Pasadena - Next Year and Beyond!

[kayshapero]

From the Pasadena Folk Music Society's update.

We have finished another year of concerts and this should be our last message for 2017.  We hope you were able to attend and enjoy a few of these events.  2018 will also be a year with plenty of great music and we've been scrambling to get tickets\ set up for all of these shows, just in case you want to give concert tickets as a gift during this holiday season.  We don't mean to be blatantly commercial about this, but we honestly think that the Folk Music Society and the Office of Public Events have lined up a great season in 2018 and you might want to share this music with special people in your life.  And you can save money on processing charges by ordering all of your tickets at once, because on phone orders the basic fee is charged per order, not per ticket or show.  There is never a service charge if you buy your tickets at Caltech's Ticket Office in person.  Online ticket sales will be set up a little later.  Peter Yarrow, Old Blind Dogs, the New Kingston Trio, Tannahill Weavers, and John McCutcheon are just some of the names.  Wait till you find out more about the ones we didn't just mention above!  You can see the whole year at our web site, here.  Click on a show and get a brief description and a link to a video of each performer.  All shows are Saturdays, except Old Blind Dogs, which is on a Friday.

 

If you do want to give actual tickets in the coming week, you would be best off if you can go to the Ticket Office in person, since they won't be able to guarantee delivery in a few days.   You can order them on the phone by calling the Caltech Ticket Office at (626) 395-4652.  You can visit the Ticket Office in person at 1200 E. California Boulevard in Pasadena (Southeast corner of Wilson Avenue).  Their Office hours are 10 AM-4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.  They will likely close early on Friday, December 29 for the Christmas holiday.    

Next up for the Folk Music Society will be Jim Malcolm on January 27.  Jim has a new CD just out, filled with plenty of new (new to his repertoire) traditional songs and some contemporary ones, too.  He sounds better than ever.  On the week before, January 20, Caltech Public Events is presenting Adonis Puentes and the Voice of Cuba Orchestra, a great night of Latin fusion with Cuban roots with a $5 discount on each ticket if you mention the Folk Music Society when you buy them.  Peter Yarrow will do a special show in Ramo Auditorium on February 10 (a Saturday- we mistakenly said it was a Sunday in an earlier message) in which he will reminisce in words and songs about the times in which Peter, Paul and Mary were such a vital force in our culture.  They helped  popularize folk music and were involved in the Civil Rights and Peace Movements.  And they sang so well together!  He will likely also cover a bit of his later solo efforts and other projects.   

A couple of weeks later, Scotland's Old Blind Dogs (the entire band!) will be here on February 23 (a Friday), and having heard them in Northern California earlier this year, we know they are sounding great, with ballads, instrumentals and more.  They have a new album out, too.  John Gorka, a great singer, songwriter and guitarist originally from New Jersey, now living in Minnesota, performs on March 3 and he should not be missed.  He has written many fine songs over the years, has one of the finest voices in the folk world, and he's a pretty funny guy.  Claude Bourbon  is a French/Swiss classical and blues guitarist, who does some singing and he will be making his Caltech debut on April 28.  He is an amazing guitarist.  At the end of the month, Caltech's Public Events will present the The (New) Kingston Trio (Josh Reynolds, Mike Marvin, Tim Gorelangton) and they will definitely bring back the great music, vocals and instrumentation with the classic songs of the folk boom in the fifties and early sixties such as Where Have all the Flowers Gone? and  A Worried Man.  The Ticket Office will give you $5 off on each ticket if you mention the Folk Music Society.   

Bryan Bowers, the outstanding autoharp player and singer, originally from Virginia and now living in Washington state will be here May 12 and he's just told us that he will be joined by mandolin player, Geoff Goodhue, who is touring with him from New Hampshire.  Bryan plays a mix of traditional songs and some fine compositions from a variety of contemporary writers.  We're still working things out for the early summer, but on August 25 we will feature a new band with some familiar faces.  The New World String Project with Stuart Mason, John Weed, Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter performs and features two members of Molly's Revenge along with Lisa and Aryeh, who performed with Patrick Ball in a couple of shows here.  This night of Celtic, Nordic and American folk traditions will feature ancient and modern sounds  on Swedish nyckelharpa, Celtic harp, fiddle, guitar, cittern, bouzouki, and more.

The  Scottish group, Tannahill Weavers will perform here as they pass through the Western U.S., celebrating their 50th anniversary as a band on September 15!  Featuring fiddle, flute, bodhran, whistles, bagpipes, guitar, and plenty of vocals, this band continues to excite their audiences.  October 6 will see the return of Jeni Hankins, who has appeared here twice as part of the duo, Jeni & Billy, but is now performing on her own.  Originally from Jewell Ridge, Virginia, she sings, plays guitar, banjo and autoharp, and may do a bit of flat foot dancing.  She now lives in London, England and has a new recording with songs that reflect some of the changes her life has taken.  We understand that she will have 2 or 3 other musicians with her. 

Another extremely talented songwriter/singer/guitarist, Bill Staines, will make his Caltech debut later in the month, on October 20.  Bill is a veteran songwriter whose songs sound so timeless, they seem to be traditional songs, such as All God's Critters and Roseville Fair.  You have likely heard his songs by other folks, such as Priscilla Herdman or Nanci Griffith, but he does a masterful job himself and has interesting stories.  On November 10 we welcome back the enormously talented John McCutcheon (Wisconsin native, now living in Georgia), who writes and finds great songs,  He is an articulate, progressive voice and has a great sense of humor.  He will be performing solo, but you are likely to hear guitar, hammer dulcimer, fiddle, autoharp, hamboning, and maybe even more, so you are sure to get your money's worth.  He is right up there with Pete Seeger in promoting the power of music.  We will have Susie Glaze and Lauren Sheehan paired together on January 12, 2019.  Tickets are not yet available for this one, and we haven't gotten it on our calendar yet, but mark it down on yours.  Susie and Lauren first sang together at a recent Far West Folk Alliance show and were one of the standout acts at the conference.   

At the end of the year, on Saturday morning, December 30, from 6-8 AM on KPFK (90.7 FM), Mary Katherine Aldin will be substitute host on Roots Music and Beyond, with a special edition of Alive and Picking.  You can also check out her calendar, Aliveandpicking.org.   If you miss the broadcast, you can catch the show afterwords on KPFK's Audio Archives- find it listed under December 30, 6-8 AM. 

And finally, in honor or the late John Davis, we include a link to a video of Robert Earl Keen's song, Merry Christmas From the Family, which John and his wife, Deanne, used to play on their KPFK show, Heartfelt Music about this time of year.  It is an unromantic but very funny view of a family Christmas party.If you celebrate Christmas, some of this might just hit home. 

We wish you happy holidays and hope to see you next year!