Helen Creighton Folklore Society

WTF! on Febraury 26 - CANCELLED!

2012-01-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry Folks. WTF has been cancelled for February 26 because Just Us Cafe is closed on Fridays in January.
WTF Resumes on Friday February 10th with a blast celebrating 2 years of WTF!

WTF! What the Folk!
The Helen Creighton Folklore Society will be celebrating its 2nd WTF! Anniversary:

Friday, February 10th, 7-8;30 pm
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road
Featured Host: musician, author & folklorist, Clary Croft.

Open Mic format. Expect a good time via singing, storytelling and allegedly fabulous door prizes! Bring a song or story from the Helen Creighton Collection to be eligible for the night's bonus prize.

WTF! meets every second and fourth Friday of the month at Just Us Café.

Finger Lickin' Good: Stories from the Sack, Part 2

2012-01-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

I just heard about this group who meet to tell stories in Halifax.They meet about every months.The next meeting is in February.
Check it out,
Cindy

From Blowhard on Facebook:

Thanks everyone who came out to last night's Lost and Found - a great night! Blowhard's next theme will be part of the Sex Festival on Monday Feb 27th - Finger Lickin' Good: Stories from the Sack, Part 2. We are looking for your sexy stories including any leads for a sex neurologist, a gigolo and an abstainer - email blowhardpresents@gmail.com!

A bit o' background:
Why do we tell stories? “Because it’s how we understand the world. It’s how we learn. It’s how we form memories” says Stephanie Domet. Domet is one of the four storytellers who have brought Blow Hard to Halifax. Blow Hard is a public storytelling session that happens about once every three months.

For the cost of five dollars, there is food and plenty of entertainment.

Founded by: Stephanie Domet, Andrea Dorfman, Tara Doyle and Jackie Torrens, they wanted the public to experience the gift of a told story. The evening also serves to give storytellers, both amateur and professional,a chance to ply their craft.

Storytelling is how people pass on their knowledge and wisdom. It is the craft which formed our creation myths. Though ancient, the experience of a told story is mesmerizing. Even though society revels in 3D movies on the IMAX screen, the experience of one person relaying a story to a handful of other people is as captivating as the newest media form. Andrea Dorfman, another of Blow Hards organizers, shares that storytelling “made me connect to different people in a different way. It’s profound.” From these recognitions, Blow Hard was born.

On a cold December morning, three of the four Blow Hard organizers met with me at the Smiling Goat cafe on South Park St. in Halifax. Getting three storytellers around one table meant a symphony of sounds - there was no need to ask questions. The three women recounted there experiences and there thoughts.

The women shared how anything goes at Blow Hard. But there are two rules that storytellers should adhere to.The first rule is that the told story must be true and the second rule is that no written notes are allowed. However, if a storyteller chooses not to heed the advice of the organizers, the only repercussion is that the audience’s experience is diminished. With paper “you’re not telling a story anymore, you’re reading it. There’s almost a glass wall [between you and the audience]” explains Tara Doyle.

A Blow Hard evening consists of four prepared stories, each told by a different presenter. These are four members of the community who have prepared a tale to last about ten minutes. Each storyteller is introduced by a member of the organizing team who may take the opportunity to recount a story themselves. As a half-time show, Blow Hard opens the microphone to the audience so that anyone itching to tell a story has a forum to do so.

Blow Hard advertises by word of mouth (appropriately) and through their website. Organizers are involved because they love the craft - not for any monetary return.

The Blow Hard session held on Monday, November 2nd focused on the topic of Sibling Rivalry.

Veronica Simmons was the first presenter. That evening, Simmons detailed how her perception of her sister influenced who she became and how she later had to work to overcome the internal stereotyping that she had done.

“I try to pick a couple of people in the audience to connect with and gage their reactions to what I am saying,” said Simmons. It is this connection formed between the audience and the storyteller which helps make the evening so magically intimate.

Organizer Stephanie Domet notes that it’s this intimacy which Blow Hard tries to capture. Each evening’s performance is different and each session is different. But it is always extraordinary.

Blow Hard has had about 20 sessions over the course of four years. The 80 people in attendence in November was probably the biggest crowd the event ever attracted. Held at Fred’s on Agricola street in Halifax, Domet says if the evening attracts an even bigger audience they will have to start turning people away. “The space right now is perfect. We wouldn’t want to move anywhere.”
~ Jen Powley

Cancellations For January!

2012-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks, the following events are cancelled:

Thursday, January 12th: due to bad weather

Storytellers Circle of Halifax gathering at Just Us Cafe,Spring Garden Road, 7-8:30pm

Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions: Brook Miller featured, Cole Harbour Farm Museum, Cole Harbour, 7-9pm

Friday, January 13the AND Friday, January 27th
What the Folk! at Just Us Cafe on Spring Garden Road, 7-9pm.

Just Us Cafe will be closed at 7pm on Friday evenings in January.

WTF will resume on Friday, February 10th with a special surprise theme: TBA.

Check back here for more info after February 1st.

In the meantime....keep singin' and tellin'!

Yours in story and in song,
Cindy

What the Folk this Week!

2012-01-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

Hope to see you at What the Folk this week when we will be celebrating 'New Things, New Stuff, Stories, Songs...whatever new!"

Hope to see you there!
Just Us Cafe
Sprig Garden Road
6:30 pm grabba cuppa
7pm the fun starts.

Cost: Free will donation

Cheers!
Cindy and Margo

Southshore Tellers in Mahone Bay!

2012-01-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

The Southshore Tellers will be telling winter stories at the Biscuit Eater
in Mahone Bay on January 19th at 6:30 p.m.

Come join us for a cup of coffee,a sweet and good stories on a winter's
night.
An even sweeter deal: tonight the stories are free for listening!

For more information, contact, Clara Dugas at 1-902-527-2241.

Brooke Miller at the Rose and Kettle!

2012-01-09T12:00:00.001-08:00

This Thursday January 12 edition of the Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions will feature the incredible Brooke Miller, one of Canada's brightest stars in the constellation of Canadian singer/songwriters. This is a return engagement for this skilled guitarist and creator of top-shelf contemporary folk oriented music. Her appearance last year at the Rose and Kettle is still being talked about. She has a brand new self-titled CD in release internationally on Itunes, CD and vinyl, with another one on the way soon. Don't miss this chance to see her in the unique surroundings of the Rose and Kettle.

Coming up for the month we have Sandy Greenberg on January 19 and Al Macdonald with Richard Fortier on January 29th.

Find us at the Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Farm on Poplar Drive, just off Otago Drive in Cole Harbour across from the Cole Harbour Shopping Centre.

Watch our blogsite for updates on the rest of the line-up, a few youtube videos of our performances, and a few highlights from past shows. Just google "Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions" or go to: www.roseandkettleconcertsessions.blogspot.com

The Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions are a weekly series of musical presentations produced by volunteers in collaboration with the Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Society and the Harbour Folk Society. All proceeds from the sale of refreshments go to support the Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum and all free-will admission donations support the musical performance.

What The Folk! Something New!

2012-01-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! Something New!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, January 13th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Theme this week is Something New! Whatever that means to you!

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T09:12:00.001-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from
What The Folk!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all thru Just Us!
Not a singer was singing nor making a fuss.
The coffee pots hung by their handlers with care
In hopes that the singers soon wouldn’t be there.

The Chai tea and Nestle were snug in their drawers
While creatures with sugar crumbs danced on the floors.
Big Mama in her headband and I in my toque
Had just settled down from a night of abuse.

When out side the door there arose such a clatter
The creatures all scurried to the cookie dough batter.
Away to the window we flew without poise
Tore open the shutters and threw up. The noise

Of the crooners arrested our ears
And the lack-lustre music gave rise to our fears
When what to our mortified eyes did we see
But guitars out of tune and eight tinny folkies.

With a little old guy’s verses so out of sync
We knew in an instant we needed a drink.
More rapid-fire E chords this chorister played
And he whistled and shouted and called more by name.

“On D-chord… some dancing and prancing you vixens…
On C-chord… Hey stupid! It’s dawning you’re ditz’n.
To the top of the chorus… to the top of the call
Now bash away… smash away… clash away all.”

The dry heaves were worse than Wild Hurricane wine,
So we ran to the bathroom ‘cause we knew the signs.
While out on the sidewalk the choristers ceased.
”Thank the Good Lord for that! At last… we’ll have peace!”

And then, as we tinkled, we heard on the stairs
A God-awful wailing that gave us both scares!
As we stuck out our heads and were looking around,
Down the staircase the whole of them came. Oh the sounds!

They were dressed… well some were… from their heads to their feet
In 60s clothes tarnished with Patchouli and Deet!
A rumble of noise overwhelmed front to back,
As these tone-challenged meddlers broke in for a snack.

Their eyes how they wrinkled! Their pimples how scary!
Their cheeks were like Moses! Their noses were hairy!
They drooled! Little mouths were drawn on with lipstick
And the beards on the women made both of us sick.

They stumbled upright. One held tight to his teeth.
And the bloke in the circle was dead we believed.
He had a broad’s face but his clothes were all wrong
And they shook him and laughed when he didn’t respond.

They were chummy that bunch and hungry as well
And we hid in the bathroom to help save ourselves.
The twinkies, the pie and fists full of bread
Soon gave us to know there’d be nothing left.

They spoke with their mouths full and sang that way too
Come to think of it… they sounded better. Who knew?
And Ladyfingers aside… saved the best for the end,
Cinnamon buns to take home for their friends!

They sprang to their feet! Well they tried but they couldn’t…
They were too stuffed with carbs that they’d eaten but shouldn’t.
But I heard them exclaim, ‘ere they passed out that night,
"Happy Christmas to all, we done it up right!" 

With apologies to
Clement Clarke Moore (1779 -1863)

Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions

2012-01-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

To all of our wonderful Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions family, welcome to 2012!

A reminder that this Thursday. January 5 we start an hour earlier at 6 p.m. with our annual pot luck feast followed by our first Play-Around-Sing-Around of the New Year. Bring along a dish you would like to share, as well as your instrument, a tune, your voice or just your ears for a wonderful evening of sharing some good food and good times.

As a special feature we are also having an ugly sweater contest. Admit it. We all have one somewheer, so dig it out and you just might win an alledgedly fabulous prize!

Stay tuned for next week too when we welcome back for a return engagement Brooke Miller. Brook has a brand new CD and she has been touring the country and beyond and getting rave reviews.

So, join us this Thursday at 6 at the Rose and Kettle.

Find us at the Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Farm on Poplar Drive, just off Otago Drive in Cole Harbour across from the Cole Harbour Shopping Centre.

Watch our blogsite for updates on the rest of the line-up, a few youtube videos of our performances, and a few highlights from past shows. Just google "Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions" or go to: www.roseandkettleconcertsessions.blogspot.com

The Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions are a weekly series of musical presentations produced by volunteers in collaboration with the Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Society and the Harbour Folk Society. All proceeds from the sale of refreshments go to support the Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum and all free-will admission donations support the musical performance.

M

Tales For A Winter Night

2012-01-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

TALES FOR A WINTER NIGHT:
Our all-time favourites !

by the

Storytellers Circle of Halifax

Thursday, January 12, 2012 7-8:30 pm

Just Us! Cafe
5896 Spring Garden Road, corner of Carleton
www.justuscoffee.com

Over the years, our winter storytellings have
brought forth stirring tales from many traditions:
stories of the dark and cold, the return of the light;
stories of fortitude and survival in harsh conditions;
stories to warm cold hearts.

Perhaps you have a story to share,
or come just to listen and wonder.

Always open to the public. Resolve to
exercise your imagination in 2012!

Anytime after 6:30; stories start at 7:00.

Contact: Linda Winham
lwinham88@hotmail.com
storytellingnovascotia.blogspot.com

WTF: What The Folk! EXPLODES in SPOKEN WORD & SONG !!

2011-12-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! EXPLODES in SPOKEN WORD & SONG !!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, December 9th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION !!

On December 6, 1917…
the face of north end Halifax changed forever when the French munitions ship SS Mont-Blanc collided with the Belgian relief ship SS Imo in the Narrows of Halifax Harbour.

The story of the Halifax Explosion is a tale of sadness and sorrow for sure, but also…
one of strength and courage under adversity.

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society and WTF! proudly present our first ever
CONCERT evening. This concert is dedicated to the memory of the lives lost and the stories of triumph and tragedy surrounding the Halifax Explosion and features
DAVID STONE & FRIENDS.

David is a well-respected singer-songwriter & historian who has, since the mid 1990s, been thoroughly researching all aspects of the Halifax Explosion... from events leading up to it, the aftermath, some of the personal stories of survivors and heroes, as well as the widely believed sabotage story... and has chronicled it in spoken word & song.

As always... admission is by free will donation.
Tonight... WTF! will be giving all donations to APSEA and the Halifax School for the Blind (Sir Frederick Fraser School) at David's bequest.

And for the first time ever... until December 5th... David is hosting Halifax Explosion talking/walking tours around various sites in the north end...11, 1 and 3 daily – weather permitting... approximately 90 minutes... $10.00 per person. For details and booking times PH: 902-406-5461 E-MAIL: davidstone@accesswave.ca or Facebook.

Both the concert and the walking tours are special events
NOT TO BE MISSED!!!!!!

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Gifts Mundane and Momentous

2011-11-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Storytellers Circle of Halfax prsents

Gifts Mundane and Momentous:Stories of things given and received,tangible and intangible

Thursday, December 8, 7-8:30 pm

Upstairs at Just Us! Cafe
5896 Spring Garden Road, corner of Carleton
www.justuscoffee.com

What is the greatest, or least, gift you have received?
Have you, with the best of intentions, given something that turned out ALL WRONG?
What stories do you know of gifts, real or magical,that come with unexpected obligations or consequences?
Come and hear our stories of giving and receiving, of memorable holiday gifts, or unsolicited gifts of kindness.

Feel free to offer your own story, personal or traditional,or come just to listen and remember.

Always open to the public, to tell or to listen.

Anytime after 6:30; stories start at 7:00.

Contact: Linda Winham
lwinham88@hotmail.com
storytellingnovascotia.blogspot.com

Storytellers Circle:
Where listeners relax while tellers are bold
When tales are not read but wondrously told.

Halifax Explosion at What the Folk!

2011-11-25T17:59:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 9th join us for an extraordinary evening of Halifax Explosion stories and songs performed by Dave Stone and Friends.

Just Us Cafe
Spring Garden Road
6:30ish gathering and grabba cuppa
7 pm performance starts

It will be an amazing evening you will not want to miss!

Cindy

What the Folk! LIVE! tonight!

2011-11-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

Tonights theme is Girls and Women. Rosalee Peppard hosting. Just Us Cafe on Spring Garden Road, Halifax, NS. 7-8:30pm.

Rosalee just sang a Blackbird medley including a snippet of Helen's favourite song, If I were a Blackbird. She also sang a song about the tsunami in Newfoundland in 1929.

Susan and Chris performed an original song called City Girls! Very lively rock n' roll style!

Bruce Stewart just sang a love song for his wife called 'I'll Be There'. Awwww!

Don Burke did a 123 song he wrote called A Waltz Made For Fools. He doesn't say when he wrote it. When asked he said, '19mmmmp!' Ha!

I did a story for my mom called 'Encounters With Seagulls' in memory of Sammy the Seagull. At the end I brought out the family famous seagull hat.

OMG! Clary Croft just sang 'If I Were A Blackbird'

Rosalee sang a lovely song about spinning. Now she has her dulcimer out!
She says that years in every East Coast kitchen on a shelf was a RCA radio....In Newfoundland, one time...on the coldest night in February when the stars were bright Madeline would climb up on a chair and listen opera on the radio while picking at the wallpaper on the wall making a hole in the wallpaper.
Song: 'Up On A Chair'
My favourite line: Warm memories melt realities ice.

Robert Billard on stage- first time at What The Folk!Has been in the north for a while. Used to come to Harbour Folk many years ago. Song: Waiting For The Land To Dry'

Anne Fearon song a beautiful song, one of my favourites: 'I Wish You Could See Her Heart''

Wow! Rosalee just led us in a rousing beautifully harmonized song with the audience...a well known Helen Creighton collected song called Farewell to Nova Scotia.

With a sigh and a wish! Goodnight from What The Folk!

Cindy

What The Folk! LIVE!

2011-11-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I am here at Just Us!Cafe on Spring Garden Road getting ready for What The Folk!! I am relieved of my hosting duties this evening as Rosalee Peppard is our guest host, which means I can blog away! Stay Tuned! Singing and Storytelling starts in a couple of minutes.
Cindy

WTF! Celebrates Women and Girls

2011-11-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! celebrates WOMEN & GIRLS!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, November 25th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
GIRLS & WOMEN!!

“ WHERE HAVE ALL THE COWBOYS GONE?” It was Race Day and Paula was puzzled. Tracy revved the engine of her FAST CAR and waited BEHIND THE WALL for the others to show up. “Those boys are just playin’ FOOLISH GAMES tryin’ to make us lose our edge,” moaned Jewel.

“YOU OUGHTA KNOW,” smirked Alanis who secretly believed every one of them but her was a BARBIE GIRL. “What we need is a little R.E.S.P.E.C.T starting right here, right now,” roared Aretha. “She’s such a GOOD MOTHER,” stated Jann ardently.

As if on cue, the boys arrived pushing their car. “Sorry. Engine trouble.”
“I’M GONNA BE AN ENGINEER,” announced Peggy proudly. “I’ll take a look inside.” She made a few quick adjustments and the car was ready.

The boys peeled off. The girls erupted in a fit of giggles as Peggy described her mechanical prowess. ”CRAZY ON YOU!“ squealed Ann.

Way down the road THE CAR WITH NO BRAKES was nearing the creek as the now hysterical girls launched into a robust rendition of I’M GONNA WASH THAT MAN because as everyone knows… GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN J

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Halifax Explosion Walking Tour

2011-11-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hi all - I have been wanting to do this for several years now .Beginning on Monday Nov 14 and running daily through to Dec 5th I will be hosting Halifax Explosion talking/walking tours around various sites in the north end...11, 1 and 3 daily – weather permitting; talking about the lead up to the explosion, the aftermath, some of the personal stories of survivors and heroes, as well as touching on the widely believed sabotage story and some unanswered questions...approximately 90 minutes – $10.00 per person...I have been studying and writing about the Halifax Explosion since the mid 1990s now and have a lot of stories and information to share...For details and booking times – 902 – 406 – 5461 or by email or Facebook...Dress warmly, bring good shoes and an eager mind...Please spread the word for me – it would be a great help...No minimum – but a maximum of ten people per tour.
Dave Stone

_______________________________________________

WTF Remembers

2011-11-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

WTF What the Folk will not meet on Remembrance Day.

What The Folk resumes on Friday, November 25th with a surprise guest.
See you then...
7pm
Just Us Cafe
Spring Garden Road.

We will remember them,
Cindy

Lots of ghostly and Interesting stuff going on this week!

2011-10-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

Check out the 3 blog posts below and check out the Storytelling Nova Scotia Blog for more ghostly events!

The Crone and He Who Dares! with Margo Carruthers and Jay Perry

2011-10-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

Jay Perry and Margo Carruthers, those marvels of music, mirth and theatrical mayhem, will be staging one of their rare duo extravaganzas.
With their wide and varied expertise in all aspects of singing in the traditional style and their penchant for theatrics, Margo & Jay will have you thoroughly beguiled. Being so close to All Soul’s Night (aka Hallowe’en) you should expect some Bluenose Ghosts. But… being Jay & Margo… you should also expect the unexpected .

Confidential to those who dared ask:
Q. Will the Crone be there?
A. Yes. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Q. Will Margo play guitar?
A. Yes. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Q. Will there be puppets?
A. Only if our audience is easily manipulated
Seriously… no comment on the puppets. We have to keep SOME surprises.

Thursday, October 27th
7pm
Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum
Free will donation

Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions:
Our concerts start at 7, and admission is by free-will donation. All the funds go to the artists, except for a small percentage to support SOCAN. "The Rose and Kettle Concert Sessions" is an all-volunteer effort. Proceeds from sales of refreshments go to support the Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Farm which graciously provides the venue for these wonderful events.

Halloween at Helen's House

2011-10-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Halloween at Helen's House, October 18-October 29

Helen Creighton was the author of "Bluenose Ghosts" and was a firm believer
in the supernatural. Evergreen house was Helen's family home and where she
had many "experiences" of her own! Come for a visit and see Evergreen
decorated for Victorian Halloween, as well as learning how many of the
traditions we follow today were started.
Included with $2.00 admission.

What the Folk! Goes Trick or Treating?

2011-10-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! goes TRICK OR TREATING !!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, October 28th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
BLUENOSE GHOSTS
& OTHER WANDERING SPIRITS !!

Night had fallen. The decorations were set. The Lady was ready. It wouldn’t be long now before the neighbourhood would be resonating with YOUNG HUNTING for treats. “No treats here,” she giggled, “except for mine.”

Next door, THE SWEET TRINITY of BFFs were checking out their costumes. BONNIE ANNIE, white teeth a-gleaming, was resplendent as RINORDINE. ALLISON GROSSed everyone out as THE LAILY WORM. ELIZA LONGed for something special too but with THE CRUEL MOTHER holding the pursestrings, it would take something akin to THE SUFFOLK MIRACLE.

Just then a knock sounded at the door. “It’s the boys!” they shrieked. They had promised to be there by dark and LORD RANDALL and THOMAS RHYMER were right on time. “Sorry we LOST JIMMY WHALEN but knowing him, THE CONSTANT FARMER’S SON will surely TURNIP before long.”

“Ha! Ha!” groaned the girls as they all set out. Next door, the atmosphere was positively electric. Blood curdling shrieks and wails eminated from THE UNQUIET GRAVE displayed on the front lawn. “It looks & sounds so real.”

Unbeknownst to them it was. Jimmy wasn’t lost at all. He knew exactly where he was and he didn’t like it one bit. LADY MARGARET, on the other hand, was ecstatic. Any moment now, the late Jimmy Whalen would be meeting up with his friends. Trick AND Treat J

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

WTF: What The Folk! seeks HEROES & VILLAINS !!

2011-09-07T08:32:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! seeks HEROES & VILLAINS !!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, September 9th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
HEROES & VILLAINS !!

it had been A HARD DAY’S NIGHT! PANCHO AND LEFTY had been trekkin’ the STREETS OF LAREDO ALL NIGHT LONG in search of FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD. Pancho was sure he hadn’t been this hungry since THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN to the abattoir as a last resort.

As they exited THE BIG YELLOW TAXI, Pancho hoped that the SISTERS OF MERCY would have something for them in their HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN. He and Lefty were RUNNIN’ ON EMPTY in more ways than one

They approached reverently and stood knock, knock KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR but no one answered. “HELLO IN THERE”. Again no response. Apparently the ANGELS FROM MONTGOMERY had flown.

But all was not lost. On the doorstep was left some BREAD & ROSES. “HALLELUJAH,” praised Pancho as he tore into the loaf. Just then the sky brightened. “ Pancho look,“exclaimed Lefty,“ MORNING HAS BROKEN”.

”That ain’t all that’s broken,” lisped Pancho as he spit out what was left of his teeth. Under the porch CASEY JONES could barely contain himself. And they had told him THE WABASH CANNONBALL would never RISE AGAIN

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

WTF: What The Folk! shares FAVOURITES !!

2011-08-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! shares FAVOURITES !!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, August 26th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
FAVOURITES !
[really no theme at all as you can bring whatever you like to this musical potluck]

Arlo threw open the doors of what was left of ALICE’S RESTAURANT and shrieked “PEOPLE GET READY, there’s a train a-comin’. Again!” He had been ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER and the signs were BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND. “It’s that GD CANADIAN RAILROAD TRILOGY. With two down and one to go, here’s hopin it’s the SOUTHBOUND TRAIN.”

“IF I HAD A HAMMER”, said Pete, “WE SHALL OVERCOME these MASTERS OF WAR.” Arlo chuckled to himself as he wiped down the tables with his I’M FIXIN’ TO DIE RAG, “ Poor deluded Pete thinks HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS, don’t he know we’re on THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION?”

“WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?” demanded Pete of the hoardes of THIRSTY BOOTS still seated round the bar. OUTSIDE OF A SMALL CIRCLE OF FRIENDS TALKING VIETNAM BLUES no one was listening. “You can’t be on BOTH SIDES NOW”, chided Pete, ”That ain’t no PEACE TRAIN BOUND FOR GLORY.”

Phil had had just about enough of this tiresome old fart. “FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH I AIN’T MARCHIN’ ANYMORE.” Tom echoed the sentiment. “That’s THE LAST THING ON MY MIND too.” Amid the rubble, Bruce pondered…
WONDERIN’ WHERE THE LIONS ARE when you really need ‘em.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Ghost Story Writing Contest! - deadline August 27th!!

2011-08-19T09:18:00.001-07:00

22nd Annual Ghost Story Writing Contest!

Ages 7-15
Enter your spooky tale or shivery story in the 22nd annual ghost story writing contest presented by the Halifax Public Libraries and the Helen Creighton Folklore Society.

Make up your own story or retell a story that you’ve heard before, in your own words. The best ghost stories will spook you and have you looking over your shoulder – without a lot of blood and gore.

Pick up an entry form at your local library branch or print one from the website. Entries can be mailed or dropped off at any branch between July 5 - August 27. For more information call 490-5748.

Lies, Fibs and Tall Tales!

2011-08-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Celebrating the art of oral storytelling, the Storytellers Circle of Halifax meets the second Thursday of the Month at Just Us Cafe on Spring Garden Road, Halifax.

Lies, Fibs and Tall Tales!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
6:30 grabba cuppa
7pm stories start!

Bring friends, family, spouses, partners, neighbours.
Come tell a tale or listen along....much better than sittin' in front of a T.V. or pullin' weeds!

The Storytellers Circle of Halifax is a proud member of Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada.
Listen Up and be Amazed: That's the Art of Storytelling!

WTF: What The Folk! goes TIME TRAVELLING !!

2011-08-08T08:59:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! goes TIME TRAVELLING !!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, August 12th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
YOUTHFUL MEMORIES !
[songs & tales about people, places & things you’ll never forget… no matter how much you try]

JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH couldn’t believe his eyes! Here he was IN THE YEAR 2525, and they were ALL here… THE GOOD… THE BAD… AND THE UGLY.
The STONED SOUL PICNIC Reunion was on!!!

GRAZING IN THE GRASS of MacARTHUR PARK was that ANGEL OF THE MORNING… MRS. ROBINSON. “YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY,” she snorted,
“This is way better than the grass at INDIAN LAKE”.

She was more than HALFWAY TO PARADISE when the HURDY GURDY
MAN crawled over to her with a full can of CLASSICAL GAS.
“LIGHT MY FIRE,” he begged. I’ve got INCENSE AND PEPPERMINTS.“

Anyone else would have panicked at the thought of imolating all that CRIMSON AND CLOVER but she wasn’t afraid. She was counting on there being FIRE AND RAIN. After all… it WAS the dawning of the age of…
AQUARIUS.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

WTF: What The Folk! keeps FRIENDS close & ENEMIES even closer!!

2011-07-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! keeps FRIENDS close & ENEMIES even closer!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, July 22nd
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
FRIENDS & ENEMIES & FAMILY TOO !
[ sometimes they’re one & the same ]

Simon and Garfunkel were HOMEWARD BOUND for a CELEBRATION with Kool & the Gang. It had been an arduous journey and they were famished! Unfortunately… it started raining cats & dogs just as they arrived.

Fortunately… Rihanna had an extra UMBRELLA so Paul & Art, warm & dry beneath, headed to the buffet table where they were REUNITED with all the Peaches and Herbs they could stomach.

They paused in their feeding frenzy when Betty White appeared looking like a drowned rat. She was mud from head to toe. “It’s Hot in Cleveland,” she said, “but I didn’t know it was so wet!”

“Peach?” offered Paul. Art seriously questioned Paul’s eyesight. He was sure that she hardly looked peachy at all. In fact… no one would ever have mistaken her for a Golden Girl!

“THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIE ND,” blubbered Betty. “THAT’S WHAT
FRIENDS ARE FOR,” said Paul, having spent many tedious hours in the recording studio with Dionne Warwick.

Meanwhile… unbeknownst to Dolly, Art had taken her COAT OF M ANY
COLOURS from the front porch and was on his way back with it for poor bedraggled Betty.

“So… this is what you TEACH YOUR CHILDRE N?”, said the boys from CSN, “It’s OK to steal?” “Oh, it’s hardly stealing, said Art’s Sister, Sledge, because
WE ARE FAMILY.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Graveyards!

2011-07-12T11:18:00.001-07:00

Are you a local youth, aged 14-17, with an interest in the internet, mobile technology and QR codes?

Alderney Landing invites youth, free of charge, to join local media artist Leola LeBlanc to create an on-line interactive map of the historic Geary Street Cemetery located in downtown Dartmouth. The cemetery is a historic public site founded in 1830 and contains an ancient Mi’kmaq burial ground, a family crypt, early Catholic settlers, Anglican immigrants, and the relative of a French empress.

Where: Craig Gallery in Alderney Landing
When: July 18-22 and July 25-29, 9:30 am-12noon
Why: to create an interactive on-line map of the Geary Street Cemetery, and to tell the stories of those buried there
Who: You! Youth aged 14-17 with an interest in mobile technology, and

GRAVEYARDS!

This on-line map will be used for school curriculum during the Bluenose Ghosts Festival, October 14-31

This residency is hosted with the support from the Halifax Regional Municipality and the Craig Gallery at Alderney Landing

What the Folk! Wildlife!

2011-07-07T17:44:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! takes a walk on the WILD side !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, July 8th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Our theme this week is
WILDLIFE !

So…

Put your own spin on it.

Maybe a tribute to your fine furry friends…
Or…
A song of reverence to party animals.

Get your motor runnin’… head out on the highway…
For What The Folk adventure or whatever comes your way…
‘Cause tonight we’re all…

BORN TO BE WILD.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

WTF: What the Folk! weathers the WEATHER!

2011-06-08T12:38:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! weathers the WEATHER !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, June 10th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Whether the WEATHER be fine… Or whether the WEATHER be not…

Whether the WEATHER be cold … Or whether the WEATHER be hot…

We’ll WEATHER the WEATHER Whatever the WEATHER…

Whether we like it or not.

A. Nony Mouse

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation.
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets same time and place ,
every second and fourth Friday of the month.

WTF: What the Folk! Goes Hollywood!

2011-05-22T11:23:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! goes HOLLYWOOD !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, May 27th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Tonight’s theme celebrates the art of
Vincent Price
May 27,1911 - Oct. 25, 1993

When you take a serious look at the royal family of horror,
those actors and actresses that not only help establish the genre,
but set the standards by which we judge it,
Vincent Price would be the king.

During the early 60s, Gothic horror was at an all time high,
the classics of Edgar Allen Poe taking centre stage.
Hollywood needed an exceptional actor to undertake this journey into
The World of Poe,

someone extraordinary to bring to life such classics as…
~ The Fall of the House of Usher ~
~ The Pit and the Pendulum ~
~ The Raven ~

Vincent Price approached his craft as he approached his characters…
with intelligence & charm, rather than force or fear.
He was the thinking man’s epitome of evil…
A Master of the Macabre.

Nevermore would a soundstage be graced by such a presence.

Quoth the Raven:
“Nevermore”

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation.
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets same time and place ,
every second and fourth Friday of the month.

WTF:What the Folk Gets Supernatural!

2011-05-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! gets SUPERNATURAL !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, May 13th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Triskaidekaphobia is the morbid fear of…
the number 13
Friggatriskaidekaphobia & Paraskervidekatriaphobia are specific fears of…
Friday the 13th

“Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Words, the Big Bad Words, the Big Bad Words… Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Words?…” sang the 3 little pigs.

“Not me! Not me! Not me!”, said each of them in turn as they headed out for a supernatural evening at WTF.

“I’ll huff & I’ll puff & I’ll blow your house down”, said the Big Bad Words.

“Great”, said the 3 little pigs.
“We could use a robust horn section”.

Inside WTF…
the music was swelling, the walls were pulsating and
the roof was lifting off.

Outside WTF…
There was a lineup around the block.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation.
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets same time and place ,
every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Wanted! Storyteller In Residence

2011-04-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

Storyteller-in-Residence
At the Cape Breton Regional Library, we understand and appreciate the importance of stories to the Island community and to residents of all generations. In recognition of this rich oral tradition, the Cape Breton Regional Library Board has established a Storyteller-in-Residence program.

The term for the Storyteller-in-Residence shall be two years. The Storyteller-in-Residence will receive an honorarium for events plus approved mileage. A Storyteller-in-Residence Committee will be responsible for reviewing the applications, interviewing and recommending the candidate. Apply now to share your stories and craft and be the first ever Cape Breton Regional Library Storyteller-in-Residence.

WTF: What The Folk! lives in HOPE !!!

2011-04-26T15:32:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! lives in HOPE !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, April 29th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night…
Take these broken wings and learn to fly…
All your life…
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.”
* John Lennon & Paul McCartney

“… When you walk in love with the wind on your wing…
and cover the earth with the songs you sing…
The miles fly by.”
* Sr. Miriam Therese Winter

“Weave, weave, weave me the sunshine…
Out of the pouring rain…
Weave me the hope of a new tomorrow…
And fill my cup again.“
* Peter Yarrow

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation.
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets same time and place ,
every second and fourth Friday of the month.

WTF: What The Folk! CHANGES !!!

2011-04-04T15:24:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! CHANGES !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, April 8th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

“Sit by my side, come as close as the air…
Share in my memories of grey…
Wander in my world, dream about the pictures
That I play of

CHANGES…”

And there are lots of changes at What The Folk!
Tonight’s theme reflects them.
We’ve moved downstairs into the brand new performance space.
There’s a proper stage, matching tables and chairs… a real coffee house!
Phil Ochs would be proud of our changes.

“Movements of magic will glow in the night…
One last cup of wine I will pour…
I’ll kiss you one more time & leave you on the rolling
River shore of

CHANGES…”

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation.
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets same time and place ,
every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk! Springs Out!

2011-03-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! SPRINGS OUT !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, March 25th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

I’m as restless as a willow in a windstorm…
I’m as jumpy as a puppet on a string…
I’d say that I had SPRING FEVER…

And with any luck at all..
It’s contagious…
And you can catch SPRING FEVER this Friday at WTF.

And if you have Irish leftovers from last week, bring them along.
We’re not adverse to an IRISH SPRING .

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation.
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets same time and place ,
every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk Cools Off!

2011-02-24T13:16:00.001-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! COOLS OFF !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, February 25th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm – Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Almost everyone loves a good summer song, but what about winter songs?
Poor old much maligned winter is the Rodney Dangerfield of the seasons…
It just don’t get no respect!

So…

Let’s all sing a SONG FOR A WINTER’S NIGHT with Gord or play some HOCKEY with Jane. Neil says there’s no need to feel HELPLESS unless you’re FROZEN IN FROBISHER BAY or Jame’s Bay.

Simon says “IT’S A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER” so open up your COLD, COLD HEART like OL’ Hank and come out and play some Dylan with this GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY.
But…

For Heaven’s sake… unless you wanna be zappa’d good… please
DON’T EAT THE YELLOW SNOW.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

A Maritime Ramble with Two Irishmen!

2011-02-24T13:09:00.001-08:00

It's a Maritime Ramble with Mossie O'Scanlain and Cian O'Morain from Ireland!

Irish Workshop: Songs and Stories
Thursday, March 3rd, at 7:00 pm
The Rose & Kettle Concert Sessions, Cole Harbour Heritage Farm
Price: By donation as always

An Evening of Music, Song and Story
Friday, March 4th, at 8:00 pm
The Music Room, 6181 Lady Hammond Road, Halifax
Price: $20.00, tickets or further info call 240-5278, tickets at the door
Sponsor: An Cumann / The Irish Association of Nova Scotia

Irish Storytelling Workshop
A talk on the history and tradition of Irish storytelling in both English and Irish, as well as a sampling of the stories of Eamon Kelly. Some lively tunes will round out this afternoon.
Saturday, March 5, from 2-4pm, $20.00
St. Mary's University - Atrium Room AT216
Sponsors: Storytellers Circle of Halifax/ Dept. of Irish Studies SMU

Bio's:

Mossie Ó Scanláin was born at the foot of Mount Brandon on the Dingle
peninsula. He was immersed in Irish music and culture from the cradle
and has carried that with him despite having spent forty years as an
emigrant. He sings with passion the songs that he grew up with in his
native Corca Dhuibhne and relishes the opportunity to promote the
language and culture where ever he travels. He has released two
albums, written an autobiography in his native language and toured in
Australia, Europe and the US. Please take the opportunity to visit his
website at www.mossiescanlon.com

Cian Ó Móráin is one of the new generation of Irish musicians. Also
hailing from the Dingle peninsula he grew up surrounded by music and
song and from a young age developed a passion for Irish culture and
tradition. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing low whistles, guitar
and uilleann pipes. He was aware of Mossie's music through his CD's
and local radio and when Mossie returned from Australia sometime ago
they met by chance in a local bar.They quickly realized they had a
common love of the local music, song and language and the rest is
history.

Join these two natives, and let them take you back through the mists
of antiquity.

WTF: What The Folk! Loves You!

2011-02-07T13:36:00.001-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! Loves You
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, February 11th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Be Our Valentine.
Bring a love song or a song you love.
If you can't be with the song you love then love the song you're with.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and
fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk! has all the Time in the World for YOU

2011-01-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! has all the Time in the World for You
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, January 28th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

A folkie quiz!!!! Its about TIME!

____________ puts his TIME in a Bottle.
_____________ lives One Day at a TIME.
____________ turns to TIME for every purpose under Heaven.
______________ reassures us that we have TIME on Our Side.

ANSWERS: Choose from the following.
(a) Pete Seeger (b) Jim Croce (c) Mick & the Boys (d) Willie Nelson

BONUS:
_____________ go to a fair in Scarborough. They have lots of THYME.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and
fourth Friday of the month.

New Beginnings @ What The Folk!

2011-01-10T12:51:00.001-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! makes a Fresh Start with NEW BEGINNINGS!!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, January 14th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

2011 is here and that can mean only one thing. New Beginnings!!!
It could be a song or story about starting over. Or about making resolutions.
Maybe its the latest song you wrote or wish you wrote and want to share.
So... begin the year with something new.
Make a fresh start or just be a little "fresh".

Start spreadin' the news... we're meetin' again...
I wanna be a part of it... at What The Folk!!!!

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and
fourth Friday of the month.

Looking to Volunteer or are just curious about Nova Scotia Folklore?

2011-01-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

Everyone Welcome!

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society will hold its Annual General Meeting on January 29, 2011, at 2 p.m. in the downstairs meeting room at Evergreen House, 26 Newcastle Street, Dartmouth.

A slate of officers will be presented and if you would like to run for office or would like to recommend someone for membership on our Board of Directors, please let us know.

This call for nominations is open to all members who have paid the annual dues of ten dollars. Membership dues can be paid at the AGM or by visiting our website. Nominations will also be taken from the floor.
General membership is open to all with the payment of annual dues of ten dollars [$10.00]

For the most recent updates on the Society or to contact us, please visit the new website:

If you are just curious about folklore in the Maritimes or Helen Creighton's works, please come to our AGM, and ask questions or just listen in...

Tales For A Winter Night - Storytellers Circle of Halifax

2011-01-04T19:08:00.001-08:00

Storytellers Circle of Halifax presents

Tales for a Winter Night

Thursday, January 13, 7-8:30 pm

Upstairs (or downstairs?) at Just Us! Cafe
5896 Spring Garden Road, corner of Carleton
www.justuscoffee.com

With the New Year, we revive an old and

favourite theme, Tales for a Winter Night,

for winter darkness is the time for coming

together in the warmth of human company,

and passing the time sharing stories.

Come to hear stories of the fury of winter,

of the darkness, and the return of the light.

Or perhaps there will be stories of warmer

climates, to take the chill from your bones.

All welcome, to tell or to listen.

Anytime after 6:30; stories start at 7:00.

Contact: Linda Winham

lwinham88@hotmail.com

storytellingnovascotia.blogspot.com

Storytelling: the oral tradition continues....

What The Folk! Brings Gifts!...Sorta...

2010-12-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! brings GIFTS!!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, December 10th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

The theme is... GIFTS!

Christmas is fast approaching but not everyone is enthused with singing Christmas songs.
Too many. Too soon. Too often. But... in keeping with the Season...
Why not bring a song or tale that you consider a GIFT?
It could be something you wrote that seemed to come out of nowhere - a GIFT to you.
It could be something that you consider meaningful or special and want to share - a GIFT to us.
Or... a [GASP!] Christmas song...
Because... not everyone at WTF! is a Grinch.

This will be our final gathering for 2010 as the fourth Friday falls on December 24th.
May you all enjoy a lovely Holiday season and we'll meet again in the New Year.

Our first WTF! of 2011 will be on January 14th.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What the Folk! Remembers

2010-11-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk!
REMEMBERS!!!!

folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, November 12th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

The day after November 11th...Remembrance Day...
WAR & PEACE

"Will the Masters of War ever ride on the Peace Train?"
said Bob to the wise Cheshire Cat.
The Cat turned to Alice,and fading from view said "I'll have to think about that."

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation

If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk! Heralds Halloween!

2010-10-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! heralds HALLOWE'EN !!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore
Friday, October 22nd
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

The theme is Hallowe'en. Come as you are. Come in costume. Bring something scary. I'm bringing Margo. Beware!!!

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What The Folk! Colours Your World!

2010-10-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:
WTF: What The Folk!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

COLOURS your world!!!

Friday,October 8th
6:30pm:Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road
*
The psych ward is ablaze with lights. The alarms are sounding.
The door to the room at the end of the hall is open. The bed is empty.
She's Baaaaaaccckkk!

After The Gold Rush, The Queen of the Silver Dollar put on her Long Black Veil to hide the hideous Platinum Blonde, Suicide Blonde locks that were now indeed a Whiter Shade of Pale.
Mellow Yellow she was not as she hastily exited the Orange Blossom Special
hot on the trail of the Lady In Red, that Brown Eyed Girl who had called herself a beautician.
She was Tickled Pink as she wrapped the Greensleeves of her Famous Blue Raincoat tighter and tighter around a face now gloriously Deep Purple.

If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk! Animals!

2010-09-23T03:46:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society presents:
What the Folk!
folksongs, folktales, folkcraft, folklore
Thursday, September 23rd
Just Us Cafe, Spring Garden Road, Halifax
6:30pm grabba cuppa
7pm performances start
8:30 wrap up
Open mic format
This weeks theme is animals
Hosted by Margo Carruthers and Cindy Campbell

What the Folk happens the second and fourth Thursday of every month

What The Folk! Friday the 13th!

2010-08-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! flaunts & taunts FRIDAY THE 13TH!!
folksongs . folktales . folkcraft . folklore

Friday, August 13th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Friday the 13th has suffered from the longstanding reputation of being a day filled with bad luck. Those who suffer from triskaidekaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th, will likely be stuck inside all day in hopes that the devils of this sporadic holiday will leave them alone. The rest of us will PARTY!

As a tribute to Friday the 13th, our writer-in-residence has created another of her outrageous works of fiction using only 13 songs.
Actually... that's all she could manage before the night watch guards declared "Light's Out!"

Ferlin Huskey manoeuvered PHANTOM 309 into the deserted parking lot just as The Eagles that had been dogging his rig all day glided ominously onto the roof of the seedy little hotel. His friend Henderson had begged him to stay clear of those diobolical GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY, but Wayne had been BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN back when Albert was King and it had Lemmon'd him Blind and left him with a serious case of the BAD LUCK BLUES.

Ferlin knew that Wayne's SPOOKY stories were a Classic IV case of creepy but he still didn't give a Lynard Skynyrd about GOOD LUCK, BAD LUCK. He just wanted a place to lay his head for the night. Unfortunately... he should have heeded the signs... especially considering that BAD LUCK STREAK IN DANCING SCHOOL with that Zevon fellows Warren of WEREWOLVES OF LONDON . So Ferlin checked in.

Meanwhile... on the roof the squawking was deafening. In the seedy little bar & casino one floor below, it was almost as bad. A singer named Sinatra was Frankly murdering LUCK BE A LADY TONIGHT because he could hardly concentrate knowing that at that very moment, his floor show pals from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA were dishing up a platter of eagle's Wings to his rival Sir Paul McCartney. Frank had tried everything to get this guy to leave but... no dice. So now it was just a matter of time & digestion before Sir Paul would be joining Elvis in a duet of VIVA LAS VEGAS in that Big Casino in the sky.

Unfortunately... Frank had been there so long he had totally forgotten the policies regarding length of stay at the HOTEL CALIFORNIA so all those poisoned Wings were for naught. And... to make matters even worse for Frank's exclusivity, outside... a car full of Carpenters had just pulled into the lot. I FEEL LUCKY said Mary who was Chapin at the bit to get back into her musical harness.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk Tries Travelling

2010-07-24T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hello busybloggies,

Is it just me or is this the hottest summer on record? My computer is melting just like a Salvador Dali painting and so is my mind. What? Still there is no lack of bodies embracing folk music and stories at Just Us! Last week we were jammed in like slippery little sardines. It could've been "odorous" but Cindy brought three, count 'em... three fans from home ( and three electric ones too :-) We call them her fan club! And Michael brought his sewing. It didn't help cool the room but it was amusing... and way cool! If you need anything mended, see Michael. And ladies... he's single!

Putting all thoughts of sewing aside except for maybe the sowing of wild oats, Margo & Cindy took us travellin' all over Canada from Bonavista to Vancouver Island and all parts in between in a rousing chorus of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND. I'd have gladly immersed all MY parts in the waters of either coast!

Then Leo, the "lonely and lonesome traveller" kept the sing-a-long momentum going as we went "travelling in mountains and valleys, travelling with the rich and the poor, travelling cold and travelling hungry." Can't say I relish travelling hungry but travelling cold for a few hours sure would feel devine :-)

And Karen, likely unconsciously thinking ahead to cooler days, shared her own composition AUTUMN WIND wherein she "left her home in the Autumn wind and the Autumn wind brought her home." Thanks Karen... for reminding us that barring unforeseen weather phenomena like a six month heatwave, Summer merely cometh before the Fall!

No doubt sweltering under the influence of the endless heat and humidity, Don, our very own Mark Twain, echoed our thoughts in his wisecrack: "Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end". We had all been panting and fanning up to this time but felt somewhat cooler as Don reminded us that THE WATER IS WIDE. As usual Don's voice & chords were impeccable. And when Don left off after three verses, Leo supplied the fourth "I put my hand in one soft bush...." Oh Leo, 'tis a family show here. Perhaps that's why Don left it out :-)

Just back from three days at Stanfest where they uncharacteristically baked in the sun, John & Sydney told us that in desperation, the Fest organizers had to bring in a fog machine so people could get their familiar fix of the traditional ambience that usually accompanies the traditional music there. This is a sad night for us as it is the last night for these two lovely folks at WTF! Next week they will he returning home to Alberta. Lucky for us that John & Sydney pulled out all the stops & all their chops in a very imaginative medley of CHI MI NA MORBHEANNA in English with the choruses in Gaelic intertwined with Stan Roger's TURNAROUND. It was as breathtaking as the Alberta scenery! John & Sydney, can we stow away in your luggage?

Also travelling West, Jim told us that after graduating with his BA 33 years ago, he bought an old van and travelled all over the USA as far as Wyoming working at various jobs. He wrote a song based on observations of people he met along the way - "The turning of the wheel stills the emptiness I feel. For the time being this road will be my home."

Kelly, taking us both back East and back to a gentler time, launched into the old Stompin' Tom PEI tourism ad 800-565-7421. It was a blast!!! We remembered all the words too. Hey... has anyone thought to dial the number? Did Regis & Kelly answer??

Well... after travellin' West and East, it was about time that we went South. Ever the virtuoso, James totally channelled James Taylor in MEXICO. "Oh Mexico, never really been but I'd sure like to go." Me too. But not 'til winter. Mexico at this very moment would melt what's left of my mind.

With a completely different take on the theme of travellin', Adele McGann, joining us for the first time, shared WAYFARIN' STRANGER. We can only hope that it was way cooler over Jordan and that "mother, father, sister, brother " didn't go to that other place with the oppressive heat - Hellifax.

Again... another unusual take on travellin' as "... Uncle Walter goes WALTZING WITH BEARS." This has become Michael's theme song of sorts and he was aked to sing it as a special request from John & Sydney. Who could deny John & Sydney? And there was much hillarity when the phrase "lately I've noticed several new tears", prompted Michael to yell "quick someone... bring me my sewing kit". And Vince was singing his harmony line so loudly along with the choruses that Margo was prompted to say "It's obvious that you'd like a turn now."

But... as Vince was getting his guitar, Jean popped up, resplendent in 1940s garb to share a medley of songs to match her period clothes and hairdo. Jean started her SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY on a SLOW BOAT TO CHINA disembarking under the WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER to finish the trip on a BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO. It was a looonnnng trip but a neat one!

In his composition COLD DAY IN JULY, Vince with the brilliant James on slide guitar sang "I think that I'll be leaving 'cause I've heard that winter's cry. The wind is just too cold here for the middle of July". Oh poor soul. The heat has claimed it's first victim of the night. Vince sweetie, you're delusional. It's got to be at least 110 degrees here at Just Us! But thank you for trying to keep our spirits up, reminding us that "cold" is not a figment of our imagination. Others have heard the illusive term too :-)

Ann and Karen, just back from songwriting camp in Sherbrooke Village where they wowed everyone as The Sherbrookettes, shared their new composition WHEN I HEAR THAT WHISTLE BLOW. I have it on good authority that one of the instructors... a certain J.P. Cormier... was moved to tears by one of Ann's songs and declared "That woman should be a star." Duh! Like yeah!!

Cindy told a very moving story that led into the song MARY OF THE WILD MOOR and spooked us with "some say if you go to the spot where the house stood, under the willow tree you will hear the cries". Cindy is so thoughtful. The resultant shivering really helped to cool us down.

Well it WAS... until Don decided to involve cooking... which means stoves... which means burners and ovens. Apparently... a husband asked his wife what she wanted for Xmas. Cooking lessons was her reply and so she got them. Then one night after many lessons, she comes home prepared to make supper. She made a great Hollandaise sauce and the husband really loved it. Six months later, his teeth were really bad. His dentist suggested a plate and gave him the choice of either a plate of plastic or a plate of chrome. To which the husband replied: "There's no plate like chrome for the Hollandaise." Don's killing me with these groaners. Then he changed tactics and went for KILLING ME SOFTLY with his song. How could I be mad?

Jim told us an old Zen story about monks complaining about the cold and then complaining about the heat with the message that one must find a place that is neither cold NOR hot. Jim's song ROLL DOWN THE HIGHWAY was about finding that balance. As he started to play, Jim found the chair he was sitting on a bit unbalanced so he moved to another one thus illustrating his point. Jon, master of the quick quip, (say THAT ten times in a row :-) said he only needed some "chair conditioning".

Then Karen sang a short, funny little shuffle tune called THE RUBBA SONG with everyone clapping along to its tight, infectious groove. Then... in their absolutely last appearance at What The Folk!, John & Sydney led us in the Stan Roger's classic NORTHWEST PASSAGE. The room fairly rang with harmonies. And a few tears too!

Leo bounced in with a short snippet from Gilbert & Sullivan - "O Wandering Minstrel...." before Vince and James sang us home with another of Vinces' compositions that offers great advice for the traveller..."There's an old dusty road and I don't know where its going... but I'm walking anyway... you talk about spinning your tires and being stuck in a rut... breathe a little... life's a mystery... you gotta try your best."

And we certainly did that all night long in spite of the heat. At the last minute, as a special tribute to John & Sydney, Jean led us in the old Roy Roger's/Dale Evan's theme song HAPPY TRAILS. How appropriate. What a pleasure to have had John & Sydney with us. Safe home.

And with that our night of travellin' was over. Next week the theme is FLOWERS. We stop to smell the roses and other scented beauties of the garden. Mind the thorns and watch out for bees. And the occasional flasher hidin' in the trees :-)

~The Artful Blodger

What the Folk: Flower Power

2010-07-15T16:46:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk!
folksongs . folktales . folkmusic . folkcraft . folklore

WTFstops to smell the
F
L
O
W
E
R
S
!
!

Friday,July 23rd

6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances

Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

The
Mystery
of the Disappearing ...

R
o
s
e
s

*another in the endless series of lunacy from our writer-in-residence before her absence from the locked ward is noticed, authorities are dispatched, and proper meds are FINALLY administered

It happened on THE BANKS OF THE SWEET PRIMROSES.

Scott McKenzie and his pal Rosemary Clooney had been on their way to
SAN FRANCISCO,being sure to wear some flowers in their hair. They'd even been Darin enough to add FIFTEEN YELLOW ROSES each,in addition to a couple of dozen BLOOD RED ROSES. Unfortunately... they decided to stop off along the way at Ricky Nelson's GARDEN PARTY.

After passing a very Demented evening with Iris, Lily, Marlene and Flora MacDonald, carelessly guzzling Neil Diamond's stash of CRACKLIN' ROSIE
, they passed out completely on Jon Bon Jovi's BED OF ROSES. Upon waking, Rosemary screamed, "For Pete's sake...WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE
?". Sure enough... as far as the eye could See, ger were no FLOWERS OF THE FOREST left. Old King Cole, ever the Natty philosopher, shrugged, "They must be gone RAMBLIN',ROSE".
Distraught... Rosemary beseeched everyone to search high and low
FOR THE ROSES.The Statler Brothers said they saw some FLOWERS ON THE WALL
but Marie Osmond knew they were only PAPER ROSES. A sobbing Henry Mancini Bette that THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES were long gone now without
THE ROSE. A traumatized Neil Diamond had hoped to brunch on
BREAD & ROSES with his last night's conquest, Judy Collins, and wailed to no one in particular, "YOU DON'T BRING ME FLOWERS anymore". To which a very Riley'd Jeannie C. screeched, "I beg your pardon... I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN".
Blissfully unaware of all the acrimony back at the Nelsons, Joni Mitchell had just finished up at WOODSTOCK and was leaving Yasger's Farm in the dust 'cause she just had to get herself back to the garden. Little did she suspect that there would be no RED ROSES FOR A BLUE LADY there today. But... Tiny Tim could scarcely hide his glee now that there were no more stupid roses to interrupt his titillating TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Folk n'Summer

2010-07-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

Bloggone it! We did it again! Another fabulous night of folky fun at Just Us! And this time... there's incriminating evidence :-) Margo warned everyone that her daughter Kiera, visiting from Toronto, would be taking candid shots for the web site and anyone not wishing to be caught on film should speak up. Those who did were concerned only that the camera would be unable to record decent pix due to our lack of photogenics - too old or too ugly! To which Paul Hanlon yelled "Photoshop!" And with that... our egos soared... and we were off.

Speaking of "off"... Cindy & Margo got everyone singing "Sum sum sum sum sum sum summertime...." Twice no less!!!! Sounded like a stutterer's convention except there was absolutely NO convention to it at all. It was a frenzied free-for-all. And... just the way we like it :-)

Don was put in the unenviable position of following this lunacy. He wisely chose to avoid uttering the word 'summer' altogether, opting to imply it instead - "the sweetest flower that bloomed o'er the range" which "was buried as the snows begin to fall". There was some discussion regarding the author of Darcy Farrell/Darcy Farrow but we didn't come to blows... yet! In the interests of promoting both peace & education, I can safely say that it was NOT written by either Ian Tyson OR Steve Goodman. The authors are Steve Gillette and Tom Campbell - no relation to Cindy. Whew! A close shave there :-)

QUESTION: "How many singers does it take to sing Summertime?" ANSWER: "All of them apparently."

Karen REALLY wanted to sing the iconic Summertime and was afraid that others would have come prepared to sing it too so she asked if she could be one of the first singers tonight thus ensuring that she'd get the chance. How fortunate for us 'cause Karen's rendition of this George Gershwin classic from Porgy & Bess was lovely. I don't know whether it was the song or our singing along that made Cindy cry but sniffle she did. And James brought out his hanky. In fact... Jame's weeping so upstaged Cindy's that she was prompted to snarkly ask if he'd like a bigger hanky. With all that blubbering, he'd have needed a tablecloth!

What with the tragedy of Darcy Farrell and the pathos of Summertime, thank goodness for Leo. Leading us out of our malaise, Leo took us to Harlem,1943 and had us in stitches with a story called Summer Ain't Simple from Langston Hughe's book Simple Speaks His Mind. I have it on good authority that there was more than one simple mind in the room :-)

Keeping with simpler times, Ann took us down The Bumpity Road somewhere in the backwoods of New Brunswick where eleven kids were stuffed into the back of a volkswagon for a mile and a half trip to "... take us swimming & we all go grinning". If she tried that today, there'd be a fight between Child Protection Services and the RCMP Highway Patrol to see who could write the bigger ticket. Too bad there's laws against kids having fun these days! Who amongst us wouldn't have delighted in being "all shook up in a pickup truck 'cause it hops like a jumpity toad"?

And they were just as lawless in PEI too! Cindy told her own bumpity road story stemming from her summers at Thunder Cove near Darnley Point where the kids would pile into two cars and race to the beach - one car down the dirt road and the other taking the short cut through the tractor field. Hey Cindy... is it true that you taught Bud The Spud from the bright red mud how to drive? The Ontario Provincial Police don't think much of Bud thanks to you :-)

Bob told us that he grew up listening to opera while passing through the kitchen and that the music for Allan Sherman's Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah was from Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda. Bob didn't go to Camp Grenada with Allan. Bob went to Camp Kookamunga where the Boy Scouts were way too busy perfecting their clandestine spying on the girls to waste precious time on a letter back home. They may have "learned to light fires by rubbing sticks together" but they never caught the girls so the woods were safe. Smokey the Bear says "Thank you for your superior lack of seduction skills."

Then that Don Juan, James, seduced us with the Seals and Croft's classic Summer Breeze. We know that James plays guitar like he has four hands ablazin' but we were gobsmacked to find that he seems to have taken up throat singing as well. How else could he have done such a masterful job of singing two parts at once? Well OK... we DID help out. Most of us sounded like seals though but there WAS one Croft in the room.

And it was his turn next. Clary's intros are often extraordinary stories in themselves. He told us that it was a hot August in Sherbrooke Village when a raggetty, maggotty old circus came to town and set up in the ballfield across from Rhoda Brigley's home. Rhoda had long kept scrapbooks of photos of people, places and things she'd like to see and she could scarcely believe her eyes when one of her desires came to be tethered right across from her front porch. She decided to stay up all night, rocking on the porch in close proximity with him cause she'd "never known his kind before" and likely never would again. Clary was there at the time and the song Rhody's Elephant was born. He may have been "an ancient wizzened elephant" but he inspired a most moving song with glorious chords!

Then Cindy told us a story called It Was So Hot. "How hot WAS it?" everybody roared. Cindy said it was SO hot that the corn in the field opened up and popped itself. "How hot WAS it?" we roared again. It was SO hot that the nuts hanging from the trees cracked open and roasted themselves. "How hot WAS it?" (We were on a roll now.) It was SO hot that the sap in the trees poured out and got mixed up with the corn and the nuts to become the world's biggest popcorn ball. Jean Hanlon said it sounded like poppycock to her! Jon thought it was a crackerjack story!

Then Don told us that "In the summer of 1898, when I worked on the railroad...." We should have shrieked "How old ARE you Don?" but we completely missed the boat. So did Don but his lapse was on purpose. He took the train instead and went 900 Miles. You'll have to go farther than that to get rid of US Don :-)

Menopausal Cindy, fanning herself with Don's new CD, Swan Song, announced that she was Don's biggest fan. Hey Don... that has the makings of a very lucrative marketing strategy :-)

For George growing up, two songs signalled summer... Nat King Cole's Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer and Roger Miller's In The Summertime. George shared the latter with some electronic help from his prompter and Jean's very enthusiastic choruses.

And poor Karen lamented "I'd like to lie down but there just isn't room" cause Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers. She was up to the wazoo in nasty perfumed "bluebells that were grey" coupled with meat eating "plants that panted" although she did say that "the cactus corsage touched her deeply". We should have been more sensitive to her pain but I'm afraid we were l.o.a.o.

In honour of Lammas Night, Leo led us all in Robert Burn's Corn Rigs Are Bonnie, a charming song of seduction recollected in tranquility, which Burns set to a tune from Playford's Choice Ayres (1681). We sang lustily along on the choruses 'cause there's nothing we like better than a little summer lovin'.

Unless... it's summer partyin' at Anns. "It's a summer night on McGlinchey Hill; there's a party goin' on" so "bring your newborn babies, bring your cranky old ladies" cause Ann will "teach them how to smile...." Then later we'll all pile ass over kettle into the backs of assorted pickup trucks for the trip back home down the bump, bump, bumpity road. Have you seen that TV ad from Tourism NB with music by a practically comotose David Miles? Well... it wouldn't motivate ME to vacation there! However... if TNB made a promotional video using scenes from Ann's McGlinchey Hill and/or The Bumpity Road, it would be Party Central in New Brunswick from May to September! Vote Ann for Premier!

Bob told an hilarious tale by the legendary Bruce (Utah) Phillips. Apparently one of the laws of the lumber camps involves the cook. If you complain about the food, the job of cook falls to you. But what if you ARE the cook and want out? Well... you try to come up with some concoction truly foul that will guarantee complaints. Bob's cook in the lumber camp in moose country went out and collected the biggest "pasture patty" he could find, added a generous sprinkling of wild oregano, popped the mixture into a pie shell, heated and served. The cook could detect a little bit of unhappiness but not a soul spoke until the last guy straggled in, took his first gagging bite and uttered the immortal lines that would deny the cook his prize... "My God! It's moose turd pie... but good though!"

James decided to spend his Sunny Days in the 70s "sittin' stoned alone in my backyard ... half undressed just soakin' up the sun". I'll bet that James didn't suspect for one minute that the girls next door were selling tickets for an unobstructed view from their upstairs bedroom windows. James paid their way through college :-)

Cindy told the story of the lost Fu*kawe tribe in which a city slicker went out to hunt game. A bunch of old fellers took pity on him and not wanting him to come to harm or get lost, they took him out themselves. They told him about a group of people who had been lost in the woods for a very long time, never to be seen again. Somehow the city slicker got separated from the old fellers and stumbled through the woods into a clearing filled with people. "Who ARE you?" said the city slicker. "We're the fu*kawe". Hoots, guffaws & much sidesplitting laughter erupted. Margo looked around in total confusion and proclaimed that she didn't get it which caused the room to erupt even more volcanically. Cindy, ever patient with children & the less fortunate, carefully explained the punch line to her - "Where the Fu*k are we?" "Ahhhhhhhh!" said Margo. Clary said "Good thing you got the looks girl".

We think he may need his glasses altered! But not his songwriting. Clary ended the evening with what he described as perhaps the oddest song he's ever written -Schade. It concerned his German 1752 heritage when Jacob Kraft (changed to Croft around 1830) came over on the Ann and was one of the original settlers to open up the town of Lunenburg. Schade means Sorry. Clary's not sure why Jacob's sorry but the line "Had I known then what I know now..." implies that maybe he's sorry for bringing them here, for putting them through the hardships of emigration. The words & melody were mesmerizing and Clary's guitar work was stellar. With Clary's glorious voice echoing through the cafe, we departed... happy in the knowledge that summer was here and that we had truly welcomed her in style.

Next week... we're going Travellin'. "Get your motor runnin', head out on the highway lookin' for adventure or whatever comes your way...." Hopefully those two yellow specks of lights dead ahead do NOT belong to a moose!

~The Artful Blodger

What the Folk Goes Travellin' - kinda

2010-07-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! goes TRAVELLIN'
folksongs . folktales . folk music - folkcraft . folklore
Friday, July 9th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

* Another work of fiction from our writer-in-residence
before it's discovered that she has escaped from the locked ward... AGAIN!

After 6 DAYS ON THE ROAD, Dave Dudley hoped that some EARLY MORNING RAIN would wash away the Woody scent of his HARD TRAVELIN'. With a heavy heart and a Light foot, he'd been GOING UP THE COUNTRY with The Band... cookin' over ACADIAN DRIFTWOOD and Canned Heat every summer since that RAMBLIN' BOY Tom had lured his PROUD MARY away to GRACELAND for some S&G at the Creedence Clearwater Revival. A Pax ton them all!

And as if things weren't bad enough on this SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY... all Ella broke loose. After Dave made some unfortunate CHANGES IN LATITUDE, CHANGES IN ATTITUDE were in order because Dave had unceremoniously stepped on a wolf and was now being Buffetted by more than FOUR STRONG WINDS. Dave wished he could Ty that son of a b**** to a tree but he was Chapped man. What he needed was a FAST CAR and PDQ 'cause that KATMANDU was BORN TO BE WILD and Segerly Nashing his teeth.

It was just a matter of time before that Stepped on wolf bit Dave in his MARRAKESH EXPRESS and Dave would be GOIN' DOWN THE ROAD FEELIN' BAD yet again. Oh... to be BACK IN THE USSR where the only wildlife to worry about were Beatles!

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Summer! at What the Folk!

2010-06-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk!
folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore

WTF embraces SUMMER!!!
Friday,June 25th

6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances

Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Warning! This is a work of fiction.
The cultural icons noted below are totally at the mercy of a deranged mind
In no way are they to be blamed for their part in this farce.

'Twas the SUMMER of '69. Bryan Adams went on V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N with Connie Francis. Unfortunately... their Surfaris were a WIPEOUT! Connie's ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE YELLOW POLKA DOT BIKINI drifted UNDER THE BOARDWALK in MARGARITAVILLE where Frank Sinatra had just retired atter a stifling SUMMER IN THE CITY. Wasting away he wasn't!

After having noshed more than one Lovin' Spoonful of Jimmy's Buffet,Frank passed out... but not before passing on a fairly pungent SUMMER WIND which also drifted UNDER THE BOARDWALK where Bryan and Connie had taken refuge to avoid incarceration, probably in Denver, for having too much SUNSHINE ON HER SHOULDERS and other soft places.
Connie had been Slyly hoping for some HOT FUN IN THE CITY with Bryan's Family Stones but she was Percy losing Faith in A SUMMER PLACE that smelled like a Three Dog Night. Alas... there was to be no JOY TO THE WORLD
on this Kinky SUMMER AFTERNOON.

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk - Just Us Having Hard Times and Singing the Blues

2010-06-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

Bloggerbodies!

Sounds like an expletive but really... it's an expressive term of endearment for all of you who have encouraged this humble writer's musings.Thank you for noticing. Charles Dickens said: Pray, do not therefore, be inducted to suppose that I ever write merely to amuse, or without an object. Must be a guy thing!

The theme last Friday was Hard Times & Blues. The time before it was Shoes. Puts me in mind of Max MacDonald's song... "Last week I was in hardware; this week I'm in shoes. I've got the Workin' at the Woolco Manager Trainee Blues". My version goes... "This week I'm in Hardtimes; last week it was Shoes. I've got the Jugglin' Themes at Just Us Manic In Training Blues".

Margo and Cindy started the night off with a snippet from Stephen Foster's Hard Times. "Hard times, hard times, come again no more..." which really didn't make any sense at all since hard times was our reason for being there and the night was young. We needed all the hard times we could get or the evening would be a dismal failure.

Fortunately Don had brought his banjo and in true hard times fashion too... without a case. Or was that... just in case? Or was it the tea towel stuffed in the back just in case? Either way, Don astonished us with a most expressive & impressive use of banjo chords as he shared the Poor Man's Lament "en francais" no less. Magnifique!

Pixie said that she didn't know any hard times songs. Margo said that living with Vince more than qualified her so Pixie borrowed James's guitar and played Gillian Welch's One More Dollar - "One more dime to show for my days, one more dollar and I'm going home". Really Vince, she deserves a better household allowance than that!

Next we welcomed newcomer Bill Quimby. Bill's guitar was hardtimes in itself - a really neat old Gibson with 15 year old strings and a 2" wide neck. There was authenticity in those bar chords as Bill sang Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927. "There's 6 feet of water in the streets of the lower 9; Louisiana they're trying to wash us away". Well at least we were in no danger of being washed away up on the second floor but we were sure BLOWN away!

And we continued to be blown away as Kate, still playing fiddle as brilliantly as ever and accompanied by the baroque wizard David, sang... yes you heard it first here ladies & gentlemen... Kate sang. 30 years ago Kate sang a solo and last Friday she did it again. "In the pines, in the pines where the sun never shines and they shiver when the cold wind blows". Well WE certainly got the shivers from Kate & David's fabulous arrangement of the haunting modal melody In The Pines. Maybe... if we promise to sing along lustily on the choruses again, she won't wait another 30 years to solo?

And we got to sing along some more with Leo Feinstein, newly arrived from the Boston States. Leo regaled us with story & song snippets from slavery days. Songs like No More Auction Block For Me and Follow The Drinking Gourd. We may have had only one word to sing in Take This Hammer but we made every "Humph" and "Whumph" count. We couldn't agree on the pronunciation so we humphed and we whumphed and we almost blew the house down!

By now, as a chorus, we were approaching liftoff! Fortunately the ever tasteful Ann Fearon managed to temper our raucousness but not our enthusiasm as we contributed stellar harmonies to Ann's moving rendition of Stephen Foster's Hard Times. The lyrics may have been sad but the sound sure wasn't!

It should be noted that Ann had a lot of fans in the room but Cindy was only looking for the one that counted... the electric one. She turned it on, pointed it in the direction of her seat and invited all menopausal women over to that side of the room. Jon said "you have to suffer to sing the blues". I bet HE suffered plenty later on back home :-)

David Stone brought another of his own compositions and since we were on a roll, invited us to sing along. This time it was a powerful Civil War song called Lord Forgive Me. We decided afterwards that David needed to be forgiven too for leading us on. He expected us to grasp what must have been the most wordy chorus ever written and we were not up to the task.
A seasoned auctioneer would have failed! But to be fair... he DID warn us and we should have known 'cause David is a master of wordy.His intros are often longer than his songs :-)

Sydney's a cappella rendering of She Moved Through The Fair was so mesmerizing that you could have heard a pin drop. Not an easy feat in this crowd!

Bob Hartman-Berrier with "bed bugs holding him down" mischievously changed the mood with a late 1920s cock-eyed view of life called Hungry Hash House. I noticed that Jim Smith, of Cockroach Blues fame, seemed to know it and was singing along. What's with those American guys and bugs?

John Waldron, with Leon Rosselson's We Sell Everything, gave David Stone a real run for his money word-wise. I don't think I have ever heard so many words going by so fast in one song except for maybe anything Gilbert & Sullivan :-) John made Hank Snow's I've Been Everywhere Man seem positively comatose in comparison.

According to Karen's 12 bar blues, when she "woke up this morning she had just a body and a tail..." but as The Tadpole Blues progressed, she evolved quite miserably, verse by verse until ... "I'm a frog & I cry & wail ". Jon Stone said that he loves a song with a hoppy ending! Jim said he found the song quite ribbetting!

Jim then quipped: "I thought puberty was hard but at least I didn't lose my tail." Probably 'cause he didn't have any to lose. It's hardly likely that the boys in The Schoolhouse Blues who "smeared glue on their fingers and pretended to peel off their skin" had to beat the chicks off with a stick.

Keeping with the theme of little devils, Cindy told The Black Devil, a hard times story from P.E.I where she grew up. It involved 5 brothers, one of whom was a slacker. But this was good 'cause it saved him from going blind when the 4 others were out in the field hoeing turnips for the Devil. But the slacker's mother was not amused and after chastizing him, they all went to church where a priest sprinkled some holy water and the 4 regained their sight just in time to see a large black dog who was following them home behind the wagon disappear mysteriously. I grew up on P.E.I too but I'm glad I left before the weirdness started :-)

Vince and James took the stage and James with a devillish look, stated that folks singing the blues tended to start with "when I woke up this morning...." James thought that it made a good case for sleeping in 'til the afternoon.

Vince is a very funny guy but tonight he shared his other side in two of his own compositions - The Book and I Am My Father's Compass. Vince told us of having found a book in Frenchys that contained such personal inscriptions that he felt like a Peeping Tom into these folks' lives. He left without the book but it still haunts him: "... If peace & love are what you want, then be that for someone else".

And "I am my father's compass and I will steer the boat. I will write the song and hang on every note. And we will sing together; we'll find that perfect tone. I am my father's compass and I will lead you home." Vince's dad probably had no idea that this handed down heirloom would so inspire this fisherman's son from Peggy's Cove. And what a fitting gift of song it is for Father's Day this coming Sunday!

And James was brilliant on guitar and harmonies as always. A good mornings sleep will do wonders!

Then Bill Quimby returned to lead us in Al Macdonald's Heading To Halifax. Bet you didn't know that Bill headed to Halifax all the way from Baddeck. I don't think those Capers can stand to see an empty highway :-)

And speaking of Capers...we ended the evening with St. Peter's favourite son David Stone explaining how TV images of musician's instruments floating away in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina inspired the song God's Not Into Music. Lines like " He's left New Orleans singing the blues" and "I'm tempted to toss this guitar in the sea before He comes back to finish off me" were the perfect finale to this evening of Hard Times and Blues.

The Summer Solstice is almost upon us so on June 25th... WTF! embraces summer. " Hot time summer in the city. Back of my neck's gettin' dirty and sweaty. Cool cat lookin' for a kitty. Gonna look in ev'ry corner of the city. All around people lookin' half dead...." Yeah... that pretty much sums us up. A bunch of aging Vampires sinkin' what's left of our teeth into some Summer Lovin' & Grease. How can you possibly resist?

~ The Artful Blodger

WTF: What The Folk! foresees Hard Times & Blues!!!

2010-06-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! foresees Hard Times & Blues!!!
folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore
Friday, June 11th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Stephen Foster said: Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears...

Eleanor Rigby put on her Long Black Veil and took the Midnight Special to Nowhere Man because she had promised to Send In The Clowns to cheer up Tom Dooley who was suffering in St. James Infirmary with the Worried Man Blues.

Frankie & Johnnie had Trouble In Mind when they passed this Wayfaring Stranger going Down To The River To Pray and not even Angels From Montgomery could have saved her from what waited on the Banks Of The Ohio.

...What awaits YOU at What the Folk? Check out our Blog.
Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

What the Folk! - Folk n' Footwear!

2010-06-05T13:38:00.001-07:00

Hey there Blogguys & Bloggals,

Remember camp? Sitting around a roaring campfire with your new best friends singing favourites like The Quartermaster's Store? "There were gnus, gnus pawing through the shoes at the store, at the store.There were gnus, gnus pawing through the shoes at the Quartermaster's store". A veritable Frenchy's for the fuzzy & furry, the wild & the wooly!

Well last week at What the Folk! was kinda like that. We didn't have a campfire but there was lots of roaring (laughter that is). And the fuzzy & furry herd was definitely heard in wild & wooly shoe songs and tales of every style and size.

Clary started off the evening with the traditional Come All Ye Old Comrades and when gently chastized for ignoring the night's theme, launched into an impromptu and hilarious version containing the memorable phrase "boot them in the arse". Cecil Sharpe no doubt was turning in his grave.

After the giggles subsided... Bob, no doubt trying to appease the learned and long-dead folklorist, showed us some true mountain flair with Black Jack Davey on the banjo. John W took us to Amsterdam for a deeply moving stroll along the Zuider Zee in wooden shoes with The Dutchman. In the chantey Blow The Man Down, Jon "robbed the poor Dutchman of his boots, clothes and all". John W, perhaps in an attempt at redress, took great interest in Jon's tartan shirt. "What tartan is that?", said John. " Clan Destine", was Jon's deadpan reply. Groan!!!! Jon managed to duck our flying shoes and keep his wardrobe intact too. Better a redress than an undress!

Seguing into Mr. Bojangles, Karen (Robinson) told us of her great grandfather's career in the minstrel tradition up and down the east coast. Somehow Margo got completely confused and thought that Bill Robinson of Mr. Bojangle's fame was Karen's great grandfather Robinson. "But he's black", declared the porcelain skinned Karen. Margo had to concede that there was little family resemblance.

In The Red Shoes, Kate took us off to Cape Breton for this fiddle tune composed by Dan R. MacDonald and a trip down memory lane. Back in the 1980s, young Kate, new to Cape Breton culture, thought to wow the locals at her first dance with her old-fashioned, and very clunky granny shoes only to find that the locals, the women at least, preferred dancing in gravity defying high heels. Maybe the shoes were red from the seeping blood of broken blisters?

We welcomed Ann Fearon for the first, and hopefully not the last, time. Ann, with James on guitar, shared her own brilliant composition High Heeled Shoes Blues. Like Kate, Ann doesn't think much of footwear designed to maim.

Jay launched into The Dead Horse Shanty, because after all, horses have shoes, don't they? Paul Hanlon said he "nailed it". Double groan! Then Cindy told us a story that she slightly adapted from Helen Creighton's Bluenose Ghosts. We were totally entranced as The Dancing Lass With Shoes So Pretty lost her sole to the Devil. Yes... I spelled it right...her sole. I said that Cindy "slightly" adapted it. It was shoe-pendous :-)

Jim, a la James Dean, arrived on his motorcycle. A rebel without applause he wasn't after These Old Shoes - Jim's touching tribute to his father-in-law in this brand new song that was expressly composed for the night's theme.

June, with James channeling Paul Simon on guitar, floored us with Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes. For a few glorious minutes the room came alive with Ladysmith Black Mbaso harmonies. WoW!

A not so Funny Thing Happened to Clary's feet On The Way To The Forum while he was playing Hysterium in high heels at Neptune. But would his feet have been any happier clad in the new rubber boots that stomped the cabbage into pickle in The Sauerkraut Song? Some people are meant to go barefoot, me thinks :-)

Bob told us of a trek undertaken back in the late 1800s by members of the NYC Explorer's Club into the Amazon Rainforest. With no geographical knowledge of the area and only medieval maps as a guide, expedition after expedition went missing. Bob was so convincing that I believed that the story was true almost to the end. If The Foo Shits, Wear It!

When we regained our composure, John sang a Child Ballad which tells of a lady who gave up her pampered life to follow the Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies. Sounds a bit like Bob's story. No mention of their meeting up with a large flying incontinent bird though!

At Pixie's suggestion, June wrote Take These Shoes specifically for the shoe theme. In fact she was still composing as she and James took the stage to share immortal lines like "when the rubber hits the road, it'll be your sole".

Ann, accompanying herself on guitar, sang another of her own memorable compositions - The Queen of My Back Garden. Karen brought us back to shoes (sorta)... well she did mention "foot" in her hysterical metric version of Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue - "She's a centimetre shorter than a metre and a quarter...."

And then 3/4 of The Dory Bungholes (Jon, Jay & Margo) went Marching Inland... literally... much to everyone's delight. The people downstairs at Just Us must have thought the ceiling was falling in :-) Those Bungs can sure clear a room right some good.

Join us next on June 11th when the theme will be Hard Times & Blues. Surely we'll show more decorum then but I can't promise.

~The Artful Blodger~

What The Folk Has Sole!

2010-05-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! has SOLE!!!
folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore
Friday, May 28th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

The Theme is SHOES!
Tonight - we cobble together sole music and tales with sole.

Mr. Bojangles danced the old soft shoe with an old sole on his worn out shoes.
O My Darlin' Clementine's sole was a fairy-light size nine!
But were they Golden Slippers?
Paul Simon swore she had Diamond's On The Soles of her Shoes.
Elvis swore they were Blue Suede Shoes.
Dylan swore off shoes altogether in favour of Boots of Spanish Leather.
Stompin' Tom's went to the The Gum Boot Cloggeroo
Where I'm sure Rindercella slopped her dripper
And put on her High-Heeled Sneakers.

Shoes, Glorious Shoes...
Bring yours, sing yours. A shoe by any other name would smell....

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!
And... Be Kind To Your Web-Footed Friends for a duck may be...
...somebody's sole mate.

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Mother Would Have Been Proud?

2010-05-21T19:41:00.001-07:00

Hey there Bloggeroos.

Did you celebrate Mother's Day on the 9th? Well we sure did and on the 14th too when we "toasted, boasted and roasted" mothers in all their delightful incarnations. But... first things first.

In a surprise move fit for Survivor, Margo handed out coloured squares of paper and asked everyone to write down their choice(s) for a future theme. Panic ensued, followed by copious pen swapping and furious writing as the room breathed red, green, yellow, orange and blue fire. Thankfully it didn't come to blows and by the end of the night, a pile of colorful squares had been collected. Jon was elected to draw the coveted square. Did he succeed? More importantly... did he survive? All will be revealed in good time.

By then we were all really worked up and Cindy, sensing the prevailing mood, let loose with a rousing version of Mama Don't Allow. That mama wouldn't allow any folk singin' or hootin & hollerin'. Good thing she wasn't invited cause that's all we did until Don showed us some decorum with a beautiful rendition of Carole King's You've Got A Friend chosen because his family was too poor to have a mum but they were and still are a friendly bunch. And funny too if they're anything like Don.

Pixie, after what must have been a very hard day at work, tore at our heart strings with I Am Weary, Let Me Rest from O Brother, Where Art Thou? I was sure she must have said O Bother, Where Art Thou? 'cause the next thing we knew there was Vince Looking Out For Linda. Pixie didn't seem too perturbed by Vince's having known the colourful Linda but Vince said that his mum sure was. No wonder!

Karen delved into her family's store of late 1800s parlour songs and brought out So, You're Going To Leave The Old Folks, Jim. And our own Jim Smith didn't seem to think that now would be a good time to leave what with all the yard work that needed to be done "inch, by inch, row on row" as he took us through The Garden Song.

David told us that his mum was a Yiddish folk singer and together with Kate, they unleashed their dual fiddles on Dona, Dona with everyone singing along. We were musically OK but Yiddish we were not! Bob, never ceasing to surprise us with his versatility, recited The Story of Nell. Leona had her own story to tell in What's Your Story Now a composition inspired by her conversation with a group of mothers.

We all held our breath hoping she wouldn't change her mind as Kelly left the safety of her seat to sing for the first time. Then with Don on guitar, Kelly, from the perspective of a mother with three children now grown, ably sang the poignant Turn Around. Since he was already on stage with his guitar, Don didn't have to turn around at all. Besides... that was The Last Thing On His Mind.

Margo, enlisting the aid of Vince; some might have said "risking ruin", went theatrical with The Old Man Who Came Over The Lea.Too bad vaudeville died. Those two really belong on the stage... or UNDER it. Ha! Ha! And Margo was right... there was definitely something wrong with the mother.

Now Vince's mother is another story. As the sole proprietor of Betty's Diner in Peggy's Cove, she was often a one woman show. It wasn't HER fault that it sometimes included unscheduled nude entertainment. How on Earth could she be expected to cook, clean, wait tables AND babysit the kids without at least one of them deciding that clothes were just too much of an encumberance on a hot day in this touristy paradise? Wish we could have been there as Betty... apron flying in the balmy sea breeze/Nor'easter ... chased Vince's little cousin 'round & around the diner over the scenic rocks of Peggy's Cove much to the amusement of the resident diners. Perhaps Tourism Nova Scotia could video a re-enactment for TV promo slots ? At the very least, it would make a delightful postcard full of local colour.

Karen cured us of our giggling with another dose of 1800s tearjerking melodrama in The Baggage Coach Ahead. We'll never look at the parent of a crying child the same way again. Kate & David, with David playing the octave fiddle this time, dried our tears with the high-spirited Mom's Jig by Jerry Holland and Bob kept the tunes coming on fiddle with Lost Waterfall, Arkensas Traveller and Last Indian.

Jim told us a hilarious story from his childhood involving a trip to the woods, a cut lip, drops of blood and a pure white t-shirt. When Jim arrived home from his fun outing, his mother saw only the hunting knife at his side and the humungous red stain in the centre of this t-shirt. Boys will be boys... and a special few grow into men who can write the most unbelievably moving account of a mother's later years with circulatory dementia in song - Bernita, Bernita.

Throughout the evening Cindy told many humorous anecdotes. We especially liked the one where, after her dad had brought fresh fish home to be cleaned, her mum would make the fish faces talk. Figures that Cindy would now be a puppeteer! And with Jon going fishing tomorrow, does that mean there will be a puppet show before dinner? Forget Punch & Judy. At Jon & Cindy's it's Shad & Gaspereau!

And Cindy really knows how to cause a scene in a library too. Riddle this: If a person who plays a violin is a violinist what is a person who plays a piano? A pianist of course. But after partaking in Cindy's library storytelling session involving musical instruments, that's not what the little boy loudly yelled in the lobby. He blared: "Hey mum, we learned aaaaalllllllllllll about penises today!" Cindy nearly died of embarrassment. No word on the boy's mother! Or the pending legal action :-)

And now for the big announcement. Drum roll please. Risking life & limb, Jon drew a yellow square. Our next theme will be... wait for it... SHOES. Use your imaginations. Put your own spin on it... Blue Suede Shoes, Gumboot Cloggeroos, Golden Slippers, Slop Your Drippers. Put on your High-Heeled Sneakers or come Barefoot to Boogie. Just remember that May 28th will be Sole Night.

Oh yes... we decided to let Jon live if he'd sing Shoo Fly!

~The Artful Blogger~

What The Folk! Celebrates Mothers!

2010-05-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! celebrates MOTHERS!!!
folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore
Friday, May 14th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

M is for the madcap way she raised us,
O is the opinions that she gave
T is the traditions that embraced us
H is the hair- raising tricks we played
E is many long- extended curfews
R is for the rants when we got home

We all either HAVE mothers or KNOW mothers so...
tonight we mingle [ and slightly mangle ] Mothers
Be it... motherhood, motherlode, mothers of invention... we perform
FOR mothers, ABOUT mothers, IN SPITE OF Mothers

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family.
The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!
And bring your mothers... if you dare :-0

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posting about Protesting

2010-04-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hey there Bloggers,

Last night I had the strangest dream. Ed McCurdy was in it. And Bob Dylan. And Billy Edd Wheeler. And Utah Phillips. And The Weavers. Oh wait... it wasn't a dream. It was WTF! and everyone there was singing songs of protest with so much heart & soul as to match or even exceed their writer's versions. If you were there you weren't square. If you missed it... Bummer for you. It was "a happening, man"!

Margo set the tone with a fragment of Odetta's O Freedom. Freedom songs like this one sprung to life during the American Civil Rights Movement. They were well-loved old spirituals given new words to inspire a new generation.

Cindy, taking off her usual storytelling hat and picking up her guitar, was inspired to sing a song by her friend, Norm Walker, a folksinger in Regina. The song, Diamonds and Gold, was about the horrors of diamond mining in South Africa. It had a killer chorus that soon had everyone singing along.

Then Don, apologizing for not having a protest song, shared Brother Can You Spare A Dime which he learned from the singing of Fred Hellerman of The Weavers. We all agreed that if that's not an anti-establishment song, what is?

We welcomed James & June for the first time. And about time too! June, with James on guitar and harmony, sang her own excellent composition Keep It In The Ground, an 'energy'etic piece. We could barely keep ourselves contained as the song was a hoot. And what was that about grandma's ass bumping, bumping, bumping?

Jim had a hard act to follow... but he laid his own deft humour aside and went with the master '60s protestor Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind. He noticed that everyone had no trouble singing along once he had established the first few words of each verse. Old hippies never die but the batteries for their memories seem to be running low.

Fiddling Kate played a lovely tune called The Rights of Man inspired by Thomas Paine's 1791 bill. A protest song on the fiddle? Who but the amazing Kate could pull this off.

Michael led us in Ian Robb's They're Taking It Away and after at least six verses we were in fine voice and no one, not even "the man", could take THAT away.

Bob reincarnated Utah Phillips and surprised us even more by leaving his banjo home in favour of an outing with his guitar.

Jay, in fine voice, sang Donovan's Gold Watch Blues for anyone who's ever had to jump through the hoops of the job interview process.

Then back to Apartheid with Jon on guitar Singing The Spirit Home. He had lots of help on this Eric Bogle gem.

Vince told us about his time spent working in a copper mine in B.C. not so long ago. He said that due to price fluctuations, if you visit the site on Google Earth today, you will see two blue ponds. A perfect segue into Billy Edd Wheeler's The Coming of the Roads.

James took us back to the days where he "tucked his hair up under his hat" ( Giggle! Snort!) and there were "signs, signs, everywhere a sign blockin' the scenery and breakin' his mind." He said "Do this, don't do that, can't you read the signs?" We weren't sure what we were supposed to do or not to do since no-one told us we were playing Simon Says but we sang along 'cause "for sure, man... we could read the signs".

Pixie sang "It's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life" and all eyes were on her accompanist, Vince, 'cause we knew where she was coming from. Just kidding Vince :-) Nancy Griffith herself couldn't have done better.

Don attempted a fragment of a Weaver's song in the hopes that someone would know the other verses. The song was brilliant but, sadly... we weren't. So Don sang one of his own compositions - Funny What People Call Home. We were blown away by its poignant message, exquisite melody and chords to die for.

Again Jim had another hard act to follow but he wowed us with Garbage... not his singing style, duh! ... but the content of this Bill Steele composition that "tells it like it is, man".

Vince asked James to play along on his Til The Job Gets Done and he did and it did with everyone singing lustily along. Then, Margo, reminding us that Ed McCurdy used to live just down the street, launched into The Strangest Dream. It was "groovy, man" 'cause everybody knew the words and the words mean as much today as they did back in the '60s when they were first written. But aren't we missing something here? Like... "the point, man"? Shouldn't we have gotten that monkey off our collective world backs by now? What was all that protesting for? Surely not just to add some pretty songs to our musical culture? "Heavy, man". And too heavy to ponder by the likes of us in one night. So we Roll(ed)The Golden Chariots Along with Vince. I, for one, plan to roll them back in for another night of protest songs in the near future. We barely scratched the surface and I'm still itchy. And hopefully... contagious.

~ The Artful Blogger ~

Protest: WTF

2010-04-20T07:25:00.001-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:
WTF: What The Folk!

PROTEST
folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore

Friday,April 23rd
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Taxes got you down? Fed up with the state of the environment?
War? Overwhelmed by man's inhumanity to man?
Then...Raise your voices, raise a ruckus and raise our collective spirits
With protest songs & stories [ old and new ]

Format: Open mike unplugged. Cost: free will donation
If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family. The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!
Protesting is optional.

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF:
What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Sing a Song of Scotland (Celebrating Tartan Day)

2010-04-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

April 9th in Halifax was a very foggy night - putting one in mind of mists on the moors. A lot of tartan abounded - Paul & Jean came fully decked out in kilts. Bob wore a tartan shirt and Margo - a tartan cloak. 'Someone' wore tartan underwear but most of us wouldn't look.
Some performers were thematic, some strayed, some strayed widely, but lots of fun was had by all which was ‘verra nice.’

Here is an example of the line up at that foggy event at Just Us Cafe on Spring Garden Road:

Intro: Margo & Cindy - Loch Lomond fragment
1. Don Burke sang Gaia - a James Taylor composition (guitar accompaniment)
2. Michael Thompson sang A Bottle of the Best ( a capella)
3. David Stone sang Headlights - his own composition about Cape Bretoner's traveling West and back ( guitar acc) Cindy thought he said "head lice" and could barely contain herself
4. Bob Hartman-Berrier sang the trad. murder ballad Willie Moore (banjo acc)
5. Cindy told a story called The Finger Lock. Clan McCrimmon prominent.
6. Jim Smith played an instrumental Appalachian tune on banjo
7. Clary Croft sang The Braes of Belquether (a capella). It was written by the Paisley poet Robert Tannahill who gave us the origins of Nova Scotia's unofficial folk song "The Nova Scotia Song" before he went mad and threw himself into the canal.
8. Kate Dunlay played a fiddle medley of puirt-a-beul (Gaelic mouth music - "Calum Crubach", "Seallaibh Curaidh Eoghainn", and "Chuirinn Air a' Phiob E". Margo, Jay, George & Michael sang along in Scottish Gaelic.
9. Margo sang Griogal Chridhe (Beloved Gregor) in Scottish Gaelic (a capella)
10.Vince Morash sang On Ilklay Moor Bar Tat (a capella) with lots of audience participation
11.Dave Stone sang two more of his compositions - Never See Another Train and Song For John Allen (with guitar) These might not be the true titles but they are the subject matter.
12.Don Burke sang Northern Lights - a Lenny Gallant composition (with guitar)
13.Jim Smith sang Made My Home on the Mississippi (with banjo)
14.Vince Morash sang Cosmic and Freaky - a Grit Laskin composition (a capella) complete with miming toking and had us all in stitches. We ended on that note because no one could possibly have topped that for fun and vocal choral intensity.
So there you have it as we remember it. Thanks to everyone who came out!
Margo and Cindy
The theme for April 23rd is Protest Songs and Stories, or if you protest the theme that’s okay too.

What The Folk! Tartan Day!

2010-04-06T08:04:00.001-07:00

WTF: What The Folk! acknowledges TARTAN DAY!

folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore

Friday, April 9th

6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa

7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances

Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Open-mic format, unplugged.

Cost: Free Will Donation

April 6th is International Tartan Day so in honour of all things Scottish...

Sing a song of Scotland, wear a tartan or a tie,

Four and twenty kilters coming thru' the rye.

When the rye was opened, the Scots began to sing.

Now wasn't that a_______________. [pick one]

(a.) Party (b.) Time (c.) Force to be reckoned with

If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family. The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious! Scots singing and tartan wearing is optional.

Yours in folk,

Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

We Stumped and We Hand Planed!

2010-04-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there Bloggers. Been a while. Unforeseen events... like family and surgery, but not at the same time although... some families may wish to cut out members from time to time. But not us folkies.

On march 26th, we welcomed our SING OUT! family. Almost everyone brought songs with choruses and you could hear us all the way out to the Frog Pond in Jollimore. Scared the frogs silent! The neighbours are still calling to thank us.

Some highlights: Jay & Margo started the evening with the chantey Starbuck's Complaint - very funny since we were in a competitor's cafe. Of course those two hammed it up and we all hooted on the last line of the chorus where it goes "now Sailor's stop, your order's here...." since there's no table service at Just Us cafe.

Bob sang and played Peg 'n Awl on the banjo in true Southern style and later on Don borrowed it for 3 Chords, 's Excuse Me 4. Finally... the banjo got some respect! And so did poor old much maligned Danny Boy when Kate and David, on fiddle and violin respectively, shared a gorgeous traditional Southern instrumental version. It was breathtakingly beautiful but way too short. Kate promises a reprise.

John and Sydney sang Both Sides The Tweed while David's Celtic violin sensibilities made us feel like we were there "where friendship and honour unite and flourish...." Karen arrived a bit late with The Jolly Ploughboy. Clary took one look and sang False Knight Upon The Road. Hmmmm! And just when we were getting cocky with our chorus singing too!!! Who wouldda thunk that a bunch of "diddle dydle dees" couldda undone us? After that... Jay got mixed up with his Woodworker's Alphabet. John's The Close Shave pretty much sums it up. But Jay really knows his trees so "we stumped and we hand-planed" but we didn't get board :-)

by Margo Carruthers

Stories About Trees

2010-04-03T08:50:00.001-07:00

To all storytelling fans, tellers and listeners:

Another great night of stories coming up next week.
Last month's gathering led to the idea of stories about
TREES, but who knows what will grow that night?

Come join us in the forest (where the wild things are).

Thursday April 8, 7-8:30 - but come early!

Upstairs at Just Us! Coffee Shop,

Spring Garden Road at Carleton

All welcome, bring a friend!

Contact: Cindy Campbell
storysong@ns.sympatico.ca

Storytelling Workshops Offered!

2010-04-01T09:16:00.001-07:00

Storytelling Workshops: Spring 2010
Cindy Campbell’s Place (Dartmouth) or TBA

I am excited to be able to offer storytelling workshops this Spring. I have been telling stories professionally for 10 years and this fall I will be attending a storytelling festival and offering workshops. To help me prepare, I am offering a variety of workshops at a special price.
Whether you choose one or two workshops, you’ll get your creative spirit soaring to new levels...just bring your enthusiasm!
To register, contact Cindy at 902-466-0157 or at storysong@ns.sympatico.ca. I can also take requests for workshops at another time and place.
My web page can be found on www.professionalstoryteller.ning.com. For updates on storytelling and workshops, check out my storytelling blog at www.storytellingnovascotia.blogspot.com.

Costs for Each Workshop:
$30 per person
$25 per person for members of Storytellers Circle of Halifax

Beginner Storytelling Workshop:

Tell It! An Introduction to Storytelling
Saturday, April 24 1:00 - 4:30 pm

Wanna find out more about oral storytelling? Or perhaps you are interested in being a storyteller but don’t know if you have what it takes. Want to learn a few basic skills and connect with your storytelling style? This workshop is for you and will help you find, choose, learn, develop, and tell, your story.

Beginner/ Intermediate Workshop:

At the Root , It’s All about Connections
Saturday, May 15 1:00 - 4:30 pm

Storytelling at its roots has been connecting people and helping to define their culture and beliefs for several thousand years. Storytelling develops connections unlike any other art form.
Find your connection whether it be world or cultural tales, personal or family stories, community or historical, fairy or folk tales. Learn a few basic skills that will connect with your storytelling style and help you find, choose, learn, develop, and tell, your story. Discover a few techniques that can help you connect with your listeners of any age and audience size.
This participatory workshop is for novice or intermediate tellers who wish to explore storytelling for use in literary, educational, or historical environments, or for community, casual or performance type events.

Journeyman/Masters Workshop:

Delving for Buried Treasure: Dig Deeper, Connect, and Open Up
Saturday, June 19 1:00 - 4:30 pm

Think you’ve found a treasure of a story but can’t quite see the map? Been telling a story for so long, you’ve lost the magic? This workshop will help you navigate and find the hidden treasures in a new story or an old one. Learn constructive dissection of story parts or characters, then rebuild the story with satisfying improvements. Explore ways to combine several versions of a story or to weave fragments of one story into another one. Find out how to take small stories, anecdotes, folk lore and make a longer cohesive story. Discover the many ways to develop story combos, such as storysongs or how to enhance a story through trickery of voice.
This particpatory and peer supportive workshop is for journeymen or master tellers who wish to delve deep, explore, experiment, share ideas and experiences and feel empowered by change.

SING OUT!

2010-03-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk! celebrates SING OUT!
folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore
Friday, March 26th
6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances
Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Open-mic format, unplugged.
Cost: Free Will Donation

Yes, there's something to sing about... tune up a string about... call out in chorus or quietly hum... it's Spring! Don't let the peepers get a jump on us. Bring your Songs with Choruses and help make a splash heard all the way out to the Frog Pond...

If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family. The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,
Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Keeping folklorist's work alive

2010-03-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

Keeping folklorist's work alive

Folk n' Green!

2010-03-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Presents:

WTF: What The Folk!

folksongs . folktales . folkart . folklore

Friday, March 12th

6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa

7:00 - 8:30pm - Performances

Just Us Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road

Open-mic format, unplugged.

Cost: Free Will Donation

Since St. Paddy's day is just around the corner, why not celebrate your inner, outer, inate, inordinate Irish and bring something Irish to share. It doesn't have to be a song or story, you can maybe dye your hair green, wear a Fair Isle sweater, smuggle in a Leprechaun....

If you are free on Friday, please join us. Tell your friends and family. The space is cozy, the coffee is great and the fun is contagious!

Yours in folk,

Host/co-ordinators: Margo Carruthers 425-3828, Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What the Folk! meets, same time and place , every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Wind and Rain Can't Keep Some Folk Away!

2010-02-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

It was a blustery, rainy evening at What The Folk on Friday night. There were some very brave folks who managed to plow against the wind, brave the rolling Macdonald Bridge, and drive around fallen branches to sing, tell and play over the rain and wind pounding on the windows.
Between the singin' and the tellin', there was interesting discussion about folk songs, stories and lore.
Here are a few highlights:

Margo sang a beautiful Gaelic song about highlanders coming to Nova Scotia and lamenting about the mountains back home in Scotland. This led to a discussion about making houses and creating homes on barren land vs thickly wooded land, and about new ways vs old.
Jon led a shanty or two with everyone joining in. This led to discussions about the use of shanty singing as work songs.
George sang The Song of New Scotland from the 1750's, the oldest English speaking song written about Nova Scotia. This led to a discussion about ballads.
Jay sang a ballad of the sea, and Margo sang harmony.
Cindy told a story about Uncle Russ and His Prize Pig, then sang a folksong her Uncle Carl used to sing called Mary of the Wild Moor.
Kate played a couple of Cape Breton tunes on the fiddle in Em, as she was feeling very E-minorish because of the weather.
All in all, it was a pleasant way to spend an evening with a cuppa hot brew amoung great company. Although, there was more discussin' than usual, it was very interesting, I learned a few things, had a grand time.
Alas, the evening ended too soon and we had to brave our way out into the storm. We drove back over the Macdonald Bridge, and I couldn't help but compare the motion of the bridge in high wind to the rocking of a ship in stormy seas. As I gripped the steering wheel, I 'imagined ' my grip on the wheel of a ship and heard the rhythm of a sea shanty echo in my mind.

Looking forward to the next WTF on Friday, March 12.
Yours in folk,
Cindy

WTF: What The Folk

2010-02-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society presents:

WTF: What The Folk
folksongs, folktales, folkart, folklore

Friday, February 26th
6:30pm - gathering and grabba cuppa
7-8:30pm - performances
Just Us Coffee Shop
Spring Garden Road
Halifax,NS

Open Mic - unplugged
Cost: free will donation

All are welcome - Folk performers and listeners
Tell friends.
The coffee and tea are delicious.
The fun is contagious!

WTF meets on the second and fourth Friday of every month.
Helen Creighton Folklore Society: www.helencreighton.org

Love, Loss, Longing

2010-02-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

WTF: What The Folk
Folklore, Folksongs, Folkart, Folktales

What The Folk is having it's first theme night
Love, Loss, Longing: Something for Every Valentine Mood

Friday, February 12, 2010
Just Us Cafe
Spring Garden Road

6:30pm Gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00 pm WTF starts
8:30 pm Wrap Up

Open Mic, Unplugged Format
Cost: Free Will Donation

Hosts:
Margo Carruthers 425-3828
Cindy Campbell 466-0157

WTF: What The Folk

2010-02-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society presents:

WTF: What The Folk
Folklore, Folksongs, Folkart, Folktales

Every Second and Fourth Friday of the Month
Just Us Cafe
Spring Garden Road
Halifax, Nova Scotia

6:30 gathering and grabba cuppa
7:00pm WTF begins
8:30pm Wrap Up

Open Mic, Unplugged Format
Cost: Free Will Donation

Hosts:
Margo Carruthers 425-3828
Cindy Campbell 466-0157