This month’s coffee house is unusual in a few ways. First of all, it was up to someone else to arrange the entertainment. And to make it even more interesting, we put an age restriction on the performers, and in doing so came up with the theme: “Over 30 need not apply.” It was originally “Don’t trust anyone over 30," but that didn’t sound quite friendly enough for the "Friends of Folk". The age restriction applies to performers only and we urge anyone at any age to come out and enjoy live music.

Many of you are familiar with Justin McNatt. He has been performing at open mics and other coffee house events since he was all of 17. Now at the ripe old age of 23, he’s already got three CDs to his credit. The first is a compilation of songs with acoustic guitar written from ages 18-20 and simply titled JUSTIN MCNATT. It received substantial airplay on Wilmington station WSTW’s Hometown Heroes. In early fall of 2004 he recorded HOT ONE, another acoustic album. His latest 5 song demo CD, JUSTIN MCNATT PREVIEW, was recorded with a full band in 2005 in New York City by producer Tomas Costanza. Justin grew up in Smyrna and taught himself to play guitar in the process. His wonderful chord progressions, inventive lyrics, and evocative performance style conjure up images of Dave Matthews, one of his major influences. Justin also claims Radiohead, Coldplay, Incubus, Fiona Apple, David Gray, and Neil Young as inspiration.

Justin agreed to round up some younger players from around the area and get them to help him out at this coffee house. As this is written, we’re still not exactly sure who all will show, but we’re pretty sure that the following will be there.

Catherine Tuttle is a 19-year-old singer/songwriter from Philadelphia, now attending college as a sophomore at Harvard. A true artist, she’s not only a creative pianist, but also an accomplished painter and actress. She recently began playing guitar and bass as well. By the age of 13, the songwriting Muse inspired her to begin creating songs. On her 16th birthday, Catherine's parents surprised her with a gift of studio time that proved to be the genesis of her budding career. She now has 2 CDs to her credit, and mixes schoolwork with performances at premiere listening rooms like Philadelphia's Tin Angel. She has shared the bill with the likes of Amos Lee, Jeffrey Gaines, and Grey Eye Glances. Her music comes honestly, as her parents were both in several bands while she was growing up. Catherine’s music carries traces of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Smashing Pumpkins, and most of all, Joni Mitchell. Joni’s melodic, insightful songwriting is readily evident in Catherine’s original songs.

One of the neat things about being as old as dirt is that you may have had the extreme pleasure of seeing the children of friends grow up and become functional members of society. It happened at last month’s coffee house when Jenny Dabell bravely sat down at the grand piano and led the audience in singing a few Christmas carols; and when Connor McGiffin joined his dad on stage and, singing two octaves lower than Dad, did a remarkable version of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”.

Another “former” youngster, now at the advanced age of 19, Larissa Moore has also been a frequent performer at our open mics and other events. With her soulful voice and skilled guitar playing, Larissa has become more comfortable and polished in front of a crowd over the past 5 years. Being the daughter of a local musician (Deloy) has given her a lifelong exposure to the local music scene. In addition to her father, Larissa has drawn influence from artists ranging from Janis Joplin, Pat Benetar, Rancid, The Distillers, to Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, the Ramones, and the Cranberries. From her very first performance at a Friends of Folk coffee house through today, Larissa has been a popular performer at local open mics, churches, and talent shows since the age of 15. Larissa has had experience playing with a few local bands and her current project is the new group The Lusionistics. She writes and performs her own material and has also learned piano and bass guitar. Larissa's eclectic musical sets consist of original material as well as contemporary covers of various popular artists, and she's actively working on her first CD.

Another of Justin’s musical friends is 21 year old Smyrna native Todd Murray. Todd has been playing guitar for over six years and recently recorded his first CD, “My Story”, in his bedroom. He has been at a few of our open mics and is also writing some songs with Justin.

As of now, that’s the lineup. There may be a few others show up, but what you’re guaranteed to see is the next generation of folk music. By its very nature, this thing we call “folk music” evolves and devolves, falls apart and then self-assembles, gathers rough edges and gets rubbed smooth. If this process stops, if folk music becomes “classic”, we all lose. If Justin and his friends are any indication, the people’s music is, I believe, in good hands.

If you’d like some assurance of that, come to the Wesley College Chapel on January 20. It all starts at 7:30 pm, corner of Division and North Bradford St. in Dover. Admission for will be $5 for members and $7 for non-members. Teens are half price and kids 12 and under get in free. Be sure to bring a non-perishable food item for the Delaware Food Bank. A great evening of music, hot & cold drinks, and sweet treats await. Don’t let it happen without you. There’s nothing else like it in Dover.

-- John Kidd, DEFF President

Membership in the Delaware Friends of Folk is on an annual basis, and it's now time to renew your membership for 2007. You don't get too many bargains quite like this: For just $10 (individual) or $15 (family), you get discounted admission to all of our coffeehouses and our annual Festival, invitations to special "members only" events, including our annual membership meeting where you can vote for our Board of Directors. And there's more - now you can also join the Dover Federal Credit Union when you're a member of the Friends of Folk. Join or renew your membership today!

DELAWARE FRIENDS OF FOLK
ANNUAL GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
December 16, 2006
Wesley College Chapel
Dover, Delaware

I am pleased to offer the following report to the membership. I am concluding my sixth year as Board Chair of Delaware Friends of Folk and want to thank all of the great folks who have make my task bearable, and most times downright enjoyable.

We are an organization of just under 100 members. Our official membership roles declined sharply a few years ago as we were vexed by the perennial problem of small, all-volunteer groups–too much to do and not enough people to do it. Thanks to membership chair Terrie McClay and marketing chair Jim McGiffin, the downward trend in memberships has been reversed and we actually have a few more members now than last year at this time. But we still need more, so if you know someone who was once a member, or someone who should be a member, please encourage them to sign up. We literally depend on you, our members, for everything. And remember-you can pay your 2007 dues today. And as a newly added benefit of membership, being one of us means you also qualify to be a customer of the Delaware Federal Credit Union. They offer financial services that may not be available at a regular bank, so check them out.

In brief, the financial state of the organization is that we have about $4000 in the bank, about $2000 less than we had at last year’s annual meeting. But in the odd world of money, what looks like a decrease is actually an increase, since we spent about $4000 this year with Delaware Electric Co-op. Most of the “increase” was due to the amazing fund-raising work of the entire group, in particular our good friends at Gypsy Haven Morgans, Bruce and Terrie McClay, the generous donation of CDs by so many local, regional and national artists, and volunteer work by a lot of folks to try to get the money together to install a permanent electric supply at the Festival site.

As you likely know, WE DID IT!! Thanks to Tad Jones, Paul Gumerman, and Bob Hamel, we currently have current at our Festival site. Being able to rely on a constant flow of electrons made a huge difference in preparing for the Festival and clearly in putting it all on. In other 2006 fund-raising activity, we received a total of $2500 in grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts and $1000 from JPMorganChase on behalf of Board member Beth Fizell. We paid about $2800 to 12 different coffee house performers and about double that to performers at the Delmarva Folk Festival, as we continue to support folk music and musicians in this region. I believe we continue to be in stable financial condition.

We're concluding a very successful year from an activities and participation viewpoint: 12 newsletters (published electronically, saving several trees and hundreds of dollars in stamps), 11 coffeehouses at Wesley College, and our 15th annual Delmarva Folk Festival at Lonnie and Sonja’s wonderful farm. And we now have a toll-free information phone, 877-DEL-FOLK. This contains updated information and ways to contact various parts of our organization. All of this and more is also available on our web site, delfolk.org, with space kindly donated by Cooldog Technologies.

Over the past year, we have presented what I believe is the widest variety of music of any performing arts producer in Delaware. We’ve sponsored blues, bluegrass, Celtic, jazz, singer-songwriters, gospel, old-time, Americana, contemporary folk-rock, and just plain folk music. Over 50 different acts and well over 130 different performers graced the Friends of Folk stages during 2006. Over 30 of our own members were on one of the several Friends of Folk stages during 2006. We intend to maintain and hopefully expand those numbers in 2007.

This year we continued to sponsor music workshops. Spirit Wing provided the historical context for their Native American drum and dance workshop and David Mowry shared some of the secrets of the slide guitar at sessions during the Festival. And our annual Greg Shrader songwriters circle helps the audience connect a bit with the creative process. The good response to these sessions means we will continue to explore opportunities to bring this type of event to Delaware.

As noted, we partnered with Gypsy Haven Morgan Farm near Galena, MD, to present a mini-Festival in June, a benefit for the electric fund. Six different acts (Alex Humphries, Supertonics, Squawgum Possums, Nik Everett, Beaucoup Blue, and Dead Men’s Hollow) donated their time and talent and presented an afternoon of Friends of Folk music to an enthusiastic, though somewhat drenched, audience. We also hooked up with Fordham Brewery in Dover for a few events. They did a “tasting” at the Festival and sold their product. donating the proceeds to our electric fund. In return, Celtic Harvest, Tangled Roots, Larissa Moore, the Squawgum Possums, and SandCreek provided music for Fordham’s annual FordhamFest. We are exploring other opportunities with these and additional groups. Our members also appeared in many other events and venues as individual performers.

We continue to keep our feet in the main stream of folk music by being members of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance. This is an international group of folk organizations, performers, presenters, sponsors, and individuals who share common interests and goals in the broad areas of folk music and dance. We became official “small organization” members in January, 2003 and have continued our membership in this well-respected organization. By doing so, we have been able to gain IRS 501(c)(3) designation as a nonprofit organization. We have also established some modest levels of giving for those who are able to support us beyond their annual membership fee.

We welcomed three new members to our Board this year. Pauline Gonzalez-diehl has contributed in many ways to our workings, in particular as Festival co-chair. Along with her husband Rob, they managed many parts of the recent Festival. Jim McGiffin has been an active member since the beginning and was finally elected to our Board. That election experience no doubt prepared him for his later election to Dover City Council. Jim has taken over our marketing and publicity operation and made it his own. Walter Trifari stepped onto our Board after a mid-year resignation left a vacancy. Walter’s skill at brewing the best beer in Dover had much to do with his selection to the Board, but he is a great deal more than a brewer. Jan Crumpley has ably served as our Secretary for the past three years and is largely responsible for arranging the events of this evening-- the election, the munchies, and maybe even some of the music.

Tonight we will elect six folks to our Board of Directors and at least one of them will be new. We say goodbye and thanks to Pauline Gonzalez-diehl. She’s not leaving FoF, but new job obligations keep her from making a regular commitment. Pauline will be missed, particularly when it comes to managing the Festival. Last year, Jan Crumpley and Pauline bravely volunteered to serve as Festival co-chairs, and pulled it off pretty well. But we always need volunteers to take charge of various parts of what we do Being a Board member means different things to different members. But it’s always giving time and talent, stretching and being stretched, rewarding and being rewarded. But you can do all of that without being a Board member too.

Again my thanks to everyone connected with this organization. It’s been a real pleasure working with everybody and I look forward to a productive and successful 2007.

John Kidd
Board Chair

Epilogue: At the Membership meeting, 6 Board positions were open. Bob Hamel, Beth Fizell, John Kidd, Kelly Crumpley, and Walter Trifari were all re-elected to their board positions. In addition, Rob Fox was elected to fill the remainder of Pauline Gonzalez-Deihl's term, which expires in December 2007.

The Delaware Friends of Folk has crafted an innovative way to showcase local talent, leveraging both their monthly Coffeehouse series as well as the Annual Delmarva Folk Festival (now in its 16th year!). They’re calling it the Delmarva Folk Hero contest. Here’s how it works.

Candidates must perform in one of the two upcoming Delaware Friends of Folk’s Open Mic Coffeehouses, held in February 17, 2007 and July 21, 2007. At those coffeehouses, ballots will be distributed to the audience (performers are encouraged to bring friends!). The top performers from those 2 Open Mics will be Finalists and will be asked to perform on the Main Stage of the Delmarva Folk Festival on Friday evening, October 5, 2007.

At that Friday evening Festival performance, ballots will again be distributed to the audience (again, get those fans and friends to come out and vote for you!). The best performer will be dubbed the 2007 Delmarva Folk Hero, and will be awarded a prize package which will include $100 cash, a longer performance slot on the Main Stage on Saturday (the following day), recording studio time with West Street Studio in Dover, and a photo shoot with Steve Hicks, local photographer and photography teacher, to help provide cover art for that CD you’ve been wanting to put out for so long. More prizes may be added still!

• Candidates should present a genre similar to the ones typically presented by the Delaware Friends of Folk – Folk (traditional, new, or “singer songwriter”), Bluegrass, Blues, Celtic, Jazz, New Age, World, Old-Time, Roots, Story-telling.
• Candidates should be solo through 4 performers, with a strong preference toward fewer performers in any act, to simplify changeovers. No drum kits, please.
• Ballots will be distributed during the Open Mic Coffeehouses for the audience to vote for their favorite performer. No proxy, delayed, or internet voting will be allowed – you must be present to vote.
• The Board will review the ballots, and will use them to help make the final programming decision on the finalists, as well as the final winner.
• The Finalists will each get a performance slot on the Friday night of the Festival. Each slot is anticipated to be 25 minutes long, but this may change depending on the number of Finalists chosen.

So plan to get to the Delaware Friend of Folk Coffeehouse on February 17 or July 21, and bring your friends! You need to be there by 7pm to sign up for a performance slot. The Coffeehouses are held at Wesley Chapel, at Bradford & Division Streets in Dover Delaware. The cost is $3 for members and $5 for non-members.

A new benefit for membership in the Delaware Friends of Folk has now been launched. Starting now, Delaware Friends of Folk members are eligible to become a member in the Dover Federal Credit Union. This means you can get all the great benefits of a credit union - great interest rates, low fees, personal service - that are only available to member organizations!

For more details on the benefits of Dover Federal Credit Union, see http://www.doverfcu.com/. There are 3 branches in Dover, 2 in New Castle, and one coming to Smyrna next year.

Believe it or not, we're already planning for next year's Delmarva Folk Festival. There are many exciting ideas that were surfaced at our "Wrap-Up" meeting on November 1 - more on that at a later date. We can share with you the schedule for nominations for performers for the 2007 Festival, which is planned for the first weekend in October, as usual.

Prospective performers can apply by sending a demo / press kit / CD to the Friends of Folk post office box. We also have a form that we have posted on this page: http://www.delfolk.org/contactForm.html, which gives us a consistent way to capture contact information, genre information, and required fees from performers. If you are a fan of a performer that you'd like to see considered, I'd recommend you contact the performer or their agent and direct them to our web site, so that they can provide the required information.

As promised, here is the schedule:

January 15 - the absolute deadline for festival submissions. (Given that this is Martin Luther King Day, we'll make one final stop to the mailbox on the 16th).

March 15 - we should have the selection process complete and performers notified by this date.

If you have other ideas for the festival, I suggest you show up at the first Festival meeting, which will be held on the first Wednesday of February 2007. If you'd like to volunteer to chair the Festival committee, then please contact one of the board members.