Fall Newsletter - Nov. 2010 - News of the Family...
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Any of you with notable news you’d like to share with the Gathering community should send a copy to the Gathering office, and we’d be happy to publish it here.... This is the first print opportunity we’ve had to welcome our new Office Manager, Nicole Veilleux. Many of you met Nicole last summer as she managed to come through her first Swannanoa Gathering with flying colors! .... In late June we received the sad news that NC fiddling legend Benton Flippen had passed away. He had appeared several times as a Guest Master Artist during Old-Time Week, and was scheduled to do so again. Another of this year’s Guest Master Artists, Kentucky fiddling great Paul David Smith, passed away only a few weeks after the end of the Gathering. We mourn their passing and will miss their artistry.... Congratulations to longtime Gathering attendee Richard Geller, who had one of his songs used as the soundtrack for a TV ad last Christmas for the Norwegian Cancer Society.....This summer, our Youth Scholarship Fund sponsored 22 students: Chloe Landolphi (Traditional Song); Noah Coffin, Priya Patel, Breanna Norton, Libby Rodenbough, and Madeline Foley (Fiddle); Livia & Emily Safko, Bridget Flynn, Ian Davoren, Dylan Richardson, Ceilidh Briscoe, David & Daniel Mehalko, and Kyle Burghout, (Celtic); Aubrey Moore, Ethan Morris, Ethan W. Jones and Kaia Kater-Hurst, (Old-Time); and Shelby Phan, Moses Nelligan and Tony Lawrence (Guitar). In addition to these, the Charlotte Folk Society sponsored two Marilyn Meacham Price Youth Scholars, David A. Fee (Guitar), and Jake Bartholomew (Guitar), and their Spencer-Bryant adult scholar David McGuirt (Trad. Song), while the Kerrville Folk Festival sponsored Luke Preston (Contemporary Folk), and Tosco Music Parties sponsored Maddie Shuler (Contemporary Folk), and Tyler Mitchell (Guitar)..... Key deposit donations to our Youth Scholarship fund this year totaled $5,704, and the total for all donations was $13,584. Our profound thanks to all of you who gave financially to help cultivate a love for traditional music and dance in the next generation.... Teachers please note that the Swannanoa Gathering offers teacher renewal certification hours for any of our weeks. Contact your local school board for prior approval.... Don’t forget to support your local Public Radio and Television stations. Where would we hear our music without them? For other folk news, don’t forget the magazines Sing Out!, The Old-Time Herald, Acoustic Guitar, Dulcimer Players News, Fingerstyle Guitar, Acoustic Musician and Fiddler.