Three contras in June of 2015! Boom!
On Sunday, October 20th, 2013, we'll be playing the BIDA contra at the Cambridge Masonic Hall (1950 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA) from 7:00pm to 10:30pm. We're working with caller Andy Shore!
[2013/02/14] On March 9th, 2013, we'll be playing a concert at the Park Avenue Congregational Church in Arlington, MA. Come see our surprise guest fiddler! Marvel at Paul's new accordion! Brave the wintry weather, or cap off a beautiful spring-like day!
[2012/09/11] We're playing the Thursday Night Contra in Concord, MA on October 18th, 2012. Our caller is Andy Shore, all the way from southeastern Florida. After that, we're at the Worcester, MA Contra on November 10, 2012 with Linda Leslie calling. And early next year, we're playing a concert(!) at the Park Avenue Congregational Church in Arlington, MA.
[2012/06/03]We had a great time at NEFFA, talked with old friends, and met new people. Our next scheduled gig is November 10, 2012 at the Worcester Contra, but watch this space for any new news!
[2010/10/01] We're gearing up for a new year full of fun, frolic, music, and fun. Yes, that's right, double the fun. Look for us at the Worcester contradance on June 11th, 2011. For more details, check our schedule. We hope to see you soon!
[2008/02/10] We had a great fully acoustic concert at the Park Avenue Congregational Church in Arlington. No sound equipment means more room for the band to dance, stroll, and interact! Six Homunculi were present, including our newest member, Eric Mumpower. On March 8th, 2008, we're playing the Worcester Contra Dance in Worcester, Massachusetts, and on April 5th, 2008, we'll be in Falmouth, Maine for the Greater Portland Contra Dance. For more details, check our schedule. We hope to see you soon!
[2007/12/17] We'll be back in Arlington, Massachusetts on February 9th, 2008 for a concert at PACC. On March 8th, 2008, we're playing the Worcester Contra Dance in Worcester, Massachusetts. For more details, see our schedule. We hope to see you soon!
[2006/09/12] We're heading to New York City for a September 16th contra with Ridge Kennedy calling. For more info, see Country Dance * New York or our schedule.
[2006/09/07] Our own Susan Gedutis Lindsay appears on Rob Huffman's new CD, "Tone Without Tension". Check it out at http://www.tonewithouttension.com/.
[2005/02/09] We played the annual ball of the Baltimore Folk Music Society at the end of January, and met a lot of great people! The ball was set up as a sock hop this year, and we got to see some outrageous outfits. Special thanks to Keith Cornett for calling, Melissa for organizing (and putting us up), and all the volunteers and dancers for enthusiastic support. We're looking forward to our concert at PACC in Arlington at the end of February, and all of our other scheduled events.
[2004/05/11] We've got a new CD! Double Redundancy is a compilation of our first two cassette releases (einstein's little homunculus and Trampling the Perennials), remixed, remastered, and with some previously unreleased material added. You can get your copy, hot off the presses, at CD Freedom. In other news, the NEFFA Festival was great (we're pretty sure it was our ninth year there in a row), and we just got back from the Folk Project Festival in New Jersey, where we met, played with, played for, ate with, workshopped with, and stayed up late with a great bunch of folks. Folk folks. Folkie folk folks. Stop me now. To see when we'll be in your neck of the woods, have a look at our schedule on Musi-cal.
[2004/04/14] We've been working on a new/old project, and it's going to bear fruit soon. Come see us at the NEFFA Festival on Saturday, April 24th, or at any of our other scheduled events for more info.
[06/28/03] We're having a heat wave... and we're taking much of July off for various individual trips and plans. We'll be back in August, though, with a Waltham Farmer's Market appearance and an MIT contra. See the schedule for more details as they become available.
The above translated from English to German to English by the fish (which is getting pretty good at it): We have a heat wave... and we to eliminate much of July for different individual journeys and plans. We are back in August, although, with market appearance of a Waltham of farmer and a WITH approximately. See the schedule for more details, while they become available.
[04/10/03] We're off on a tour of upstate New York. Contras in Rochester, Ithaca, and Binghamton, topped off by a concert at the Night Eagle in Oxford on the way home. Two weeks later (I know, the email said one week later, I'm anxious to be there), we'll do a concert and a Contra Medley at the NEFFA Festival in Natick, MA. Check our schedule to find out where else we'll be, and warn/tell your friends when we'll be in their neck of the woods!
[03/10/02] Just got home from the Down East Country Dance Festival in Topsham, Maine. We had a blast! Gave a couple of workshops, played a couple of contras (Saturday night with Dan Pearl and Sunday afternoon with David Kaynor), ate tasty food, watched, listened, danced, sang, and (occasionally) slept. Everyone was incredibly nice to us. (Thanks, everyone.) We'll be back!
[02/21/01] We're playing more dances than ever, and the occasional concert. We'll be energizing dancers in Medway (MA), Northwood (NH), and West Hartford (CT) in the next couple of weeks. We're also looking forward to our trip to Upstate New York (close to where Paul grew up), and our dance and concert performances at NEFFA, all coming in April. Check Musi-Cal to see when we'll be in your neck of the woods.
[11/20/00] Dances, dances, and more dances. We've had successful openings for new contra dance series in Concord, MA and Cumberland, RI. Next year is filling up with more dances, in new territories and old favorites - check Musi-Cal for updates as they happen.
[04/16/00]
Yes! We're now a two-CD family. Our new arrival, Balancing Act,
showed up on our doorstep days ago. It was previewed at the NEFFA
festival, where it sold like hotcakes. Potato pancakes. Anyway, it was
very popular, and we'll soon have a general-release party for
it. Watch this space. In the meantime, there's a sketchy page over at
www.cdfreedom.com where you
can see the cover art and marvel at our color sense. (Actually, the
color sense of our designer/illustrator, Sarah Peters. But we heartily
approve.)
And don't forget, our first CD, Don't Ask, is still
available at www.folkweb.com.
[09/16/99] Mazeltov! Happy New Year, and progress on the CD front. We've finished mixing all the tracks, and are now looking for a label. Or a distributor. Or someone who's willing to do all the dirty work, send it to radio stations, play it for booking agents all over New England, slide it in front of reviewers while they're trying to eat, that kind of thing. If you're that person or persons or cold, impersonal corporation, please contact us.
We're playing outdoor shows, indoor shows, and indoor dances in the next few months. Why not check our schedule to see where?
Carol of the screaming soprano sax celebrated her marriage this summer to David DeLorenzo, with friends, family, and their son in attendance. Guess who got to play for the wedding dance? We had a contra, a contact improv, a talent show, and enough whole foods to feed a peaceful army of danced-out revelers.
[12/23/98] Here comes '99, here comes '99, right down '99 lane. Next year's schedule is filling in nicely with concerts and contra dances. (If you've never been to a contra, go for it. It's social, it's musical, and it's as much exercise as you want it to be.) We're also planning our next CD, to be recorded and released sometime in '99, continuing our unbroken string of odd-year releases since 1993. Speaking of new releases, Carol & David have one named Kai who's been turning up at lots of our shows. Have a great batch of holidays, and we'll see you in the new year!
[The previous paragraph, translated from English
to German and back again (thanks, Altavista):]
Here ' 99, comes
here ' 99, way ' 99
of the right comes down. Schedule of the following yearly fills
out friendly with concerts and against taenze lp (if you never to
a approximately been, go you for it. It is social, is musical it,
and it is as much exercise, as you it its requires), we plans also our
following CD in ' 99 to be once stored and released and continued our
intact character string of the Ungeradjahr releases since 1993 rte.
Speaking the new the releases, Carol and David designated in, dock,
that to tutor above our appearances turned. Have a large set of
holidays, and we see you in the new year!
[8/2/98] Wow. What a bunch of driving: Albany, Philadelphia, Western New York, Central Pennsylvania. We got to play with Dar Williams in Albany and Broadside Electric in Philly, and we played a festival hosted by Hypnotic Clambake 'way out on route 90. But now, it's summer vacation! We're taking most of August off for Carol's special delivery. We're still waiting to find out what instrument the new arrival will play. After that, we'll be playing shows and contra dances galore. We're ordering more copies of our CD; thanks for buying up the first run!
All dates subject to change - please call venue to confirm
[4/24/98] Our CD, Don't Ask
,
is now available online at
folkweb.com,
along with lots of sound samples. ELH is getting ready for NEFFA (the New
England Folk Festival) in Natick. Last year, we packed a classroom
and overflowed into the hall. This year, they've put us in a room
about twice the size. Heh. In May, we'll be playing a show
in Albany with Dar Williams. A couple of festivals booked
for this summer, and we'd love to play more. Oh, and we recorded
a new demo to send to contradance organizers. Start bugging your
contradance organizer friends (in a friendly way), and
let us know where to send stuff.
Thanks!
[12/4/97] We're really gearing up for '98. More shows, a larger variety of venues, and a larger playing area (on the map, not on the stage). We're going to be taping a show in February for SCAT, Somerville's community access station. And we've been talking with Broadside Electric, a great band based in Philly, about visiting them at the end of spring for a show-packed weekend. We're sorry to announce that we won't be appearing at the Small Planet in Cambridge on December 6th. We're thinking of putting together a list of places that have closed down either just before or just after our shows. Or would that reduce our booking chances?
[ 11/17/97 ] Wow, did we have fun at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference! (I'm reading that off my cool new free pen. The name, not the part about having fun.) We finally got to hear (and meet) Broadside Electric, listened to the Jazzabels in their hotel room, jammed from night into morning with various traditional and non-traditional musicians, and wandered up the bunny slope to the Split Rock from which Split Rock Resort takes its name.
Well, it was a split rock, anyway.
We also played a Saturday night showcase to an appreciative crowd of presenters, promoters, DJ's, and musicians. We got a great response from lots of people afterward, including our ASL interpreter. Now we know how it feels to be recognized wherever we go. It feels great! [ 9/25/97 ] Lots of fun new things coming up, including a showcase spot at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance conference in the Poconos. No heart-shaped bathtubs in the rooms; we're hoping for a Jacuzzi(tm), though.
[8/14/97]
We're having our second release party
on August 21st at Club Passim, one of our favorite places to play.
We'll have a special gift for everyone that comes to see us there.
Did I mention that we've got a CD?
Falcon Ridge was a wonderful
experience, once again. Thanks to everyone that said "hi" to us,
asked us to sign things, carried our instruments for us, and smiled,
clapped, waved, and laughed at us from the hillsides. Hope we get
to go back again next year!
[5/16/97] Hooray!!! We've got a CD! After eight months of recording, mixing, mastering, and artwork, it feels great to have the result of our efforts on its way. We're having a release party on May 27th; come on down and help us celebrate! Oh, and after playing a Falcon Ridge Preview at the Eighth Step Coffeehouse, we're more excited than ever about returning to the Festival this year for Main Stage and Workshop Stage spots.
[11/19/96] Well, the logo competition is over. I (Paul) won, with the design at the top of this page. Thanks to all who participated (that would be me and Sue). In other news, we're about half done with the recording of our new CD, and about half done learning how to record a CD.
[10/13/96] Our recording sessions are going very well. We're also finding time to play more shows, and the occasional wedding.
[7/29/96] Just played the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Loved it! We hope to be invited back next year to have more fun. We saw lots of great performances and met lots of longstanding and recently converted ELH fans. Many people from the NY/NJ/CT area signed up on our mailing list, and you can, too!
[7/20/96] We're going to start recording! We've got some free studio hours coming to us for having so much fun at the Acoustic Underground competition last November, and it's time to use them. So, look for a new elh CD in '97, and don't forget the logo competition - your art could grace our new release!
[6/20/96] Logo Competition! Win big prizes and eternal fame! We need a logo design for T-shirts and stuff. Submit your design to us (only completed designs are eligible to win, no rough sketches or descriptions), and if we use it, we'll give you some T-shirts and whatever else we use it for, as well as tapes or CDs or something... or free admission to the ELH show of your choice... maybe some used guitar strings and reeds... dinner with the band... something like that. The design should include the band name, some Celtic element (e.g. knotwork), and ideally a homunculus of some kind (if you don't know what one looks like, use your imagination). Einstein does not need to be included. Go wild...
[5/18/96] We got into the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival showcase! This is a great festival (performers include Greg Brown, Christine Lavin, Nancy Tucker, Moxy Früvous, Wild Asparagus, the Horse Flies, and lots more) and a great opportunity for us. The festival takes place from July 26 to 28 at Long Hill Farm in Hillsdale, NY (right at the corner of MA, NY, and CT); we'll be playing sometime Friday afternoon. Other news... we've been working up lots of new arrangements and new material with our expanded woodwind/horn section, and have a bunch of summer gigs to try them at, including Club Passim on July 11 and our rescheduled NJ/PA mini-tour August 1-4. (As always, check here for latest details and call venues to confirm.) And we're finally starting to make plans to record our first CD. We've gotten as far as choosing the title...
[1/29/96] New photos ... new gigs ... new band member ...
[1/2/96] Metronome magazine has an article on us in their January 1996 issue, complete with a somewhat murky picture. ... We've got a bunch of gigs coming up, starting in February; they have a tendency to get cancelled, though, so check here and/or call the venue for confirmation. ... Recording news: We've finished recording and are ready to mix "Celibacy" for the Acoustic Alliance, Volume 3 compilation. We've also remastered Trampling the Perennials for a more balanced sound. If you have the old one, you can "upgrade" it for $1.
[11/15/95]
We are the winners of the 1995 Acoustic Underground
competition, in the group category - the other winners are Merrie
Amsterburg (solo female) and Bob Malone (solo male).
You can read excerpts from the
Boston Herald
and Boston Globe
reviews of the Acoustic Underground finals, and
see other AU finalists and winners on the Web.
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