See ABOUT MFMS for general description of the various type of events we offer during the year.
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Date/Location/Tickets
Performer
or Event
Saturday & Sunday
Sept. 20-21, 2008 WILLY STREET FAIR (see times at right)
Tom Paxton has become a voice of his generation,
addressing issues of injustice and inhumanity, laying bare the absurdities of
modern culture and celebrating the tenderest bonds of family, friends, and community. In describing Tom Paxton's influence on his fellow musicians, Pete Seeger has
said: "Tom's songs have a way of sneaking up on you. You find yourself humming them, whistling them, and singing a verse to a friend. Like the songs of Woody
Guthrie, they're becoming part of America."Guy Clark adds: "Thirty years ago Tom Paxton taught a generation of traditional
folksingers that it was noble to write your own songs, and, like a good guitar,
he just gets better with age."
Paxton has been an integral part of the songwriting
and folk music community since the early 60's Greenwich Village scene, and continues
to be a primary influence on today's "New Folk" performers. [More at Tom's website - click here]
Saturday, October 25, 2008 7:00 pm meeting 8:00 pm concert
Wil-Mar Center
953 Jenifer Street
Madison WI [MAP]
Members who attend the meeting at 7pm will get to choose officers, and learn who has been selected to receive the Helen Schneyer Folk Music scholarship for the coming year. And by attending the meeting, members will get a free CD from the Madfolk archives, and reserve the best seats for the Johnsmith concert to follow!
Those who attend the concert (a mere $10 at the door) will be treated to the heartfelt music of a self-described “blue-collar songwriter.” Johnsmith is a past winner of the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk festival, and was recently featured on the "New Dimensions" program on NPR. His latest CD, Break Me Open, portrays John’s earthy brand of spirituality and finds him stretching his songwriting wings expressing the harder sides of life and
love. He is accompanied by some fine acoustic musicians, including Native American chants and flute cameos by Bill Miller, and harmony vocals by Suzi Ragsdale, Sally Barris and his daughter, Elisi Smith-Waller.
NOT A MEMBER? Non-members who attend the concert will be given a complimentary membership until the end of the year, which includes a subscription to the MadFolk Newsletter, containing the coveted centerfold “refrigerator cover” with all the folk music happenings in the area. IF YOU ARE MEMBER: Why not bring a friend who is not a member? This is their chance to see a great show and try out membership in Mad Folk, too!
More than three decades as a touring professional have found Claudia Schmidt traversing North America as well as Europe in venues ranging from intimate clubs to 4,000 seat theatres, and festival stages in front of 25,000. Among her credits are numerous appearances on Public Radio International's "A Prairie Home Companion" and starring role in an hour-long documentary called "I Sing Because I Can't Fly," produced by KTCA TV in St. Paul. She has recorded fourteen albums of mostly original songs, exploring folk, blues, and jazz idioms featuring her acclaimed12 string guitar and mountain dulcimer playing. A musician who has always hated categories, she describes herself as a "creative noisemaker," which has irritated some critics but delighted many audiences, who learn to expect anything at a Schmidt concert, hymn, poem, bawdy verse, torch song, satire, and the gamut of emotions. Her live performances are not to be missed!
Opening the show will be Tom Kastle. Tom has spent over two decades "on the road" and "on the water"
as a singer, tall ship sailor and captain, songwriter, and teller of
tales, both personal and those steeped in tradition. As half of the
maritime folk duo Tom & Chris Kastle, he toured throughout the
United States as well as Ireland, Scotland, Poland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand delighting audiences and producing 11 recordings plus a soundtrack for PBS (WTTW Chicago). After taking most of a year off to captain a tall ship in South Haven, MI, Tom has relocated to Madison, WI and is releasing his first solo CD, Across the Centerline.
