June
2009
Summer
is finally here, and with it comes many opportunities to hear the
kind of music we all like. I'll be performing solo, and also with David
Peloquin this summer; and if you're in Phippsburg, Maine you may want to
catch Helen Richmond Webb and me at the Hermit Island Campground "Kelp
Shed" on Wednesday, July 1st; Dave Peloquin and I will also be at the
Kelp Shed, on Wednesday, July 15th. I hope to see you at one of these
venues.
Saturday,
June 27: "Good Times for Hard Times" concert with Dave Peloquin;
an evening of American traditional and popular music to lift the spirit!
Benefit for the Harlow Gallery; 7 p.m. NOTE: the venue for our concert
has been moved to The Harlow Gallery, 160 Water Street, Hallowell, Maine;
admission is now Free (but a donation to the gallery would be much
appreciated). FMI call the Harlow Gallery, 207-622-3813.
Friday,
July 3: Dave Peloquin and I will present "Good Times for Hard
Times" at the Round Top Coffee House in Damariscotta, Maine. An open
mic at 6:45 is followed by our presentation at 8:30. FMI:
207-677-2354 or 207-563-1393
Sunday,
July 12: A concert of musical "Americana," folk and popular
songs from 1850-1950 with Dave Peloquin and me, at Hamilton House, a
National Historic Landmark, 40 Vaughan's Lane, South Berwick, Maine 03908.
Thursday,
July 16: "The Real Life at Sea," lecture program with sea music;
7 p.m., Kennebunk Free Library, 112 Main Street, Kennebunk ME; FMI
207-985-2173.
Saturday,
July 25: Dave Peloquin and I will be performing at the Laughing Stock Farm
in Manchester, ME: more information to come.
Right here where you are now, there's a page devoted to the banjo and its
history as America's "own" musical instrument. The Sea Shanties and
Cape Horn pages are devoted to the lives of seamen who crewed the great merchant
sailing ships of the 19th Century. You can learn about the shanties sung by
sailors to coordinate the heavy manual labor on deck, and the "main-hatch
songs" that helped to pass their off-duty time on long voyages across the
Seven Seas. There are other arcane facts about seafaring, too. For example, did
you know that the famous Rhode Island Red chicken came to be after a rooster
from Asia was brought to New England aboard a sailing ship?
Take a trip south’ard to Cape Horn, the place of hoodoo and fear for
generations of deepwater sailors bound between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
And you can obtain CDs of shanties and sea songs and old-time fiddle and banjo
tunes to enjoy at your own pursuits, whether they be gardening, house painting,
open-road journeys, or even sailing to "Cape Stiff!"
Fair winds,
Bob Webb
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