Frank Cassel, the Banjo Man's
NEWS AND PERFORMANCES
The Banjo Man performs lively and engaging folk, bluegrass and original music for all audiences including kids and seniors. I am available for occasions such as concerts, community festivals and children's parties. The very talented and award winning members of the New Mountain Fever Band, featuring Geff King and/or Lynn Healey on guitar, Tara Linhardt on mandolin, and yours truly playing banjo are now available for bookings. We perform as a duo, trio, quartet or larger band. I am available for Holiday Events, as is the Band. I perform standard Holiday songs and carols in my Down Home Holiday Show, fun for the whole family. I also do some Jewish material such as 'Hava Nagila', The Dreidel Song, and the 'Chanukah Song.' The music video of my Sugarloaf Mountain song is on YouTube. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzKyCQsr5mM Several of the final edits from the new project, as well as some tracks from my kid's CD, Banjo Man may be heard at http://www.myspace.com/banjomanfrankcassel/. My next public performances, other than the regular weekly shows: Sunday, December 4 - 1-2 PM – Banjo Man show for young children at the Falls Church Holiday Craft Show - Falls Church Community Center, 223 Little Falls Street, Falls Church, VA. December 17 - 7-9 PM - Bluegrass Yoga! I will be jamming with some friends at the Fundraiser for Sky House Yoga - the new facility of my great yoga teacher, Ashley Litecky. Sky House is a new, donation-based wellness collective starting up in January of 2012 at 903 Gist Ave. in Silver Spring, MD. The event begins at 3 PM and includes a community yoga class, astrology for 2012, a 'visioning board' workshop for the new year, and a workshop on herbs for winter health. Ask questions and RSVP via email to: skyhouseyoga@gmail.com and check out the new web site at www.skyhouseyoga.com (Details about the fundraising event will be posted in the next couple of days.) Ashley's poetry just got published in a new book, 'The Poetry of Yoga', which includes yogis from around the world. Get a copy at: http://www.thepoetryofyoga.com.
(I am looking forward to performances at preschools, senior centers and private parties not listed here because they are not open to the public as far as I know. If you want me to include your event (December and forward) on my list, please let me know.) I am available to perform at concerts, community festivals, special events and parties, including Holiday and/or children's parties. I teach 5-string banjo, guitar, flute and music theory. The Banjo Man CD for kids and/or banjo lovers has been a great success. Copies are available from me for $15.00. I usually have them at performances, or just reply to this e-mail and let me know if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Listen to samples on my web site, or Myspace page noted at the top of this newsletter. PROJECT UPDATE: MANY THANKS to those of you who have contributed to my new CD project of mostly originals for general audiences. We raised over $3,000 on Kickstarter and $1,000 off site to continue the project, which was stalled for a few months due to lack of funds. We used the generous $5,000 Grant from the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council, then ran out of funds in April. I received the Kickstarter funds from Amazon Payments in the beginning of July (the site completed on June 17). We have ten tracks of twelve in the final edit stage of production. We continue to move forward, albeit slower than I had hoped, and now plan to have a product in January of this year. I’ll keep you posted regarding our progress. Supporters will get a Holiday Gift - a CD of the tracks we have completed so far. Check out the Kickstarter site at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/856308408/frank-cassel-cd-of-mostly-original-songs-and-tunes There is a cool video, with some tracks from the project. The site is now closed for donations, but contributions by check are still welcome at my address at the end of this newsletter, and I am good for the same rewards offered on the site. Speaking of Kickstarter...The John Hartford Project of my friend Marcy Cochran completed successfully! And, a very worthy ongoing project to support is the Mountain Music Project of my friend and band mate, Tara Linhardt. Bluegrass and Himalayan Folk Music in Nepal with American and Nepalese artists! The video on the site is fascinating. You must check this out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/737800704/the-mountain-music-project-documentary-film-and-cd/WEEKLY PERFORMANCES
ACTIVITIES AND WEB SITES OF INTEREST TO PARENTS AND/OR ARTISTS
Boogie Babes produces concerts for toddlers at Sova Espresso and other locations in NW DC. I performed there on March 24 and April 28 of this year. We had a great time. Their web site is: www.boogiebabes.com, and email: dcboogiebabes@gmail.com.
Banjo Bunny - My good friend, Susan Preston, has a great e-card web site: www.banjobunny.com. This site is a lot of fun, and well worth a few minutes checking it out. I signed up, and send these cards to my friends.
Geff
King
does a great job on the design and maintenance of my web page (www.banjomanfc.com). He plays guitar and
sings (really well) in my band, Mountain Fever, and plays bass
with Karen Collins. He wrote a song recorded
on the new Karen Collins CD that got a great review in the Washington
Post - 'Forgive My Heart for Breaking' is the name of the song Geff
wrote. The CD is 'Tail Light Blues' by Karen Collins'
Backroads Band, and is well worth a listen. Check it out at www.cdbaby.com/cd/
Mary Cliff's wonderful radio show, Traditions is the longest running show in DC. Saturdays: 2-6 PM on WAMU 88.5 HD Channel 2 in the Washington, DC area, streaming worldwide on www.bluegrasscountry.org, and (completely different) 11 PM Saturday to 1 am Sunday on WAMU 88.5 in the greater Washington area, streaming worldwide on www.wamu.org. Mary, many thanks for all the years of supporting folk music, and the music folk of the area, the nation, and the world.
Many thanks to Lissy Rosemont for setting up my Myspace Music page. Check out her band at: http://www.juniorleagueband.com. Their new CD got a very good review in the Washington Post. I saw them recently at the 9:30 club, and they were great, as is their new CD.
www.GoCityKids.com is a great web site for checking out children's activities.
Storytelling in Kensington - Ellouise Schoettler hosts a storytelling event the first Wed. of every month at 7:30 PM in the Kensington Row Book Shop, 3786 Howard Ave./Kensington, MD 20895. For more info contact her email: Ellouise9112@aol.com.
Andy's Parties offers full service birthday parties in DC, Maryland and Virginia - they provide everything to create a great party, and have a variety of themes available including, of course, the Banjo Man. I highly recommend them. The web site is: www.andysparties.com.
www.dc-baby.com is a very valuable web site for parents of young children. The book, DC Baby, is a great resource, and got a very good review from Washington Parent magazine. The book is available through the above web site. The web site also has informative news of interest to local parents and an extensive list of very useful links.
Check out a very informative web site: www.our-kids.com. They are a
local guide listing activities and resources for families. In addition,
they offer a weekly newsletter which has a calendar of events, local
theater performances, promotions and more that's useful for
families.
The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County
provides valuable services including a newsletter for artists in the County,
grants and employment opportunities. They also have a great calendar of events.
Their website is: http://www.creativemoco.com.
My favorite bluegrass band, Bob Perilla and Big Hillbilly Bluegrass plays a lot in the DC area. If you like bluegrass music, or if you think you might, you should go see them. Their web site is: www.bighillbillybluegrass.com
The DC Bluegrass Union has a site that is an indispensable
resource for those interested in the local bluegrass scene. The web site
is: www.dcbu.org.
The Washington Area Music
Association provides many benefits to local musicians. They have been a great help to many of
us over the years. Help keep our
local music scene strong. http://www.wamadc.com. Also, another very
valuable organization, the Songwriters' Association of
Washington helps improve skills, foster networking, and sponsors the
Mid Atlantic Song Contest every year: www.saw.org
Frank Cassel
PO Box 303
Kensington, MD 20895
301-933-9190
banjomanfc@aol.com
Web Site: www.banjomanfc.com
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This page was
last updated on August 4, 2011
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