Hot Times at Old Town

Appearing below are selections from the hard copy Hot Times. The objective is to highlight activities at the School and in the larger community, especially those featuring or of special interest to teachers and staff. Your suggestions are welcome. Enter a comment (under any item); it will come to me rather than automatically appearing.

U. of C. Folk Festival, be sorry you missed it!

The University of Chicago is home to Chicago’s unique folk festival, which just completed its 49th year. This celebrated weekend festival came from the same folk-conscious era that produced the Old Town School, and is similarly one-of-a-kind. If you missed it this year, put the Festival on your calendar for 2010 — it’s always at the end of January or the first week of February.

The University of Chicago Folk Festival began in 1960, initiated by UC students. While the first festival featured Joan Baez, she was an anomaly: from that year onward, the UCFF tradition has been to highlight lesser known performers. In the immediately following years, that often meant finding remarkable unknown traditional musicians, usually from the South, who had never performed on a stage; alternatively, they would find once famous but now long-forgotten vaudville or recording artists. Such discoveries are less common now, but the Festival continues to emphasize cultural and ethnic variety and to seek out lesser known, excellent musicians. If you haven’t been to the UC Folk Festival, consider putting it on your calendar.

Th3 2009 program included Brian Conway and Brendan Dolan (Irish), Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers (Bluegrass), The Rhythm Rats (Old-time Strings), Lisa Ornstein and André Marchand (Quebecois), Paul Daigle and Sons (Cajun), Sheila Kay Adams and Amanda Southerland (Appalachian Ballads), Elmore James, Jr. (Blues) and Mary Lane (Blues).

In addition to the evening concerts, the Festival offers free workshops, dances, jamming opportunities, and performances by local favourites, all day on Saturday and Sunday.

Among the family-friendly activities in 2009 were a jug band workshop by Strictly Jug Nuts, one of the School’s jug bands, and a harmony singing workshop by Barb Silverman. These and other workshops are held at Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th Street.

For information on the festival, see www.uofcfolk.org. Tickets usually go on sale in January. Weekend packages in 2009 ranged from $45 to $55, with individual concerts $20-$25.

Filed under: Interesting outside the Old Town School by Skip | January 25, 2009 | Comments (0)


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