Newsletter, September 16, 2002
In this issue:
VENUE CHANGE for Sept 19 Concert (This Thursday!)
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had to change the venue for the "Two Traditions, One Song" concert next Thursday evening. Instead of being at The Blue Note, this concert will take place in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Activities Building. Day and time remain the same.
Sacred Heart Church is at the corner of Locust and Waugh, (near Lee Elementary) just a couple blocks from downtown. The Activities Building is behind the church and there is a parking lot on the opposite side of Locust.
This is a non-smoking, very family friendly environment, so come on out and bring your kids. We'll have the front row of seats reserved for kids!
Here are the details about the show:
“Two Traditions, One Song”
performers: Leela & Ellie Grace, Johnny B Connolly, Aidan Brennan
Thursday, September 19, 8:00 p.m.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church Activities Building
Corner of Locust and Waugh Streets, near downtown Columbia.
Tickets: $12 door/$10 advance for public
$9 CMCAA members, kids 14 &
under attend free
Tickets available at Streetside Records, Tiger Tales Books, Graham & Taylor
(on Broadway between 8th & 9th Streets) and online at www.moceltic.org
Leela and Ellie Grace
Columbia natives Leela and Ellie have been acclaimed by audiences and fellow musicians alike across the United States for their close harmonies, warm stage presence, driving old-time instrumentals and spirited clogging and Irish step dancing.Johnny B Connolly and Aidan Brennan
Both originally from Dublin, Johnny and Aidan are among the young guns of traditional Irish music. A consummate button accordionist, Johnny plays with grace, maturity and a sure knowledge of the tradition. Aidan’s skills on guitar and his lovely singing keep him in constant demand in the USA, Ireland and Europe.
These four musicians have tremendous passion for the music and find great joy in sharing it with their audiences. Together, they'll explore the common threads of old-time American and traditional Irish music, dance and song, shwocasing the musical roots of our immigrant heritage.
Big, big fun! Don't miss this show. This is a one-time special performance by these four musicians.
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DADGAD Guitar Workshop
with Aidan Brennan
What the heck is DADGAD??! It's an alternate guitar tuning that is commonly used when playing traditional Irish music. Since most Irish tunes are in D and G, DADGAD tuning offers chords in those keys that have lots of open strings, with nice ringing sound.
Aidan Brennan, a master of DADGAD, has played backup guitar for some of the top names in Celtic music -- Kevin Burke, Susan McKeowan, Martin Hayes, Loreena McKennitt and Lawrence Nugent and taught extensively at festivals across the US and Europe.
DADGAD is not unique to Irish music, growing in popularity as an alternate in many genres, and this workshop will focus on DADGAD techniques, rather than exclusively on using DADGAD in Irish music.
Anyone interested in learning about DADGAD tuning is welcome to attend.
Wednesday, Sept 18, 7-8 p.m., $20
To register, e-mail Kate Akers kakers@chivalry.com or call 442-2048
Please let other guitar players know about this opportunity!
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This Thursday the Irish band and the CMCAA table will be in front of Lamb's Jewelery on Ninth Street from 6 - 7:45 (then off to the concert at Sacred Heart!) Come by and say hello!
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Beginning and Advanced Irish Set and Ceili Dancing
Beginning/intermediate class: Wednesdays, 6 – 7 p.m. This will
focus on easy ceili dances for groups of 6 – 20 people, teaching basic
footwork and figures, working up to more complex set dances. No experience and
no partner necessary.
Advanced class: Wednesdays, 7 - 8 p.m.
For more experienced dancers who want to learn fast-paced set dances. No partner
necessary.
Either class is $40 or $70 for two people. 8 weeks, Sept 25 – Nov 13
Irish Language
An 8-week introduction to Modern Irish, a Celtic language, with emphasis on
conversation, pronunciation, and minimal grammar, taught by Dr. Evan Smith
(Ph.D., Linguistics, Indiana University). This will be the Connemara dialect
(West Galway), though there will be some reference to alternate pronunciations.
Learn what to say in the Gaeltacht of Ireland, where Irish is the first
language.
Wednesday evenings, 8 weeks September 18 – Nov 6
To register for either of these, e-mail kakers@chivalry.com
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Wednesday Night Slow Jam Sessions
An open, informal Irish music session for beginners (and folks a little past beginner level) happens every Wednesday evening from 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. For more information and directions, contact Vicki Rightmyre at rightmyrev@missouri.edu
All ages and all instruments are welcome!
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Concert
-- Ed miller, Songs of Scotland
Sunday, October 13, 7:00 p.m. at Cherry STreet Artisan
"Hearing Ed Miller is like picking up a book of
favorite short stories. Even though the characters are familiar and you remember
the basic plots, the telling itself is worth hearing time after time."
L. E. McCullough, Austin Chronicle
"Here is a mixture of traditional and contemporary
songs woven into a seamless garment by a singer who respects style and
clarity."
Sheila Douglas, The Living Tradition
"Permit me to put a wee bee in your bonnet about a
honey-voiced singer named Ed Miller, a decidedly not run-of-the-miller
interpreter of Scots songs."
Bob Breheny, Dirty Linen
"There can be nothing more satisfying to a singer
than to be listened to with rapt attention, and Ed commanded such affection from
the very first. His songs were sung with a love and understanding for both song
and writer--something uncommon in the folk scene today."
Edinburgh Folk Club Newsletter, Edinburgh
Ed's web site: www.songsofscotland.com
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Thanks to everyone who came out to the End of Summer Ceili on August 25. Our Summer Arts participants played tunes, sang in Irish and danced the night away! The silent auction was a great success, too, raising just over $600 for next year's summer program.
We had a total of 53 people enrolled in our Irish language, tin whistle and dance classes, and 8 kids participated in the kids whistle and dance workshops on Aug 24. The program cost about $3000 and many, many hours of volunteer effort to put together. Class fees covered the majority of the costs, sumplemented by donated performance fees from the Thursday Night Irish Band, and individual donations.
In addition to teaching classes, Marie McLean, this year's artist-in-residence, represented CMCAA by giving demonstration performances at the Downtown Rotary Club, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, appeared twice on "Pepper and Friends" (the second appearance was pre-recorded and will air on October 11), was interviewed by the Columbia Tribune, and did several radio interviews on KOPN and KFRU.
Some photos from the summer activities will be posted on our web site at www.moceltic.org
In the future we hope to secure grant funding for summer artists-in-residence and increase the number of participants. If you have would like to participate in planning next year's program, please e-mail Kate. kakers@chivalry.com
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* Bernie and Barbara McDonald, Irish musicians from St. Louis will be performing Sunday, Sept 28 at Columbia Festival of the Arts, around noon. CMCAA will have time to do some announcements during their show, and demonstrate a ceili dance.
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September 20-22
Weston Irish Festival, Weston, Missouri, (North of Kansas City)
http://www.westonirish.com/October 5
Jefferson City Multi-Cultural FestivalOctober 11-12 St. Louis Scottish Games
http://www.stlouis-scottishgames.com/Saturday, Oct 12
Ale Moller & Aly Bain perform at Focal Point in St. Louis
http://www.thefocalpoint.org/Saturday December 7, The Boys of the Lough -- near-legendary Scottish band
perform in Kansas City for Missouri Valley Folklife Society ( www.mvfs.org )