President’s Letter
2/9/24
Hello, Everyone. Here’s the latest QCB/Leo Coffeehouse news:
Tomorrow: Community Happens Here Jam
Recap: Open Mic Changes
The Return of Coffee to Leo Coffeehouse
Leo Coffeehouse, February 11, 2024
Looking Ahead: Leo Coffeehouse, February 18, 2024
Recycling Opportunity
Reference Information (Below my sign off)
Tomorrow: Folk Music Jam at
Community Happens Here
QCB’s first musical event at Community Happens Here, is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM. CHH is open to the public from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM with an event they call “Sidewalk Hospitality”. Our jam will overlap that event and introduce visitors to the idea of folk music at CHH. For anyone planning to come, get there a little early so you can walk around and see the facility.
CHH is located at 6238 Montgomery Rd. in Pleasant Ridge. CHH has seven parking spaces behind their building, one of which is a handicapped space, but there is ample parking on Montgomery Rd. and on Grand Vista Ave. NW of CHH. There is also a public parking lot behind Walgreens across from 6138 Woodmount Ave.
Recap: Changes to Open Mic Nights
Our all night open mic nights have become very popular. We are instituting some simple changes to create more performance slots and to make sure that new attendees and musicians who didn’t get to play the month before, get a chance to sign up first.
Here are the changes:
We are moving the 5:15 PM song circle/jam upstairs to the second floor.
Any scheduled 5:15 PM workshops will be held in the Green Room on the first floor.
The open mic signup sheet will go out at 5:45 PM. Performances will start at 6:00 PM. New people will given the chance to sign up first, followed by those who didn’t get to play the previous month, and then everyone else. (We keep track of monthly performers so we know who has played the month before.)
If we get more people who want to play than the18 slots available, we might ask for volunteers to give up one song to those who weren’t able to sign up.
There’s a 2 song, of normal length, limit. Each slot consists of 8 minutes playing/talking time with two minutes for set up. The time is only a guideline and will vary by performer.
We are implementing these changes with the February 11 mic-less open mic. We expect that our open mics will continue to be the fun, popular events we all enjoy. We’ll just get to hear more people play.
The Return of Coffee to Leo Coffeehouse
Along with his other volunteer duties, Dick Males has volunteered to start up offering coffee/tea /hot chocolate at Leo Coffeehouse again. This is an experiment in response to those who have told us that they miss having hot beverages at Leo. Note: Dick does not drink coffee, so he isn’t one of the members who have been craving it. However, he does like hot chocolate, so maybe that’s his incentive.
Bring your own mug (If you use one of our mugs, be prepared to help collect and wash the mugs at the end of the night.)
Hot water, instant coffee, tea, and hot chocolate will be provided.
Clean up after yourself.
Drop a dollar in the jar please.
Again, this is an experiment, we will continue if it is successful
Leo Coffeehouse
February 11, 2024
5:15 PM: Open Jam
Musicians bring songs to lead in the circle while others provide backup and harmony. The jam will be held upstairs due to our new expanded time for the open mic.
5:15 PM Songwriters Collaborative
Leo’s monthly songwriting workshop; come and share your songs with other songwriters for encouragement and friendly critiques. The Songwriters Collaborative will meet in the Green Room on the first floor.
6:00-9:00 PM: All Night Mic-less Open Mic
Sign up at 5:45 PM to perform two songs.
This will be a purely acoustic performance night. We will not be setting up the sound system. So, if you perform, remember to control how loudly you play your guitar so you don’t drown out your voice.
Looking Ahead:
Leo Coffeehouse, February 18, 2024
3:30 PM: 3rd Sunday Singalong
Tell your friends and bring the kids! Everyone will pick songs from the Rise Up Singing books.
5:15 PM: Open Jam
Musicians bring songs to lead in the circle while others provide backup and harmony. This jam continues upstairs during the concert.
5:15 PM: Guitar Roundtable
Forum for players of any skill to exchange ideas so we can all make better music. Bring a question, share a tip. Learn a new lick or chord. Gain a new perspective, share your own. Enrich your guitar experience.
Performances 6:40 - 9:00 PM
1st Set: Ceron Bros
Three brothers from Milford who have been studying classical music since they were 2, 4 and 5 years old. Rhys (16) plays the piano, Beckett (14) plays classical guitar and Tennyson (13) plays piano and classical guitar. They have played in a variety of venues in OH, MI, IL, CT and NY including the Nature Center, Caffe Vivace, Longway Planetarium ( MI), One World Observatory (NYC) and Carnegie Hall.
2nd Set: Michael G Ronstadt
A wide range of musical styles from singer-songwriter, folk, classical, and Americana to new age on cello and guitar in complement to thought-provoking lyrics, as well as instrumental work. In addition to his solo and group recordings with Trotta, Aaron Nathans and Serenity Fisher & The Cardboard Hearts, he is a much sought-after studio musician, who has appeared on more than 200 albums in the last 20 years. Michael holds a Master in Cello Performance from CCM.
3rd Set: No Sugar Added
A mix of Americana, folk and bluegrass with rich harmonies and acoustic instruments. Bob Littman, Stormin’ Norman Heck, and Richard Goering.
Recycling Opportunity
From Janice Alvarado:
The Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub takes many items that the city does not recycle. Roberto and I are going to the Hub this Thursday and we have plenty of extra space in our van that we're hoping you can help fill.
The link below explains acceptable and unacceptable items.
Items must be clean and dry.
Do not include items that city recycle accepts.
https://www.cincinnatirecyclingandreusehub.org/for-free
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.
I hope to see you at Leo Coffeehouse.
Neil Harrell
President, Queen City Balladeers/Leo Coffeehouse
Facebook:
Main page: https://www.facebook.com/queencityballadeers
QCB SongFarmers page: https://www.facebook.com/Q.C.Balladeers
QCB Members Group page:
