Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
--Abraham Lincoln
Links of Interest
Folk Music Organizations and Information
Dulcimer Organizations and Information
Dulcimer Builders and Music Shops
Folk Music Organizations and Information
- Portland Country Dance Community: Sponsors contra dancing (2nd, 4th, and 5th Saturdays) and English country dancing (every Friday)in Portland, as well as a New Years Eve dance and the annual Northwest Passage dance camp (Labor Day weekend).
- Portland Dance Listings: Well-maintained listing of Contra and English Country dance events in Portland, with links to other local and regional dance organizations and events.
- Portland Folk Music Society: Dedicated to keeping folk music traditions alive and well in Portland. PFS Sponsors the monthly Third Friday Coffeehouse concert series, the annual Singtime Frolics weekend, concerts, open mics, and song circles.
- Portland Songwriters Association: Providing workshops, showcases and other events and services to support songwriters.
- Old-Time Music in Portland: This site is devoted to Old-Time music, bands and events, including traditional square dancing. Includes calendar of events.
- Northwest FolkLife Festival: Huge festival of folk music, dance and arts. Free (donations cheerfully accepted), at the Seattle Center grounds, Memorial Day weekend every year.
- Victory Music: Non-profit organization founded in 1969 to support local acoustic, jazz, blues and folk music in the Pacific Northwest, mainly the Tacoma-Seattle region.
Celtic Culture & Events
- Rev. Kathleen Verigin: She leads a tour of sacred sites in Ireland, including Newgrange, Brighid's Fire Pit & Holy Well, Hill of Tara, Loughcrew, Grange Circle of Stones, Lough Gur, The Burren, Aillwee Caves, Connemara, and Glendalough, plus museums and pubs in Dublin. Next tour is March 21-31, 2007.
- Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann: An international organization promoting the traditional music, dance and language of Ireland. The Columbia chapter serves the metro area of Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR, sponsoring a ceili on the first Friday of every month in Vancouver.
- 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.
Dulcimer Organizations and Information
- Dulcimer Players News: The national magazine for hammered and mountain dulcimer players, in publication for over 30 years.
- Spring Fling Rendezvous: Annual spring gathering of hammered dulcimer players and friends. 2008 SFR will be April 25-27 at Oral Hull Park near Sandy, OR. Instructors are Bonnie Carol, Peggy Carter & Linda Lowe Thompson.
- The Kindred Gathering: Annual late summer gathering of mountain dulcimer players and friends. Location changes year to year, but is usually near the west coast.
- The Official WWW Hammered Dulcimer Pages: The grand-daddy source of information about hammered dulcimer. Includes links to players, clubs, festivals, teachers, builders, publications, music, e-mail lists, etc.
- EverythingDulcimer.com: A slightly more commercialized source of information, links, discussions, events calendar, etc. relating to the world of the dulcimer - both kinds!
- 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 two one-day festivals per year.
Dulcimer Builders and Music Shops
- Artichoke Music: Portland's premier music store catering to folk musicians is evolving. The new Artichoke Community Music, a non-profit organization, has taken over the operation of the Artichoke School of Music and the Backgate Stage, with classes, concerts, open mics, song circles and jams.
- Whamdiddle Dulcimers: Built in Seattle by Rick Fogel. He is also a phenominal player, teacher, and maker of dulcimer hammers and playing stands.
- Dusty Strings: Also in Seattle, in the Fremont district ("center of the universe"), DS builds fine dulcimers and folk harps, and has a well-stocked music shop featuring folk music and instruments. They also sponsor an ongoing series of workshops and concerts in the store.
- 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.
- 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.
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! - 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 program for three 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 5 years. They serve Oregon and SW Washington. If you sign up, tell 'em Carl Thor sent you.
- August Moon: Vancouver's Community Cultivation Center is home to classes of the Taoist Tai Chi Society; services and programs of the Abundant Life Center; practitioners of massage therapy, acupuncture and counseling; workshops and classes on health and well-being; and a variety of other community events.
- Vancouver Food Co-op: The co-op currently operates a monthly buying club and is in the process of planning and organizing to open a store front grocery in Vancouver, WA.
- Michael Servetus Unitarian Universalist Fellowship: Celebrating over 50 years of liberal religion in Clark County, WA.
