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20 Oct 06 - 02:17 PM (#1864435) Subject: Seattle Folklore Soc 40th Birthday Party From: GUEST,John Ullman This is the press release for the SFS 40th Anniversary party November 15. For Immediate Release: For More Information Contact: October 18, 2006 John Ullman, 206-545-4460 JohnU@tradarts.com Free to the Public For images: http://tradarts.com/SFS/ Seattle Folklore Society 40th Anniversary Party The Seattle Folklore Society is celebrating its 40th year by inviting anyone who is, was, or might someday be a member or supporter to a party on November 15, 2006 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at the University Friends Center, 4001 9th Ave NE in Seattle's University District. Forty years ago, on November 15, 1966, at the University Friends Center, the Seattle Folklore Society presented the first of many hundreds of events: Texas songster Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Today, the Seattle Folklore Society produces over 150 concerts, dances, song circles, and dance and music camps a year and publishes a monthly flyer of folk events. It does it all on a shoestring budget with a few dozen volunteers. It also acts as an incubator for folk arts related projects – events, films, recordings, etc. Over the years it has reared a passel of powerful offspring, most notably the Northwest Folklife Festival, the University District's Folk Store, and Traditional Arts Services, a management company for major folk artists. The evening will be informal, just a way to get together and retell the Folklore Society stories, like the Lightnin' Hopkins concert that was raided by the police twice in one night, when Phil and Vivian Williams were Bluegrass Boys for a day, the making of our recording archives, the forgotten bowl of Rev Gary Davis' urine… There will be a song circle where anyone can participate, light snacks, and a digital display of early SFS posters and photos. The Folklore Society was started by twenty charter members, each putting up $20, who were motivated by the desire to learn to play American vernacular music. The first concerts were African-American and Appalachian mountain musicians. Later SFS presented Cajun, Norteño, Celtic, and other "roots" music tradition bearers. The concerts were the economic engine that brought these artists to Seattle, but the workshops, lessons, private jam sessions, and archival recordings may have a had more long-lasting impact. Some of the artists SFS presented in it's first five years included Fred McDowell, Mance Lipscomb, The New Lost City Ramblers, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Reverend Gary Davis, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mike Seeger, Elizabeth Cotten, Son House, Booker White, Furry Lewis, Ralph Stanley, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Sam Hinton, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, Robert Pete Williams, Buel Kazee, Big Joe Williams, and Doc Watson. A more detailed history of Seattle Folklore Society can be found in the attached articles from the October and November SFS Flyers. Images of the 1960's era hand silk screened posters can be seen at: http://tradarts.com/SFS/. Photos of many of the artists SFS presented in the 1960's and '70's are also on the web site. Anyone thinking of attending is requested to RSVP to: sfs40th@earthlink.net. Admission is free and the event is open to any interested members of the public. To become a member of the Seattle Folklore Society, which includes a subscription to the monthly SFS Flyer, go to: http://www.seafolklore.org/ or contact the society by calling (206) 528-8546 or writing to: Seattle Folklore Society, P.O. Box 30141, Seattle, WA 98113 #### |