Calendar

7:30 MCsquared at the Unitarian Fellowship

Cliff and Chere Periera and Mark Weiss celebrate 30 years of playing and singing in a Best Cellar benefit for the Corvallis Folklore Society.

Note the different location for this program.

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

7:30 Tim Hardin

Tim returns to The Cellar with some new satirical material and a few old friends helping him out. Tim has a great voice and some very clever lyrics.

8:30 Mike and Carleen McCornack

Pacific Northwest folk musicians, Mike and Carleen McCornack have shared their musical artistry with grateful audiences for over four decades. From coffee houses to concert halls, Mike and Carleen’s beautifully crafted songwriting comes to life in their music with superb vocal harmony and sparkling guitar accompaniment that touches the heart and never fails to tickle the funny bone!

With music firmly rooted in the Folk-Americana tradition, Mike and Carleen are award winning songwriters and 2 time winners of the Florence Winter Folk Festival’s People’s Choice Award. Equally at home performing for “grownups” and for those who know them for their delightful, award winning music for children, Mike and Carleen’s performances are filled with themes of love and humor, inspiring originals and cover songs they love.

“Beautiful melodies, great musicians. Pure heartfelt vocals all blended together into music that will leave you smiling in your heart.”     – Bill Staines, Singer/Songwriter

Note: Jeff Hino and Dave Plaehn are rescheduled for next September.

7:30 Sharon and Dave Thormahlen

Sharon and Dave have been making beautiful music together in Corvallis for decades.  They perform traditional and new music written by Sharon, mostly on instruments made by Dave.

8:30 Wild Hog In The Woods

Stringband music from a bygone era played the way it always should have been.

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

7:30 Curtis and Loretta

Curtis & Loretta’s music comes straight from the heart.   The husband and wife duo’s extraordinary harmonies and proficiency on a parade of stringed instruments create an alluring frame for their poignant original songs, and traditional pieces from America and the British Isles.  The current menagerie includes mandocello, folk harp, guitars, clawhammer banjo, ukulele, and mandolin, plus a bit of kazoo, harmonica, and shakers. Curtis’ down-home sense of humor and Loretta’s theater background engage the audience in an experience that runs the gamut of rolling with laughter to holding back tears, with plenty of side-trips in between.  They rack up countless miles each year, crisscrossing the country to deliver their own unique brand of folk singer/songwriter music.

8:30 Crooked Kate

Crooked Kate returns after a ten-year hiatus. What was a trio is now a duo with Anne Ridlington on cello and Rita Brown on guitar and vocals. Anne and Rita stayed in touch during the last decade while Anne played in the Eugene Symphony among other ventures, and Rita played in the local band, The Flow. But the eclectic, adventuresome Crooked Kate beckoned and the two could no longer ignore the call. Sometimes the sound elegant, sometimes messy, always creative and heart fulfilling.

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

7:30 Marshal Adams –

Marshall has been performing music on the guitar for over 50 years, and once
opened for the Grateful Dead. For the Best Cellar, Marshall will play arrangements from jazz to flamenco, Brazil to the wild west, and will be joined, on some tunes, by his grandson, Will Danley.

8:30 Dave Plaehn and Jeff Hino 

The best blues duo for miles around. Not to be missed.

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

7:30 Shy and Gary Nolde

High school sweethearts Shy and Gary Nolde have been singing their style of American folk and blues for about 50 years.

“Through the years we’ve seen it all, had it all, spent it all, known our share of joy and pain, sunshine and rain. In other words, we’re playing music together and having the time of our lives,”

8:30 Adam Scramstaad

Adam is an Acoustic/Electric Finger-style & Blues Musician, born and raised in Oregon. Performing regularly throughout the Pacific Northwest, Scramstad’s reputation as a professional Blues Guitarist & Vocalist is rapidly becoming widespread.

A strong and creative Songwriter in his own-right, Scramstad’s repertoire also covers a broad range of Early American Folk/Blues artists’ works – such as: Son House, Bukka White, Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis, Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightning Hopkins, Blind Blake, John Fahey, Elizabeth Cotton.

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

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

7:30 Tom and Ellen Demarest

Tom Demarest was one of the founders of the Best Cellar and played at the first one, more than 40 years ago.  He and Ellen have been playing together in Corvallis for decades, and are perennial favorites with their original songs and great covers.

7:30 Pete Kozak with Mark Weiss

Pete plays mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle, dobro, and harmonica. He’s a great musician who has played in several local bands, through the years: The Bush Pilots, Yellow Rose, Pickin’ Noodle Soup, and The Rubes. He’s stood on stage with Neal Grandstaff, Paula Walters, Jeff Hino, Creighton Lindsay, Mark Weiss, Ray Brassfield, and Gary Nolde. On top of all that, before coming out west, Pete earned a Best Vocalist award at the Nebraska Old Time Fiddlers and Country Music Festival.

Mark Weiss has been flat picking and singing in Corvallis for decades and currently produces the Best Cellar.

7:30 Guitar Masala

Unfortunately Sid injured his hand and won’t be able to play. Instead Audrey will give two sets starting at 7:30.

8:30 Swing and a Ms. with Audrey Perkins

Swing and Ms. is a Corvallis band since September of 2013.  Band members–Audrey Perkins on vocals, Page Hundermer on bass, John Bliss on guitar and other strings, Paul Regan on guitar, and Bill Pfender on clarinet–play music from the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s and other tasty tunes along the music-time spectrum. From Gershwin to Gladstone “The Great American Songbook” comes to life with these wonderful musicians.

Special Note: Because we expect a larger crowd than usual, this Best Cellar will not be held in the cellar. We will be upstairs, at the top of the Methodist Church where we can seat more folks, as Audrey and the guys often sell out the room.

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 Methodis Church on 11th and Monroe, in Corvallis. For more information, or to join the volunteer team, contact Mark Weiss at mjweiss@cmug.com

7:30 Chuva Boa

Colleen Kitchen and Laura Zaerr have been collaborating since the 90’s. Laura’s diatonic lever harp was a natural fit for Celtic music, and Colleen had spent three years in Ireland with no piano, so she had gotten a pennywhistle and learned Irish music for lack of other options. Their first Celtic band, “Heather Breeze,” was active doing dances and festivals including the inaugural daVinci days, until other competing interests such as the birth of Colleen’s daughter put a crimp in that. The two collaborated on a number of classical endeavors in the ensuing decades. Laura put together “Village Green”in the oughts, and Colleen was part of that ensemble for a while. But meanwhile the jazz roots were beckoning. While Colleen crashed Neal Grandstaff’s jazz improv class at Oregon State, Laura had been sitting in with Winston McCullough’s jazz ensemble and discovering ways to make the big harp work for jazz. It’s NOT easy. Only the best harpists can do it. With a natural gift for improvisation, and inspired by Dorothy Ashby Colleen and Laura developed ways to tag team each other, and the bright brilliant choros and bossa novas of Brazil seemed especially suited to the sound of the harp. You can’t have a Brasil band without percussion, and when expert percussionist Kevin Ronkko joined the group, it was just the ticket to make manifest the groove that was driving the music only in their imagination.

The group played for a while with no name, and everyone was telling them they needed a name. It was the drought year of 2015, not only dry, but very hot. The band was rehearsing the song “Chovendo na Roseira” and all the references to good nurturing rain were making everyone thirsty. Someone remarked that we could use a dose of “Chuva Boa” (good rain) right about now, and the name stuck. Below is a video of Brazilian icon Gal Costa performing “Chovendo na Roseira” (to be replaced with our own when we get a nice clean one.)

8:30 Cooper Hollow

With members Jim Hockenhull (Fiddle, guitar, accordion, vocals), Sally Clark (Mandolin, guitar, harmony vocals), and Paul Scheerer (Guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, harmonica, lead vocals), Cooper Hollow is a high energy string band. They perform a mix of bluegrass, old-time fiddle tunes, country, blues and rags with a bit of Cajun thrown in for spice.

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 Methodis Church on 11th and Monroe, in Corvallis. For more information, or to join the volunteer team, contact Mark Weiss at mjweiss@cmug.com

Family Play Day in Portland

7:30 Sharon and Dave Thormahlen

Sharon and Dave have been making beautiful music together in Corvallis for decades.  They perform traditional and new music written by Sharon, mostly on instruments made by Dave.

8:30 Wild Hog In The Woods

Stringband music from a bygone era played the way it always should have been.

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

A Special Night of
Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan Songs

Many of your favorite local performers will be on hand to perform and lead sing-alongs of these popular folk works.

Special Note: Because we expect a larger crowd than usual, this Best Cellar will not be held in the cellar. We will be upstairs, at the top of the Methodist Church where we can seat more folks.

It will be a benefit for the Corvallis Folklore Society, the non-profit that provides insurance cost, royalty fees, and publicity for folk concerts, dances, and The Best Cellar Coffee House. Events like the Neal Gladstone Tribute, that some of you attended, can only happen because of The Folklore Society. And there are so many other concerts and dances they provide. Because, really, no one can afford the insurance and royalties to put on a music event anymore.

The Folklore Society needs help bearing these costs and so the volunteers of The Best Cellar have created this concert and musicians from all over our area have flocked together to perform. With so many folks stepping onto the stage, and playing in combinations they don’t usually play with, some of this will be brilliant, some will be ragged, and all of it will be heartfelt and joyful.

For this benefit, we selected Dylan because he won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year; and Guthrie because he was Dylan’s inspiration and role model, and doesn’t every great artist need inspiration and role models?

I hope you’ll consider joining us.

June 9,  7:30 upstairs at The Methodist Church on 11th and Monroe in Corvallis.

Pay what you will (and as many times as you care too). Kids are free and welcome.

Cookies, gluten free cookies, coffee, and tea will be provided

************************************************************

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 Methodis Church on 11th and Monroe, in Corvallis. For more information, or to join the volunteer team, contact Mark Weiss at mjweiss@cmug.com

7:30 River Rocks

Great local band. Laurie Childers and friends have wonderful harmonies.

8:30 Tom Rawson

Tom comes down from Seattle bringing some great, Pete Seeger like energy. Strong vocals, banjo, and guitar, and a tasty selection of classic folk songs mixed with clever originals.

“I have a banjo and I’m not afraid to use it.”
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

Photo by Mina Carson

7:30 Rita Brown

Rita Brown, local folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, was named the 2010 Readers’ Choice “favorite female vocalist” by the Corvallis Gazette-Times and praised for her “warm, unforced vocal style” by Seattle’s Victory Review. She has released four cd’s, two as half of a folk duo with Bill Smyth and two as lead singer of the original rock band, The Flow. She has sung with the Neal Gladstone Band, with the Joe Cocker tribute band Mad Dogs and No Englishmen,  and with cellist Anne Ridlington as Crooked Kate.
For the October 27^th Best Cellar, Rita looks forward to sharing some of her favorite songs from a variety of great songwriters.

8:30 Dinna Fash

Dinna Fash is Scots Gaelic for don’t worry, and this trio uses cellos and fiddles to play a wide variety of traditional and modern Celtic tunes so you can leave your worries behind. Kevin Craven, recently arrived from Hawaii is a local violin teacher and also plays with the OSU Symphony. Maria Blair on fiddle and cello, most recently from Durango Colorado, is also a step dancer. She brings special rhythm and vitality to the music. Beth Brown has been playing Celtic cello on the Corvallis scene for over 10 years, previously with the bands Three Fingered Jack and Lark. The trio is heavily influenced by Alasdair Frasier and Natalie Haas and has attended their camps and workshops. Along with traditional Irish, Scottish, Québécois and Shetland tunes, they play some of the modern tunes composed by the new generation of Celtic influenced musicians.

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