Volume 45, Issue 5 www.huntsvillefolk.org May 2011 TheHTMA Huntsville President’s Traditional NotesMusic Next Meeting AllAssociation of my siblings meets got ontogether the third in Huntsville Sunday of last May 15th weekend to helpeach my month Mom celebrate her 2:00 P.M. birthday. WhileOur nextthey meeting were here is: I took the Huntsville/Madison Public Library opportunitySunday, to invite February some folks 21st over for a little Htma Coffee house picking. Had several2:00 - 4:30folks PMover Saturday, and Presents really had a good time sharing new and old Huntsville/Madison Public Library Auditorium tunes with friends and family. Later I talked with my brother John about the music association, and inertia. John was president of our sister organization, the Delaware Friends of Folk, up in Dover Delaware, for nearly ten years, till he got transferred to Cincinnati. I think that DeFF had only a dozen or so members when John joined, but by the time he left they had a weekly coffeehouse (at Wesley College) and over 150 families were members. That’s a huge May 19th membership for Dover, a much smaller town 7:00PM than Huntsville. (continued on page 4) Old Country Church Inside this Issue: Page 1: President’s Notes Page 2: Executive Board Page 3: May Calendar of Events Page 4: The Berry Patch Page 5: President’s Notes (continued) Page 6 & 7: One of the Greats in Bluegrass Music 1 President Jerry LeCroy 880-6234 [email protected] Vice President Jim England 852-5740 [email protected] Walking Tour Sec/Treasurer Pat Long 539-7211 [email protected] HTMA has been asked to Publicity Chair Claire Mikkelsen [email protected] provide music for the annual Public Service Chair Mooresville Walking Tour to Position Available! be held Saturday, May 21 Performance Chair Jim Holland [email protected] from 11 am to 5 pm in Operations Co-Chair Mooresville, AL (just down George Williams 256-728-2359 [email protected] the road from HSV on I565). Music must be Steve McGehee 858-2032 [email protected] acoustic (no amplification). Webmaster Brian Curtis 412-0980 [email protected] http://www.mooresvillealabama.com/tour11.htm Newsletter Editor Brian Curtis 412-0980 [email protected] Anyone interested may contact Pat Long for further info. For the positions of Event [email protected] Photographer/Videographer Backup Sound Technician Contact Jerry LeCroy for details Call 256-880-6324 or E-Mail [email protected] Visit our website www.huntsvillefolk.org 2 Gurley's Music Barn Tues. Night Jams Lexington Bluegrass Festival Every Tuesday night in May beginning at 7:00 PM May 21st 45 Peck Hollow Rd; Somerville, AL 35670 Lexington City Park, Lexington, Alabama http://www.lexingtonal.org/bluegrass.html New Hope Saturday Night Jam Every Saturday night in May beginning at 6:00 PM Daily & Vincent New Hope Senior Center, New Hope, Alabama May 21st Arab City Park, Arab, Alabama Glen England’s Spring Bluegrass Festival http://daileyvincent.musiccitynetworks.com/ May 12th through 14th Glen England Home, Center Star, Alabama 27th Annual Poke Salat Festival STAGE Jam Contact [email protected] for details and directions May 21st Arab City Park, Arab, Alabama Second Saturday Old-Time Jam http://www.pokesalatfestival.com/ May 14th 1:00 - 4:00 PM Constitution Hall Village, Huntsville, Alabama Mooresville Walking Tour May 21st 11 AM – 5 PM Hearthstone Assisted Living Gig Historic Mooresville, Alabama May 14th 3:00 PM Contact [email protected] for more details 2020 Benaroya Lane, Huntsville, Alabama Log Cabin String Band HTMA Meeting May 21st 7-9 PM May 15th 2:00 PM 16 Main St. (East Lawn), Madison, Alabama Huntsville/Madison Library, Huntsville, Alabama www.16maingallery.com/Gallery_Events.html HTMA Coffeehouse Huntsville Bluegrass/Gospel Jam May 19th 7:00 PM May 22nd 2:00-5:30 PM Burritt on the Mountain - Old Country Church Madison County Nature Trail at Green Mtn. Horse Pens 40 Spring Bluegrass Festival Hurricane Creek Bluegrass Band May 20th - 22nd May 21st Horse Pens 40 Park, Steele, Alabama Little House of Prayer, Lacey’s Springs, Alabama http://www.hurricanecreekbluegrass.com/ Just Down the Road May 20th 6:00 PM Acoustic Café Singing on the Square, Athens, Alabama May 27th and 28th Natural Bridge, Alabama Keel Mtn Fire Dept. 3rd Friday Night Jam http://www.theacousticcafe.com/ May 20th 6:00 PM Keel Mtn. Fire Dept., Gurley, Alabama Regency Retirement Village Gig May 28th 3:15 PM Harborchase Assisted Living Gig 204 Max Luther Drive, Huntsville, Alabama May 21st 10:30 AM 4801 Whitesport Circle, Huntsville, Alabama Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers: An Evening of Bluegrass and Banjo May 29th 8:00 PM Von Braun Civic Center Concert Hall http://www.stevemartin.com/ More information on all HTMA meetings, concerts, coffeehouses, and other events, is available at www.huntsvilefolk.org 3 The Berry Patch IT WAS ONLY EIGHTY YEARS AGO WHEN: Four hundred, forty-five dollars would buy a new Chevrolet that would, with a good effort, carry the family an average of 230 miles each day when on vacation travel. Usually, for most vacationing Americans, it was a three week affair; one week going, one staying, and another getting back home. Flat tires were a common occurrence. Many cars carried a spare mounted on the back. If no spare was available, repairing a “flat” was often a challenge. The do-it-yourself method required the use of a jack, tire-tools, cold-patch kit, hand-pump, and a handy puddle of water to baptize the tube in to “check for leaks.” Chances of successfully repairing the leak with the first effort were about fifty-fifty, assuming one was experienced in such matters. The neophyte had about one chance in ten of success on the first try. A hot, over-head August sun beating down on the man fixing the flat was no cause for celebration, but good cause to give the man plenty of space. A wise mother took the kids and a blanket to some far-away, shady spot, out of hearing distance. Daddy, the hot sun, and the flat tire were a combustible combination, not a fit place for young ears. That same year, and for several thereafter, Professor Thomas Marshall’s American History was in common usage in our country. Thomas, speaking of the slave, wrote: Although he was in a state of slavery, the Negro of plantation days was usually happy. He was fond of the company of others and liked to sing, dance, crack jokes, and laugh. (I guess this was the writer’s way of saying “misery loves company.”) Shirley Temple was age four and already appearing in “picture-shows.” Times were difficult for many musicians, causing Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman to share a common room while playing in various pit bands in New York City. In Beaumont, Texas, Harry James was not so lucky with a traveling bandleader named Lawrence Welk who denied Harry’s bid for a job because, You play too loud for my band. A clock maker in New Jersey discovered that it was hazardous of his employees to use radium for painting of luminous figures on clock dials. Out of regard for their safety, he converted to the use of uranium. Such was life, back then. Many thanks for your good work for HTMA, Joe 4 (PRESIDENT’S NOTES continued from page 1) DeFF started putting on a music festival about twenty years ago. It was first known as the Fall Fling, but is now the DELMARVA (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) folk festival. Runs two days every October, and a lot of folks camp out to be sure they aren’t missing anything. John and Vickie’s kids have fond memories of the folk festival as a big annual party, and they still make a pilgrimage there. But DEFF membership has been falling, much like we have experienced at HTMA. John has some theories about that. He suspects that a critical element in maintaining an involved membership in an organization like ours is to have a wide range of musical choices presented in the association’s performance schedule. One pitfall for us would be to have a coffeehouse schedule that reflects the musical taste of one member. It doesn’t matter whether that member likes blues or bluegrass, gospel or opera. If we only put on one kind of music, after a while the audience will thin out to the select group who enjoy that genre, and everyone else finds other things to do with their time. That puts a lot of stress on the booking committee. Essentially, it means that to do the job, they have to occasionally book performers that they might not normally choose to go see, harder still if the performance committee is one guy. This is pretty much our current situation. Even with the best intentions, it’s hard for one guy to have enough contacts across music genres to even know who might be brought in from musical styles outside his usual experience. This means that HTMA could really use some help in the performance booking department. If you know an artist that you’d like to see in Huntsville, please take the time to talk to me or Jim Holland, and let us know about your interests. Better yet, think about volunteering to work (not really work if you love it) on the performance committee. We might not get your first choice of a coffeehouse band, due to scheduling or financial considerations, but there’s a good chance we will. When that happens, do your part and tell all your friends.