Berkeley Old Time Music SPRING SITUATION
Sunday March 8, 2020
Noon to 4 pm:
Old time Open House - FREE
Freight and Salvage
2020 Addison St, Berkeley
ADDITIONAL OLDTIME MUSIC THIS WEEKEND
Schedule subject to change (Revised March 8 2020)
CONCERTS IN THE SHOWROOM:
12:00 Hannah Mayree
12:30 The Corn Likkers
1:00 Birches Bend
1:30 Jake Hoffman & Sam McDougle
2:00 The New Vintage Revelers
2:30 Old Soles
3:00 Hairy Garrison
12:00 pm Hannah Mayree is a Sacramento-born singer, songwriter and music educator. Her songs incorporate African rhythms and diverse European and American folk traditions to express the profound mystery contained within all beings. Mayree’s music connects urban and rural ways of life and invites the listener to reconsider the boundaries between the masculine and feminine, the world of matter and the world of spirit.
She is also the founder of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project, a vehicle to return instruments of African origin to the descendants of their original makers. The Project has been involved with the donation and distribution of over 30 banjos, facilitating workshops and events across the country, and, most recently, hosting a local gourd banjo building workshop.
http://hannahmayree.com/
http://blackbanjoreclamationproject.org
12:30 pm The Corn Likkers are Ray Chen (lead fiddle), Lael Sigal (extended family, double fiddle and vocals), Lauren Graves (upright bass), Elijah Chen (guitar), and Eleanor Chen (banjo-uke and vocals). Although they all live in the Bay Area, their sound is strongly rooted in the traditional music of North Carolina and the Appalachian Mountains.
The Corn Likkers became a family band in August 2019 and took second place at the Berkeley Old-Time Stringband Contest in September. For the past 15 summers, the family members studied a variety of instruments, singing styles, and dance forms at the Swannanoa Gathering Old-Time Week held in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Lael and Ray met at Swannanoa, Lauren started playing the upright bass and the Corn Likkers were born. Pair a Tommy Jarrell-style bow-rocking fiddler with a double fiddler playing chords and backup, wrap a stringband around that and you get the unique sound of the Corn Likkers.
1:00 pm Birches Bend - Ranging in age from 11 - 14, these young musicians took 1st place at last year's String Band contest. The band features Lucy Khadder (fiddle), Jasper Manning (mandolin), Sophia Sparks (mandolin) with Chad Manning (guitar). The band all met through a common love of bluegrass music, and through studying at the venerable Manning Music studios in Berkeley, CA. They have brought their talents to farmer's markets and a variety of public venues as well as house concerts in the East Bay. They recently participated at the International Bluegrass Music Association's Kids on Bluegrass program in Raleigh, NC as well as appearing at the California Bluegrass Association showcase there.
1:30 pm Jake Hoffman & Sam McDougle
Jacob and Sam have been playing together for half their lives, but for the first time in over a decade they find themselves living in the same town: Oakland. The heart & soul of their collaboration is Appalachian fiddle & banjo dance music, though performances also include soaring country blues strains and conversations on double guitar & double fiddle. Raised on rock 'n' roll and attracted to the gritty attitudes and deep rhythms of old time, Sam and Jacob do not belie their contemporary artistic & socio-political influences when reinterpreting traditional music and engaging with it's complex history. With east coast stringbands Tumbling Bones (2011-2015) and The Powder Kegs (2005-2008), they toured 25 states and 12 countries.
In addition to their hundreds of performances at venues ranging from Irish street corners and New England Bluegrass festivals, to Midwestern dive bars and NPR's A Prarie Home Companion, Sam and Jacob are also accomplished educators, having taught private lessons, folk music workshops, and songwriting programs for over 15 years.
photo by Ellie Caputo
2:00 pm The New Vintage Revelers play music that harkens back to the roots of bluegrass. Dan Warrick (banjo/guitar), Harry Liedstrand (fiddle), and Paul Kotapish (mandolin/guitar) entertain with rollicking dance tunes and venerable songs, ballads, and blues from rural America.
2:30 pm Old Soles - Geff & Masha Crawford blend home-brewed Appalachian fiddle, clawhammer banjo, guitar, & harmony vocals with a generous pour of wry-whiskey humor. They've played at festivals & venues around the globe, in bands with a wide and wild selection of folks from Cactus Bob Cole to Tom Paley (NLCR), & have taught stringband music for over 20 years.
3:00 pm Hairy Garrison - Blending the original tunes of the late Garry Harrison with the big hair stylings of your favorite 1980's rock bands, these folks were a crowd favorite at last year's BOTMC String Band Contest, where they took 3rd place. Featuring Harry Miller, Harry Engelberg, Harry Knoth, Harry Ruyle, & Harry Harris.
Hosted Jams (in the lobby unless noted otherwise)
Noon Youth bluegrass jam - Birches Bend
Noon Mexican fiddle music & songs - La Familia Peña-Govea (upstairs)
1pm Old Time - Geff & Masha Crawford (Old Soles)
2pm Old Time - JT Harechmak, Brandon Worden, & Kate Chaitin
3pm Cajun jam - Blair Kilpatrick & Steve Tabak (Sauce Piquante) (upstairs)
3pm Stringband blues & jugband music - Jailhouse String Band
Room for more jams in the building, and outside!
Workshops Upstairs:
Noon-1pm
* Mexican fiddle music - Learn to play and sing rancheras, polkas, valses, sones and more from the repertoire of La Familia Peña-Govea (Miguel Govea, Susan Peña, and Cecilia Peña-Govea). All instruments welcome!
* Shape Note Singing: - JT Harechmak
Join local Sacred Harp singers to try the tradition of shape note singing. Shape notes singing allow untrained singers to not just sight read a melody but to sing in multi-part harmony. Come learn the shapes -- no singing experience necessary!
https://bayareasacredharp.org/
* Contra/Square Dance Band - Erik Hoffman
We will cover repertoire, learn tunes, and discuss the connection to the dance, and how to mold our tune selection to the needs of the dance. All instruments welcome.
1pm-2pm
* Songs & ballads - Get Sad to Get Glad Part 2! Katelyn Kimmons (of Undone in Sorrow)
We certainly enjoyed last year's Old Time Cry Off, and since there are plenty more sad songs, we're going to do it again! Share your saddest songs and ballads. - accompanied or a capella - your choice. Or just come and listen.
* Guitar - Katy Harris
I'll be highlighting some guitar work by some of the early musicians who have inspired me. We'll listen to and play along with some fiddle tunes that have an interesting and tasteful approach to old time backup guitar.
* Mandolin - Rowan McCallister
2pm-3pm
* Fiddle workshop - Kathrine Gardner
* Songs - Rachel Goodman
Songs from the southern Appalachian mountains and beyond, from Carter Family, Ola Belle Reed, Hazel Dickens and more, come sing unison and harmony with us.
3pm-4pm
* Square Dance Calling Workshop with Robin Fischer
Come learn to call - or get some calling practice time - at this hands-on workshop. We’ll talk about figures, crowd control, teaching dance moves, working with a band, and anything else you need to know to get calling.
If desired (and if time allows) we’ll get into private events vs community dances, gender neutral calling, family dances, and more. Bring your questions, and be ready to call!
Folks who just want to dance are also welcome! There will be lots of dancing.
Recording is allowed, and Robin’s square dance calling zine will be available for purchase.
* Cajun jam - Blair Kilpatrick & Steve Tabak (accordionist and fiddler with Sauce Piquante) lead you through a Cajun waltz, a two-step, and a bluesy shuffle. Blair plays a “D” accordion, so tunes will be in D and A.
* Banjo workshop - Jake Hoffman
Moving melodies & riffs up and down octaves. We'll work on tunes in both open G and double D tunings. For intermediate players.
Robin Fischer
Rachel Goodman
La Familia Peña-Govea
Blair Kilpatrick & Steve Tabak
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
It's a great weekend for oldtime music!
Start the weekend on Friday night at the North Oakland Square Dance with the Squirrelly Stringband and Jordan Ruyle at the Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland.
Saturday is the Cloverdale Old Time Fiddle Festival.
After the Spring Situation, head over to the Starry Plough 3101 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA for the Shred Sesh (2nd Sundays 4pm-7pm), hosted by Jim & Amber Mueller from San Luis Obispo.