The Folk Project April 2019 www.FolkProject.org TM Folk Project App Finally Available! The FP App Committee (FPAC) is proud to announce that the Folk Project App will be officially available on April 1, 2019. No more clumsy paper documents, searching through files, or asking humans for help. We are proud to list just some of the app’s features: ☛ Tells you which Folk Project events to avoid each month. ☛ Gives you a chance to sign up for Open Stage 2–3 years in advance. ☛ Our built-in locator function sometimes works to direct you to events. ☛ Name-o-meter keeps you updated on the current name of ongoing events. ☛ SnoreAlert helps you find the quietest roommates for the Getaway. ☛ Autoharp tuner ☛ Tumblr: helps you find your future mate. ☛ Cat pix: because you can’t resist. There will certainly be more features added regularly. We are open to your input. Tell us what you want the app to do, and we will immediately ask you to write the code. Compatible with the follow- ing systems: CP/M, AmigaOS, DOS, GEOS, and BeOS. We are working on updating to X and MonKEY, with an expected release date of never. 45th Annual New Jersey Folk Festival Come celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the New Jersey Folk Festival with friends and family at the 45th Annual New Jersey Folk Festival on Saturday, April 27, 2019, from 10am–6pm, rain or shine! The New Jersey Folk Festival is the only festival run entirely by students; it is also the longest con- tinuously running folk festival in all of New Jersey. As always, this event is free of charge and will take place on the Eagleton Institute Lawn, on the corner of George Street and Ryders Lane, on the Douglass campus of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. This year, the New Jersey Folk Festival will be celebrating the themes of the past five years, including Maritime, Turkish Traditions, Bluegrass, and Native Americans. For music lovers, there will be three stages for your listening pleasure, including the Skylands, Pinelands, and Shore stages. Returning to the festival this year are talented performers such as Dan O’Dea and Eagle Ridge, Spook Handy, (continued on page 6) QUICK GUIDE TO THE INSIDE Evening o’ Music ............................................................................. 2 Seeking New EoM Hosts ................................................................. 2 Bill Staines in Concert ..................................................................... 6 Members’ Gigs (& Friends) ............................................................. 7 Mountain Songwriting Retreat ..................................................... 7 Board Meeting: The Summary .....................................................10 Good o’ the Order .........................................................................11 Green Light Music Series ..............................................................13 NOTE: web links in the eNewsletter are clickable Evening o’ Music April 2019 Sat., Apr. 13, 7:30pm • Mark and Robin Schaffer’s The Minstrel presented by 196 Mt. Pleasant Avenue, Rockaway, NJ • 973/989-4429 Acoustic Concert Series Mark and Robin Schaffer welcome us with all of our instruments, voices, potluck dishes, beverages, 7:30 start Concerts every Friday at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship and desserts. Please try to carpool if possible because parking in the driveway is somewhat limited. $10 door unless 21 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ Follow the directions below exactly because this home exists in a zone that’s protected by a force otherwise noted www.FolkProject.org • 973/335-9489 • [email protected] field which sometimes foils GPS accuracy. Directions: Route 80 to exit 35A (Dover and Shopping Mall). Go 1/2 mile to the Exxon and make a left onto Mt. Pleasant Avenue. Ignore Fri., Apr. 5: Cheryl Wheeler with David Stoddard house numbers for one mile. At one mile, the road starts downhill and you will pass a Baptist church with a red electronic sign. A metal There are two Cheryl Wheelers, actually. There’s the Good Cheryl Wheeler, who stops you in your tracks with the most beautiful poignant ballad that can bring you to tears. And there’s the Evil Cheryl Wheeler, guardrail will start on the right, then there is a 25mph sign, and a mailbox on the right that says “196” with three reflectors, about 10 feet whose biting wit and relentless probing of the foibles and foolishness of society remind you of Jon past the 25mph sign. The driveway is a hairpin turn on the right that heads downhill to the house. Yes, there is street parking, but fold in Stewart or George Carlin and leaves you helplessly rolling on the floor with laughter. And watching your rearview mirror if you can and then walk cautiously. those two Cheryl Wheelers vie with each other on stage is what has made her a top drawing talent in Please note the 7:30pm start time the folk world for over 3 decades. David Stoddard is a Minnesota-based singer-songwriter. He has won the Kerrville New Folk award, as well as songwriting awards at the South Florida Folk Festival, the Tucson Folk Festival, the Minnesota Folk Festival, and others. His music gets compared to both Randy Newman and Loudon Wainwright III. Seeking New EoM Hosts John McCutcheon said of him, “It’s not often I hear a songwriter that can write funny and write serious. Evenings of Music—where Projectiles gather in a member’s home on the second Saturday of almost David Stoddard is one of the rare ones. I love his stuff.” every month to make music and schmooze (schmoozic?)—are what first drew me into the Project. Fri., Apr. 12: OpenStage (admission: $10 general, $5 for age 21 & under, OpenStage only) And, seeing our house full of friends singing, strumming, and snacking is a sure cure for the blues. The Minstrel OpenStage is the place where a diverse collection of acoustic musicians performs for a We’re looking for new hosts for the Eves O’. All you need is a living space that can hold approx- welcoming, supportive, and attentive audience. We’re a listening room, not a noisy bar. We’ve often seen imately 35 people, preferably in more than one room, and an open heart. At press time, July, previews of our regularly scheduled opening acts for the first time at our Open Stage. (For information November, December, and almost all of next year are open. If you’re interested, please contact Jay on how to sign up to perform at our next Open Stage, visit www.OpenStage.FolkProject.org.) Featured at [email protected] act: Purple Hayes. —Jay Wilensky, Event Hosting Chair. Fri., Apr. 19: Del Rey with The Green Planet Band Those who attended our 2018 Spring Getaway will long remember the bravura performance they saw by Del Rey. She hits the stage like a miniature tornado with blues, ragtime, jug band, and novelty numbers played on steel guitar and ukulele. Her instrumental prowess approaches, but does not quite cross, the borderline of being flashy. And it’s all delivered with a twinkle in the eye, and a sense of humor that’s a cross between Will Rogers and Monty Python. The woman is a pistol! The Green Planet Band is a family band comprising siblings Kylee (13), Tyler (10), and Anna (10), along with Mama Lisa. It started with an elementary school talent show and has grown to be a credible semi- professional folk-rock act with strong vocals by the kids and lead guitar work from Mama. They do music by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Journey, Neil Diamond, Buddy Holly, Linda Ronstadt, Elvis Costello, and others, and have been a big hit at numerous Folk Project and other local events. Fri., Apr. 26: RPR with The Annie Donahue Trio April Fools for Ukes Super Sale Those who mourn the demise of the great Canadian band Tanglefoot will rejoice at the emergence of RPR, which might justifiably be called “Tanglefoot II.” Three of T’foot’s members—Rob Ritchie (keyboard), One Day Only! Noon, April 1 to Noon, April 2 Steve Ritchie (guitar), and Al Parrish (bass)—form the core of the band, and are joined by Beaker Granger Only 20 Tickets Available! (percussion & guitar). The full-throated folk sound is still there, along with some of the old band’s repertoire. We're hopping excitedly to spread the word about the return of the New Jersey Uke Fest on August 23–25, But the focus is broader and the musical palette more varied. The vocal harmonies are powerfully evident 2019. To share the eggs-citement as we finalize the last details, we will be offering 20 Full Fest tickets at as ever, as is the energy, the finely-honed songwriting, the penchant for humor and the twinkling eyes. an extra-special rate of $102 in our (April) Fools for Ukes Sale. Full Fest tickets include two evening The Annie Donahue Trio features Annie Donahue (singer/songwriter), Todd Dennison (guitar/vocals), concerts (Fri/Sat), a full day of workshops (Sat) with electronic and paper handouts for all workshops, and and Craig Limey (bass/vocals). The trio formed in August of 2018, with their first performance opening lunch (Sat). The sale starts at noon, Monday, April 1, and ends at noon, Tuesday, April 2. Once the 20 for the Folk Project Getaway Concert Series to rave reviews. They combine traditional folk music and tickets are gone the sales event is over. gospel with jazz influences to create unique musical arrangements with tight three-part vocal harmo- We will be gathering once again at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center of New Jersey in Whippany on nies. They strive to make music that touches listeners with songs that are introspective, joyful, meditative, Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24 and jamming on the Morristown Green on Sunday, August 25. and move them to join in singing If you're not able to get in on Fools for Ukes tickets, never fear! UPCOMING: 5/3 The Kennedys with Jaclyn Fraser; 5/10 OpenStage; 5/17 CLOSED for the Folk Project Spring Early Bird Full-Fest Tickets go on sale June 1 for $112.