FFS Board of Directors
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Volume 50 Edition 1 January 2021 Submit articles to: [email protected] By the 15th of each month FFS Board Of Directors President Ron Bohigian [email protected] A Non-Profit Corporation for Traditional Arts Vice President Notes from Board President, Ron Bohigian Ann Lamb [email protected] My, my, how people are so down on 2020. Was it something Secretary about the number? COVID-19 was the biggest disruptor. Our Sue Wirt family has largely been spared the pain and misery caused by [email protected] the economic shutdown, but we know people who haven’t Treasurer Jim Ross been as fortunate and there are millions more. Megan and I [email protected] were able to complain about why the refrigerator door doesn’t Concert Master Pat Wolk close without being pushed shut. Or our dog Juno barks for [email protected] reasons we don’t understand. A friend recently sent me a short video portraying Membership the events during the life of a person born in 1900: World War I (22 million dead), Lifetime Member Alan Hubbart Spanish Flu (50 million dead), the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler, World War II (60 million dead), Korean War, Vietnam War, basically the huge sacrifice and Members At Large Bill Lehr loss as compared to what’s being expected of each of us today: wear a mask, stay [email protected] away from groups of people. And as you can see, so many people in our country Sal Sciandra [email protected] are having trouble going along with these simple measures. My grandparents and Larry Cusick father told me about how during WWII gasoline was rationed, they saved rubber bands, aluminum foil and scrap metal and grew victory gardens. When COVID is Susana Peckinpah finally under control, I wonder what kind of collective grade we’re going to get Bill Johnson and if we will have learned anything that will be useful when the next pandemic [email protected] comes along. Kerry Walter [email protected] Somehow I need to connect my above commentary with music. Megan got me a fiddle for my birthday! It was probably built in the 1920s in Germany (post World Flyer Editor Bill Johnson War I?) and was refurbished by luthier Barry Shultz. It’s apparently better than [email protected] the one I’ve been playing (and loving) these past nine years. Of course, I’ll need to Calendar Editor up my practice because having a better fiddle is like a bicyclist going out and Maria Glover Hm 559-322-8677 buying a $5000 road bike because it’s two pounds lighter, ignoring the extra Cell 559-281-8278 [email protected] twenty pounds around his waist. Logo Design by Tom Walzem at Otto Creative Banjo Frog Art by Jon Adams 1 I’m ready for the vaccine. I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to be jamming in large groups by maybe late summer? As far as the Kings River Jamcamp on the Kings River at Kirch Flat in May, we’re keeping our options open. Congratulations to our new FFS Boardmembers, Larry Cusick and Susana Peckinpah! They’ll be in on our January 12 board meeting, which will be held via Zoom. Finally, I read about a stretch of highway near the Salton Sea, the surface of which is designed to play the William Tell Overture as you drive on it. The general concept has great possibilities for our roads here in the Valley. North Sanger Blues? (Ed. Note Listen to it here)>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYdixi6Su_8 Stay healthy. Pay your dues. Play, sing, and dance. Fresno Folkie Far From Home It's a long ways from Fresno to Minneapolis. The move can teach you things you didn't realize you needed to learn. Some you may have been vaguely aware of, others are totally new. The country is vast. There is beauty to behold in driving through Zion National Park, but Nebraska, with less visual interest, feels just as essential. Downsizing is liberating. While you know the saying “you can't take it with you,” for now at least you can pay by the pound to move it. Space, or lack thereof, however, awaits you on the other end. Both factors force you to look at “stuff” differently. There is nothing I have rid myself of that I regret. Friendship is subtle. It develops over time while you’re just minding your own business. You don't consciously say, “I want this person to be my friend.” When you part, however, something stirs deep within you. The Fresno Folklore Society (FFS) is ever so special. While I wait for the pandemic to be over before I meet new kindred spirits, I am ever mindful of the gift I was given when I stumbled into the FFS. It was a delight to serve on the Board. Thank you for that privilege. (Karen Starcevich) 2 Ed Note: This article is the second in a monthly series highlighting a member of the Fresno Folklore Society Board Pat Wolk I've been active, off and on as president and off and on as concertmaster, since 1990. I’m not a musician but appreciate all you musicians who have dedicated so many hours and years to learning your craft. My husband Richard was the musician in the family. Following his retirement in 2000, he wrote 500 pieces of music before he died in 2016. Aside from an early interest in Seeger and Guthrie, my musical background is international music and dance. In the early 50s I danced with the Croatians in Seattle, then a Polish group. After high Dick & Pat Wolk—50th Anniversary school, I moved to San Francisco and performed with Anatol Joukowsky’s Le Petit Ensemble. Greek, Czech, Croatian, Serbian, and Bulgarian music and dance were my favorites. At age 25, marriage and family became my focus, but I never lost my love for music and dance. The Wolk family moved to Fresno in 1973. We knew no one. With our daughters in school and my husband as a full time oncologist, I returned to college for my degrees. There I saw a flyer announcing Mike Seeger to teach some classes at CSU Fresno, courtesy of Gene Bluestein and the English Department. Interested, I attended the evening lectures. As a result, I met the Bluestein family. Ellie became my best friend, and I fell in love with the music of Les Bluesteins and Evo and Jemmy and thus was introduced to the Fresno Folklore Society. I attended the twice-monthly concerts at the Tower District’s Wild Blue Yonder, camped out at Finegold and created a space in our home and acre garden for live music. I earned my degrees and was invited to Pat & partner Larry Byrne 1954 in Czech costume. Performing The Czech Polka and Furiant to Smetana’s Bartered Bride. teach at CSU Fresno in the English Department. I did so part-time for ten years. And then I was forced into retirement. 3 You know that lost feeling you get when something you love doing is no longer possible? That’s how I felt in 1990 when I retired. I loved teaching. All that energy that went into teaching—and correcting papers— was in need of a new direction. Pulling weeds was unexciting. Then out of the blue I received a phone call from Kevin Hall. “Pat, the Folk Society board has just met and we’ve elected you president!” “But but but … I haven’t even been a secretary…” “Yes. We know. You’ve been hanging around long enough. Time to pay your dues and get on board…the BOARD.” Reluctantly, I said yes and thus began my second (third or fourth) career. The Fresno Folklore Society has been around since the 60s, so I was a latecomer; but the group was in need of new energy, and I had energy to give. ...And I gave. Pat and Ellie Bluestein But in 30 years I’ve received much more in return: music and joy and love and friendship and more hugs than anyone can imagine. P.S. I’m ready as soon as we have this pandemic under control to begin booking concerts again. My soul and my garden are crying for live music and the company of my folk friends RESOLUTIONS FOR 2021 It is January of a shiny new year. Resolutions for this year are: wear your masks; social distance; wash your hands; GET YOUR VACCINATIONS. You know what to do. (Sue Wirt) WHIMSEY Press any key to start. Where is the “any” key? Question: Why is it that windshield wipers always nearly go back and forth in time to the music, but never quite? (This is from No, I Don't Want To Join A Book Club: Diary of a 60th Year by Virginia Ironside) 4 BILLBOARD CHARTING ARTIST, can I just speak it one more time?!?! - I feel like @cubagoodingjr when he won his Oscar. I’m so happy I just wanna shout it - I don’t know what the appropriate length of time enjoying this is - and I don’t wanna come off as boasting (PLEASE let me know if I am). It’s just been such a long journey to this point - way too much to write in a single post. If I can leave you on just this one thing — DONT. GIVE. UP. I don’t know who needs to hear that but I mean it with all my heart. (Patrick Contreras) 5 RESILIENCE is the operative word for 2020.