Wow! It's that time of year again! And we're counting down the days until we regroup under the old oak tree. Ah ... the sweet smell of donuts in the air. Opening day is June 2nd.

See the Village of Oak Park's official site here.

Help FolkAlley.com Save Net Radio!

On March 2, 2007, the federal Copyright Royalty Board released a decision that will have damaging consequences for public radio stations that stream music. The Board rejected decades of precedent by placing commercial royalty payment schedules and reporting requirements on public radio stations. This decision exposes the public radio system to huge increases in royalty payments and promises drastic curtailment of the programming diversity found on public radio stations' websites.

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FitzGerald's Calendar Listings
Friday, June 1 (BLUEGRASS) Cornmeal plus Tangleweed, 9:30pm
Cornmeal is "heavily influenced by American roots and folk music, Cornmeal was started as a side project over six years ago only to watch it grow into a Chicago institution. Info at cornmealinthekitchen.com

Warming up is Tangleweed, who combine high-energy performances, impeccable musicianship and a wide-breadth of influences to create a unique sound that is simultaneously modern and old-timey. More info at tangleweed.org

Also, Fitzgerald's is now smoke free!

Mighty Fine Streaming Documentaries ...

FolkStreams » Homemade American Music

"A history of rural southeastern traditional American music, as told and played by Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard. Mike and Alice recount their own involvment with this music, and briefly trace its history as we meet their mentors: the late Tommy Jarrell, Lily May Ledford, Roscoe Holcomb and Elizabeth Cotten."





Folkstreams is a collection of independently produced documentary films that have languished for decades. This one, "Homemade American Music," is one of dozens featuring blues, old time, bluegrass, Cajun and more.



You can't download them; they're for streaming only. But they are without equivocation mighty, mighty fine!

Mighty Wacked Out New Old-Time Favorites ...

The Avett Bros.

















5/30/07 Chicago, IL House of Blues 9:00 PM Back Porch Stage

I love these guys. They're nuts. Just guitar, mando and double-bass and more energy than a nor'easter.

Talk About Man Handling Your Guitar ...

glumbert.com - Guitar never seemed so hard

Thanks to Jim Polaski for finding this video. The hammer-on/pull-off technique is quite impressive. The jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan arrived on the scene in the early 1990s with an electric variant of this "finger-style" approach to the instrument. (See this video for "Willow Weep for Me" from back then - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8DCDrKX4_I).

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Folk Alley: Folk Music, Traditional Music, Celtic Music, and World Music



The Merlefest blog at FolkAlley.com as some great stories and photos from what is arguably the finest bluegrass festival out there today.



Did anybody from our group go this year? Please share stories and photos here!

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Don Sibley's Selling Two Fakebooks
He's got the Mandolin Picker's Fakebook and The Fiddler's Fakebook. Both are barely used. Contact Don at donsibley@earthlink.net for details.