Benefit Concert for Bill Domler 10 June 2001

Subject: BENEFIT CONCERT FOR BILL DOMLER
From: folkie43
Date: 25 May 01 - 12:49 PM

On Sunday, June 10th, at 1 p.m. at the King Phillip School in West Hartford, CT., there will be a benefit concert for Bill Domler (the creator of The Sounding Board Coffeehouse in Connecticut who died unexpectedly in April of this year). The performers include: Sandy & Caroline Paton (who helped Bill start the Sounding Board), The Portable Folk Festival (a "house band" that Bill formed in 1974), Sally Rogers and Howie Bursen, Priscilla Herdman, Amy Gallatin & Stillwater, Nerissa Neilds, John Roberts & Tony Barrand, and Lui Collins. Costs are $17 (general) and $15 (members). More information can be had by calling Len Domler at 860-632-7547. Please spread this message to anyone that you think would enjoy this concert.

Subject: RE: BENEFIT CONCERT FOR BILL DOMLER
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 May 01 - 02:00 AM

That's a wonderful line-up of talent. I would love to be there. Best wishes to all who are able to be there.

kat

Subject: RE: BENEFIT CONCERT FOR BILL DOMLER
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 26 May 01 - 12:45 PM

Art, I can second everything you said, and deeply regret that I'll be unable to attend Bill's celebration. We're in Kentucky/Indiana/North Carolina until the end of July,-our summer doings. My love to the Domler family. Jean

Subject: Benefit Concert for Bill Domler
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 02:10 PM

As many of you will remember, Bill Domler, the great catalyst for creating folk music venues in Connecticut, died suddenly some weeks ago. The medical bills mounted monstrously as he had neurosurgical treatment and lay in a coma for many days before passing. His family needs help paying those medical bills. So...

There will be a BENEFIT CONCERT, all proceeds of which will go to the family.

SUNDAY - JUNE 10, 2001
at the KING PHILIP MIDDLE SCHOOL
WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
Starting at 1:00 p.m.

Performing will be:
The Portable Folk Festival
Sandy and Caroline Paton
Lui Collins
John Roberts & Tony Barrand
Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters
Howie Bursen & Sally Rogers
Priscilla Herdman
Gideon Freudman

I'd like to urge all who are within driving distance of central Connecticut to come and help us pay tribute to a man who did so much for folk music in our area. Tickets are available: Adults $17 (Sounding Board members $15). Send your check, with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Len Domler
30 Agawam Drive
Cromwell, CT 06416

Thanks, friends.
Sandy

Subject: RE: Benefit Concert for Bill Domler
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 12:34 AM

Let me get this back up to the top, as I would like as many people as possible to see it. Bill Domler started the Sounding Board coffee house in West Hartford, then turned it over to his father and mother, Len and Fran, when he left to start the Roaring Brook series. Len and Fran have continued operating the Sounding Board for 25 years. They have also taken proceeds from the club, added a lot of work and a small grant or two, and produced an annual FREE "Family Folk Festival" in a Hartford park for twenty years. They have earned our love and our respect, and now they need our help. I've seen, many times, how the folk music world can come together to help one of their own in need. Perhaps some of you who cannot attend the concert might see your way clear to simply make a contribution. Your checks can be made out to Len Domler. Trust me, friends; these are honorable people.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Benefit Concert for Bill Domler
From: Hollowfox
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 05:07 PM

This deserves to be refreshed.
The Family Folk Festival made very real, major changes in the folk scene that nobody seems to have noticed over the years. For instance, at the 1975 festival, there was a duo doing their first tour. They were/are cousins, a couple of librarians. They call themselves the Folktellers, and that tour, combined with the then-new National Storytelling Festival started the storytelling renaissance that's been blossoming ever since. That evening after the concert, I think it was in Bill's house, about a half dozen of us ended up squirreled away in the kitchen pantry telling stories, with the music and visiting swirling around us as a comfortable background. I found that I knew a lot more stories then I'd supposed, and gave me the courage to start performing at the open mike at my local coffeehouse. So both in my life and in the Big Picture, the Domler family have been more important than they've been given credit for.

Subject: RE: Benefit Concert for Bill Domler
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 01:23 PM

Thanks for the refreshment, Mary. I will make sure that the Domlers get a copy of your message.

Connie Regan is still telling stories, and only last week sent a long and heartbreaking message about visiting Ray and Rosa Hicks at their home on Beech Mountain in North Carolina. Ray is dying of prostate cancer, and the story telling community is going to be tragically reduced when he passes. Hospice is helping Rosa cope with it all and Ray has a patch that helps with the pain, so he's receiving all the care that's available. He has long been without peer as a traditional folksayer of Appalachia. I'm glad I was given the opportunity to record him at his best.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Benefit Concert for Bill Domler
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Jun 01 - 06:20 PM

People,

The Domlers: Len, Fran, son Bill and all have been a big part of all of my mini-tours to the the East Coast and they were a wonderful support when my health turned sour. Len organized a benefit in Hartford with the Patons, Cindy Mangsen and Steve Gillette, Jerry Rasmussen, Pete Seeger, Sally Rogers & Howie Bursen and other wonderful singers. It sure helped us out! I do hope that this concert to memorialize Bill and help with stuff will be well responded to also. The music will certainly be wonderful !!! If you are within driving distance of the Hartford, CT area, you'll be doing a part in giving back some of the mucho karma generated by all of the Domlers. I sure do wish I could be on that stellar program.

Love to all,

Art Thieme