Saturday, January 10, 2015

Happy New Year!

Dear Friends,

I hope your winter lights and festivities were warm and meaningful, and that maybe you got a little break in there. 2014 is past ( and if I could I'd rake it into a pile and burn it) and a new year is upon us, full of music and possibility. Starting tonight!

Friday, January 9th at 7pm at the Foundary, the Sam Bond's Brewing Company tap room (540 East 8th Ave, down by the new Federal Building) it's Irish music as it should be, played and sung by Chico Schwall and Friends: Ben Young playing whistle, banjo and guitar, Rachael Young playing piano and whatever else she picks up and m'self playing fiddle. A great space, with a Eugene-historical vibe and a great rack of Sam Bond's beers. It's a new space to Eugene and a fun place to gather. No door charge. Stop and say hi.

Tonight (Saturday, January 10th) the same group will rock the Eugene Folklore Society contra dance at the old Dunn School.  Teaching at 7:00, dance at 7:30.

February's big fun: On February 12 the eclectic Chico Schwall Gang (with Rachael Young and David Andersen) will bring our Twenty-first Century Globicana to Territorial Vineyards at 7 p.m. and the Irish music trio will be back at the Foundary on … Friday the Thirteenth. On the 14th I'll join Linda Danielson (fiddle) and Janet Naylor (harp) for an hour of acoustic music in the Saturday Atrium series at 2:00 p.m. (Tenth and Olive downtown). All these events are free.

But the big one is on February 26 at 7:30. The Shedd Institute for the Arts presents "Thunder and Lies: the Legacy of James Francis Child."  It'll be twenty debut performances of the classic "Child Ballads," gleaned from the five volume "English and Scottish Popular Ballads" that Child published in the 1880's and '90's. This is the epic poetry of the English language, an old heritage that remains contemporary, as Joan Baez, Paul Simon, Fairport Convention, Sam Amidon and many others have shown. I'll be joined by some great singers and players, a just-for-the-occasion ensemble, and a unique musical evening.

Hope your 2015 is off to a great start.

cheers,

Chico Schwall