Latest Events for AEBHF

Barbershop will be closed on Saturday February 6th due to Snowzilla 2010. See you on Saturday February 13th

• Open Mike Night at the Barbershop - First Thursdays starting Thursday February 4th at 7:30pm
• The FSGW Midwinter Festival at Takoma Park Middle School - Saturday February 6th, Noon to 10:30pm
• Piedmont Pickin' Practice Every Saturday
• "Behind the Lines" singer/songwriting series with Kim Capps, Thursday February 12th, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
• Blues and Acoustic Guitar Workshop with Scott Ainslie, Sunday February 21st, 2010 at 10:00am
• Gaye Adegbalola Songwriting workshop, Saturday February 27th, 2010 at 10:00am
• Gaye Adegbalola Concert Saturday February 27th, 7:00pm
• Paul Geremia in Concert at the Barbershop Sunday March 7th, 7:00pm

Latest Events for our "Friends of the Barbershop"

• Phil Wiggins and Friends at the Washington Ethical Society Friday February 12th 8:00pm
• Phil Wiggins Harmonica Workshop - Saturday February 13th, 2010 from 10:00am to Noon
• Scott Ainslie Concert Event with David LaFleur at Focus Music in Alexandria VA - Sunday February 14th.

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Latest Events for AEBHF:

 

Piedmont Guitar Practice Sessions:
Saturdays from Noon to 1 pm.

$5 charge per session – free for kids & college students.

Gina DeSimone will be running the Barbershop’s one room schoolhouse of Piedmont Blues. These weekly practice sessions are geared for beginners through intermediate players.
 
Piedmont Blues – a.k.a. east coast style – is a style where the thumb alternates with the fingers. Among the local masters of the style were John Jackson and John Cephas, as well as Archie himself. The thumb picks out a rhythmic bass pattern and the fingers play a syncopated melody on the treble strings. Done right, it sounds like two guitars playing together. Strum a chord and, well, you have a chord. Work that chord with your thumb and fingers and you have the whole band playing.
 
The weekly sessions are for people who want to practice in a relaxed, friendly environment. These sessions will be great for people who need the structure of a weekly class to get them playing. Having experienced
teachers at these sessions will help you avoid bad habits and will provide you some inspiration. This is an opportunity to learn new techniques through learning songs.
 
The sessions will emphasize creating a solid bass rhythm with the thumb. That is the heart of this music. Over the coming months, the sessions will touch on rhythms, alternate tunings, hammer-ons & pull-offs, right hand technique, more right hand technique, song structure, using humor, stories about the music and the musicians, and the music’s links to rags, swing, and old-time folk tunes.

Ideally, students will come to class able to make basic chord shapes with the left hand. Prior fingerstyle experience is not necessary.  Gina DeSimone has been playing guitar since she was 9 and has studied with master guitarists like Al Petteway, Del Rey, Steve James and Mary Flower. As a professional leading her own band, playing solo sets and backing other musicians, she is fluent in a whole range of guitar styles, from finger-slapping funk to jazzy blues. She underlies all of her music with her signature “acoustic groove”. She has a long history of teaching guitar in this area. From time to time, expect to see Eleanor Ellis, Rick Franklin, Miles Spicer and others leading sessions, as well.

No need to make reservations and by all means, stay for the Saturday jam.

http://www.acousticblues.com/Jams/Jamlocation.html

And of course, check out the main page at www.acousticblues.com

 

 

Open Mic Night at the Barbershop

The Archie Edwards Barbershop will be hosting an acoustic open mic hosted by Willie Leebel starting in December. 

The event will be held monthly on the first Thursday from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. 

If you have a song or three to share with others, original or otherwise, stop in and show your stuff.

 

 

 

 

DUE TO THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY OF GREATER WASHINGTON MID-WINTER FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 6TH - THE BARBERSHOP WILL BE CLOSED SO EVERYONE CAN COME OVER AND SUPPORT THE FESTIVAL. BUT DUE TO SNOWZILLA 2010 - IT HAS BEEN CANCELED.

 

Folklore Society of Greater Washington Midwinter Festival Saturday February 6th, from Noon to 10:30pm at Takoma Park Middle School

FSGW is delighted to present its annual one-day indoor folk festival, to be held at the Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Road, Takoma Park, Maryland. The FSGW Midwinter Festival is a family-friendly extravaganza of music, dance, stories, workshops, and crafts. Held around the first weekend in February -- this year it's Saturday, February 6 -- the Mini-Fest provides all comers with a wonderful opportunity to beat the winter blues, visit with friends and neighbors, and be part of some of the finest music that the Washington area has to offer!

Archie's Barbershop will play from 3:00pm to 5:00pm in the Room 184, and other Barbershop regulars will perform through out the day, featuring "Rick Franklin ", "The Social Ramble" , "The Capitol Hillbillies", "Ian Walters" "Linda Goodman" and the evening concert called Divas with Distinction "Sheryl Sears and Friends"

For more details and directions to the event go to the FSGW site

 

 

 

“Behind the Lines,” Thursday February 11th, 7:00pm to 8:30pm at the Barbershop

Do you write and/or perform songs, or poetry?  Would you like to spend some time with other creative people, from a variety of genres and backgrounds, talking about why you create and/or why you perform?  This is a time of song and poetry sharing that is intended to open up conversation about the creative process and our passions . Participants are invited to come prepared to share a song or poem and the story behind it: Why did you write it?  Or why do you perform it?  What moves you about it?  So, whether you have something to share this month or not, come join us for the conversation! We hope to meet once a month, so if you can’t join us this time, but would like to participate, please contact Kim Capps: kim.capps@gmail.com so we can gage the best time for this gathering.  This is a free event, but donations to the Barbershop are encouraged to help cover the costs of the meeting space.

 

 

 

 

Blues and Acoustic Guitar Workshop with Scott Ainslie

If you happen to have an interest in playing acoustic blues guitar, the music rock came from---including Delta Blues, Slide Guitar, Open Tunings, Piedmont/Ragtime Style fingerpicking Blues---then you should plan on turning up for Scott Ainslie’s workshop on Sunday February 21st, 2010 at Archie Blues Barbershop, 4701 Queensbury Road in Riverdale Maryland at 10:00am. Cost for the Workshop is $35.

Ainslie is the author of “Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads”---a book of transcriptions, history and annotated lyrics from Johnson’s famous solo blues recordings of 1936-37. He is an experienced teacher and has an instructional DVD on Johnson’s music on Starlicks Master Sessions. He wrote and taped video instruction for his article on playing like Robert Johnson for the November, 2009 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, available at http://www.acousticguitar.com.

Ainslie is also a seasoned Piedmont and Ragtime Blues performer whose work includes the music of Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis, Muddy Waters, David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards, and the Virginia Bluesman John Jackson--a friend and mentor met in 1967.

A master teacher, Ainslie will lead guitarists through a portion of Blues-related guitar technique. Content is always driven by who is being taught, but sections on the ins and outs of slide playing, finger picking technique, major open tunings, and the special open bass chord transpositions that pepper any solo acoustic blues guitar performance will be covered in addition to requested material.

You are welcome to bring an audio recording device, paper and pencil are recommended. To reserve your place, please send an email to info@acousticblues.com

 

 

 

Songwriting Workshop with Gaye Adegbalola

Saturday February 27, 2010
10:00am to 1:00pm
at the Archie Edwards Blues Barbershop

The songwriting workshop will cover two areas: the CREATIVE PROCESS AND THE BUSINESS.

In the creative process will focus on the content/lyrics (including the hook, word meanings, the rhyme, metaphors & similies, first lines, scene setting, etc.) and the form/music (the musical hook, intervals, chords, rhythm, structure, verses-bridge-refrains, etc).

The business portion of the workshop will cover copyrighting, publishing, shopping your songs, royalties (ASCAP, BMI, Sound Exchange, Harry Fox, etc.).

Participants are encouraged to bring in one of his/her original songs -- preferrably a song that is not fully realized. Hopefully there will be enough time hear and analyze some of these in an effort to "make 'em better."

Cost for the workshop is $35 and space is limited. Please respond to info@acousticblues.com - if you are planning to attend so we can make enough copies of the materials, which is plentiful.


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Gaye has written hundreds of songs. As the Washington Post has written, they are ". . .songs in which a liberated woman looks on love with the rueful eye of experience and the saving grace of good humor." Her keen observation skills and her lifetime of varied experiences allows her to touch on many topics – from hard hitting political tunes to songs of pure heartbreak and unadulterated sexuality. She loves taking a big story and telling it in 3 or 4 minutes. She also loves writing about contemporary issues in traditional blues form.

Gaye has written many ‘hits’ for Saffire –The Uppity Blues Women, including:
• The Middle Aged Blues Boogie which won a Blues Music Award (formerly the W. C. Handy Award) for blues song of the year in 1990, as well as:
• School Teacher's Blues
• No Need Pissin' On A Skunk
• Bitch With A Bad Attitude
• Silver Beaver
• How Can I Say I Miss You (When I Can't Get You to Leave)?
• Shake the Dew Off the Lily
• It's Alright for a Man to Cry
• On Gaye's solo recordings, her songs tend to be more topical:
• Nothing's Changed – about the civil rights struggle
• Nightmare – about incest
• Front Door Blues – about hiding homosexuality
• You Don't Have to Take It Like I Did – about domestic violence
• Lying Preacher Blues – about the hypocrisy of the church
• Bareback Rider – about safe sex
• Queer Blues – about her own struggle for acceptance
• Deja Vu Blues – comparing the struggle for civil rights with the
struggle for gay rights. And, her "audiobiographical" anthem:
• Big Ovaries, Baby, which is all about the empowerment of women.

 

 

 

 

 

Evening Concert with Gaye Adegbalola at the Barbershop
Saturday February 27, 2010
7:00PM TO 10:00PM

 

Songs in the Key of "G"aye

Gaye will mainly perform original songs. She will offer some description before each song telling how they came to be -- lyrically and musically. Concert goers will be encouraged to ask questions and/or make comments about the songs.

Concert cost is $15 - let us know if you are coming by emailing info@acousticblues.com

Gaye is a story teller, a modern day griot. Much of her solo material is topical; addressing contemporarysocial issues, and many of her
songs find humor in the pain of one's daily struggles. As written in The
Washington Post, her originals are often ". . . songs in which a liberated woman looks on love with the rueful eye of experience and the saving grace of good humor."

The intimacy of a Gaye Adegbalola solo performance allows listerners to hear every nuance, every emotion and every turn of phrase clearly. Gaye accompanys herself with guitar, and performs mainly original songs. While some these songs might come from her Saffire repertoire or from her Neo-Classic Blues repertoire, often they are songs which don't fit either incarnation.

Reviews
"She doesn't simply deliver a good line – she sings her heart out, letting herself go with the flow of a phrase . . .This is no Evita on a balcony, this is the March on Washington!"
– fab! (magazine)

"Gaye's voice is instantly recognizable; she's made the classic songs her own and her own songs classics."
– Bob Margolin, Blues Revue Magazine

". . . blues performed with so much heart and panache that it is unreservedly recommended."
– Ron Weinstock, D. C. Blues Society

" The respect and love for this music is evident by the joy just dripping from your speakers."
– Beardo, Sr. contributing editor, BluesWax ezine

"Gaye has always been the ultimate modern realization of this breed of blues great (classic blues women).
. . She continues to be a pathfinder to the truth in all
its naked wonder."
– George P. Seedorff, Big City Blues Magazine

GAYE ADEGBALOLA, Blues Music Award winner (formerly called the W. C. Handy Award) and a founding member of Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women, plays guitar, harmonica and is a composer. She has recorded 9 CDs on Alligator Records and has toured widely throughout
the U.S. and internationally.

Gaye has also released two CDs on her own Hot Toddy Music label:
"Neo-Classic Blues" with Roddy Barnes and "Blues Gone Black" by Blue Mama Black Son (Gaye & her son Juno). Another CD, "Gaye Without Shame," was completed in February 2008, and is set for release summer 2008, also on Hot Toddy Music. Of note,Gaye and Roddy toured Ghana and Togo in West Africa in April, 2008.

A former Virginia State Teacher of the Year, Gaye is also in demand for workshops, lectures and motivational public speaking. A long time activist, she is presently involved with issues of diversity and is committed to the struggle for GLBT rights

 

 

 

Paul Geremia in Concert -- Sunday March 7th, 2010 @ 4pm

 

Cost $15

Paul Geremia is a first rate bluesman, songwriter, a scholar  of early jazz and blues, and one of the best country blues fingerpickers ever. Geremia has created a style of his own, combining his interpretation of early bluesmen like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Scrapper Blackwell, and Blind Blake with his original compositions.  With his husky, soulful voice and his masterful playing of six- and twelve-string guitar, harmonica, and piano, Geremiah keeps traditional blues fresh and alive with his performances.  The concert will be held at the relocated “Archie’s Barbershop” at 4701 Queensbury Rd., Riverdale, MD, across the street from the Riverdale train station.

For more information about the concert or to get directions,  go to www.acousticblues.com.  To learn more about Paul Geremia, go to www.paulgeremia.org.

 

 

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Latest events for our Friends of the Barbershop

 

 

Rick Franklin and His Delta BluesBoys at Cassatts Cafe & Gallery  January 16th,, 7 - 9pm

 

 

FSGW Monthly Programs
Phil Wiggins and Friends - Rick Franklin and Mike Baytop

Friday Feb 12, 2010 at 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM Washington Ethical Society (Washington,DC) The Washington Ethical Society auditorium is at 7750 16th Street, NW, just south of the corner of Kalmia Road, NW about four blocks inside the District from the Maryland line, close to the Silver Spring metro stop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harmonica Workshop
with Phil Wiggins at Archie's Blues Barbershop

The first session: Beginner/Fundamentals. It will accomodate beginners but will also be very beneficial to experienced players who need to revisit basic techniques, like bending, tone, etc.
Time: 10:30a-11:30a

The second session: Advanced. Hot licks, riffs, and will flow into the jam session, where we will put to use what we have just learned.
Time: 12p-1p


Each session: $25, Both sessions: $40
Phil's contact info: Cell 360-381-0392 Email pwiggins@us.net

Other Important info:

Everyone is encouraged to bring a recording device.
There will be little or no tab for the advanced class.
All students in fundamentals should have an A and also C if possible.
Advanced students should bring all major keys.

I would appreciate hearing from you if you plan to come so I can have an idea of numbers. However, walk-ins will be welcome.

About Phil Wiggins...

Phil Wiggins was born in Washington, D.C. in 1954 and spent his childhood summers at his grandmother’s home in Alabama, where he listened to old-time hymns sung in church in the traditional call-and-response style. Phil was attracted to the blues harp as a young man and began his musical career with some of Washington’s leading blues artists, including Archie Edwards and John Jackson, and attributes his style to his years spent accompanying locally noted slide guitarist and gospel singer Flora Molton. 

Wiggins' harmonica sound developed from listening to piano and horn players, as well as the music of Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Little Walter, Big Walter Horton and Junior Wells. Phil also apprenticed with Mother Scott (a contemporary of Bessie Smith). Besides being a renowned harmonica player, Wiggins is also a gifted songwriter and singer whose material has helped to define the duo’s sound. 

As a harmonica-guitar duo, Cephas & Wiggins were uniquely able to exemplify the synthesis of African and European elements which co-exist in the blues. Much of the melody and imagery is Western, of course. However, the call-and-response interplay between the harmonica and guitar, the complimentary rhythms, and the microtonal slurs generated by "stretched" guitar strings and "bent" harmonica notes are all quintessentially African.

Although the duo is no longer, their legendary sound lives on. You can still experience their unique music by listening to one of their many CDs.

 

Scott Ainslie in Concert at Focus Music in Alexandria, VA
Sunday, February 14th @ 7pm

 

$18 general $15 members and Paypal in advance

 

"An expert on Robert Johnson [who] has written a book about him, 'Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads,' Ainslie has tremendous skill coupled with an awesome love for the music. His voice is at times soft and keening and at other times booms out to match the intensity and power of his guitar. There is no doubt in my mind that Scott Ainslie feels the blues the way the rest of us feel an electric shock; it courses through him like a current."
--Ellen Arthur, The Spectator

www.cattailmusic.com

Church of the Resurrection
2280 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22311

For Focus info: (703) 501-6061