Glen Echo, March 1, 2013

Here's the video that Kevin Mabon took of the band playing one of our oldest sets just before the break on Friday night. Dave Richardson's classic jig "Calliope House" (played in E, with the A and B sections reversed), Pat's unique version of "Booth Shot Lincoln" and Erik's Portland Collection hit, "It Ain't the Heat, It's the Humidity".

It's a 12 1/2 minute dance and Kevin's roving eye captures all sorts of stuff. Excellent close-ups of Ted's feet, a good look at the wonderful and friendly Glen Echo dancers, lots of band interaction. A highlight is Erik's romp starting at the 10 minute mark.

Here's a straight link to the video if that works better for you:
http://youtu.be/TCqa3MrXCkw

We're having a quiet morning here in Takoma Park after going out to Shepherdstown last night. Yesterday morning we had a quick White House tour (minus Patrice, who arranged the tour, but had a little problem with ID; it's a long story), then we toured the Old Post Office building and it's great bell tower tour. On to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for a pretty interesting experience. Then out to the big aerospace museum near Dulles airport, followed by dinner at the Devonshire pub in Shepherdstown. A busy day.

It's not too late to make plans to come dance at Glen Echo today. We'll be playing the afternoon waltz and the evening contra. Say hi if you stop by.

Art Hounds Track Us Down!

Thanks to the networking skills of Jim Leedham and Suzie Nakasian, Contratopia was mentioned this morning on Minnesota Public Radio's weekly Art Hounds feature. The radio spot was really about tomorrow night's Northfield Winter Stomp dance but they used (very artfully, I might add) shorts bits of our recordings of "Booth Shot Lincoln" (just in time for the Oscars!) and Erik's tune, "It Ain't the Heat, It's the Humidity" (re-titled for tomorrow night "It Ain't the Cold, It's the Snow").

The Winter Stomp piece is at the start of the feature and, I believe, it will air again this afternoon. Check it out. More importantly, come to the dance tomorrow night. I see over 80 people have already said they will be there on Facebook. (Hopefully the latest Storm of the Century will allow Erik and I to drive up from Decorah in time. If not, rest assured that Patrice and Pat will lay down some rockin' tunes with a mystery guest fiddler or two. And Robin Nelson will be there to direct dance floor traffic and work her magic!)

2013, Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

A new year. I was thinking of letting this blog quietly go dark for 2013 but I found it useful today when I was trying to remember a couple of events from our past. So here's the first post for 2013.

Two weeks ago Pat (and Margie), Patrice (and Al) and Ted (and Lynn) all came down for a January concert/contra in Decorah. It turns out that there was another, very cool world music band giving a show in town the same night but we still managed to have a healthy crowd of dancers (many well below the average contra dancer age) that night and everyone had a great time.

We all had dinner together at the wonderful Oneota Community Food Coop before the show and the next morning we gathered again for breakfast at Decorah's Rubaiyat restaurant (minus Patrice and Al, who drove back to Minnesota after the gig, but plus Karen, Sara and the three hungry daughters).

The visit to Decorah was the first step in preparing for our return to the DC area in early March. Step two happens next Saturday, Feb. 9, when the band, along with Ted as caller, will meet at Tapestry in Minneapolis for what I'm sure will be a great dance. The band will meet again on Friday, Feb. 22 (with Robin Nelson calling) in Northfield for the Winter Stomp. The Friday after that we'll be playing at Glen Echo with Ted.

We hope you can make it to one or more of these dances in the next few weeks. By the final Sunday contra at Glen Echo on March 3 this band should be in pretty good shape. It'll be fun.

Return to Tapestry

Next weekend we get to return to our home court at Tapestry in Minneapolis. Our last visit was way back in April when we played for the 2nd annual Call of the Loon weekend. (It's not too soon to register for the 3rd Loon weekend, April 12-14, 2013 featuring the fabulous Notorious and caller Diane Silver.)

Our dance next Saturday (Dec. 15), with our buddy David Kirchner calling, will mark the end of our longest ever absence from Tapestry land. I'm tempted to joke about imaginary reasons for this (fill in your favorite conspiracy theory here) but the truth is that this is just the way that the calendar worked out. In any event you can bet that Patrice, Pat, Erik and I will all be ready to play next week. It should be a great time.

This is also a chance to remind you that Contratopia CDs make great stocking stuffers. You may have all three of our CDs but there may be family and friends who don't. Also, this year is the first holiday season that the Erik Sessions/John Goodin Notes from the Farm CD is available. While we're at it I should also mention the John Goodin Mandolin Tunes CD as well. I'm linking to physical CDs available from CD Baby here but all of these CDs are also available as mp3 downloads from iTunes and the other usual suspects.

Hope to see a bunch of you next weekend. We will try and remember to bring some CDs to the dance too.

Harvest Stomp! Again

Another year, another Stomp! Patrice, Pat, Erik and I will try to pull ourselves together for the start of yet another Contratopia season this Friday evening in Northfield, MN at the wonderfully noisy downtown Armory. Come and out and add to the abundant energy that is always present when students from Carleton and St. Olaf mix with youngsters and geezers (both on the dance floor and in the band) from around the region. Watch in awe as Robin Nelson weaves order out of the chaos. See Contratopia try to remember how tunes go and who plays what. It'll be fun.

Go to the event in Facebook and let everyone know you are planning to attend. (Thanks, Arlo!)

Contratopia 2012-2013

OK, so it's been four months. We've always said that things are slow around here in the summer. While this has been a very dry season water-wise (causing farmer Erik no end of concern and extra labor) it has actually been a very active one musically.

All the members of Contratopia have been busy with weddings, special events, camps and dances since last April. We even managed to all be together to play for a memorable wedding reception in June outside of Maiden Rock, WI. (I think this was the first time ever that Contratopia was able to convene in the month of June.)

So, going forward (as they love to say in business and politics) what's in store for the 2012-2013 season?

At this point it our tentative schedule looks something like this:

• Harvest Stomp dance in Northfield on Friday October 19, 2012
• Sat. night contra dance at Tapestry Folkdance Center on Dec. 15, 2012
• Sat. night contra dance in Decorah, Iowa sometime in mid-January, 2013
• Sat. night contra dance at Tapestry sometime in Feb., 2013
• Winter Stomp dance in Northfield sometime in Feb., 2013
• Friday night contra at Glen Echo, MD on March 1, 2013
• Sat. night contra in Shepherdstown, WV on March 2, 2013
• Waltz Time afternoon dance at Glen Echo on March 3, 2013 (we've got our fingers crossed)
• Sunday night contra at Glen Echo on March 3, 2013
• Sat. night contra at Tapestry sometime in April or May, 2013

We'll keep you informed as these tentative dates and events become more firm and we hope to see you somewhere along the way!
 

Loons on Parade

About this time last Sunday we were playing for the "mostly waltz" hour at Tapestry's second annual Call of the Loon dance weekend and, thanks to "craigwildgoose" and youtube, you can see a nice clip of some of our favorite people dancing as we play a very relaxed version of my tune "Favors Her Father."

While there was plenty of room on the dance floor at that moment you can find another video that will show you the rest of the Loon crowd chowing down on the delicious Sunday brunch that was being served in the next room.

We had a super, awesome, most excellent, great time all weekend long. The band was tight, the dancers were giving off powerful good energy and Doug Lohman from Armadillo Sound gave us one of the best monitor mixes we've every had. Hearing each other clearly makes a big difference in how we play and we were really enjoying listening to each other play new and interesting things.

Call of the Loon 2 was a big success and you should consider a trip to Minneapolis next spring (April 12-14) for version 3. Word on the street is that next year's band will be the fabulous quartet incarnation of Notorious, an event not to be missed.

Thanks to everyone who made the weekend possible and especially to all the dancers!