Eric J. Anderson: contra dance piano

Last updated November 24, 2006.

New e-mail address, meanders@gmail.com. Apologies to all of you who have recently tried to get through to my 'ericdancepiano' or 'latinsquares' addresses, as they got clogged with spam. I think the spam problem is largely fixed by now.

A sound sample (30s, mp3) from Bandemonium! An entire two-disk set from that dance is available -- just drop me a line.

I play mostly with a few bands:

Bandemonium!, fiddle-and-piano with Lee Anne Welch of Saratoga, CA. Contra dance fiddling with a bluegrass tinge.
Celticladda, fiddle-and-guitar-and-piano with Randy Miller of E Alstead NH and Tom Hodgson of Cayuga NY. The purest contra dance fiddle sound ever, with driving backup to match.
Fiddlerats, fiddle and mandolin and flute-and-drums and sometimes piano. Enthusiastic contra dance tunes built around the spectacular Scottish fiddle of Caroline McCaskey from Stockton CA. (She also plays saw.)
Alan Roberts, fiddle-and-piano with a great old-time player from Seattle WA, often joined by his wife Sande Gillette.

These days I'm based in California, but I'm traveling quite a bit, mostly to dances. This page collects my travel schedule, for my own benefit as much as organizers'.

Here's some materials on playing piano that I put together for a workshop at the recent Bear Hug festival. (More links below.)

Contra dancing is quite popular in Seattle and elsewhere, for good reason. Live fiddle music

and a rocking piano, and newcomers always welcome.

Some of you have a copy of the soundboard tape we made of our Folklife set from 2002.

The soundboard tape from our Folklife set in 2004 is a little rougher (no caller, poorer audio quality), but it's also available if you want, just send mail.

The big picture

    "Do you believe only two people are making all that music?"
                        -- a camper at Bear Hug, as reported in the 
                           Missoula Folklore Society newsletter

I mostly play piano for contradances. Some fiddlers I've played with:

Alan Roberts, a fantastic fiddler from Memphis and Seattle.
- Take a look at Alan's recent book of transcribed Rodney Miller tunes, Castles in the Air.
Lee Anne Welch of Saratoga, CA, under the name Bandemonium!.
Charli Meacham as Polar Opposites. You may remember a dynamite set at Folklife 2003, or our set at the Alaska Folk Festival in spring '05. (And check out the great Alaska band the Emeralds!)
Susan Burke on fiddle and Joe Micheals on guitar, as Triangularity

If you want to play for dances, start by dancing! I learned to play, not all that long ago, from workshops run by Cathie Whitesides of Seattle, and from studying with Terry Wergeland of Seattle. But mostly from all those dancers and all that dancing....

Schedule

Upcoming...

Friday, December 1, in Felton CA with Bandemonium!, and Tom Wimmer calling
Saturday, December 2, in Monterey CA with Bandemonium!, and Tom Wimmer calling
Saturday, December 9, in San Rafael CA with Bandemonium!, and Susan Petrick calling
Sunday, December 31, calling for Les Pieds Chaud in Tacoma WA.

2007

January 6: with "friends" in Calistoga CA.

January 13: with Bandemonium! in Aromas CA.

January 20: in Tacoma WA with Alan Roberts.

January 26-27-28: Wintergreen dance weekend in Bozeman MT, dancing to one of my favorite bands, Out of the Wood.
February 2-3-4: Three Colorado dances (Denver/FtCollins/Boulder) with the Fiddlerats.
February 17: With Bandemonium! in Santa Rosa CA.
March 16-17-18: Three Colorado dances (Denver/FtCollins/Boulder) with Celticladda.
April 5-6-7-8: With Celticladda, starting at the Scout House in Concord MA, and including a concert in Portsmouth, a dance in Peterborough, and a dance at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield MA.
April 20-21-22: NEFFA.
May 12: With Shelly Jenkins in Yakima, WA
May 19: With Lisa Sieverts in Walpole, NH.
May 20: With Celticladda in Enfield CT.
May 25-26-27-28: Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, WA.
June 15-16-17: Faultline Frolic in Santa Rosa, CA.
June 8-9: With Celticladda in Smithtown NY and Greenwich CT.
August 10-12: Heart of the Alleghenies festival, outside Pittsburgh, PA.
September 7-8: Petaluma CA and San Rafael CA with Celticladda.

Recent past...

Saturday, November 18, in Staunton, VA with Celticladda
Friday, November 17, in Charlottesville VA with Celticladda
Thursday, November 16, in Swannanoa NC with Celticladda
Saturday, November 11, in Reno NV with Bandemonium!
Saturday, November 4, at the University of Chicago with Celticladda
Friday, November 3, in Champaign, IL with Celticladda
Wednesday, November 1, in Bloomington IN with Celticladda
Tuesday, October 31, in Indianapolis, IN with Celticladda
Monday, October 30, in Chicago IL with Celticladda
Saturday, October 21, in Bellingham WA with Alan Roberts and Sande Gillette
Friday, October 20, in Vancouver BC with Bandemonium!

Farther back...

May 6, 2006 -- Monterey, CA.
May 13, 2006 -- Yakima, WA
May 20, 2006 -- Greenfield, MA
May 27, 2006 -- Folklife, Seattle WA
June 2, 2006 -- Felton, CA
June 3, 2006 -- Calistoga, CA
June 10, 2006 -- Reno, NV
June 17, 2006 -- doing sound at the Faultline Frolic
July 1-8, 2006 -- going to Port Townsend's Fiddle Tunes
September 2-4, 2006 -- family camp at Jones Gulch
September 15-18, 2006 -- dancing at Echo Summit, Sacramento, CA
November 11, 2006 -- Reno, NV

Recent:

April 21, 2006 -- calling for Robin Flower and Libby McLaren, Santa Rosa, CA

April 17, 2006 -- watching my brother run the Boston Marathon (he qualified for next year!)

April 7, 2006 -- calling for Sorcerer's Apprentice in Felton, CA

April 1, 2006 -- having a birthday at Joe's house in Seattle, WA

March 31, 2006 -- Phinney Ridge, Seattle, WA

March 11, 2006 -- San Rafael, CA

March 4, 2006 -- calling for the Crabapples in Calistoga, CA

March 3, 2006 -- calling for Robin Flower and Libby McLaren, Felton, CA

February 25, 2006 -- playing for an RSCDS (Scottish) dance in Mercer Island, WA

January 7, 2006 -- Calistoga, CA (with the Fiddlerats!

...

Earlier past schedule

February 18, 2005, Bandemonium! played at Phinney Ridge in Seattle, Adam Carlson calling. Great turnout, enthusiastic crowd, and LeeAnne's fiddle just rocked. The last set added feet (yay Blythe!); when the fiddle came in over top of the groove it was goosebump city.
February 12, 2005, calling for Stump Tail Dog up in San Rafael. They're the best -- dancers and musicians just flowing along by themselves.
January 28 in Los Altos, playing for a bunch of schoolchildren. Wheee!
December 24, 2004, playing at Phinney Ridge in Seattle for the first annual Christmas Eve chestnut series. Two weeks in a row sharing the stage with David Kaynor. How many tunes in Eb do *you* know?
December 17, 2004, calling at Phinney Ridge in Seattle for David Kaynor and band. Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime chance! So David had copies of his book (on calling) for sale, and so I bought one, and asked him to autograph it. Which he did -- with a dance.
December 11, 2004, with Polar Opposites (Charli Meacham), in San Rafael. Chuck and Charli came down and we spent a holiday weekend with a dance in the middle.
December 3-4, 2004, with "Triangularity", Susan Burke from Seattle and Joe Micheals, at Felton and Monterey. Susie Kendig called the Friday dance with her usual cheerful aplomb. That was a treat.
October 17, 2004, visiting Vermont for leaf season. (Ok, no music involved, but hey.) -- Except that I did get to sit in at a wonderful session in an old farmhouse in East Alstead NH! There's always music!
October 15, 2004, Rodney Miller played in San Rafael.
October 10, 2004, for Tom and Amy in Seattle. They held their wedding dance in the same hall where Alan and Sande got married last year; and we played the same waltz for them that Anita and Dave and Claude played last year....
October 1-2-3, 2004, the String Beings came to town! Wow! Erik Weberg, my favorite West Coast caller (well, one of the favorites!), did the honors.
September 17-18-19, 2004, dancing at Echo Summit. Reckless Ramblers!
September 11, 2004, with Erin Shrader in San Rafael.
September 5-6, 2004, with Lee Anne Welch at Jones Gulch. The tune to die for started with Blythe on feet, then a piano groove, then Lee Anne powering in with 'Montebello' -- oooh. Gotta do that again.
August 20, 2004, we're dedicating the new floor at the Phinney Ridge Community Center in Seattle, WA. Alan Roberts and I played as the "Contra Coastal Band", Joe Micheals called. The next night it was off to Tacoma and the open mike for callers (Joe led, I called a couple).
August 14, 2004, calling for Stump Tail Dog at San Rafael. What a night! Right before halftime, I got to duck out onto the floor while the band took it away....
August 6, 2004, rocking with Bandemonium! in Felton. Tom Van Deusen and Susan Petrick shared the calling. The dancers said they didn't want the night to end.
July 25, 2004, fiddler Christiane Biermann and several of us put together an impromptu contra dance at her wedding party in Oakland. But some great accordion players stole the limelight!
July 24, 2004, Dave and David and Sue in Sacramento. Put four enthusiastic musicians together and good things happen! Greg McKenzie called.
June 19, 2004, with Bandemonium!, in Monterey, CA. Those of you who went to Grass Valley instead missed a good one...
June 11-13, 2004, I travelled to the Ottawa Valley Music Camp, to hear Kimberley Holmes play the piano.
June 4, 2004, I called for LeeAnne and Paul and Sorcerer's Apprentice at Felton, CA.
May 31, 2004, with Alan Roberts and Sande Gillette as "Contra Coastal Band" at NW Folklife 2004. Adam Carlson called in the Roadhouse at 10pm, to close it all down. Wow. That railroad tune...
May 8, 2004, with Alan Roberts, in Yakima WA. Gary Miller called for us. "How about next May?" said the organizer, as she has for several years now.
May 7, 2004, with Bandemonium! in Felton, CA, Susie Kendig called. Opened with a waltz session, open band California-style, then a dance to remember.
April 10, with Ray Bierl and Susie Kendig calling in San Rafael, CA. Wheee.
March 27, 2004, with Alan Roberts and Sande Gillette and friends in Seattle WA. Joe Micheals called the sweetest night of dancing in a very long time.
March 5, with Bandemonium! in Felton, CA. We said goodbye to Eric Curl, who moved to Colorado.
February 15, in Santa Cruz, CA, with Bandemonium!. What a set! Recording available.
February 7, in Monterey, CA, with Alan Roberts. Once again, two of us made as much noise as the previous week's forty.
January 31, in Monterey, CA, with a large open band in a fund-raiser for the local Y. They're still talking about that night.
December 19, in Seattle WA, with Bear Dance. Our good-bye dance.
December 12-13-14: dancing to Hotpoint and Seth Tupfer at the Dancing Fool weekend in Seattle WA. Hold your breath that the organizers can pull this dance camp off again next year. Hotheads unite!
November 22, in Seattle WA, with Bear Dance.
November 8 in Fairfax, CA, Bandemonium! played for Mavis McGaugh and some brave dancers who fought past a nasty rainstorm for some lovely dancing.
On November 1, Alan Roberts and I "opened" for the Reckless Ramblers at the Fall Has Sprung festival in Grass Valley, CA. Three different callers, a four-hour set, and lots of intensity. Dance music the way it oughta be. We played lots of Larry Unger tunes. (So did they.) We wanted to finish up with Larry Unger's beautiful waltz for Leona Tuttle (featured at Alan's wedding last month) -- but neither of us had brought the "dots"! No matter, we bought two copies of Larry's book, in the nick of time.
October 17-19. Three dances in the Denver area with the Jamie Laval band. Celtic-style jazz meets contra dance.
October 9-15. A brief (too-brief) vacation in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The spiritual center of fiddle music for dancing.
October 3-4-5. Hotpoint came to town. I'm out there dancing.
September 20 with Jamie Laval's band in Bellingham, WA.
September 5-6-7 with Alan Roberts and Adam Carlson at Bear Hug, the great Montana dance weekend. The quote above is from a dancer at that weekend.
August 31 with Celia Ramsay and Jamie Laval in Santa Rosa, CA.
August 17 I played a lovely quiet dance with Kathrine Gardner down in Santa Cruz, CA.
August 7-8 I played two dances in Seattle with Alan Roberts, one with Adam Carlson calling and one at the new venue in Phinney Ridge, with Sandy Strand. Couldn't see each other or hear any signals or anything, but by now it's just plain telepathic. The dancers keep us in line.
July 26-27 Alan Roberts and I kept them awake at the Bellingham Dawn Dance, Rexville Grange, La Conner, WA. Marlin Prowell invited us, and stayed up to call. We are the first band in the history of the event to play the graveyard shift, and to come back the next year and play it again. Hey, the sun came up after all -- we did something right.
July 26 I played with Kilmany at the Highland Games in Enumclaw, WA.
I called a dance at San Rafael on July 12 with Stump Tail Dog. What a band! First tune of the night they launched on the fly, and we never looked back.
July 5 with Kathrine Gardner in Santa Rosa, CA. Andy Wilson called this special dance. Whoops and whoops. She's one of the rare fiddlers who can make you dance with the sound of the fiddle all by itself. (Over the years, I've been fortunate to play with more than my share of those.) Sweet sound and great tunes.
July 4 with Ray Bierl in Sonoma, CA. Happy Birthday, Jeanne! What a way to spend the fourth! If you haven't heard Ray Bierl's fiddle, run-do-not-walk to the nearest dance. (Swing Farm is one of his bands, Hillbillies from Mars another.) I learned a lot that day. People stomped and whooped to Leather Britches -- we stuck with the same tune through the whole dance. That dance disproved one of my long-held theories, that old-time music doesn't work for contras. (It helps to play like he does.)
June 14 as "Bandemonium" with Lee Anne Welch in Sacramento, CA. A traffic jam getting there just added to the sense of adventure.
A wedding on June 8 in Olympia, WA. Playing waltzes with Tim Gojio of Yakima was the highlight for me.
May 23-26. What a Northwest Folklife Festival! Mostly I just danced, and caught up with all those old friends I'd missed since leaving for California last year. I played two dance sets on Sunday night, one with Charli Meacham as "Polar Opposites", and the last contra of the night, with Jamie Laval and Hannsjoerg Scheid (as "Shady Grove"), to a packed and crowded hall. Alas, frequent snafus at the sound board (ineptitude? inexperience?) made this Folklife party much less upbeat than usual. Maybe the organizers will change their minds and give us back the experts we'd been used to in earlier years.
May 9-10 with Alan Roberts in Seattle at Wedgwood and in Yakima WA. Bruce Larson called several of Friday's dances, with skill and aplomb. Sandy Strand called the Saturday Yakima dance, one of our very best. We got the chance to help welcome Tim Gojio to the Yakima dance community. I think he enjoyed it.
April 25 in Seattle with Bear Dance. Yet another trombone night. That Friday dance in Wedgwood is really special.
April 18-19 with Alan Roberts in Bozeman and Missoula, MT. Our great and dear friend Mark Clawson of Bozeman called both dances for us. They were so energetic, we played quite a bit too fast. Mark's heroics kept the dancers dancing together, though, and people had a fabulous time.
April 11-13 is Cascade Contras in Eugene OR. Yang drove twelve hours each way, through a second-gear snowstorm on the way back; all for a precious few hours to dance with Nightingale and Bag O'Tricks. Did I say precious?
April 4-5 with Alan Roberts in Felton CA and Monterey CA. Susie Kendig called for us. Felton was new for us -- where did they all come from? And where did they get that spirit? Monterey followed, with its delightful post-dance party and tune session.
March 22 features Bear Dance in Seattle. Rachel Bearon called. Many serious dancers were out at Wannadance; but we had ourselves a ball, and a large crowd, and a lot of fun all around.
March 7-8 with Alan Roberts in Sonoma and San Rafael, CA. Adam Carlson from Seattle came down to call. What a weekend! Sonoma is a small venue but oh, my! do they dance.
March 1 in Orcas Island, WA, with Joe Micheals on guitar, and Sandy Strand of Missouri doing the calling. Mark Ellison, the organizer, does a great job to keep that wonderful local dance humming.
February 21-23 was the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp's Winter Weekend. Liz Carroll, David Greenberg, Richard Greene, Loretta Thompson. They do a week in August too...
February 7-8 with Jamie Laval in Sonoma and San Rafael, CA, Susan Petrick (Friday) and Joyce Miller (Saturday), called for us. What an intense weekend!
January 24-26. Maybe the rest of you were watching football on TV; but the Wintergreen Dance Weekend in Bozeman MT featured the Hillbillies from Mars and Adam Carlson. (Hey, you can't seem to get either one of them often enough around here; and this weekend they're together!)
December 21 with Alan Roberts in San Francisco.
December 14 with Alan Roberts in Sacramento, California. Joyce Miller calling again. Sande Gillette of Seattle made the trip too, and their twin fiddles lit up like you wouldn't believe!
December 6 with Alan Roberts in Sonoma, California. Lynn Ackerson called. What an intense night....
November 16 with Alan Roberts in Monterey, California, and Joyce Miller calling. Holy cow, what great dancing that night! First time I'd ever been to Monterey, and I can't wait to come back. We went hiking on Point Lobos the next morning, crisp and clear. Almost as much fun as dancing.
November 9 with Jamie Laval at San Rafael, California. Lynn Ackerson called. They liked us so much we're coming back in February.
October 26 with Bear Dance in Tacoma, Washington.
October 5 with Joe Michaels and the Bearons on Orcas Island, Washington.
August 24 with Bear Dance (that trombone!) at Wedgwood in Seattle.
August 3 with Alan Roberts at the Bellingham Dawn Dance. Marlin Prowell called, and people stayed awake.
July 20 with Alan Roberts at Tacoma, a night of open calling.
July 13 with Alan Roberts in San Rafael, CA. Joyce Miller called for us, and we promptly made arrangements to do this some more. (See above.)
June 15 with Alan Roberts at Magnolia. We had our good-bye party that night, as I won't be playing the third Saturday dance too much any more. Sigh. We handed out demo disks from our Folklife set. You can send mail if yours didn't come out right or if you'd like another copy; though I warn I'm still trying to get set up down here.
June 14 with Alan Roberts at Wedgwood. Adam Carlson called. Another good-bye party....

Some more background

I play mostly with Alan Roberts, a fantastic fiddler from Memphis and Seattle. (Here's a sample tune list.) We played at Folklife this year (7pm Sunday). It sounded like the dancers had as much fun as we did. Watch this space for an mp3 of our final closing set.
You'll also hear me up there from time to time with various other fiddlers and groups. See Matt Fisher's page for good directions to these local dances. I'm sorry, but I can't offer you a ride any more!

Cathie's workshop is how I got started. Most recently we did an alumni megaband at Northwest Folklife 2002. Catch the tune list!
The 2001 workshop also had a tunelist that we learned by ear. I've made up CDs containing the learning tunes. If you were in the workshop and want one, just let me know.

The 2000 workshop band has carried on, first under the name Monday Night All-Stars and later as Safety in Numbers. Check out Cathie's home page for more information.

I recently put together some materials on abc notation. All of it is available elsewhere, but maybe the compilation will help.

Less recent past schedule...

May 24-25-26-27. Northwest Folklife!! I hope you caught the Cathie Whitesides Alumni Reunion band at 7pm Friday (I even called a dance), the incredibly vibrant fiddling from Alan Roberts at 7pm Sunday, and Anthony's trombone and Rachel's calling with Bear Dance at 5pm Monday.
April 27 with Joe Micheals at Kennewick, WA. Joseph Erhard-Hudson of Moscow ID called for us.
April 26 with Charli Meacham from Juneau AK. Tom Wimmer called. Charli juxtaposes swing fiddle in the Rodney Miller style with a driving rhythm, and she's written many delightful tunes to boot. It's a joy to play dances with her.
April 13 with Alan Roberts in Yakima, WA. Adam Carlson called.
April 6 with Joe Micheals and Anthony and Rachel Bearon on Orcas Island, WA. What a blast!
March 23 with Alan Roberts in Eugene, OR. Sue Baker called.
March 22 with Deb Kirkland and Alan Roberts at Wedgwood.
March 15 with Alan Roberts and Sande Gillette in Wedgwood. Wow. Twin fiddles triumphant.
March 3 with Bear Dance in Wedgwood.
February 16 at Magnolia, with Alan Roberts.
February 8 at the new Wedgwood dance location, with Charli Meacham of Juneau. Adam called, Charli played her heart out, and we had a blast.
February 1 in Bellingham, with Alan Roberts. Warren Argo called. Thank you, O organizers, for not panicking when I nearly missed the start of the first dance. (But I've never done that so far, and my record's unbroken.)
January 25-26-27, 2002, Wintergreen dance weekend, Bozeman, MT, with Alan Roberts and KGB! Wheee! What an incredible weekend! Six inches of snow. Smooth as silk organizing. Great music (hey, I got to dance to KGB!). And a group of people who came to dance and dance and whoop. I'm making up disks of our sets, complete with whoops; let me know if you'd like one. And thank you, Erik Weberg, for your calm and your encouragement and your good cheer, not to mention some great dances.
January 11 with Kilmany, Scottish music for the Caledonians. This was fun. Later that night I showed up at the Emerald City contra, well underway. No one was free to dance, and there was a piano at the back of the hall, and ... well, the dancers were treated to stereo.
January 5, a glorious night of calling in Ellensburg, WA.
January 3, Lake City Community Center, with CRAG (that's Alan Roberts and Betsy Cooper and Sande Gillette). Woody Lane called squares and contras. Eric Schlorff joined on bass, harmonica and feet.
December 15, Magnolia Community Center, with Alan Roberts. Adam Carlson called. That dance gets better and better. We're proud to call it our home dance.
December 9, El Cerrito, CA, with Alan Roberts, Jim Saxe calling;
December 8, San Rafael, CA, with Alan Roberts, Alan Wilson calling;
December 7, Sonoma, CA, with Alan Roberts, Erik Hoffman calling. Bless you, Reta Lockert, for setting up this trip for us. We were thrilled to see dancers show up at each of the three dances, night after night. Of course, it was a challenge to come up with new material each time!
November 16, Bozeman MT, and November 17, Missoula MT, both with Alan Roberts playing fiddle and Gary Miller, calling. Holy cow! Wow!! The pure enthusiasm the dancers showed -- a packed house in Missoula -- was an amazing experience, and a real inspiration to us. We sure wish the Seattle crowds could find that kind of verve! Many many thanks to the organizers of both dances for helping us arrange that trip. And Gary's calling was magnificent.
November 9, Seattle, with Anthony Bearon's group Bear Dance. Rachel Bearon called. Trombones!
November 3, Ellensburg WA, with Alan Roberts. Marte Fallshore called a lovely night, building from the happy confusion of many newcomers to a very intense conclusion.
October 27, Contramania! in Vancouver BC, with the Grim Reaper (it's these costumes). The Cat in the Hat called.
October 6 at the University Friends Center, with Unstrung Heroes and Adam Carlson.
October 5, with Alan Roberts at the Pinehurst Center in Lake City.
September 29, Boise, Idaho, with Alan Roberts and Lisa Sieverts. We had a wonderful time at this day-long workshop/potluck/evening dance, held in a classic old-fashioned Grange hall with an old-fashioned dance hall piano. Lisa's a great caller! We got to hear and dance to the Boise area's own ContraBand, full of hot and complex tunes, and even formed our own impromptu "Arena Valley Band" for one of the workshops.
September 22, Bayview Hall, Whidbey Island, with Alan Roberts. Adam Carlson called. Our usual -- good crowd, energetic dance, good sound.
September 15, Magnolia Community Center, with Alan Roberts and Deb Kirkland and Nick Leininger. Joe Micheals called most of the dances. I got to play a few, call a few, dance a few. What a night!
September 8, Yakima, WA, with Alan Roberts. Shelly Jenkins called for this dance (we learned a lot about calling!), and we were promptly invited back (April).
September 7, Pinehurst-Lake City, as a "friend" of Deb Kirkland. Bass and drums and lots of good energy. And Deb's incredible fiddle.
August 24, Lake City Pinehurst Center, with the Unstrung Heroes (that's me on fiddle) and Russell Owen calling. We're so spoiled in Seattle, when newcomer bands get treated to the kind of reception we got. Great dance.
August 18 in Tacoma with Alan Roberts. This wonderful open mike for callers was hosted by Eric Curl of Sacramento, Cal. We had six different callers on the evening, not counting Eric. Thanks to Matt Temmel for organizing a great evening.
July 27 at Pinehurst with Alan Roberts and Sande Gillette and Betsy Cooper. We're a band now, calling ourselves CRAG or something like that. Twin fiddles like you wouldn't believe, and Betsy's flute is, well, indescribably gorgeous. Judi Rivkin called. (Yes, it was contras.)
July 21 at Magnolia with Alan Roberts, Adam Carlson called. Lovely as always.
July 20 with Safety In Numbers at the Pinehurst Center, with Larry Bommarito. Big band, happy time.
July 14 with Scotch Broth in Friday Harbor. Shaun Hubbard played a rousing fiddle, and Joe Micheals and I shared the calling duties when we weren't playing (and sometimes when we were). The Friday Harbor dance is always a joy, and there are always stories to tell at the brewpub afterwards. Next time, put it on your calendar: Drive to Anacortes on Saturday afternoon, walk onto the ferry with your sleeping bag, get off in Friday Harbor, walk to the Grange hall, and dance! Plan to crash overnight -- they'll always put up any Seattle-area dancers -- and come back the next day.
June 29 with Cathie Whitesides at the Pinehurst Center (ex-VFW). Kimberly McKittrick called.
June 2 with Russell Owen and Scotsbroome at the University Friends Center.
June 1 with Alan Roberts at the Pinehurst VFW. Tom Wimmer called. We had fun.
Northwest Folklife Festival! Grab your dancing shoes! Island Time is played at 11am Sunday morning in the Roadhouse. And the Unstrung Heroes, with Gina Massoni calling, played on Monday morning at 11am. That funny-looking guy in the middle who was *not* playing piano, well, that was me.
May 19 with Alan Roberts at Magnolia, with Adam Carlson calling. Always a lovely dance.
May 5 with Alan Roberts in Port Angeles. Suzanne Girardot called. An enthusiastic crowd, and a rare chance for Alan to trot out his deep repertoire of old-time tunes. He's good at everything!
April 28 with Island Time in Friday Harbor. Overnight on a boat in Friday Harbor, then breakfast and a ferry home. I love this place.
April 6 with Alan Roberts at the Pinehurst (formerly the VFW) in Lake City. Adam Carlson called a wonderful night of dancing. Wheee!
Birthday! April 1 at Joe Micheals' house. A night to remember. Thank you to everyone who came out and made the party so special.
March 17 with Marissa Villemain-Essad and Kilmany at a RSCDS Scottish Country Dance on Mercer Island. New stuff! The Scottish country dance music is not sooo different from contra, except for those devilish strathspeys! They were having so much fun, we were having so much fun, we played four encores for them.
March 9 with Jon Singleton and Josie Solseng and Eric Schlorff at the Ballard Eagles. This was the good-bye dance for the Eagles. They had some powerful French Canadian tunes going there....
March 3 with Alan Roberts in Whidbey Island. John Gallager called, and we had a great time.
February 17 with Alan Roberts at Magnolia. This is our regular every-other-month dance. Adam Carlson called a sweet night of dancing to a small but loyal crowd.
February 10 with Alan Roberts at the Island Center hall on Bainbridge Island. Hal Mueller called, the first time since last fall I believe. Beautiful hall, nice people!
Birthday! February 8 with Alan Roberts in Lake City. What a way to celebrate a birthday! Robert Cromartie from North Carolina, in for the Slugs at Sunrise festival, called a marvelous evening of dances, and some fine musicians were out there listening to us.
January 27 with Alan Roberts and John Gallagher, calling, in Eugene, Oregon. Potluck, music, dancing, a delightful town and a delightful time!
January 5 with the Monday Night All-Stars at the Ballard Eagles. Who-hoo! What a band, what a night!
December 30 with Alan Roberts at Whidbey Island. Jennifer Youngman called for Paul Mathews' birthday party. Thank you!
December 29 at the Ballard Eagles, with Alan Roberts and Deb Kirkland. We're thinking of calling ourselves the December Surprise. Tom Wimmer called. Surprises aplenty.
December 16 with Alan Roberts at the Magnolia Community Center. Marte Fallshore, our friend from Ellensburg, got lost in the weather -- as did many of you -- and Adam Carlson filled in with the calling. Small dance, but small dances can be charming.
December 1 was "December Surprise", which sometimes means a fill-in. Alan Roberts and Deb Kirkland played twin fiddles, and I got to share the stage. Wow. Lisa Sieverts of Boise, Idaho was the delightful caller.
November 17 with Island Time at the Ballard Eagles. Whoo-ee! We had two fiddles, a djembe, a flute, a bouzouki, a guitar, a piano, and a great caller. Whoo-ee!
November 3 with Alan Roberts in Ellensburg, WA. Adam Carlson called. Some sixty or seventy dancers in a nice gymnasium floor (they let us dance on the basketball court). We tried some new things. Second half really picked up steam, and the dancers seemed to leave happy. Waffles and tunes the next morning at the organizers' house were a special treat.
October 28 with Island Time at the Grange in Friday Harbor, WA.
Whoo-ee! Costume parties and contra dancing go together well. If you missed it, Island Time's playing (sans costumes) at the Eagles on November 17. If you were there, I'll bet you'll be at this next one too. Whoo-ee! Check out the Penga website for the inspirational source of that incredible percussion.
October 20/21 with Alan Roberts in Helena, MT, and Bozeman, MT. Mike Schuh, calling. Oooh what a driving, energetic dance that was on Saturday! And yes, we had several repeats, people who heard us in Helena and made the long drive on Saturday to dance again.
October 7 with Alan Roberts on Whidbey Island, WA. Adam Carlson, calling. A lovely night of dancing!
September 21 at the Ballard Eagles. Kimberly McKittrick called. The "mystery fiddlers" turned out to be Deb Kirkland and Alan Roberts, and the waltz duets were indescribably lovely.
September 9 with Mike Richardson at the Ballard Community Center.
September 7 with Alan Roberts at the Ballard Eagles.
September 1 with Lindon Toney at the Olympia South Bay Grange.
August 28 with Cathie Whitesides at the Lake City Community Center.
August 24 with Deb Kirkland and friends at the Ballard Eagles.
August 21 with Alan Roberts at the Lake City Community Center.
August 19 with Alan Roberts at the Magnolia Community Center.