Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
--Abraham Lincoln

Links of Interest

Folk Music & Dance

Dulcimer Organizations & Information

Dulcimer Builders & Music Shops

Other Good Stuff

Folk Music & Dance Organizations, Events & Information

Contra in The Couve: Contra dancing comes to Vancouver, Washington! Every month on the 2nd Friday at the Hazel Dell Grange.
Folk Events in Portland: A well-maintained listing of Contra and English Country dance events in Portland, with links to other local and regional dance organizations and events.
Folk Music Index: Jane Keefer of Portland maintains this searchable online index to recorded folk music resources.
Norske Runddansere Dancing: This group offers Scandinavian dancing in the Portland area, with weekly lessons and open dancing, special events, and links to other Scandinavian culture events and resources.
Northwest FolkLife Festival: This huge festival of folk music, dance and arts is presented free (donations encouraged), at the Seattle Center grounds, Memorial Day weekend every year.
Old Liberty Theater: Offering live music, movies, magic, and your daily coffee in downtown Ridgefield, WA.
Old-Time Music in Portland: This site is devoted to Old-Time music, bands and events, including traditional square dancing.
Portland Country Dance Community: PCDC sponsors contra dancing (2nd, 4th, and 5th Saturdays) and English country dancing (every Friday) in Portland, as well as a New Years Eve dance, the Dusk 'til Done dance (mid June), the Portland Raindance weekend (late April / early May), the Northwest Passage dance camp (Labor Day weekend), and occasional special dances.
Portland Dance: A comprehensive listing of upcoming events in the Portland area for dancing of all kinds, from Balkan to West Coast.
Portland Folk Music Society: PFS is dedicated to keeping folk music traditions alive and well in Portland, sponsoring a monthly Third Friday Coffeehouse concert series, the annual Singtime Frolics weekend, concerts, open mics, and song circles.
Portland Songwriters Association: PSA provides workshops, showcases and other events and services to support songwriters.
The Session: The Session maintains a large on-line library of traditional dance tunes, provided with annotation and recorded sources. Tunes are available in sheet music and abc formats.
Tom's Open Mic: Open mic every Monday at the Irishtown Bar & Grill in Vancouver, WA.
Victory Music: This non-profit organization was founded in 1969 to support local acoustic, jazz, blues and folk music in the Pacific Northwest, mainly the Tacoma-Seattle region.

Celtic Culture, Events & Information

Ceolas: Ceolas houses the largest online collection of information on celtic music, and has links to hundreds of related sites.
Celtic Cafe: Your worldwide community for Celtic culture.
Portland Ceili Society: The Portland Ceili Society is a non-profit organization that exists to celebrate traditional Irish music, culture, and dance, and sponsors the third Friday monthly ceili in Portland.
S & A Irish Entertainment: Sam Keator offers Irish culture events including ceili dances, house concerts, workshops and dance classes.
Triple Spiral: Rev. Kathleen Verigin leads tours of ancient sacred sites in Ireland and France, and offers anam cara mentoring and spiritual inspiration.

Dulcimer Organizations and Information

Dulcimer Players News: DPN is the national magazine for hammered and mountain dulcimer players, in publication for over 35 years. Each issue now includes a sampler CD, and the companion web site offers a variety of useful information.
Dulcimer Radio: Listen to the sweet music of mountain and hammered dulcimers on this Live365 internet radio station.
EverythingDulcimer.com: An authoritative source of information, links, discussions, teacher and builder listings, events calendar, etc. relating to the world of the dulcimer - both kinds!
Northwest Hammered Dulcimer Society: Primarily based in the Seattle area, NWHDS has monthly jam gatherings in Seattle, but has members throughout the northwest (as far as Alberta and Alaska!) who, until recently, have gathered every year for a late summer festival and campout.
Northwest Hammered Dulcimer Society Email List This link takes you to Yahoo Groups page for NWHDS, where you can join the NWHDS email discussion list.
Prairie Dulcimer Club: The Kansas City area hosts one of the oldest dulcimer clubs (est. 1977). They have monthly meetings with workshops and jamming, and occasional special events.
Spring Fling Rendezvous: Annual spring gathering of hammered dulcimer players and friends. 2011 SFR will be April 29-May 1 at Oral Hull Park near Sandy, OR. Instructors will be DeeDee Tibbits, Kendra Ward, and Steve Schneider.

Dulcimer Builders and Music Shops

Artichoke Music: Now legendary, Artichoke Music in 2011 celebrates 40 years as Portland's premier music shop catering to folk musicians! They are your Portland source for Dusty Strings hammered dulcimers. More than just an instrument store, the shop also houses the Artichoke School of Music and the Backgate Stage, with private lessons, classes, concerts, open mics, song circles, jams, and other special events.
Cripple Creek Music Co: The place to go in Ashland, OR, this venerable music store has something for everyone, including hammered dulcimers, and friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful staff people to help you find what you are looking for.
Dusty Strings: In the Fremont district ("center of the universe") of Seattle, Dusty Strings builds fine hammered dulcimers and folk harps, and has a well-stocked music shop featuring folk music and instruments. They also sponsor an ongoing series of classes, workshops, and concerts in the store.
The Kitchen Musician: AKA Sara Johnnson, publisher of a fine series of inexpensive tune books, each with a different focus (Scottish Airs, Michigan Tunes, O'Carolan, etc.), and purveyor of all kinds of other musical goodies and information.
Lark in the Morning: Quirky music shop featuring an incredible variety of musical instruments from all over the world. Their main operation is in California, but they have a store in downtown Seattle, too.
Mir Music: Mir Music in downtown Hillsboro, OR, carries Masterworks hammered dulcimers among its wide line of instruments, sheet music and accessories.
Whamdiddle Dulcimers: Built in Seattle by Rick Fogel. He is also a phenominal player, teacher, and maker of dulcimer hammers, playing stands, and bones.

Other Good Stuff

Better World Club: Tired of supporting the AAA and its highway-centric lobbying programs? Switch to Better World Club, the only roadside assistance and travel club that strives to balance your transportation needs with protecting the environment. You will be supporting a socially responsible company that donates 1% of its revenue to environmental cleanup efforts and supports sustainable travel and transportation. You will also receive $40 per year in cash rebates for gasoline!
Bill Hoyland Home Repair and Remodel: OK, Bill is a good friend, but we also know from personal experience he does good, reliable work. If you need some remodeling done, give Bill a call.
Liquid Sculpture: Stunning high-speed photography of colliding fluids, produced by Martin Waugh (who also did Talisman's band photos). This is too cool for words -- just go look!
MailWasher Pro: Tame the spam monster! I've been using this excellent program for several years, and it has helped me eliminate virtually all the annoying spam from my incoming e-mail. Highly recommended!
SpiritOne Internet: We have been very happy with SpiritOne as our provider of internet access services and web hosting for over 7 years. They serve Oregon and SW Washington. If you sign up, tell 'em Carl Thor sent you.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Vancouver (formerly Michael Servetus Unitarian Universalist Fellowship): Celebrating over 50 years of liberal religion in Clark County, WA.
Vancouver Food Co-op: The co-op now has an on-line ordering and pickup system operational, and a storefront location in downtown Vancouver is under development. The co-op is seeking new member-owners to support the ongoing work of opening a full time co-op grocery store in Vancouver, WA.