President’s Letter
Folknotes 01/12/25
Happy New Year Everyone!
That was quite an experience we all had this past week with the massive snow storm. Well, massive for this area anyway. The last time I looked, the weather forecast included a couple inches of snow on Friday. Hopefully, that will all be cleared for Leo this Sunday. We’ll see and I’ll let you know if anything changes.
Here’s the latest QCB news:
Leo Coffeehouse, Sunday, January 12, 2025
Looking Ahead: Leo Coffeehouse, Sunday, January 19, 2025
WoodSongs Hurricane Helene Instrument Drive
Reference Information For New Subscribers (Below my sign off)
Leo Coffeehouse
Sunday January 12, 2025
5:15 PM: Songwriters Collaborative
Come and share your songs with other songwriters for encouragement and friendly critiques.
5:15 PM: Open Jam
Anyone can bring songs to lead in the circle while others provide backup and harmony.
Performances: 6:40 - 9:00 PM
1st Set: Lenny Hall
A long-time QCB member who has been playing for over 35 years now. Influences are Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and other flatpickers. He enjoys playing fiddle tunes, but will always work on favorite fingerstyle songs.
2nd Set: Greg Buening
Greg Buening, a long time Queen City Balladeers member, will play original songs & covers exploring love & life with some pathos & some humor. Greg will be joined by his son, Jon (vocals & guitar), and his friends, Jim Hunt (percussion) and Dick Males (bass).
3rd Set: The Presidents, Neil Harrell & Alana Johnson
The international debut of the newly formed duo “The Presidents”. Singer-songwriters Neil Harrell and Alana Johnson (the current and previous presidents of QCB), will perform some of their favorite originals and covers. Blending their individual styles: eclectic and fun, edgy and comfy. No matter what, we are going to have fun.
Looking Ahead:
Leo Coffeehouse
Sunday, January 19, 2025
5:15 PM: Guitar Roundtable Workshop
Mike Helm leads this forum for players of any skill level to exchange ideas so we can all make better music together. Bring a question, share a tip. Learn a new lick or chord. Gain a new perspective, share your own with us. Enrich your guitar experience.
5:15 PM: Open Jam
Anyone can bring songs to lead in the circle while others provide backup and harmony.
6:30 PM: All Evening Open Mic
Sign up at 6:00 PM to perform 1 -2 songs. 8 minute limit.
Sound system will be set up.
WoodSongs Hurricane Helene Instrument Drive
Now along with dropping them off at Leo Coffeehouse on Sunday nights (see Neil Harrell or Janice Alvarado), anyone can drop playable, good condition instruments off at area music stores, including Willis Music stores and Buddy Roger’s. For more information and a list of stores accepting instruments for the WoodSongs Hurricane Helene instrument drive go here.
New: Instruments will be collected through January. All donated instruments will be delivered to Lexington. WoodSong volunteers will then deliver them, along with donated instruments from other areas, to Tennessee and North Carolina musicians.
From the WoodSongs website:
“The area around Asheville NC and east Tennessee is rich with musical heritage. With your help, WoodSongs will collect and deliver over 1000 FREE instruments to the musicians of the mountains who lost everything in the storms and help restore the music of the front porches of Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
“We were very successful organizing instrument drives for tornado victims in western Kentucky and again for the flood victims of the mountains. Nearly 2000 instruments were collected, restored and delivered absolutely FREE to the musicians who needed them.”
That’s all for this Folknotes, I hope to see you soon.
Neil Harrell
President, Queen City Balladeers/Leo Coffeehouse
Facebook:
QCB/Leo Coffeehouse Membership
We are keeping our standard annual QCB membership dues at $20.00 for a family, or for a single person plus a guest. Last year, knowing that the pandemic cut into our contingency funds, as we continued to pay overhead expenses with no income, some members donated larger amounts to QCB. We very much appreciate the support of all QCB members at all levels.
We are exploring setting up our website to allow the payment of different levels of dues support. For now, if you’d like to pay the standard dues, you can pay them online here or by a check at Leo. (We’ve discontinued our P.O. Box, I will have a mailing address in the next newsletter for those who wish to mail their membership dues.)
If you would like to donate more than the $20.00 standard dues, you can do so by check, or through our website. When you get to the page with the box to relay instructions, just note that you are paying a larger amount for your dues.
For visitors who prefer not to become a member, a donation of $5.00 (cash) per person helps us pay the rent for our non-profit organization. Donations can be slipped in the box at the welcome table outside our performance room, Founders Hall. If you can’t afford that, pay what you can afford or nothing at all. We will welcome you to join us either way.