FolkMADS sponsors Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos contra dances, concerts, camps, and other special events. "Contra" dances include contras, squares, mixers, and couple dances. Unless noted on the calendar otherwise, admission is $5 for members, $6 for nonmembers. You need not come with a partner. Free instruction for beginners starts at 7:30 p.m. Dances begin at 8 p.m. and are smoke-free and alcohol-free. Children and teens are encouraged to participate if supervised by an adult.

Albuquerque Dances: 1st and 3rd Saturday, contra dances. 2^nd Sunday Elegant English and Zesty Contra Dance, 7:00-9:30 p.m., $6/$7. Locations as noted on calendar.

Santa Fe Dances: 2nd and 4th Saturday contra dances and 5th Saturday English Country dances. Odd Fellows Hall, 1125 Cerrillos Road (south of Cordova Drive on the western side of Cerrillos).

Taos Dances: 3rd Saturdays, call for details, 776-1580.

ABQ Megaband: Albuquerque Megaband practice is held at the Blue Dragon Coffee House, 1517 Girard NE, Albuquerque, the Tuesday before the 3rd Saturday dance. Bruce Thomson, 268-6003, or email Jane Phillips (remove "NOSPAM" when emailing) for more info or to be added to the listserv.

Santa Fe Jam Sessions: Santa Fe Community Band practice at the ODDfellows Hall on ODD (1^st and 3^rd) Wednesdays at 7 p.m. (contact Gary Papenhagen, 242-1104, gpap@NOSPAMcybermesa.com). Slow jam on the 2nd Thursday at 7 p.m. at Katherine Bueler & Gary Schiffmiller's house (995-1125). Beginning and experienced musicians all welcome!

Acoustic Jam: 7 p.m. before the Albuquerque dances. All acoustic musicians are welcome and all types of music are played. Call Jay Cutts for more information, 281-0684.

2006 Officers/Directors

Ongoing Events

Greeting FOLKMADS Members and Friends:

As most of you know, Linda and I have returned from our five year sojourn in Denver. It was a great experience for us. We made some good friends and learned a lot about the business of music and dance. CFOOTMADS (Colorado's folk music and dance organization) is very active in support of their dance scene. It was interesting to see how their Board and Dance Committee decisions were made (or not made in some cases) based on a few individual's agendas. In comparison, I was proud of the way our organization has grown and not had some of the problems inherent in similar groups.

As your President, I feel less like an officer and more like a keeper of the torch. FOLKMADS has a rich history of success and hard work by many individuals. Organizers, dancers, musicians, legal advisers, newsletter editors, and sound technicians all deserve a round of thanks for their efforts over the past 20 years! These efforts need to be protected and continued. I will do my best to help keep this energy moving forward.

Here are a few of the ideas the Board is working on:

• Creation of a FOLKMADS logo

• CD project featuring our dance bands (this is an old project that has been revised, special thanks to Bob Ford)

• Formation of a publicity committee

• Publication of FOLKMADS practices and procedures manual

• Concert and dance performances

• More visibility and support of the Albuquerque Folk Festival

• Publishing of meeting agendas and meeting notes on our website (thanks to Jane Phillips)

• Retreat to review and plan more creative experiences for our membership

• The long-awaited Membership Directory (end of March, 2006)

• Special Dances (featuring outside callers and bands)

• Reclaiming the Heights Community Center in June!

So... There are a lot of new ideas taking shape in our organization. More membership participation is needed. Members are encouraged to come to Board and Committee meetings (which have always been open to our membership). This is not a secret society! WE NEED YOU!

Thanking you all in advance for your support of FOLKMADS,

Scott Mathis, President 

Charlie Poole

In the early part of the 20^th century, recording companies found that there was quite a market for folk music from the rural south.  Folks like Uncle Dave Macon and Gid Tanner would travel to New York City to record, and their music became very popular throughout the country.  One of the most successful southern recording artists was Charlie Poole, from Randolph County, NC.  Charlie was born in 1892, and made his first recordings in 1925 for Columbia Records.  Over the next five years he would record almost 100 tracks with other southern musicians including Posey Rorer, Lonny Austin, and Odell Smith (fiddles), Roy Harvey and Bob Hoke (guitar), and Lucy Terry (piano).

In contrast to Gid Tanner, Charlie's music emphasized his singing, and as such he is considered to be one of the forerunners of modern country music.  It's interesting to contrast the topics of his songs with those of today.  His repertoire included many songs about mother and family, as well as tin pan alley songs like "Moving Day," "If the River Was Whiskey" ("Hesitation Blues"), and "Look Before You Leap" ("The Bald Headed End of the Broom").  Though the musicianship is a bit ragged by modern standards, many of the songs have nice lyrics and melodies that have aged well.

Two new reissues of Charlie Poole recordings have recently been published.  "Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers and the Highlanders" is a 4-CD set released by JSP Records of England, while Columbia offers "You Ain't Talking to Me - Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music."  While the Columbia set includes a number of cuts by contemporary musicians, the JSP collection consists solely of re-issues of the original cuts.

Some of these cuts are pretty raw.  I have several LP reissues of some of this material and remember playing them over and over trying to learn the lyrics through the pops and hisses of the early recording technology.  Years later I heard Mike Seeger say that he'd done the same, and finally concluded that even if Charlie were standing right next to you, you probably still couldn't understand all of the words he was singing because his diction was influenced by his choice of liquid refreshments.

Charlie lived a hard restless life, traveling throughout the south and east playing music and working in the southern mills when music wouldn't pay the bills.  As with so many musicians, he had a long term relationship with the bottle that likely contributed to his death in 1931 at age 39 of a heart attack.

'Wild Horse" was recorded in September 1926 with Posey Rorer playing fiddle.

ABC Notation

X:49
T:Wild Horse
M:C
L:1/8
S:Charlie Poole, JSP 7734
N:Alternate titles: Stony Point, Nigger in the Woodpile
N:Transcribed by Bruce Thomson
K:G
|z6((3DEF)|:"G"G2ged2ed|B2gedB AF|G2ged2ed|BAGB "D"AGED|
"G"G2ged2ed|B2gedB AF|G2ge dBAd|[1"D"BAFD"G"G2(3DEF):|[2"D"BAFD"G"G4||
|:"Em"e3ee3g|fgaf gfed|e3ee3g|fgaf "G"g4:|
|:"G"gfga bgeg|"D"fefg afdf|"G"gfga bgeg|"D"fgaf "G"g4:|

Additions to New Mexico Contra Dancing:

Chris Kelly (calling March 11)

Chris Kelly loves to dance and to make dancing fun for others.  She has been calling for contra dances, weddings, schools, dance weekends, and camps since 1995 in Austin, throughout Texas, and in Arkansas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Michigan, California, and British Columbia.  Her past professional work includes writing and the corporate management of technical writers.  She's still called on to write and edit speeches, textbooks, memoirs, screenplays, and to teach writing classes, and she is currently in the process of editing a book of her own contra dances.

Before her five children were born, she taught preschool, first grade, literacy, and ESL classes and was director of two private schools in Dallas.  She regularly teaches contra dance classes and seminars that teach adults to teach dancing, for the Austin Waldorf School, Down Home Ranch, Pioneer Farms, the Kodaly Music Teachers Conference, Austin Children's Choir, as well as calling several contra dances each month.  She now lives with her family in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and teaches Grade Three at the Santa Fe Waldorf School.

Wendy Graham (calling March 25 and April 15)

Wendy Graham of Durango, Colorado has been dancing, writing and calling folk dances for 15 years in Kentucky, Washington D.C., New York/New Jersey, and the 4 corners of the Southwest. Her infectious enthusiasm for music and dance gets everyone up and moving.  She is especially interested in building communities by making dance inviting for all ages and skill levels. Currently Wendy is the local caller and coordinator of Durango‚Äôs monthly dance, concert and workshop series. Wendy can be contacted at 970-903-9402 or WendyGraham00@NOSPAMhotmail.com

Albuquerque Dance Committee Meeting: March 18, 2006, 3:00 p.m.  At 509 Aliso Dr. NE, Albuquerque. Call or e-mail Bob Cornish with agenda items, 255-4387 or lstarr@NOSPAMtwrol.com. Any members who would like to help with the Albuquerque dances are welcome.

Folk Blogging

Blogs are popular in the 21^st century. Journalists have blogs, political activists have blogs, people who like to write have blogs. Blogs are "web logs," basically on-line diaries or journals about any topic a person wants to write about. Anyone in the world can read a blog if they have internet access on their computer.

It was only a matter of time before folk musicians and dancers ventured into the blogging world. A google search for "'folk music' blog" yields over 500,000 hits. Searching for "'contra dance' blog" yields 14,000 hits. Blogs are a way to keep the folk world informed about music and dance events.

Now New Mexico has joined the blogging world. Long-time FOLKMADS member Merri Rudd recently debuted her folk blog. In addition to her monthly folk e-news about New Mexico's concert, dance, camp and other folk events, she posts news of interest to the folk community, accounts of concerts and dances, and issues that other folkies bring to her attention. Her blog address is www.merridancing.com/wp

FOLKMADS also has brand new blog. The address is http://folkmadsroadtrips.blogspot.com  If you are a FOLKMADS musician or dancer who wants to post a story about a great dance you attended in another state (or in New Mexico, for that matter) or a gig your band played somewhere, contact Jane Phillips, mailto:heyjane@NOSPAMyahoo.com, for information about how to set up your account and post your story on the FOLKMADS blog.

New Mexico Royal Scottish Country Dance Workshop and Ball.  June 2-4, 2006.  UNM.  Teachers from England and Virginia.  Traditional Scottish music.  Dance party, concert, dance lessons, ball.  No partner or experience necessary.  Housing available at UNM.  Workshop fee:  $98.00 ($115 after May 1).  Ball only $30.00.  (505) 294-0042 or www.losalamos.com/nmrscds