Steve's Blog
Wednesday May 11, 2011

Hi everyone

1. Rogue Folk Review

The May issue of the Rogue Folk review is now available online for download / print. The hard copy edition was mailed last night.

2. A.G.M.

The Rogue Annual General Meeting takes place this Saturday, May 14th at St. James Hall prior to the Reid Jamieson concert. All members are encouraged to attend, and to vote for the Slate of Directors. There will be birthday cake and prizes and a fundraising sale of CDs and other items during intermission at the concert.

3. Festival Ticket Update

We are offering discount tickets again to both the Vancouver and Mission Folk Festivals.

Mission Folk Music Festival, July 21-24

There is an extra special, extra early deal for Mission this year: purchase by May 31st - at 2009 prices! That's just $65 for adults, $42 for Youth / Senior tickets, $10 for children. Camping $20 per adult. After May 31st the early bird prices go up to $75 adults, $49 Seniors, $45 youth, and $10 (Children). Camping goes up to $25 per adult. festival details on www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca

Vancouver Folk Music Festival, July 15-17

Early Bird tickets are $135 for adults, and we are offering them at $122. We have to receive your payment for tickets by Friday June 10th. Members in good standing can buy as many tickets as you like for $122 each.

Ordering

The Ordering process is identical for both festivals: Please make cheques payable to Rogue Folk Club, and mail them to 31- 1465 Lamey's Mill Road, Vancouver, B.C. V6H 3W1

If you prefer, please call our office on 604-732-1305. If there is nobody there leave a message we will call you back to process your order by credit card.

Ticket Pick-up

You can pick up your VFMF or Very Early MFMF tickets at the Don Ross or Foggy Hogtown Boys concerts in June, or at the office on West Broadway (call first to ensure there is someone there!) The remaining Mission tickets will be at Will-Call at the Festival Gate.

If you'd prefer to have your tickets mailed please add $10 per order for Registered Mail.

4. New Folk Festival in Victoria

After three years without a festival, and ten years since there has been a major folk festival in the capitol city, Folkwest will be launched on August 19 - 21 in Royal Athletic Park. Margaret & I attended the Media Launch yesterday - the only media from outside Vancouver Island, I might add. It's an exciting project headed by Artistic Director Oliver Swain. The line-up includes Barney Bentall, The Bills, Joy Kills Sorrow, Fish & Bird, Marc Atkinson Quartet, Ruth Moody, CR Avery, Daniel Lapp, Rick Scott, and Irish piper Martin Nolan with Pierre Schreyer (fiddle) and Adam Dobres (guitar.) More headliners will be added soon. The Friday evening concert is free, and Early Bird passes are available for just $50 up to June 21st. More info on www.folkwest.ca

5. Rogue Birthday Weekend Concerts

It's the 24th Birthday of the Rogue this week, and we have two concerts to celebrate the occasion - which also launches our Silver Jubilee Season!

Qristina & Quinn Bachand Band, Friday May 13th, 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)

This is a CD launch for Family, the 2nd CD released by Victoria siblings Qristina (fiddle, vocals) and Quinn (guitar, banjo) Bachand. They will be joined by Adrian Dolan (accordion, mandola) who produced the CD, and impressive young Irish piper Zac Leger from Seattle. Zac will also play bouzouki and flute and whistle. Quinn is only 14, but is already one of Canada's top Celtic music accompanists. Ashley MacIsaac says He's better than anyone else I've ever worked with. I haven't worked with a guitar player more versed in musicality than him - which is high praise indeed, since he's worked with some pretty amazing guitarists over the years! Their repertoire may consist of a lot of familiar tunes, but the freshness, vitality, power and originality of their arrangements make this concert a MUST for fans of Celtic / Old Time / Appalachian - and Canadian music. www.qbachand.com

Reid Jamieson with Melissa Bandura, Saturday May 14th, 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)

Reid Jamieson is a truly amazing singer. Visit his website www.reidjamieson.com and download / listen to some of his versions of familiar songs (he's made a whole CD of lesser-known Elvis Presley songs, and his website also includes selections he's recorded for CBC's Vinyl Cafe, as well as a series of cover songs which were released in 1969 which he recorded as a present to his wife, Carolyn, who was born that year. Reid is also a very engaging performer, utterly charming, and a fine songwriter. He was a finalist in Shore 104.3fm's inaugural Summer Songsearch Contest last year, and staged the CD Launch for his latest CD, Staring Contest, last September at The Rogue (sponsored and recorded by Shore 104.3fm) The exciting news - which I didn't know about when I assembled the latest issue of the Rogue Folk Review - is that Reid will be joined by multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Melissa Bandura (formerly of Lily Come Down.) She will join Reid throughout his set on background vocals and violin, as well as singing some of her own compositions. www.melissabandura.com

6. The Edge On Folk, Saturday 8am to noon on CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca

Please join me for four hours of new releases, concert and festival previews, and plenty of surprises as I spin through 50+ songs on The Edge On Folk.

7. Steve Dawson on Shore 104.3

I'm just about to record a segment of Gord Rutherford's Coastal Blues Show on Shore 104.3fm to promote Shore's involvement in the CD launch concert for Steve's brand new - and fabulous - album, Nightshade (Friday, May 20th, St. James Hall, 8pm.) Steve will be joined by Chris Gestrin on keyboards, Keith Lowe on bass, Geoff Hicks on drums, and maybe more guests too. Shore 104.3fm will be there to record the concert for later broadcast, and we are extremely grateful for their support.

Cheers for now. Hope to see you this weekend at The Rogue!!
Steve