| This Month | From the Prez |
Meeting: Saturday January 21, 2006 6:00PM Yale Avenue Christian Church.
Well, we did kind of back-door the annual elections, after nobody new expressed any interest in becoming one of the officers for 2006. We most definitely appreciate all the help and hard work put in by the officers of the past couple of years, especially Dana and Becky. Our most pressing need right now is to get some help for Dana in mailing out the newsletters for those who don't have email addresses, and also to eventually take over the website. As I understand it, Dana is more than willing to train the new webperson, and will continue to host the website. This would be a great opportunity for someone to learn how to do this sort of thing, and you'll have a super-pro doing the teaching.
Okay, on to dulcimer matters. Our Christmas dinner and play-around was wonderful, and it was really great to see so many people out for it, including a few new faces. I met several folks in the last month or so who might be dropping in to our next couple of meetings, so please take notice of any new faces that drop in on ITDC meeting night. Introduce yourself and help us make them feel welcome.
In the COMING EVENTS part of this article, don't forget the annual Winter Festival of Acoustic Music (also known as the Winterfest Dulcimer thing) at the First Methodist Church in Irving TX on February 10th-11th. That's just a few weeks off, so make your plans now. They will hold approximately 60 workshops on each day, so there is bound to be something you will like or need. What wonderful choices, and their faculty and staff is like an all-star team of dulcimer and acoustic music teachers and performers from all over the country. For more info, you can write to Linda Lowe Thompson at Harvest Time Music, 309 Pennsylvania Drive, Denton TX 76205, or email her at LLT6 "at" earthlink.net, or call her at 940-387-4001.
Then, the following weekend, on February 18th, don't miss the annual StringFling event in Joplin MO at the Martin Luther School in Joplin MO. Featured teacher/performers this year are Cathy Barton and Dave Para, Allan MacFarlane, JoAnn Smith, and the Back Porch Players. Other teachers include Christina Connell, John Hartley, and Judy Johnston. For more info on this event, call Judy Johnston at 417-624-2387, or email her at tomjudy "at" 4state.com.
In the sad news department, we just learned of the passing of Russell Cook's father. He has been a staunch supporter of all of Russell's dulcimer stuff, and a great help to him in recent years in the preparations for the Sawdust Festival. Services were held on January 2nd in Bennington OK. Russell was present at our very first ITDC meeting, and has visited often through the years. And, a passing of a different sort -- the SummerFest event in Carthage MO and in Joplin last year is now officially kaput. Elaine Smith recently sent word out to performers and vendors of recent years that it will no longer be held. It was a good run of about 15 years, and we sincerely thank Elaine for her efforts to keep it going after Lloyd and Joyce Woods retired and hit the RV trails.
That's it for now, and we hope to see all of you on January 21st for our next ITDC club meeting. Remember, it's at Yale Avenue Christian Church at 36th and Yale (southwest corner), Tulsa, and we meet on the west side of the building. Bring a friend!
Dennis.