We are so excited to be joining friends and fellow music lovers for a performance and fundraiser for the Music Program of St. John’s Racquet Center. If you’re in the area, please join us!
As Fl!p says, “singing is not a commodity to buy, but a birthright that
has been stolen from us.” In some countries, it would sound very peculiar for someone to say, “Oh, I can’t sing.” What? What do you mean? Everyone can sing! Unfortunately, our natural love of singing is dimming, particularly among young people.
This event will be a partial antidote to YouTube and screens in general, to studio recordings and perfectly produced performances by millionaires who have no idea who you are. This will be fun of a kind that maybe you haven’t had in a while.
We will sing a lot, of course, but you will have plenty of chances to sing too.
There will be special guest artists also: some of the young voices from the Music Program of Portland Tennis & Education (PT&E) at the St. Johns Racquet Center in Portland, a wonderfully innovative non-profit organization that marries an excellent sports program to a strong outreach and after school program for young people.
PT&E knows that young people are a lot happier when they get to use their physical energy in sports, and we know that everybody is a lot happier when we use our singing energy.
So, please come and bring whatever voice you have. And please feel free to bring children of any age—this will be a completely family-oriented concert. If you’re in the Portland area, please join us!
All proceeds beyond payment to the artists will benefit the Music Program at PT&E. The current music director has volunteered for almost ten years and personally supported the acquisition of instruments and teachers; we want to move to the next level and create a fund to assure the long-term sustainability of the program.
Hope to see you there!
Note on Tickets: $15 is recommended, but will be sold on a sliding scale starting at $5 on Brown Paper Tickets, with no one turned away. Donations welcome. Sponsored by Artichoke Community Music, The Portland Folk Music Society, and Portland Tennis and Education:
Open only to faculty and staff at WWU. Each Wednesday from April 3 – June 12 at noon.
Great sing-together songs, clapping games, and traditional “American Play Parties” – American singing and motion games for all ages. These were entertainments from before radio, TV, and the internet. Everyone holds hands and sings, then we walk, spin, and swing together, cued by the words, while creating marvelous human origami, all punctuated by laughter. When we sing, we wake and and strengthen our bodies, improve posture, and make real human connections.
The cost to seniors and members of the Three Rivers Folklife Society will be $12.00.
We’re off to play a concert at our friend Micki Perry’s house in Kennewick, Washington! She is the living heart of the Tumbleweed Music Festival in Tri-Cities. We’re so excited!
Singing is about community, and it’s rare that a couple has humor, humbleness, and a real sense of what’s important in this world to teach and lead others in song. As they often tell their audiences, “if you know the song, sing along. If you don’t, sing anyway.”
They embody what they call “living room music.” It’s not the “show-off” tunes, but the songs that are quiet, sometimes, that make us think about what’s important –family, home, getting along, kindness, and giving back. And sometimes the songs are so delightfully wacky that we learn to laugh in a time when life is not always so funny.|
Flip and Zeke are jewels in a town that’s full of talented musicians. But they make us smile, they make us weep, they make us shout for joy. We see ourselves more clearly though the songs they sing.
– Margaret Bikman, Arts & Entertainment Editor Emeritus, Bellingham Herald