February at the Folk Connection
Friday, February 17, 2012
February Feature at Nanaimo Folk Connection Coffee House
February 17th's feature act is Hokum Steamers. Hokum Steamers is a duo of Mike Ballantyne and Rick van Kruegel.
Mike used to be a travelling folksinger. He has done more pubs on the Canadian circuit than most, and has a lot of stories about that time in his life. He's done all sorts of folk music, from traditional English ballads to bawdy pub songs to Canadian chestnuts. Presently he is into blues and his rich vocals do justice to the genre. Mike lives in the north Saanich Peninsula area with his wife Anne and a few cats. You can tell when Anne is in the audience - she is the one sitting right at the front spinning while Mike entertains us all with his lovely strong bass voice, competent guitar backup and a warm laugh that comes from deep in the belly!
Rick is the mandolin player - he's a virtuoso on the instrument and has complete command of whatever music he plays. He has been a part of the Victoria music scene for many years and is well known to the local folk audience there. He also has a sense of humour that has to be experienced to be believed and his antics will have everyone in the audience laughing. He is married to and appears occasionally at readings to accompany Linda Rogers, a Victoria poetess who has national fame and a sense of humour of her own.
Together Mike and Rick, the Hokum Steamers, will weave a musical spell to enchant you and make you wonder where the evening went so quickly!
Host for February: Tom Hocking
Come join us for an evening of singing
& good cheer!
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Upcoming months...
March 16th feature is Rick Scott. Rescheduled from November, when it was decided to cancel that month's coffee house due to some strange white stuff that covered the ground and made the parking lot and hills around Hope Lutheran a bit slippery, Rick has kindly consented to come back anyway from the far reaches of Protection Island to entertain us.
Host for March: Anna Atkinson
April 20th - feature is Victoria/Nanaimo group Virgo Rising. This group of four women - Sue Averill, Sharon Hazelwood, Karen Gillmore and Tracy Summers - was around from 1997 to 2005, but has come back for a reunion. They still have wonderful harmonies, great arrangements with lush instrumentation, and their choice of song material ranges from pretty to frankly political, but always they are about the music! Sharon and Karen were onstage with the Rabbleberries last year at the Nanaimo Folk Connection, and Sue is one of the organizers of the coffee house. Come hear the close 4-part harmonies and sing along on the choruses!
Host for April: Adrian deJong
May 18th - Skagway, a hot new bluegrass group featuring Ira Pelletier and Tad Ruszel. I want to feature more of the next generation of musicians and these two are wonderful examples of the new bluegrass generation of pickers and grinners.
Host for May: Tom Hocking/Karina Strong
June 15 - our last feature before summer break is Richard Grainger from England. Richard performed at our coffee house on his very first trip out to Canada, and we have had him back whenever we could. He has several CDs of his music and has done very well in the English folk scene over the years. I haven't heard Richard's new stuff but I am really looking forward to having him back on the NFC stage. He's a dynamic performer with wonderful songs, done in English folk singer style using alternate guitar tunings accompanying his fine vocals.
Host for June: Anna Atkinson
Aside from Sue: What a surprise for me to discover he is the organizer for the Scarborough Folk Festival - I was there visiting relatives on the weekend of the Festival, completely unknowing it was happening, and found it absolutely wonderful, featuring real folk music and real folk musicians (many have day jobs), including Hughie Jones from the 1960s English folk group The Spinners. Richard was very hospitable and I even got to perform a song at the Saturday morning Woman and the Sea workshop with some wonderful women musicians there.
Coming in September: Quartet A Tete from Vancouver - a combination of English, French and French Canadian music from Vancouver Folk Song folkies Lynn McGown and Michael Pratt, who also organize the Jericho Folk Club there. They are old friends and have been on our stage before. Michael is recovering from a bicycle accident and we are confident he will be back fiddling and singing with all the same verve and expertise he has always brought to the music he does. And Lynn clogs and sings in both our official languages - it should be a treat.
Host: Adrian deJong
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Nanaimo Folk Connection Gatherings are held on the third Friday of
each month, at 7:30pm at Hope Lutheran Church, 2174 Departure Bay Road,
Nanaimo. Admission $5. Refreshments available. Wheelchair accessible.
For more information email me at the link below. You can also phone
754-1321 or 753-1187.