters Wages
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 09:58 PM

Damn...Who wants it....OK Il bite..."Yea! I'll bet its a snappy one....or is that streching it??" WW

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: harpgirl
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 11:40 PM

...way cool idea, Mick!
I play in a two girl band called The DoneyGals . The mudcat inspired our name. Sp;ecifically a thread on the meaning of the word doney which we thought had a nice double entendre meaning... Linda plays dulcimer and I play autoharp. We both sing Irish and American folk tunes and harmonize alot. Linda lived ten years in Ireland and I have been listening to and playing Irish music since the 70's. We also both play guitar. We are noodling with double psyaltery.
Since our inceptions we have played the Florida Folk Festival twice, The Barberville Festival, The Florida Old-Time Music Championship, coffee houses, parties, and sessions around the northern and middle parts of Florida. We are recording in August. Right now we are learniing new tunes and rehearsing.

When I lived in Arkansas, I played in a country band called Medicine Wheel and a bluegrass band called Mountain Valley String Band. I also played solo around the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. I am a member of the Rackensack Society.
Another band I have just formed is called the SpringHoppers. We convened at Ginnie Springs a few weeks back for the first time. We are a mandolin player, and a girl guitar player. We like Lucinda Williams, and old time and Irish tunes. Our goal is to play all of the Florida Springs! ...harpgirl

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: j0_77
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 11:58 PM

Hi happy harper - hey do you know *the* fiddle godess??

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Barry Finn
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 12:22 AM

Hi All, 3 of us form Finn & Haddie. We mostly do, well, only do sea songs & prison work songs. The sea music is mostly with out instruments, though Jerry & Neil play whistle, concertinas, banjos, guitars, panio, uke, mandoline & etc. I'm the percussion doing the foot stomping, bones, spoons & bodhran (don't use the bodhran in the group). We all sing, it depends mostly on who brought in the song, they sing it where they want. We others grope around till we're pleased with where we are. We all swap lead, harmony, backup & groans. We all write a bit, with Jerry writting more & having a CD & a few of his songs are getting covered by others. The prison songs are never with instruments & always work songs as opposed to hollars, moans or songs about prisons. The sea material consists mostly of African American influenced songs or good/great songs that we think aren't floating aroung & should be. We've playedat Mystic, NEFFA, local New England sea festivals with the most oddest spot being an overnight gig aboard the USS Salem that had to anchor in Boston Harbor a day ahead of time for the annual USS Constitution turnaround on July 4 with around 1000 former crew members (it doubled as a reunion) & ending up singing on Old Ironsides by invite from the Skipper. Enough already. Barry

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Songster Bob
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 11:07 AM

Well, I'm both a solo performer and a band member, with plans for a change in both sides of this balancing act. That is, my solo performing is leaning more and more heavily toward doing my own songs as opposed to the traditional or all-round eclectic collection of influences I'm known for. Not that I'll always do just my own stuff, but that the main thing I do these days is my self-penned material. I play guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, fiddle, dulcimers and autoharp, but, as a solo performer, it's mostly guitar, some banjo, and vocals.

Now, my band is called Sidekicks, and we bill ourselves as either a "frontier and western band," or "geezers with guitars," depending on the circumstance. We're a trio, myself (on all those instruments and vocals), George Stephens (on guitar & 12-string and stunning vocals -- our strongest singer without doubt), and Pete Kreamer (on guitar, banjo, dobro and bass, plus vocals). We try to present a wider range of western US song than the typical "cowboy" music group, and we deliberately avoid both the Sons of the Pioneers and the Bob Wills traditions in our sound. So, in addition to doing western songs from the US, we do frontier-oriented songs from Australia (bush songs, etc.).

Our web page is at

members.aol.com/sidekicks999/

Now, the change in direction for me, band-wise, is a hankering to expand the music I do with Pete (and George and others) to encompass some arrangements of both folk material and my own songs for mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation (i.e., reinventing folk-rock). Pete and I in particular have these "sounds" in our heads, ways we'd like to do some songs, but it takes time and other talents (and other people) to accomplish this. We've named the group already, even though we haven't formed it as such. We're calling it our "Sideband" project. I got to Pete's house last Sunday for an hour and a half of playing, the first in several weeks if not months, and we made some progress, but we do need to find some other musicians and a drummer if this is going to go anywhere.

Pete and I did come up with a little of this for a Woody Guthrie/Carter Family workshop at the Folklore Society of Greater Washington Minifestival last year (not this year), arranging three songs with some electric instrumentation. Went over well, despite its being in an otherwise acoustic-only surrounding. So we dream on, and try things on a small scale, edging toward a finalized state of readiness.

So I'm involved in a wide range of music (even sing with my wife!) and in bands both real and imagined. Practically a legend in my own mind!

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Indy Lass
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 11:14 AM

Well, I'm just starting out. I like songs with literary and historical content, thus my sons are mostly ballads. My biggest influences are Tri/ona ni/ Dhomhnaill and Loreena McKennitt, and I've collected a wide variety of songs. Borders Bookstore signed me on for five performances this year and I hope I can continue this venue. I would like to get out to more open mics and coffeehouse in this area in the future, but right now, family and work limits me a bit. I play guitar with my own fingerstyle using a thumbpick that incorporates a good bit of rhythm. I'd love to find other musicians to team up with to form a group. I also like to write songs when the right mindset hits me.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: SueH
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 07:51 AM

bbbc, I can't get the profiles pages. It gives a 'no such page on this server' error.

Sue

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: bbc
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 08:00 AM

Sorry about that, Sue! I usually check my links to see that they are ok. Let's try it again. If I blow it, the URL is: http://www.bestweb.net/~bdcarr/mcat

bbc's Mudcat Resources

From there, just select "Profiles."

bbc

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Mike Strobel
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 12:52 PM

Well, I , too perform folk music. I have been performing since the mid-seventies ( Though I admit I took 1982-------1996 off ). The music is typically contemporary folk , a large mix of original songs and a growing number of traditional numbers arranged with a contempoary folk feel. I perform alone ( because my timing is off and I'm told I have bad breath.........only a rumour ) on a Martin D-28 and a Gibson J-100 in the back of a 1962-Ford Fairlane Convertible in the Western and Central New York area. ( just teasing on the automobile ). If you ever see me perform , request the song , I do regarding the pharmaceutical miracle : Viagara.............It's so hard to sing and then I'll know your a mad mud-catter.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: bbc
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 01:01 PM

Mike,

Is that the one about Viagra getting into the water supply & causing an uprising? :) I heard it at the Clearwater Festival. It's wonderful!

bbc

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 01:38 PM

Okay then; here's what I came up with as a silly poster for the latest project I'm a happy part of:

*************************************** in joyous defiance of our accumulated age & (in theory) wisdom; we proclaim the formation of the roots/contemporary folk trio

Olde Spyce

said curmudgeons consisting of: Gene Wilburn (vocals, 6 & 12 string guitar, bass guitar) Jim Hodges (vocals, guitar, mandola, harmonica) Jeremiah Budnark (vocals, just bass guitar)

(honourary member & inspiration: luthier/songwriter Glen Reid) **********************************************

(and yes, "budnark = mccaw". Long story.

So far we've just done a feature set at our "home" folk club, which is the White Oak Folk Club (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) and a short set at a friends wedding reception (and what a party that was; but we also get to claim that we've opened for "John Prince & a Piece of the Rock" who were there as well).

Coming up: open stage set (but by invitation - for some reason that seems important to me) at the Heritage River Festival on August 14. If our various work schedules allow, we're hoping to get to Mill Race in Cambridge (July 31) and Eaglewood (Aug 29 - 31, I believe). If so, we'll impose ourselves upon the open stages there. Two concerts as well this fall, dates as yet not confirmed: Teeswater, Ontario and a fundraiser for the Kingston Ontario Senior Support services.

'Tis a beginning, and we're having a ball.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: skarpi
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 04:49 PM

I play in a band called TAMÓRA, and I play the Guitar and bodhrán and I sing most of the songs, we also have mandolin, flute,tin flute banjo and bass. We only play Irish Folk music, but we might take some Icelandic this year. all thebest skarpi Iceland.

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Paul G.
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 08:20 PM

When I'm not doing my solo (singer/songwriter, but in a good way -- GASP)thing... I'm part of a 4 to 6 member acoustic group named after an early 20th century band of notorious south Florida outlaws "The Ashley Gang"...Two guitars, a Rich Mermer original Hawaiian lap steel guitar, bass, flute (my lovely wife, Kay), assorted snapper, shakers, clinkers, and dingers, and an itinerant fiddle player. Mostly original music from trad style to edge of groovy contemporary, and a bit of bluegrass thrown in. We cover folks like Dylan, Gillian Welsh, and Allison Krauss. Always searching for a new influence...

Anyone in east central Florida this weekend look for the Gang in Cocoa Beach Saturday and cruising on the Indian River Lagoon Sunday evening to benefit local Public Radio.

-pg

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: bbelle
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 09:10 PM

I'm a singer, first and foremost. I learned to play guitar in the mid-'60's to accompany myself. I've always thought my beautiful Gibson B-25 deserved a much better guitar player than me. I played lounges in Cocoa Beach, FL, during the space boom, and coffee houses; moved to Washington, D.C. and did the same thing, although more coffee houses than bars. Moved to Portland, OR, in 1979 and let things slide, although I had a couple of favorite piano bars. I quit singing when, I thought, folk/traditional much had taken a dive. Now, I find out it was all a hoax and I should have just been more persevering. Although, I was always a solo act, I've always wanted to be part of a duo or trio because I do love harmony. My father built a dulcimer a couple of years ago and I would like to learn to play it. I'm a master kazooist, and have mine from 30 years ago, when they were still made from metal. Those plastic kazoos just don't produce those mellifluous sounds like the metal ones. I'm working on some calluses for The Getaway in October, but I'm afraid I will feel horribly under-talented in the guitar group, just knowing all the talent that will be in attendance. I really think I would rather sing, than play. Right now, I'm dabbling in a bit of song-smithing, something I never thought I could do. Maybe maturity and living some of life's lessons is what I needed to be creative in that arena ... moonchild

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Will Bakker
Date: 23 Jul 99 - 06:12 AM

We have a group, called Mudfield. We started in the sixties (I know I'm old!) in the town of Dordrecht as The Mudfield skiffle group, playing all the stuff from Lonnie Donegan we could get our hands on. After some years (still in the sixties) we started to play in a Kingston Trio and PP&M style. We made some singles at the time and did not get rich. Now, 30 years later we started performing again and in my opinion we are better now than 30 years ago (or deaf?) By the way, are there still no Dutch Mudcatters?

Subject: RE: Your band/act/talents.
From: Den
Date: 23 Jul 99 - 10:23 AM

Been playing Irish music all my life with certain dalliences (is that a word) into other types of music. True story, in my youth I was performing with a very heavy rock ensemble. The owner of the club we were playing heard that I was Irish and asked if I knew any Irish songs I of course replied was the pope a balding Polish guy? So he then tells me that he wants me to do Irish stuff for the entire first set. Picture this here I am dressed in my rocker stuff, leather jeans and big hair (this was the early 80's) doing Donegal Danny to a some what shocked (to begin with) audience. It was well received but a little bizarre, now theres a whole new thread what's the most bizarre gig you've ever played?

Any way I play guitar, mandolin, whistle, low whistle (nothing expertly) and can rattle out a tune or two on the flute before passing out. I enjoy singing and I play bass mostly.