hxe@rayssd.UUCP (Heather Emanuel) (05/29/85)
**DIZZY GILLESPIE!!** **FERRON!!** **TOM CHAPIN!!**
**THE JOHN HALL BAND!!** **SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK!!**
**AND MORE!!!!!!**
My favorite subject: Clearwater's Hudson River Revival Festival
"Clearwater" is the name of both a sloop and an environmental
foundation formed by Pete Seeger and a host of others to clean
up the Hudson River. So far they've been pretty successful.
Every year they have a great big festival on Croton-on-Hudson,
New York, which is about an hour northwest of NYC.
The festival is *wonderful*! There are five stages with an act
on each stage all day at all times. Certain acts are repeated,
so if there's a conflict between two good acts at one time, you
can see them all at another time. There are also two dance stages
for square, contra and clogging dances, plus plenty of exotic other
types (they usually run demonstration/workshops of dances).
The type of music there is predominantly political/folk/ethnic with
usually some great blues or jazz in there too. In fact, the only
type of music I *haven't* heard there is straight-out rock (although
a few acts have come close).
The festival is always on the weekend closest to the summer solstice;
this year that's June 15 and 16. Times are from 11:00 AM till dusk.
Most acts appear on both days, but it's worth it to go for the whole
weekend. There is a camping area for ridiculously low prices.
This year's big acts are: David Amram, Tom Chapin (Sunday only),
Ferron, the John Hall Band, Tommy Makem, Sweet Honey in the Rock,
Theodore Bikel (Sunday only), Dizzy Gillespie and too many
more to type. There are about a hundred more acts that "folkies"
would recognize, but I'm not going to type them in either!
There are also craft and environmental exhibits, and there's
always Pete Seeger, who opens and closes the festival with a song.
He also usually joins a few performers for a song or two. The food
there is the best food I have all year round, too! Every kind of
ethnic variety you could ask for.
Oh yeah - my favorite part. Every stage has a signer on it for the
hearing impaired, and the whole festival is handicapped-accessible.
The reason it's my favorite part is that the signers sign in American
Sign Language, which resembles modern dance more than sign language.
They're often more interesting to watch than the musicians.
There's also tons of stuff for kids, like storytelling, puppets,
workshops, a supervised play area, crafts, etc. Plus, for the
adults, sailing, fiddle and band contests... The list goes on.
By the way, I have absolutely no connection with this festival
except that it's a family tradition; we all meet there every
year and I wouldn't miss it. Tickets can be bought for the
whole weekend ($20) or by the day ($11.50) at the gate.
For more information either call them directly at: (914) 454-7951
or write me (I have detailed flyers).
Let me know if you're going; we're always trying to get a netters'
party going in the campsite!
P.S. The reason I posted this to the whole net is that people have
been known to travel considerable distances to this festival.
Sorry if I offended anyone.
--
--Heather Emanuel {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5} rayssd!hxe
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I don't think my company *has* an opinion, so the ones in this
article are obviously my own.
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"Ain't life a brook...
Sometimes I feel just like a polished stone" -Ferronwmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (05/30/85)
The base posting mentioned that Theodore Bikel would be at this festival. This surprised me. I hadn't heard anything of him in a decade or more, and sort of figured that he was dead... Glad to hear that he isn't! Anyway, I was a great fan of his and bought all his records back in the old mono days. He came out with a rather strange one, with a different sound or style, called "A New Day", which was the last record of his I ever saw or bought. Can anyone give a brief synopsis of what has happened to Mr. Bikel since, say, 1970 or thereabouts? He had what I thought was a rather successful concert, recording, and acting career, and then seemed to vanish. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong places... Regards, Will Martin USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA
bobn@bmcg.UUCP (Bob Nebert) (06/04/85)
> Can anyone give a brief synopsis of what has happened to Mr. Bikel since, say, > 1970 or thereabouts? He had what I thought was a rather successful concert, > recording, and acting career, and then seemed to vanish. Maybe I was > just looking in the wrong places... > > Regards, > Will Martin >>>> He died about 4 years ago.
chb@telesis.UUCP (Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk) (06/04/85)
> > Can anyone give a brief synopsis of what has happened to Mr. Bikel since, say, > 1970 or thereabouts? He had what I thought was a rather successful concert, > recording, and acting career, and then seemed to vanish. Maybe I was > just looking in the wrong places... > > Regards, > Will Martin > Not since 1970, but how about 1980. Mr. Bikel has been trying to cash in on the new klezmer rejuvenation that has been going on for the past 5 or 6 years, by touring with a three or four piece band, and doing the Yiddish songs he recorded on two albums for Electra, back in the 60s. One possible reason Bikel has been incognito for so long is that he had a reputation of not showing up for his own concerts. This is usually considered bad form in the music biz, and may have resulted in his being out of the limelight for a few years. ;-) Die Alter Pykler, Charlie Berg