THE 12TH EVER LOS ANGELES OLD-TIME SOCIAL: CONCERTS, WORKSHOPS AND DANCE!

The Los Angeles Old-Time Social is weeks away!! Musicians from all around North America arrive to jam, dance, learn and perform for this three-day event!  This year we have musicians from all over California, Tennessee and Pennsylvania performing and teaching world class traditional music. The Social will be held May 18-20th! 

For more info and pictures go to www.losangelesoldtimesocial.com

Thursday Night (May 18th) is the Kick-Off Concert/Party at the Tropico De Nopal Gallery. The Thursday kick-off tradition typically showcases local old-time musicians, including Bees Knees (Los Angeles), Bearcat Duo (Oakland) and The Americans (Los Angeles)! (This evening is 21+)

Friday Night (May 19th) is the formal concert at the Velaslavasay Panorama Theater featuring these incredible and diverse old-time acts: Buck Ewe (Rafe Stefanini and Eric, Suzy & Allegra Thompson),  Skillet Licorice (San Francisco), Bob Willoughby (Tennessee), Paul Rangell & Emily Abbink (Santa Cruz) and our first ever cranky performance by Angelina Elise w/ Kelly Mariee Martin. (All Ages)

On Saturday (May 20th) at the American Legion Hall is a full day of workshops including old-time fiddle, Cajun fiddle, flatfooting, Cajun dancing, sacred harp singing, Cajun guitar, old-time banjo, square dance calling, harmony singing and mandolin! You can attend as many workshops as you want for only $20. The workshops are immediately followed by the greatest Cakewalk in Los Angeles and an epic square dance featuring the concert musicians and dance callers Susan Michaels & Robin Fischer! (All Ages and very family-friendly!)

You can pre-register for workshops by contacting David Bragger HERE

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:

:: UPSTAIRS ::

12:00-2:00 Sacred Harp Shape-Note Singing

The Sacred Harp Beginners Club began one day in LA in the comforts of someone’s home or on the tip-top of a glorious hill. They met week after week with creative hiatuses now and then only to continue as beginners three years later. A group of trained perfectionists and genuine newbs, they still review the songs section by section, singing through all versus in order to achieve the greatest satisfaction.

The workshop will be led by Brandon Armstrong, David Elsenbroich, Andrea Tzvetkov, and more Beginners Club regulars.

2:00-4:00 Square Dance Calling—Susan Michaels

Learn how to call squares for your friends and family.  Beginners welcome.  Or just show up and get your dancing shoes on.

SUSAN MICHAELS is a teacher and a caller of traditional American dancing, especially contra dancing and square dancing. She has called and taught dances at local evenings, weekend workshops, week-long elementary school programs, week-long family camps and dance weekends throughout the U.S. and Canada.

4:00-5:00  Cajun Dancing with Ira Bernstein

Since his first trip to Eunice and Mamou in 1981, he has made numerous return visits to southwest Louisiana to dance in the local Cajun and Creole dance halls and music bars.  He learned by watching the best dancers and then asking them to dance.  He presents “old school” Cajun two steps and waltzes, and has led workshops at numerous festivals and camps across to country.

IRA BERNSTEIN is an accomplished Cajun dance instructor.  Since his first trip to Eunice and Mamou in 1981, he has made numerous return visits to southwest Louisiana to dance in the local Cajun and Creole dance halls and music bars.  He learned by watching the best dancers and then asking them to dance.  He presents “old school” Cajun two steps and waltzes, and has led workshops at numerous festivals and camps across to country.

5:00-6:00  Flatfooting with IRA BERNSTEIN and Ruth Alpert

IRA will teach an open level Flatfooting workshop.  He will teach a few basic steps, including the Walking Step (also called the Buck Step), with an emphasis on style, nuance, and musicality.  He will also field requests from the more experienced dancers.

For nearly four decades IRA BERNSTEIN toured internationally, performing traditional southern Appalachian flatfooting and other forms of percussive step dancing in concerts and at festivals.  The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, Lincoln Center in New York City, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. are a few of the noteworthy venues at which he appeared.  He has been a member of the highly influential and esteemed companies The Fiddle Puppets of Annapolis, MD and the American Tap Dance Orchestra of New York City, and has shared the stage with many of the world’s greatest tap and step dancers, including, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Honi Coles, Sandman Sims, and Brenda Bufalino.  Credited to be a founding father of the current percussive step dance scene, Mr. Bernstein no longer performs due to health issues, but he continues to teach and be an inspiration and resource to percussive dancers around the world.

RUTH ALPERT has been flatfooting for 34 years.  She has taught workshops, danced with old-time Appalachian string bands, busked (street performed) in various cities in at least 6 states, and is a two time National Champion in Senior Buck Dancing, 2013 and 2014.  Currently, Ruth is the percussion section of The Honeysuckle Possums, an all-female string band playing original and traditional music.

:: DOWNSTAIRS ::

12:00-1:00 Italian & New Mexican Music with Paul Rangell

& Emily Abbink

This will be a workshop to play music, not to watch. All instruments welcome.  Paul will go through tunes phrase by phrase for melody makers on fiddle or mandolin, while Emily will play the chords on guitar. We provide our own style of chord charts for everyone. We’ll teach a march, a shotis, and mazurka – time permitting – and get everyone on board the train.

PAUL RANGELL and EMILY ABBINK play traditional music from the old country and the new world. They specialize in tunes from Italy, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Carribean that feature angular and distinctive rhythms like tangos, mazurkas, shotis, boleros, tarantellas, pasodobles and marches. They are founding members of Bayou Seco (New Mexico) and performed for seven years with El Teatro Campesino (San Juan Bautista, CA) in theatrical productions. At home in Santa Cruz, California, they collaborate with several notorious musicians in maintaining three weekly public gigs where people are eating and drinking. Together they have forged a large repertoire and recorded two CDs Tuesday Nights (2012) and Noche Azul (2014). In 2015, they enjoyed a seven-week music residency in Venice, Italy allowing contact with traditional musicians in the mountains of Northern Italy.

1:00-2:00 Cajun Guitar with Eric Thompson

Eric will get you started on the two main styles of Cajun rhythm guitar:  Rodney Balfa style and dance hall (like how Ann Savoy plays) style.  Bring your guitar and a flatpick!

ERIC THOMPSON took up the guitar as a teenager in Palo Alto, California in the early 1960’s, at a time when very few folk guitarists were playing more than basic rhythm guitar. Among his earliest bands were the Black Mountain Boys (with Jerry Garcia and David Nelson) and Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. He quickly became nationally known as an exceptional lead flatpicker, winning the World Championship Cup at Union Grove, North Carolina with the New York Ramblers (which also included David Grisman and Winnie Winston) and flying to Nashville, Tennessee to record “Beatle Country” with the Charles River Valley Boys (reissued on Rounder). During the 1970’s, Eric continued to play old-time music and can be heard with the Spare Change Boys on the Folkways CD, “Classic Oldtime Music”. He also took up the tenor banjo, organized the Graineog Celidh Band around two master musicians from County Clare, Joe Cooley and Kevin Keegan, and spent six months in the west of Ireland, visiting and learning from older traditional musicians there.

Eric’s first solo LP, “Bluegrass Guitar”, featured an all-star band including David Grisman and Tony Rice, and was released in 1979 on Kicking Mule. In the 1980’s Eric toured extensively nationwide and abroad with the Blue Flame Stringband (with Kate Brislin, Alan Senauke, and Suzy Thompson) and the Backwoods Band, recording with both bands. Between tours, he traveled to southwest Louisiana, pursuing his newest musical interest, Cajun music. In 1983 he formed the California Cajun Orchestra and can be heard on their two award-winning Arhoolie CDs. More recently he has recorded with the Todalo Shakers and  the Bluegrass Intentions. Eric also appears as a sideman on recordings by Mike Seeger, Alice Gerrard, the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, Mac Benford, Jody Stecher, Jane Voss, and Frankie Armstrong, among others. Eric is a knowledgeable and patient teacher, who has been a staff member at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Bluff Country Gathering, Augusta Heritage Old-Time and Cajun-Creole Weeks, Port Townsend Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp, and Lark In the Morning. His guitar instructional materials are distributed by Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop.

2:00-3:00 Cajun Fiddle with Suzy Thompson

Suzy will teach a Cajun fiddle piece, including the seconding.  Fiddles tuned regular.  Focus will be on getting the groove and feel of the music.  Beginners welcome; seconding is a great way to get at the heart of Cajun fiddle music and doesn’t have to involve a lot of left hand motion (although some styles of seconding can be very technically demanding).

SUZY THOMPSON is one of the rare musicians today who has mastered the acoustic blues violin, following in the footsteps of Lonnie Chatmon, Clifford Hayes and Eddie Anthony. A powerful blues singer in the styles of Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith, and a highly respected blues fingerpicking guitarist, Suzy is unique in her ability to combine fiddle, vocals and guitar in the blues and ragtime idioms. In 1976, Suzy’s interest in Cajun music was sparked by seeing the Balfa Brothers perform. She traveled to southwest Louisiana, receiving an NEA Fellowship in 1980 to apprentice with Master Cajun Musician, Dewey Balfa; she also studied with Cajun fiddle legends Dennis McGee, Cheese Read and Wade Fruge. The 1980s saw Suzy touring and recording with the Blue Flame Stringband and the Backwoods Band, appearing on the Prairie Home Companion radio show, and touring throughout the U.S. and in Europe. In 1983, Suzy formed the California Cajun Orchestra, featuring Louisiana-born accordionist Danny Poullard. The CCO’s debut album, on Arhoolie, was awarded the prestigious Prix Dehors De Nous by the Louisiana French Music Association; their follow-up CD won a NAIRD Indie for “Best Cajun-Zydeco Album of the Year.” Suzy has performed with many of Louisiana’s finest Cajun musicians, including Joel Savoy and Jesse Lege, Edward Poullard, D.L. Menard, Beausoleil, Michael Doucet, Dewey Balfa, and Marc and Ann Savoy. She appears in Les Blank’s film on Cajun and Zydeco music, J’ai Ete Au Bal. She has been an instructor at many festivals and music camps, including Centrum’s Country Blues Week, Menucha’s Blues in the Gorge, Grand Targhee Music Camp, Augusta Heritage Cajun-Creole and Old Time Weeks, Californa Bluegrass Association Music Camp, Port Townsend Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Walker Creek Music Camp, California Coast Music Camp, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, and Lark In the Morning.

3:00-4:00 Old-Time Fiddle & Bowing of African-American Fiddler Will Adam with David Bragger

This workshop is for all levels! The objective is to get the fiddler playing an incredible tune or two with a focus on rhythm, variations and bow patterns. David will be drawing from a mesmerizing collection of tunes that come from the mysterious African American fiddler Will Adam. He was recorded by Mike Seeger in the 1950s and very little is known about this wonderful player and his hypnotic tunes.

As always, David’s workshops emphasize the key ingredient to old-time fiddle: Bowing!! All workshop attendees will receive audio files of the tunes with phrase by phrase instruction. Please email [email protected] for registration and questions.

DAVID BRAGGER is in high demand as a fiddle teacher at festivals and has private students around the world.He is known for his ability to break down tunes and bowing with ease and clarity.  David is also the director of the UCLA Old-Time Ensemble and artistic director of the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention.  David Bragger plays banjo, fiddle and mandolin in the old-time stringband Sausage Grinder and in several local dance bands. David teaches old-time fiddle and banjo to students of all ages and levels. He is also the founder of the Old Time Tiki Parlour (oldtimetikiparlour.com) which produces concerts, workshops, CDs and films by the best old-time musicians alive, including Bruce Molsky, Rafe & Clelia Stefanini, Kirk Sutphin, Dan Gellert, Paul Brown, Spencer & Rains, Eric & Suzy Thompson, Mike Compton, Joe Newberry, Scott Prouty, etc. 

4:00-5:00 Old-Time Fiddle with Bob Willoughby

Bob will be teaching melody and bowing variations using simple melodies.

BOB WILLOUGHBY  is truly a multi-genre musician, comfortable in a tuxedo or overalls, with a repertoire that includes Old-Time, bluegrass, gospel, blues, early country, jazz, swing and cajun. While he is perhaps happiest playing acoustically for late-night dancers in a dimly lit hall, Bob’s versatility shone through while touring with a gospel quartet, playing and singing harmony in a bluegrass band, and rockin’ jazz standards on a grand piano at a 5-star resort hotel music listening room.

5:00-6:00   Old-Time Banjo with Rafe Stefanini

In this class Rafe will teach 1 or 2 simple clawhammer tunes form the SW Virginia, North Carolina regions, with emphasis on the double thumbing typical of the Round Peak area.  All learning will be by ear so a recording device is highly recommended!

RAFE STEFANINI is an old-time banjo player, fiddler, guitarist, singer, teacher, violin maker, and restorer. He was born in Italy and grew up in Bologna. He first visited the United States in the late 1970s and came to live in the U.S. in 1983. He is a permanent resident of the U.S. and lives in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In addition to playing music, he is also trained in violin making and restores violins. He has performed with the Wildcats (along with Carol Elizabeth Jones and Stefan Senders. Along with Dirk Powell and Bruce Molsky he has performed with a trio called the L-7s. He has also performed with Molsky and guitarist Beverly Smith in a group called Big Hoedown, a group that disbanded in 2000. Along with Meredith McIntosh, John Hermann, and Bev Smith, he has performed in the Rockinghams. He has also recorded with Bob Herring. He performs with his wife Nikki and daughter Clelia (who plays fiddle, guitar, double bass, and ukulele) as “Nine Pound Hammer.” Stefanini has performed on A Prairie Home Companion and at the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in Finland, Germany, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Bruce Molsky is returning to the Old-Time Tiki Parlour with his new powerhouse stringband:  Molsky’s Mountain Drifters! Last time Bruce came to town, we celebrated the release of his DVD & CD Set “Can’t Stay Here This a-Way” filmed and recorded at the Parlour. Now we’re proud to present his new trio for their debut concert in Los Angeles!

WHERE? Timewarp Records–12204 Venice Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90066

WHEN? June 17, 2017 8:00 PM

HOW MUCH? $20

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

REMINDER: All Tiki Parlour concerts sell out, so get your tickets while they’re still available!

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Grammy nominated and Visiting Scholar at Berklee College of Music, Bruce Molsky, one of Americas premier fiddling talents (Mother Jones) presents his new group and self-titled debut album Molskys Mountain Drifters featuring two of the best next gen trad players, Allison de Groot (The Goodbye Girls) and Stash Wyslouch (Deadly Gentlemen). Bruces previous collaborations include recordings with Anonymous 4, Mark Knopfler on Tracker, Andy Irvine & Donal Lunnys supergroup Mozaik, BBC TV Transatlantic Sessions with Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, and David Holts State of Music airing nationally.

Allison de Groot is known for her great clawhammer banjo technique, exquisite tone, timing, and taste. She has deep roots in the old time tradition and yet she’s fearless when it comes to breaking new ground.

Stash Wyslouch is one of bluegrasss great young genre-bending pioneers.  Coming over from the punk-metal world, Stash brings great sensitivity and real emotion to the trio, plus superb guitar and vocal chops.

These striking musicians have come together for a new sound within the traditional music genre through their audacious approach. I was looking for a new voice, says Molsky, a new avenue of expression using old time mountain music as the jumping-off point, but not being constrained by hard core traditionalism. Allison and Stash are showing me the way, just where the music is headed, in directions I never would have imagined when I started my own journey into the mountains a long time ago.

— Tradition steeped in possibility

This record captures all the intricate, meditative, overwhelming joy that I love so much in old time music.” -THE MILK CARTON KIDS-Joey Ryan

“Bruce has always been a major player and influence on all around him. I am happy to say this recording will give him that same stamp of approval from all who hear it.- JERRY DOUGLAS

“Bruce Molsky has long been one of my musical heroes, and it is such a joy to hear him in this configuration with the Molsky Mountain Drifters, featuring two of my good friends — Stash Wyslouch and Allison de Groot — accompanying him seamlessly on guitar and banjo. Together, they are a force to be reckoned with and are creating some of the most soul-stirring music out there today. It’s hard to believe they are a new trio since the sounds they create together instantly feel so at home. The effortlessness and ease with which Bruce plays and sings has always been something I’ve deeply admired, and that is only highlighted alongside Stash and Allison. It is a rarity to hear music that lacks ego and puts soulfulness and a respect for tradition at the forefront. Bruce is simply one of the greatest musicians there is, period.” — Sarah Jarosz

David Bragger will be teaching the Old-Time String Band class at the Walker Creek Music Camp on April 7-10. He will also be teaching two additional old-time fiddle classes including his Will Adam: African American Fiddler class.

This class is designed for musicians who are interested in having a foot-stomping, great old time while learning to play tunes/songs from the great canon of old-time music. We’ll focus on some classic square dance tunes as well as some obscure bluesy pieces. We’ll also focus on the pulse and downbeat that makes this music so danceable and mesmerizing. Fiddles, banjos, guitars, mandolins, basses, singers all welcome, also those fringe instruments such as ukuleles and autoharps.

Prerequisites: Students should have basic knowledge of their instrument, the ability to tune their instrument, a handful of common chords (guitar, mandolin) and know how to play some classic old-time tunes.

Bring: a recording device and a list of tunes that you know.

David Bragger is a performer and teacher of old-time music on a variety of early American stringed instruments. He is a world-renowned fiddle instructor who teaches workshops and private lessons around the globe. David is the director of the prestigious Old-Time String Band Ensemble in the UCLA Ethnomusicology Department. He is also the artistic director of the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention and a producer/workshop coordinator for the Los Angeles Old-Time Social. David is also the founder of the Old-Time Tiki Parlour where he documents the greatest living musicians of traditional American music for the premier old-time label Tiki Parlour Recordings. We are pleased to welcome David to our staff for the first time.

The Old-Time Tiki Parlour is proud to present Spencer & Rains with their six-piece stringband The Skeleton Keys! Fiddles, banjo, guitars, bass, accordion, ukelele and a pair of golden throats perform the arcane tunes of Texas and Kansas. This will be a rare oppurtunity to see them with The Skeleton Keys!
In order to keep this event as intimate as possible, seating is limited.

Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains are two of the greatest emerging artists in the traditional music scene!

The band came about when Tricia and Howard recorded The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol II. They gathered together a group of dear musical friends: Charlie and Nancy Hartness of Athens, GA on ukulele and guitar, respectively, Brendan Doyle of Oakland, CA on banjo, and Virginia Musser, of Lawrence, KS, on bass. When the band started performing, Emily Mann of San Francisco, CA took over the bass duties.

The Skeleton Keys specialize in early Texas fiddle tunes as well as old tunes from the Midwest and the Spencer Family in particular. Centered around Spencer & Rains twin fiddling, Doyles pitch-perfect fiddle-like banjo style, and the Hartnesss and Manns air-glide rhythm, the Keys create their own unique sound but stay true to the roots of the music.

The Tiki Parlour is proud to present an evening with this smoking, barn bustin’ old-time superforce that redefined modern old-time string band music!

The Foghorn Stringband is the present day shining gold standard for American string band music, with eight albums, thousands of shows, over a decade of touring under their belts, and an entirely new generation of old-time musicians following their lead. They’ve been steadily proving that American roots music is a never-ending well of inspiration.

The music of The Foghorn Stringband revolves around four master musicians: Portland, Oregon-based Caleb Klauder (vocals, mandolin, fiddle) and Reeb Willms (vocals, guitar), and Yukon-based Nadine Landry (vocals, upright bass) and Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind (vocals, fiddle, banjo). Each member of The Foghorn Stringband comes not only from a different part of the American roots music spectrum, but leads the pack in their field as well. Caleb Klauder’s wistful, keening vocals and rapid-fire mandolin picking are as influenced by Southern roots music as much as by his upbringing in Washington State. Also from Washington, Reeb Willms grew up in the state’s Eastern farmlands singing hard-bitten honky-tonk with her family. Nadine Landry’s roots lie in the rural backroads of Acadian Québec, but she cut her teeth as one of the best bluegrass bassists in Western Canada. Minnesotan Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind, simply put, is one of the best old-time fiddlers of his generation and has a voice that sounds like it’s coming from an old 78.

Onstage, The Foghorn Stringband gather around one microphone, balancing their music on the fly, and playing with an intense, fiery abandon.

To Foghorn, this music is as relevant today as it was a century ago. They see themselves not as revivalists, but as curators and ardent fans, and their music is a celebration of these roots. From their origins in Portland Oregon’s underground roots music scene in the late 90s and early 00s, when members of today’s hot bands like The Decemberists and Blind Pilot were gathering to explore the roots of American folk music, The Foghorn Stringband have spread the old-time string band gospel all over the world. Along the way, they’ve brought in influences and inspirations from their many travels and late-night jam sessions. Old-time square dance tunes now rub shoulders with Cajun waltzes, vintage honky-tonk songs, and pre-bluegrass picking. This is the kind of bubbling musical brew which first intoxicated the American mainstream in the day.

Joe Fontenot’s official CD Release Party is finally here! After months of conflicting schedules and a few unforeseen health issues, Mr. Joe is finally celebrating his debut release L’Echo a Travers Le Clos (Echo Across the Field) with a big Cajun dance!

On Sunday, October 23rd at 4:30 at the Golden Sails Hotel in Long Beach, California, were gonna have a big ‘ol party!

Location: 6285 Pacific Coast Hwy  Long Beach, CA 90803

Tiki Parlour’s David Bragger has just been named the new Artistic Director of the 45th Annual Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention & Festival.

There’ll be Bands, an exciting Contest, Instrument & Flatfooting Workshops, an old-time Raffle, an Instrument Petting Zoo, Craft Beer & Wine and tons of Jamming! Ticket Sales and Contest Registration are now online!

When? It’s Sunday, October 9th from 10-5. More info HERE!

Tickets are now available HERE!

You can pre-register for the contest directly HERE!

Who? Meredith Axelrod, Thompsonia (Eric, Suzy and Allegra Thompson), Sausage Grinder, Peter Feldmann, Echo Mountain, The Darling Brothers and The Salt Martians. More info on the performers HERE!

Jams & Workshops- There will be workshops in old-time fiddle, banjo, mandolin and flatfooting! There’ll also be hosted old-time jams! More info HERE!

Contest-There’ll be an old-time music contest with categories in Fiddle, Banjo, Singing, Band, Mandolin, Guitar, Other Folk Instrument and Best Back-Up. More general contest info HERE!

Howdy Folks! The 11 Ever Los Angeles Old-Time Social is upon us on May 12-14th! As Workshop Coordinator for Saturday the 14th I’m ecstatic to post this year’s workshops! You can click on the poster to go to the official LAOTS website!

But don’t forget to attend the Thursday Night Kick-Off Party at El Cid in Hollywood and the Friday Night Concert at the Velasavaslay Theater in Los Angeles! The Tiki Parlour houseband Sausage Grinder will be providing entertainment Friday night too!!

in Los Angeles on March 12th at 8:00–SOLD OUT!

The Old-Time Tiki Parlour presents Compton & Newberry with Los Angeles’ premier old-time jug band Sausage Grinder.

Live in Los Angeles on Friday, March 12th at 8:00PM

The event will be held at Timewarp Records
12204 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90066

Tickets are only $20 for this rare and exciting concert. 
You can order tickets safely and directly HERE
or you can send me a check. Contact David Bragger if you have questions.

Please RSVP as soon as possible!

WORKSHOPS!

Joe Newberry will be teaching a BANJO workshop
on Friday, March 11th at 7:00 at The Old-Time Tiki Parlour.

Mike Compton will be teaching a MANDOLIN workshop
on Saturday, March 12th at 5:00 before the concert at Timewarp Records.

Workshop seats are very limited, so contact David Bragger ASAP to reserve your seat.