Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Greetings from the Old Fashioned Folksinger!


This is the first of three episodes produced from the 2009 Woody Guthrie Birthday Bash, held at The Bowery Poetry Club in Greenwich Village, NYC, on Sunday, July 12.
The program features Steve Suffet, producer of the annual series of Guthrie concerts, Oscar Brand, and Joel Landy. Oscar, who has had a radio show devoted to the folk music scene for almost sixty years, knew Woody personally. His stories and songs about America's best known troubadour make this show special.

Greetings from the Old Fashioned Folksinger!

Some of you may know that I retired from my full-time position with the New York City Department of Education in 2003, but that I continued to work part-time, averaging one to two days per week throughout the school year. That's now finally over, since I retired from part-time employment at the end of this past June. My last day was spent watching high school students take the New York State Regents Examination in English, and then marking some of their papers once they were finished. Now that I'm fully retired I have been so busy that I can't figure out how I ever found the time to go to work!

Much of my time is occupied with music, of course. Along with Marilyn, I have been a volunteer for the Peoples' Voice Cafe, the New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club, and the People's Music Network. I also find time to perform, and as I look ahead to 2010, I see that I have quite a few gigs already lined up. Most of them are with my sometime singing partner Anne Price, although both of us also perform individually.

Here are my confirmed 2010 appearances so far:

• Sunday, January 17, 2010, 2:00 PM. Yippie Museum Cafe. 9 Bleecker Street. New York City. I will be one of about half a dozen performers in this three-hour Hoot for Peace. Admission is free.

• Friday, January 29, 2010, 7:30 PM. New York Society for Ethical Culture. 2 West 64th Street. New York City. Anne Price and I will be among a dozen performers in this concert to kick off the People's Music Network Winter Gathering, which is taking place January 29-31. Among the other performers are Emma's Revolution, the Lavender Light Gospel Choir, the Ray Korona Band, Rachel Stone, and Sally Campbell and Adele Rolider, to name just a few. Complete information is available from the PMN Winter Gathering website: http://pmnnyc.home.att.net

• Saturday, January 30, 2010, 10:45 AM. Renaissance Charter School. 3559 81st Street. Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. I will be joining Anne Price, Takako Nagumo, and Sarah Pirtle in a free concert for families and children. This concert is also part of the People's Music Network Winter Gathering.

• Saturday, March 13, 2010, time to be announced. Renaissance Charter School. 3559 81st Street. Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. Anne Price and I will be giving a musical workshop on Woody Guthrie's New York as part of an all-day folk festival sponsored by the New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club.

• Saturday, March 27, 2010, 7:30 PM. Cranberry Coffee House. Unitarian-Universalist Congregation. 183 Riverside Drive. Binghamton, New York. Anne Price and I will be presenting our "Woody Rediscovered" program of Woody Guthrie's less known songs. For information please call 607-754-9437. Cranberry website:http://web.mac.com/cranberrycoffeehouse/

• Sunday, May 9, 2010, 7:30 PM. Walthamstow Folk Club at the Plough Inn. 173 Wood Street. Walthamstow, London. Come hear Anne Price and me as we return to England for our second whilrlwid tour. Our first was in October 2008.

• Friday, May 14, 2010, 8:30 PM. Orpington Friday Folk at the Liberal Club. 7 Station Road. Orpington, Kent. Our next stop is in the heart of this suburb, a little ways southeast of London.

• Sunday, May 16, 2010, 2:30 PM. FAB (Folk - Acoustic - Blues) Club at the White Hart Pub. Argent Street. Grays, Essex. Anne Price and I continue our awesome English adventure with this afternoon gig in a fine old ale house.

• Monday, May 17, 2010, 8:30 PM. Waltham Abbey Folk Club at the Royal British Legion. Brooker Road. Waltham Abbey, Essex. Anne Price and I wrap up our tour in this picturesque village on the very northern fringe of London.

• Sunday, July 11, 2010, 7:00 PM. Woody Guthrie Birthday Bash at the Bowery Poetry Club. 308 Bowery. New York City. Anne Price and I will be among the featured performers at this annual round robin songfest. Admission: $8.

Other performance dates are in the works but have not yet been confirmed. For updates or if you want to book me for a performance, please visit my website:http://suffet.home.att.net

Anything else? Yes, I have extended the holiday special on my CDs purchased through CD Baby. From now through the end of January they are only $9.99 each instead of the regular $15. For details please go to: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/SteveSuffet

"Old Fashioned Folksinger," my one and only digital download album, will continue to be $9.99 indefinitely. It contains 20 songs, so hat coms to less than 50¢ each. That's quite a bargain. You can also purchase individual songs from it for 99¢ each through CD Baby or through iTunes. Your choice.

One more thing. You can now find several of my live performances on YouTube. Please take a look: http://www.youtube.com/stevesuffet

Thanks.

That's all for now.

Peace.

--- Steve Suffet

1 comment:

  1. Hello Steve,
    I moved to Brooklyn recently and my name is "Hoop" actually Gary Hoopengardner from Lakewood, Ohio. I'm a young 59 yr. old singer/songerwriter looking for some help.
    www.myspace.com/hoopsongs.com
    216-254-6718
    I am performing at Grand Central April 24th with little Stella Connelly a song my daughter Laura and i wrotw called Earth Day Everyday. You may like it.
    Hoop

    ReplyDelete