President’s Letter
Folknotes 01/16/25
Hello Everyone,
Here is the latest QCB news.
Invitation To Sing With The Dunham Choraliers
Leo Coffeehouse, Sunday, January 19, 2025
Looking Ahead: Leo Coffeehouse, Sunday, January 19, 2025
WoodSongs Hurricane Helene Instrument Drive
Reference Information For New Subscribers (Below my sign off)
Invitation To Sing With
The Dunham Choraliers
From John Mann:
Al Wauligman and I are the backup musicians for a choir consisting of all seniors. We are called the Dunham Choraliers. They have been in existence for 60 years! We practice on Thursdays morning at the Dunham Recreation Center (Price Hill) and perform for senior centers and nursing homes in the Cincinnati area. If you are looking to have some fun or know someone enjoys singing who might be interested please contact us. We will be starting rehearsals in February.
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.
Looking Ahead:
Leo Coffeehouse
Sunday, January 26, 2025
5:15 PM Old Time Jam
Join this song circle to lead and play along to old songs written before the folk revival.
5:15 PM Open Jam
Anyone can bring songs to lead in the circle while others provide backup and harmony.
1st Set: Jeff Gushin And Scott Nutter
Jeff has had a long-time interest in traditional old-time music including early influences on the genre ranging from blues, ragtime, show tunes, swing, jug band and even Hawaiian music. He also performs with the Laurelview Ramblers. Scott returned to the guitar, the passion of his youth, about 15 years ago when he joined the Leo. He loves to explore a wide variety of musical styles. Expect a few rags, blues, stomps, marches, etc. on fiddle and mandolin accompanied by guitar.
2nd Set: Cigar Box Scott
Cigar Scott Ackinson’s unique take on roots music fuses traditional folk music with rock and blues inspired rhythms. He creates original interpretations of old songs, performing new arrangements on electric cigar box guitar and his homemade amplified foot stompbox. His solo gigs cover a wide range of styles and songs.
3rd Set: Cincinnati Dancing Pigs
Cincinnati's premier Jug Band has been around since the early years of the Rolling Stones, have lasted longer than the Beatles and have more living members than the Grateful Dead. The Cincinnati Enquirer once compared them to the Julliard String Quartet, although not favorably. They have played at every Tall Stacks, at the Cincinnati Bicentennial Celebration, for the runners in the Flying Pig Marathon, many times in the summer concert series in Eden Park, for the Art Museum, and in many bars, back yards and living rooms throughout the area. From country club weddings to pig roasts to 4th of July parties, they have shamelessly wound up audiences at every variety of event.
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.