♪ Acoustic Americana Music Guide ♪: Acoustic Americana Music Guide NEWS FEATURES, July 19 edition

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The editor is currently recovering from eye surgery (his fifth) but he's listening, and The Guide goes on with a fresh serving of the News.

PLUS, remember to check out the full abundance of acoustic music doins' in The Guide’s SPOTLIGHT EVENTS at

http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/07/spotlight-events-acoustic-americana_20.html (UPDATED July 20)

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        Welcome to the

    Tied to the Tracks

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          ACOUSTIC
                    AMERICANA
                              MUSIC GUIDE
                                        NEWS FEATURES

                                                       July 19, 2011 edition

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THIS WEEK’S NEWS FEATURES

  1) IS THE FUTURE OF ARTS FUNDING GONE IN AMERICA?
    (a major, in-depth feature, with analysis beyond Washington's maddening politics that
    debunks the Debt Limit, spending cuts and budget battles)
  2) KCSN CANCELS “TWANG;” NIC HARCOURT GETS TIME SLOT FOR NEW
    NON-FOLK-FRIENDLY “ECLECTIC” SHOW
  3) RIDERS IN THE SKY TO PLAY “DAY OF THE COWBOY & COWGIRL” FESTIVAL
    AT THE AUTRY THIS SATURDAY
  4) JULY 23 & 24 WEEKEND: MORE FESTIVALS, CONCERTS, TOUGH CHOICES
  5) BYE BYE BORDERS – EXCEPT ONE
  6) FULL EVENINGS OF QUALITY MUSIC PROGRAMS, NEW ON FRIDAYS ON L.A. TV
  7) THE SYNCOPATHS PLAY A PAIR OF EVENTS AT CALTECH THIS WEEKEND
  8) MOLLY’S REVENGE TO PLAY CULVER CITY'S FREE SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL,
    JULY 28
  9) ANNUAL “LONG BEACH CRAWFISH FESTIVAL” ARRIVES JULY 30 & 31
10) INAUGURAL VENTURA FOLK FESTIVAL BRINGS STARS IN AUGUST


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       Here are these news feature stories...
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Our # 1 Story

IS THE FUTURE OF ARTS FUNDING GONE IN AMERICA?

    In a call to action for artists, the editor debunks the current fight over the Debt Limit and digs
into the future of public-sector support for accessible arts and arts education. He assesses
whether there will be any ability to find support for the arts again, given current politics, and
what we can do to change things in our favor. It's an in-depth piece, with plenty of context,
history and perspective with quotes from Thomas Friedman, Larry Summers, Dwight
Eisenhower, Bill Maher, Goldman Sachs, Jay Carney, Bruce Bartlett, Doris Kearns Goodwin,
Abraham Lincoln, David Ignatius, Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan, Jon Stewart, Bob Schieffer,
Fareed Zakariah, George W. Bush, Robert Reich, Ezra Klein, and plenty of context, history and
perspective.

    It's quite thorough, it's about now and the future, and it's at

       http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/07/is-future-of-arts-funding-gone-in.html

Need some enticing samples that set-up the major discussion? Here ya go:

    “The unique and vital perspective of the artist – to hold a mirror up to society to interpret
and define and challenge and dream and design and reach for things that exceed our grasp – should bring us all a seat at the table. Instead, we get musical chairs. The rich and powerful
corporations are the ones controlling the music. Our elected representatives, rather than
getting a chair for us, are complacent (or worse) running a loud and distracting room while
more chairs are removed. Do they all hope we're too beset by political Attention Deficit
Disorder to notice? ...
    “Our message to them is, let's stop the noise and hyperbole and distractions and distortions
over the Debt Ceiling and stop claiming it's something that it's not...
    “All the rancor is ugly, and moreover, it's childishly annoying because it's incongruent,
unprincipled and delusional. But when is it time to fight? Has politics ever been so –
CONTRARIAN, without any legitimate regard for well-reasoned principles? Is there anything
Republicans won't fight to oppose? Is there anything this president finds worth fighting for?
Does he understand Ronald Reagan's basic popularity was based on the High Noon image of
the Hollywood gunfighter facing the bad guys, the strong and decisive character whose favorite
words were, “Well, no.” Does he understand, at all, that America wants a give-em-hell Harry
Truman, not a Harry Potter who thinks he can charm the demons with magic? Assessing this –
Intransigence vs. Obsession With Compromise – where no deal is possible would be only
political handicapping, were we not in an economic crisis reaching from the kitchen table to the
international money markets ...
    “No one seems to be asking the most basic questions: if government budgets are cut and no
new revenues can be collected, is there any opportunity for comprehensive arts funding or
even enough money to sustain what little we have now? And why no new revenues? If the rich
must continue to receive massive tax breaks because they are job creators, where are the jobs? And why are big issues being held hostage by politicians on both sides before the nation's
outstanding bills are paid to prevent a default and what it would bring – higher interest rates,
and billions more from taxpayers for higher interest payments? ...
    “There's an immediate need and a larger context. Politicians can't seem to separate them or
address either one effectively. And just as most of us can't imagine any future society worth
having unless it strongly supports and continuously celebrates the arts, neither could many of
us have foreseen other claustrophobic aspects of our supposedly infinitely networked times.
This was supposed to be a time of expansive opportunity. It's not, and the odds are running
against us. It is, necessarily, a call to action” ...

    You can read all of it and get inspired at
         http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/07/is-future-of-arts-funding-gone-in.html


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Our # 2 Story

KCSN CANCELS “TWANG;” NIC HARCOURT GETS TIME SLOT FOR NEW
NON-FOLK-FRIENDLY “ECLECTIC” SHOW

    We knew change was coming, as we reported June 24 in our feature, “Serious Threat To Americana Radio In L.A. - Are the Days Numbered?” (archived as the #2 story at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/06/acoustic-americana-music-guide-news_24.html)

    For KCSN, a San Fernando Valley-based non-NPR public radio station, the decision to hire Harcourt and give him a weekend show left only one question: what show would perish to make room for him.
    The loss of “Twang” will be felt. Host Rowena Muldavin's show was devoted to deep roots country, the pre-Nashville-pop catalog, the rich hollers of classic country that overlap folk-Americana, and she presented it each week in a mix of the genre's classics and today's trad-sounding alt country and selections from the western music genre.
    Muldavin inherited the show from its originator, Cowboy Nick Stahl, when he left for law school. He had made Twang a pledge-drive powerhouse that consistently broke donation records for the station. Sure, things changed. Stahl's theme was a John Denver recording; Muldavin wouldn't play anything by Denver under any circumstances.
    But both hosts knew their genre. Though Stahl and Muldavin each brought their own tastes and left their own stamp, listeners remained devoted.
    The show's cancellation leaves tiny KLRU's “Toe Tappin' Country,” also originated by Stahl, as L.A.'s only roots-country-Americana radio survivor.

Twang's Replacement

    Harcourt, an MTV consultant, made his mark locally while he was Music Director at Santa Monica-based KCRW, one of two NPR stations in L.A. that buy and air the NPR “talk” package but none of the fine NPR music packages. Harcourt revolutionized KCRW's music programming, distinctively “branding” that station with a unique definition of eclectic music.
    He has a following. He's credited with “discovering” the band Cold Play while doing radio in upper New York State. But his fan following is clearly not inclusive of folk-Americana listeners and musicians, who described his KCRW airplay for us with a variety of terms that include droll, monotonic, uninteresting, profoundly lacking in melodic contrast and musicality, without depth, and exhibiting little or no instrumental or vocal proficiency. One leading acoustic music venue operator called Harcourt's radio programming “dreadful.”
    See it as a matter of taste if you want (Harcourt is advertised as a tastemaker) but it's more than that. It's a key issue because KCSN, where his new show will air, was recently named the Best Americana Radio Station in Los Angeles Magazine's annual Best of L.A.
    On one hand, what other station could have won that title? (KPFK has only two weekly folk-Americana shows; other than talk, KPCC airs only “A Prairie Home Companion.”) On the other hand, the honor was based solely on KCSN's weekend programming, since that's the only time it offers Americana / folk-Americana music.
    Harcourt's show will split and isolate KCSN's award-winning morning and late-day Saturday Americana shows. That will occasion the question, whether this is divide and conquer?
    KCSN's schedule is a bit bizarre. Weekend Americana has been interrupted for the past few years by an pop-alternative show of old and new music that brings a different audience. The station's weekday/weeknight programming is one individual's idea of “triple-A,” but conforms poorly to any other station's adult-album format. We hear often that it's where management wants to take all of its programming, but financially, it's been a failure.
    KCSN's old format was Americana weekends and night-by-night, mostly Americana, evenings, but orchestral classical music all day during the week. Classical was never a strong producer during the station's pledge-drives, but it did well enough, and suited the tastes of a prior management regime, so it lasted. But KCSN's nominally triple-A programming has never produced the support that it got from its lost classical listeners, who are now tuned to KUSC.
    KCSN recently hired Sky Daniels, a vet of the long lost, legendary rock-and-roll station KMET, and then hired Harcourt. That came in the wake of winning the Best Americana Station honors.
    If it's confusing, it goes way beyond “Twang.” Surely, Frank Hoppe, who has hosted the landmark “Bluegrass, Etc” on Sunday mornings for 20 years, and hardworking Kat Griffin, who has built her “Americana Matinee” into a key reporting show for the Americana Music Charts, and Pat Baker, who was playing electric indie Americana in L.A. before anyone else, were key reasons why KCSN won that “Best of” recognition. Rather that finally putting those longtime hosts on the payroll in some modest way, just for doing their shows and to thank them, the money went elsewhere and the emphasis is clearly on something else.
    One wonders why radio, in general, never seems interested in building on its success or keeping its loyal listeners – and in this case, pledge-paying listeners. Fortunately, an L.A. TV station is picking up the opportunity that KCSN is neglecting. See our #6 story.


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Our # 3 Story

RIDERS IN THE SKY TO PLAY “DAY OF THE COWBOY & COWGIRL” FESTIVAL AT THE AUTRY THIS SATURDAY

     It's in conjunction with the “National Day of the Cowboy” in the US and Canada, it's got Grammy winners performing and lots more, and it's the Autry's second year with a big event (last year's “day of” broke the Autry's attendance records).
    Is there any American image that's more iconic? As Cowboy Poet Larry Maurice often observes, “What other profession gets other people dress-up to look like they do?”

    Saturday's festival, 11 am-5 pm, brings Grammy winners RIDERS IN THE SKY, a square dance with THE BEES KNEES and caller SUSAN MICHAELS, and many varied western-theme activities and performances.
     RIDERS IN THE SKY did the music for Disney's “Toy Story” movies, they've starred with the L.A. Phil at the Hollywood Bowl's annual Fourth of July Fireworks Concert, and were public radio fixtures with “Riders radio Theatre.” They have legions of fans and this is a bargain ticket to see them and enjoy a daylong festival. So get there on time for a good seat.
     Emcee for the day is ROB WOLFSKILL of the TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS.
     The festival's all-ages activities include a Cowboy Stage Show with World Champion Gunslinger JOEY DILLON; lassoing with KANSAS CARRADINE & LANDON SPENCER; Screenings throughout the day of GENE AUTRY's original science fiction western, “The Phantom Empire;” demonstrations of roping, leather crafting, panning for gold, blacksmithing; a chuck wagon display; hands-on children's crafts and activities; and the grand opening of the museum's new “Colt Revolver and the American West” exhibition.
     There's complimentary museum admission all day with your event ticket, plus Western History Gallery tours, a museum scavenger hunt, and Story Time in the galleries.
     An outdoor BBQ is featured (so good it sold-out early last year). And anybody with any leftover money can enjoy a western marketplace.
     Visitors of all ages are encouraged to dress western, so don't forget your hat (how else will you get your horse a drink?) No firearms, including replicas, are allowed on the premises.

     The Autry National Center (Autry Museum) is at 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, L.A. 90027, across from the L.A. Zoo. Come in from the Los Feliz end or the Travel Town end to avoid the always bad traffic jam from the 134/I-5 Zoo Drive exit.
     Event tickets, including complimentary museum admission, are $10 for adults; $6 for seniors and students ages 13-18; $4 for children ages 3-12; it's free for active military personnel and veterans. More info at www.TheAutry.org. Yippe-yi-ya!


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Our # 4 Story

JULY 23 & 24 WEEKEND: MORE FESTIVALS, CONCERTS, TOUGH CHOICES

    This weekend is loaded with temptations. Among them are festivals – two on Saturday and one on Sunday. On Saturday, July 23, you can chose from the National “DAY OF THE COWBOY & COWGIRL” (described above) or the annual "MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAINS FESTIVAL."

     The annual "MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAINS FESTIVAL" on Saturday happens at a cool 7000-ft elevation in the San Bernardino Mountains. It brings workshops, concerts and jams all day long, with LOONEY'S FORTUNE, PATTI AMELOTTE, GEORGIANNA HENNESSY, MATT TONGE, WHEN PIGS FLY! JIM COPE, BEA ROMANO, JIM ROMANO, MARIANNE SCANLON, LEGACY, BARBARA GERSHMAN, PATTY MCCOLLOM, SENARA, DIANE GRADY, SANDI HUCKABY, CAROL POTTER, WAKE THE BARD, MICHAEL & STEPHANIE ADAMS, CLARE BELLEFEUILLE-RICE, PAT & SANDI HUCKABY,. It's at beautiful Green Valley Lake. Info, www.green-valley-lake.com/MITM_info.html; or contact Sandi Huckaby, 909-867-7105 or huckaby49@yahoo.com.

     Meanwhile, there's an ASSOCIATION OF FINGERSTYLE GUITARISTS SEMINAR at noon Saturday at Mo's Fullerton Music. More at www.afg.org.

     If you want to see DOLLY PARTON at the Hollywood Bowl, she plays two nights, so go see her on Friday, July 22 and keep the weekend free. (Uh, except that would keep you from seeing the Grammy-winning PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND on Friday at Open Borders, the new venue in Thousand Oaks - www.openborders2011.com. First thing you'll discover on their website is another Grammy-winning band, THE KLEZMATICS, play there on the 23rd; see our #5 story for more on the venue).

     Saturday night, July 23, brings more tough choices. But the two festivals end in time to catch an evening show, so why not?

     Saturday night at 8, THE SYNCOPATHS, the great contra dance band, do a concert at the Caltech Folk Music Society series in Beckman Institute Auditorium; they perform at a contra dance the next day in Dabney Lounge; all on the Caltech Campus in Pasadena. They're a delight, and there's plenty more on them in our #7 story.
     Grammy-winners, THE KLEZMATICS play Saturday night at Open Borders, 125 W Thousand Oaks Bl, Thousand Oaks 91360; www.openborders2011.com; email openbordersmedia@gmail.com; 805-497-1018. This new venue has already booked some first-rate talent (See story #5).
     Or, at 8 pm, DOUG MacLEOD & JESSE MacLEOD perform dynamite acoustic blues at Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Bl, Culver City; www.boulevardmusic.com; 310-398-2583. The venue’s web site has a helpful local dining guide.

     Sunday, July 24, brings the annual “SEA CHANTEY FESTIVAL” aboard an historic Tall Ship in San Diego. Running 11 am 5 pm, it stars THE JACKSTRAWS, KEN GRAYDON, RAGGLE TAGGLE, FLASH PACKET, GILMAN CARVER, TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY WALKER, JEFF PEKAREK, all performing aboard the sailing vessel Star of India, docked at 1492 N Harbor Dr, San Diego 92101; 619-234-9153. If you go to festival, stay to catch the next listing:
     At 7:30 pm, GUY DAVIS plays the AMSD Concert Series, 4650 Mansfield St, San Diego 92116; 619-303-8176.

     Sunday afternoon in L.A., ZAK MORGAN performs the Skirball's only folk music shows of
the summer, at noon & 2 pm in an all-ages Family Amphitheater performance. If you go, allow
time for a 2 pm lecture ($12), “William Kalush: The Secret Life of Houdini,” which will add
greatly to your experience of the summer's special exhibition there. At the Skirball Cultural
Center, 2701 N Sepulveda Bl, L.A. 90049; www.skirball.org; 310-440-4500.
     Sunday afternoon at 3:30 pm, THE SYNCOPATHS play a contra dance with caller SUSAN MICHAELS at Dabney Lounge on the Caltech Campus in Pasadena.

     Sunday night at 7 pm, FRANK FAIRFIELD, the wizard of old time banjo and delightfully appropriate vocals, plays McCabe’s, 3101 Pico Bl, Santa Monica 90405; 310-828-4497.


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Our # 5 Story

BYE BYE BORDERS – EXCEPT ONE

    Once a bastion of live acoustic music from coast-to-coast, plenty of singer-songwriters and other artists have performed at their nearby Borders bookstore or included gigs at distant ones while touring. Now – perhaps as early as Friday, July 22 – the entire chain of 199 Borders bookstores will close forever.
    Opportunities for musicians at Borders began to dry-up a few years ago, so this is more about lamenting something fondly remembered but, for the most part, already lost.
    The chain, suffering from internet competition to its core business, experienced downsizing even before the current economic hard times, bringing it below 200 stores. Tuesday brought announcement that a long hoped-for sale to new owners had collapsed, and the chain's end came immediately.
    Now, 11,000 people are losing their jobs at the last remaining Borders. More unemployment will follow in the businesses that processed, packaged, shipped and supplied the bookstores.

A Sole Survivor?

    There's only one bright light left, and it's quite notable. A former store survives as a concert / festival / performance venue. It's in Thousand Oaks, and named Open Borders, playing on its former name. It opened two months ago as an impressive music hall and it's already presented some substantial folk-Americana concerts.

    Coming up at Open Borders this week are MEIKO & TOM FREUND on July 21; the Grammy-winning PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND on the 22nd; THE KLEZMATICS on Saturday, July 23.

    Open Borders has already hosted a festival, back on June 11, the HOMAGE TO WOODY GUTHRIE with COUNTRY JOE McDONALD & RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT, ROCKY NECK, and THE GET DOWN BOYS. (We featured it in the news, and list their productions in the Guide's Spotlight Events – when we know in time.)
    This new venue is kid-friendly and wheelchair accessible, too. Check out their schedule and more at www.openborders2011.com; their email is openbordersmedia@gmail.com or call them at 805-497-1018. Open Borders is located at 125 W Thousand Oaks Bl, Thousand Oaks 91360.


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Our # 6 Story

FULL EVENINGS OF QUALITY MUSIC PROGRAMS, NEW ON FRIDAYS ON L.A. TV

    This one keeps getting better. We've happily reported many times about programming on KLCS, that unique public TV / PBS affiliate that never has pledge drives and brings us delightful music performances. It's L.A.'s sole outlet for “Austin City Limits” and much more.
    Recently, the station adopted a new Friday night lineup that's so good it makes us happy to stay home. Women artists are especially well represented, and it's nearly always centered on folk-Americana.

    Here's KLCS-TV's new every-Friday schedule (with last week's artists in parentheses):

8-9 pm, “The Artists' Den,” from NYC (Grace Potter & The Nocturnals)
8-10 pm, “Austin City Limits,” from Texas (Rosanne Cash and Brandi Carlile)
10-10:30 pm, “Sun Studio Sessions,” from Memphis (Truth & Salvage Co., from N. Carolina)
10:30-11 pm, “Jammin' at Hippie Jacks,” from Don Aqua, Tennessee (Jonelle Mosser); this show, new in L.A., is available as on-demand webcasts at www.myhippiejack.com.

    That's in addition to KLCS airing all the PBS music performance specials, like Dala in “Girls of the North Country,” and the “Celtic Woman,” “Celtic Tenors,” “Celtic Thunder” franchise, and music-bios on Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Odetta, and many others.
    While all the other PBS stations offer music performance shows only as pledge-drive cash cows and hide them at all other times, KLCS offers music performance programming without chopping it to pieces for droning begging. And now they're bringing us music EVERY week, in a full and enjoyable evening, free from interruptions. Wow.
    Owned and operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District, KLCS exists ostensibly to provide classroom programming and enrichment, plus continuing ed for teachers. But, to keep a place in cable operators' lineups, the station must stay on the air on weekends and weekday evenings, times when its targeted mission is not required.
    The station could simply be there with the lights on and rebroadcast their daytime fare. They could stay on basic cable by broadcasting almost anything. Instead, they do things right, with watchable weekend and weeknight offerings. They are a perfect example of our tax dollars being spent to serve the purpose for which the station was established, then going beyond that, giving us a treasure trove of added value. It's a good example of the kind of thing that's at stake, as we hear demands echoing in Washington to discontinue any kind of government spending for anything, with no consideration of what it is.
    Of course, we could choose what the private sector offers us. We could tune to the ill-named Arts & Entertainment channel and watch prison shows. Or to MSNBC on weekends and watch prison shows. Or to National Geographic and watch prison shows. (We're not kidding; that's the crap infesting commercial cable.) We're grateful for the fine alternative delivered by KLCS.
    And because KLCS now brings us quality folk-Americana music programs every week and others do not, we have one more reason to celebrate them as a model to be emulated. Check your cable system or satellite provider to find the channel, or tune-in their HD broadcast signal.
    There's more, including schedules, at www.klcs.com


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Our # 7 Story

THE SYNCOPATHS PLAY A PAIR OF EVENTS AT CALTECH THIS WEEKEND

    THE SYNCOPATHS (www.syncopaths.com), the great contra dance band, roll into Pasadena for a Saturday concert and a Sunday dance with renowned caller SUSAN MICHAELS. Saturday, July 23 at 8 pm, the concert, presented by the Caltech Folk Music Society series, is in Beckman Institute Auditorium, and the contra dance the next day is in Dabney Lounge. Both venues are on the Caltech Campus.
    Recently, their lineup has grown and added additional star power. The band is Western States Picking Champ ASHLEY BRODER on mandolin, National Scottish Fiddle Champ RYAN McKASSON on fiddle & viola, CHRISTA BURCH on vocals, bodhran, shakers, and foot percussion, and JEFFREY SPERO on keyboards. You can expect plenty of lively reels, waltzes and original tunes, and this well-rounded group showcases the fine singing of Christa Burch on ballads, traditional songs and originals.
    Each member is involved in performing and recording with other folks and most of them are music instructors.
    RYAN McKASSON (www.ryanmckasson.com) is an amazing and imaginative fiddler,. He was the youngest winner ever of the National Scottish Fiddle Championship in 1996. He has recorded with his sister and others as THE McKASSONS, and with ALISDAIR FRASER & NATALIE HAAS on their album, "Highlander’s Farewell. He's an accomplished composer.
    JEFFREY SPERO (www.jeffandgigi.com) is one of the premiere dance pianists on the west coast. An amazing player, he doubles as an accomplished dance caller. Plus he's a composer.
    CHRISTA BURCH (www.christaburch.com) was inspired early on by the music of SILLY WIZARD and has a recent solo CD, "Love of the Land," a fine collection of well-performed songs from the Irish, Scottish, Australian, Canadian and American folk traditions.
    ASHLEY BRODER (www.ashleybroder.com) is a multi-instrumental Western States Picking Champion who has toured extensively, performed several times on Tied to the Tracks, is currently working on a solo album, and continues to contribute her amazing mandolin abilities to several bands.
    Check out a couple of informal YouTube videos to get an idea of their range as a band: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbzSOFMPTks&feature=related, features them playing amidst a roomful of dancers, and at www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Myzccyet8, Christa sings the beautiful traditional song, “The Blackest Crow.”
    Tickets are available from the Ticket Office at 626-395-4652, or visiting the ticket office in person, or purchasing for cash at the door, if any remain. $15 for adults and $5 for Caltech students and children.
    (You can also buy tickets now for LOAFER'S GLORY on August 13 and KRISTINA OLSEN on September 17. More on the series' web page at http://folkmusic.caltech.edu including info on upcoming shows.)
    The next day, Sunday, July 24, THE SYNCOPATHS play a contra dance in Dabney Lounge with Susan Michaels calling, beginning at 3:30 pm. Check out http://www.contra.caltech.edu/dance_072411.shtml for details of that one.


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Our # 8 Story

MOLLY’S REVENGE TO PLAY CULVER CITY'S FREE SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL JULY 28

The acoustic Celtic band MOLLY’S REVENGE with special guest vocalist CHRISTA BURCH (The Syncopaths) will play the 17th annual Culver City Summer Music Festival series on Thursday, July 28, at 7 pm. The free series runs eight Thursdays, each with a different act, in the palm-lined courtyard of Culver City's City Hall, 9770 Culver Bl (at Duquesne Av), in downtown Culver City.
     Molly's Revenge is a dynamic, acoustic Celtic band with the classic combination of bagpipes, whistle, fiddle, and song, set against a backdrop of guitar, bouzouki, and mandola accompaniment. Singer and bodhrán player Christa Burch possesses a singular voice that's warm, supple, expressive and intimate.
     This popular series is curated by producer Gary Mandell of Culver City’s Boulevard Music (home of its own fine year-round acoustic concert series.)
     Parking in the area can be tricky, but it's free underneath City Hall; additional parking is free for the first two hours in designated structures in the downtown area (parking on streets can get you ticketed, so be careful). The courtyard opens at 4:30 pm for planting your chair or blanket and picnicking. No glass containers or alcoholic beverages allowed. For more info, call 310-253-5716. Free.

    Way to the east on the same night, I SEE HAWKS IN L.A. play the Whittier Summer Concert in the Park series, 7-8:30 pm in Parnell Park, 15390 Lambert Rd, Whittier. The free outdoor
concert is sponsored by the City of Whittier. East or West, catch a free concert that Thursday.


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Our # 9 Story

ANNUAL “LONG BEACH CRAWFISH FESTIVAL” ARRIVES JULY 30 & 31

    Yep, it was only a few weeks ago that we were at the Long Beach Bayou Fest. This one's just as much fun, and Thibodeaux and Boudreau done tell us the music's gonna be tres bonne.
    There are performances Saturday by MARK ST. MARY LOUISIANA BLUES & ZYDECO BAND, ANDRE THIERRY & ZYDECO MAGIC, BLUESBOX BAYOU BAND, BENNIE & THE SWAMP GATORS, A.J. GIBBS - THE MYDECO KING, THE HIGH STEPPERS NEW ORLEANS BOOGIE BAND, plus dancing and children's activities.
    Sunday brings STEP RIDEAU & THE ZYDECO OUTLAWS, LEROY THOMAS, BONNE
MUSIQUE ZYDECO, ROYALE GARDEN DIXIELAND BAND, A.J. GIBBS - THE MYDECO
KING, THE HIGH STEPPERS NEW ORLEANS BOOGIE BAND, plus dancing and children's
activities. And of course, the main course at this one is crawfish, in quantities fit for gluttony.
    It runs noon-10 pm both days at Rainbow Lagoon, Shoreline Village Dr, Long Beach 90802.


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    Our # 10 Story

INAUGURAL VENTURA FOLK FESTIVAL BRINGS STARS IN AUGUST

    Zoey's, that fine presenter of folk-Americana music and victuals in Ventura, is taking the
plunge as a festival producer, and they aren't fooling around. This one has plenty of buzz
already.
    On Saturday & Sunday, August 20 & 21, the inaugural VENTURA FOLK FESTIVAL "BOUND FOR GLORY" will take over Mission Park, 180 E Main St, Ventura 93001.
    Scheduled to perform (so far) are RAMBLIN JACK ELLIOTT, JOHN DOE, J.D. SOUTHER, PETER CASE, THE WHITE BUFFALO, CHRIS PIERCE, SHANE ALEXANDER, TOM CORBETT, PHIL SALAZAR, JAY NASH, TONY LUCCA, MATT DUKE, B. WILLING, JUSTINE BENNETT, DELANEY GIBSON, TED LENNON, 50 STICKS OF DYNAMITE, PHIL CODY, TALL TALES AND THE SILVER LINING, THE KINFOLK, RINCON RAMBLERS, LEE KOCH, JAMIE DRAKE, DAN WILSON, SETH PETTERSEN, & GARRISON STARR.
    Organizers say that tickets and info are promised soon. Check for more at www.facebook.com/Venturafolkfestival?sk=info or www.venturarocks.com/index.htm.
     We'll bring you more later, but don't let tickets sell-out before you get yours.



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MORE STUFF >>>>>>> Resources, etc

Our recently updated VENUE DIRECTORY

...with OVER 500 acoustic-music-friendly venues in Southern California, is available at

http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/02/venue-directory-from-guide-updated.html


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RECENT EDITIONS of The Guide's NEWS FEATURES are still available!

Just check our archive! Read the contents bar on the left side of the page at www.acousticamericana.blogspot.com and click the appropriate month.

The MOST RECENT past editions (last 30 days) are archived and easy to find.

July 11 edition is available at

http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/07/acoustic-americana-music-guide-news.html
                       and the stories are:

  1) Silent Movie Classics with Live Music, Just Five Bucks, Monday, July 11
  2) Dulcimers, Anyone?
  3) Texas Music Star CAROLYN MARTIN in Town for Thursday Show
  4) FUR DIXON & STEVE WERNER's CD Release Show is Friday at McCabe's
  5) Boulevard Music Summer Festival, Free, Sunday, July 17
  6) Pershing Square Summer Lunchtime Concert Series Starts Wednesday
  7) Camarillo Café Concert Series Brings Fine Music to Ventura County
  8) July 23 & 24 Weekend: Festivals, Concerts, Tough Choices
  9) Skirball's Sunset Concert Series for 2011 – What Happened?
10) Good Music Films in Skirball's Summer Offerings
11) Artist's Suicide Brings Thoughts that May Prevent Another Tragedy

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June 24 edition is available at

http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/06/acoustic-americana-music-guide-news_24.html
                        and the stories are:

  1) It’s the Last Big Weekend of Acoustic Music-Friendly Festivals, ’til Autumn
  2) Serious Threat to Americana Radio in L.A. - Are the Days Numbered?
  3) Annual L.A. Guitar Festival Brings Star-Power, July 2 & 3
  4) Be in Local Musician / Filmmaker’s New Movie, June 29
  5) Win a DROPKICK MURPHYS Deering Banjo
  6) CBS Keeps GRAMMY Awards Broadcast for Another Decade
  7) MERCHANTS OF MOONSHINE Play Local Show July 1
  8) BMI Artists Eligible for Multi-Genre “STAR-SPOTTING” Showcase
  9) Get the Kids in a Summer Musical
10) This Couldn’t Wait for April 1st…


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Questions? Comments? Contact us at

                          tied to the tracks (at) Hotmail (dot) com

(We're trying to cut-down spam. Please help – just remove all the spaces and type the "@" and the ".")

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The LATEST EDITION of THE GUIDE, the NEWS FEATURES, THE SCENE, SPOTLIGHTED EVENTS, & THE VENUE DIRECTORY– what it takes to bring you the world of current acoustic music happenings, including "heads up" notices to buy advance tickets for shows likely to sell-outc

Plus VENUES TO HEAR MUSIC OR CONTACT TO GET GIGS, and lots more

    – is available 24/7 (& frequently updated!) at ~

             www.acousticmusic.netor at
             www.acousticamericana.blogspot.com

- or follow any of the links in the fifteen web sites and web groups that carry the Guide’s weekly News Features.

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♪ Acoustic Americana Music Guide ♪

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Acoustic Americana Music Guide NEWS FEATURES, July 19 edition

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