Calendar
Submit calendar info to:
calendar@corvallisfolklore.org
All levels Welcome!
7:30 Revel’n featuring Evelyn Idzerda
Evelyn Idzerda and Ron Snyder bring us great vocals and spiced with hot guitar licks.
8:30 Gumbo featuring Sid Beam
Sid Beam and some all star musicians perform imaginative originals, sometimes with the feel of swing jazz, sometimes with the feel of deep Americana, and sometimes, well with a lot of imagination.
The best Cellar is a once-a-month evening of acoustic music. Admission is “pay what you will,” and kids are free. Cookies and coffee are available. Located in the cellar of the Methodist Church on 11th and Monroe, in Corvallis. For more information, or to join the volunteer team, contact Mark Weiss at mjweiss@cmug.com
Neal Gladstone
Tribute Concert
Fans of Neal Gladstone’s music are in for a treat this winter. Though Neal stopped performing after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, his musical friends in three top local bands have cooked up a Tribute concert featuring his songs and comedy, with Neal as the Guest of Honor. Like any Gladstone show, this one will be full of surprises and great music. The line up includes Neal’s long-time vocalist Audrey Perkins and her band Swing and a Ms., plus The Flow with Rita Brown and Bill Smyth, and the Plaehn-Hino Blues Band with special guests Creighton Lindsay and Bret Godfrey. The evening’s host will be MC David Grube.
Neal told us that while he was embarrassed to be the subject of this tribute, he is excited to hear his songs played by these excellent musicians. So mark your calendar for Jan. 28 for the Neal Gladstone Tribute Concert at the historic Whiteside Theatre, and get your tickets early.
Neal Gladstone Songbook Just in time for Christmas, watch for the release of the new Neal Gladstone Songbook, featuring 30 of his most popular songs, arranged for piano and/or guitar. The song books will be sold at GrassRoots Bookstore, Gracewinds, and Troubadour music. Along with tickets to the Neal Gladstone Tribute Show on Jan 28, what a perfect stocking stuffer for the Gladstone fan on your list!
FMI or to volunteer for the concert: Chere and Cliff Pereira cherep@comcast.net.
All levels Welcome!
Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen
Steve Gillette is best known as a songwriter, with songs recorded by artists from Ian & Sylvia to Garth Brooks, from Jiminy Cricket to John Denver. His song Darcy Farrow alone has been recorded by more than one hundred artists since 1966, most recently by Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Nanci Griffith. Quite literally, he wrote the book on songwriting: Songwriting and the Creative Process (Sing Out Press) is a standard text in songwriting classes across the country. Steve sings in a rich baritone and is a virtuoso on guitar, using a unique fingerpicking style with a flat-pick and two fingers. His most recent solo recording is The Man (2010, Compass Rose Music), a CD featuring music from (or reminiscent of) 1920s and ’30s jazz and roots music, accompanied by a narrative Steve created, blending fact and fiction from that vibrant era. Featured prominently on the album is George Gillette, Steve’s dad, playing stride piano in the style he grew up with.
Cindy Mangsen, who married Gillette in 1989, is also a songwriter, but her focus has been on songkeeping. Cindy is a master interpreter of traditional ballads, rich in myth and legend. She plays guitar, concertina, and banjo, and is renowned for her compelling voice, described by one critic as a voice that can warm a New England winter. Her newest solo CD is Cat Tales: Songs of the Feline Persuasion (2005, Compass Rose Music), an album of songs about cats and their people.
The BFD
- Betsey Branch – fiddle
- Fran Slefer – button accordian
- Dan Compton – guitar
The BFD plays for a contra dance about every other month at Fulton Community Center in Portland. Betsy is a versatile musician who loves to explore multiple genres of music. She has wandered her musical way through music from Ireland, Scotland, Appalachia, Quebec, Sweden, England, Bulgaria and New England, to mention a few. She plays regularly for contra and English Country Dances. Fran plays button accordion and fiddle. She grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and lived in Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, and Dublin before moving to the United States. Fran began playing the fiddle in Dublin, learning from Tralee fiddle player Maire O’Keeffe. Her repertoire delves into the dance music of Ireland, Québec, France and Brittany. Dan Compton is a long-time folkie in the Pacific Northwest music scene, and has performed at numerous concerts, festivals, and music- and dance camps. He’s a captivating fingerstyle player as well as a dynamic flatpicker and accompanist.
Gordy Euler
half of Shanghaied on the Willamette and co-director of the Portland Megaband has been calling good dances all over the west coast for 15 years.
Beginners lesson starts at 7:30pm (experienced dancers welcome) dance starts at 8:00pm
Each dance is taught. No partner necessary (it’s traditional to dance each dance with a different partner)
First and Third Saturdays of the month except July, August. Occasional special dances.
First and Third Sundays
The first Sunday of the month will be dedicated to Balkan dances and the third to Israeli.
Corvallis Guitar Society
The goal of the Corvallis Guitar Society is to act as a catalyst to bring local guitarists out of the woodwork and provide an opportunity to perform and enjoy guitar music in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. The accent here is on participation and we hope people will want to participate in the open stage section also – no piece of music is too short or simple (though there is a five minute limit if we have a full sign-up sheet) and you are guaranteed a warm round of applause for showing us what you can do! We do have a limited number of open stage slots so be sure to sign up early at the front desk on the way in.
Our Mission
To promote classical and related guitar styles by providing a supportive performance environment for people of all ages and ability.
We seek to achieve this through a monthly meeting that provides an opportunity to discuss, listen to, and play solo guitar music including classical, flamenco, finger-style, jazz, as well as classical guitar ensemble styles.
All levels Welcome!
Irish Duo
Tommy and Saundra O’Sullivan
Tommy O’Sullivan has been aclaimed as “one of the great contemporary folk voices of Ireland” and “a stellar guitarist.” Tommy has recorded albums with Sliabh Notes and with Bothy Band piper, Paddy Keenan as well as 2 solo albums. He and his wife Saundra have matched her alto harmonies with his tenor lead vocals and they are very much a part of the vibrant music scene in Dingle, Ireland, as well as owning O’Sullivan’s Couthouse Pub.
Come and hear them in this cozy and intimate setting.
Roy Zimmerman
There’s lots of new grist for Roy Zimmerman’s song-writing mill with the election results and everything going on in the world. This should be interesting (and entertaining).
Roy Zimmerman is a satirical songwriter in the Tom Lehrer/Phil Ochs tradition with a great gift for clever and funny lyrics that really rhyme and an incredibly entertaining banter between his songs.
“You’re brilliant. Just brilliant!” — Terry Jones, Monty Python
Tom Lehrer himself says, “I congratulate Roy Zimmerman on reintroducing literacy to comedy songs. And the rhymes actually rhyme, they don’t just ‘rhyne.'”
Joni Mitchell says, “Roy’s lyrics move beyond poetry and achieve perfection.”
He spent the Comedy Boom years of the Eighties doing stand-up in San Francisco, sharing stages with George Carlin, Bill Maher, Kate Clinton, Dennis Miller and many others. He wrote all the material for his funny folk music quartet The Foremen, recording two albums for Warner/Reprise Records. He’s done several shows with The Pixies’ Frank Black, swapping songs in a solo acoustic setting.
“Roy Zimmerman simultaneously inspires me and makes me laugh my ass off,” says comedian/author Paul Krassner.
Zimmerman tours almost constantly, taking his funny songs about fracking, creationism, marijuana laws, government shutdown, same-sex marriage, guns, taxes and abstinence across the country, often playing in some of the least Progressive places in America for the most Progressive people there. “I get accused of preaching to the converted,” he says, “but I don’t think of it that way. I think of it as entertaining the troops.”
In thirteen albums over twenty years, Roy has brought the sting of satire to the struggle for Peace and Social Justice. His songs have been heard on HBO and Showtime. He has recorded for Warner/Reprise Records. He’s been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Zimmerman’s YouTube videos have amassed over seven million views, and he’s a featured blogger for the Huffington Post.
Sing Out! Magazine writes, “Zimmerman is a guy on the left skewering folks on the right with rapier-sharp lyrics … underneath the caustic satire is a man who is surprisingly optimistic.”
The Martha Room at the First Presbyterian Church is in the basement, most easily accessed through the 11th Street entrance near the parking lot.
Song Circle
Share a song, lead a song, request a song, or listen as we go round the circle. Song Circle is free and open to all who wish to participate. Bring your own instrument, borrow one, or just sing.
All levels Welcome!
Del Rey
&
Suzy Thompson
The music, the chemistry, the talent, the fashion, the FUN!
With a fashion sense that would make Minnie Pearl smile and a virtuoso fingerpicked resonator guitar style (and resonator ukulele!) that packs a whole orchestra into just 6 (or 4) strings, fabulous country blues chanteuse Del Rey teams up with blues fiddler extraordinaire and vocalist deluxe Suzy Thompson for a few shows every year.
“Del Rey, who plays a syncopated style of guitar based on prewar blues and barrelhouse piano traditions, is one of the best fingerpickers of this or any generation. Suzy Thompson is a consummate blues fiddler who’s stolen more than her fair share of music festivals with her room-filling, vibrato-laden vocals. The pair has known each other for decades as members of the West Coast blues community, and that familiarity adds to the richness of their debut album as a duo… a welcome treat from two of the finest instrumentalists and arrangers in the business. ”
– Ian Zack, Acoustic Guitar
Please join us for an evening of music not-to-be-missed, or heard very often, especially here!
A house concert is an excellent place to hear and meet great musicians in a very intimate setting.
CFS annual Corvallis Contra Weekend
Registration open NOW – Click here
The Mean Lids
- Matt Turino – guitar, fiddle
- Miriam Larson – flute
- Ben Smith – fiddle
Mix one part smooth Irish session, one part spicy cajun-zydeco, one part hot western swing, with two parts driving southern old-time and take it down to the local dance hall. There you have the Mean Lids, a young, energetic acoustic trio currently resident in central Illinois. Playing a mix of original and traditional tunes, the Mean Lids produce an exciting, unique sound born from the living traditions of American fiddle and dance music.
Only as mean as they need to be to keep the grit in their tones and the edge on their tunes, they are never seen without their signature cranial apparel. Spot them by their hats, their long lonesome sounds, and the @$$ kicking “chin-cello” grooves emanating from their mean, mean fiddle fingers.
- Terry Wergeland – piano, accordion
- Betsy Branch – fiddle
- Bill Tomczak – clarinet, saxophone, percussion
Betsy and Terry have played together for dances since 1994, and when Bill moved to Portland in 2012, he was thrilled to join forces with them. With their mix of instruments and improvisatory natures, you never know what to expect from this trio. Their delight in playing together translates to the dance floor, and you are likely to hear plenty of laughter from the stage. When not playing, the three of them love to pontificate about the mysteries of the universe (like how 3 quarks form a particle), thus inspiring the band name.
Gaye Fifer
Gaye Fifer is an accomplished contra caller from Pittsburgh, PA. Her delightful personality makes everyone happy to be dancing, and her clear and charming explanations makes it easy. An active dancer herself, Gaye understands the subtleties of making contra dances particularly satisfying for dancers. She is also an enthusiastic advocate and instructor of the contra-style waltz.
Wendy Graham
Wendy Graham is a self-described “dance maniac” who serves up delicious and nutritious dances for all with infectious enthusiasm and a smile. Wendy hosts regular folk and social dances (including Latin, Swing, Blues, Country Western Two Step, and Waltz) in Durango, Colorado. She also calls community dances, dance weekends, and dance weeks throughout the U.S. and abroad. She has been involved with folk music, song and dance for over twenty years.