A Benefit for Elderly's "Musicians for Music in the Schools" Program

Friday , December 03, 2004
08:00 pm
Location: M.S.U. Erickson Kiva
benefit concert (See below)

Produced by The Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse (aka Lansing Area Folksong Society) and Elderly Instruments, "A Tribute to Twang" is a benefit concert for Elderly's "Musicians for Music in the Schools" (MMS) program, whereby Elderly arranges for professional musicians to present roots-music assemblies in local elementary schools that have no regular music-education programs.

In an evening devoted to traditional American roots music, the "Fiddle" and Elderly will showcase four bands, all of which are donating their talents for this entertaining--and enlightening-- fundraiser. The Hop-Ups (Keith Billik, Joe Bakaitis, Alan Epstein, Peter Knupfer, and Derek Smith) will offer the traditional "high lonesome" sounds of bluegrass. Red Leicester, pronounced "Lester" and named after a "full rich russet-colored cheese" (Joe Bakaitis, Doug Berch, Dave Keller, Randy Markey, and Derek Smith), will share authentic old-time music.

Following Intermission, Elderly's long-popular house band Strangers in the Night (Doug Berch, Brian Hefferan, Dave Matchette, Chris Rietz, Steve Szilagyi, and Stan Werbin) will entertain with a plethora of folk instruments and a mix of acoustic-eclectic music from a variety of genres. We'll cap off the evening with a "tip of the hat to the golden days of the Grand Ole Opry"--a set by Honest D & The Steel Reserve (Derek "Honest D" Smith, Danny Jim Amori, Jeremy Rapp, and Joe Bakaitis), Lansing's authentic honky-tonk band.

Elderly and the Fiddle are thrilled to have as emcees Doug Neal and Corrina Van Hamlin, co-hosts of WDBM Impact 89's "Progressive Torch & Twang" campus radio show. Doug and Corrina are also donating their talents--and knowledge of "twang" music--for this "Tribute to Twang" fundraiser.

The Friday, December 3, 2004 concert will be held in M.S.U.'s Erickson Kiva, on the northwest corner of Farm and Shaw Lanes. There's plenty of free and convenient parking. Ticket prices are $5 for students, $9 for Lansing Area Folksong Society members, and $12 for the general public. Tickets will be available at Elderly on November 15.

Elderly's "Musicians for Music in the Schools" Program was initiated in 2002 while employees contemplated how best to celebrate the music store's 30th Anniversary. Elderly held a concert to raise money to send musicians to local elementary schools that don't benefit from regular music-education programs. Bands volunteering their time for the fundraiser were Those Delta Rhythm Kings, The Fabulous Heftones, Hot-Toe-Mitty, Kjell Croce, and Strangers in the Night.

Lansing Schools welcomed the idea of having professional musicians present roots music programs to local elementary-school children; Adam Emerson cited spokesman Mark Mayes in the Lansing State Journal: "This is a great benefit to our students...something students might not hear otherwise." Elderly also received a letter from Dr. E. Sharon Banks, Lansing School District Superintendent; "Dear Mr. Werbin," she wrote: "On behalf of the Lansing School District, please accept my sincerest gratitude to you and your staff for your willingness to support our schools.... Thank you again for helping to enrich their educational experience."

Elderly's MMS planners contracted with Li'l Rev, a widely-renown old-time music educator and music historian from Wisconsin, to present an entertaining educational program for young students. Because expenses didn't permit funding the MMS program to the extent initially envisioned, Elderly musicians began offering monthly music-education assemblies to 200-plus Walnut School students, exposing them to various forms of American roots music. The program received a boost with a 2003 concert at the Creole Gallery; artists who volunteered to play for the event were Jen Sygit & Friends, Honest D & The Steel Reserve, Doug Berch & Cohorts, and Strangers in the Night.

Hiring "outside" music educators proved a costly endeavor, and Elderly employees--many of them professional musicians--continued offering assemblies to young students for whom music-education isn't available. The most recent programs have showcased the Latin-American band Clavel, Honest D, a classical guitar/violin program, and an all-school sing-along with lyric sheets for the kids and teachers: "This Land is Your Land," "The Happy Wanderer"--and even Three Dog Night: "Joy to the world! All the boys and girls! Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me!" We hope to offer more and varied music-education assemblies to an increasing number of local elementary students in the ensuing months and years.

Why a "Tribute to Twang" concert? The idea resulted from an article titled "Twang-Town" in the Lansing Noise on June 2, 2004. Author Matthew Miller explained that the popular local "twang" movement arose from two entities: "For years, the city has had unusual access to twang music through two unique channels: the Elderly Instruments music store and the 'Progressive Torch and Twang' radio show on WDBM 88.9 FM." Thus we decided to focus on the increasingly-popular genre, sought Ten Pound Fiddle sponsorship due to the folksong society's thirty years of producing a wide variety of root and folk genres, and invited Torch & Twang co-hosts Doug Neal and Corrina Van Hamlin to emcee the show. It was Doug who referred to Elderly as "the epicenter of twang" in Miller's "Twang-Town" article.

What's 'twang'? "Twang music is a broad term used to describe a number of musical styles related to early country music...hillbilly and honky-tonk...outlaw country...Western swing...old-time music...rock-oriented alt-country..." wrote Miller in his informative "Twang-Town" article, adding that it's "everything from old-time to cowpunk." It's American roots music that you'll surely enjoy.

If you seek a meatier definition of "twang," you can ask concert emcees Doug and Corrina of "Progressive Torch & Twang," the radio program that "seeded the ground" for Lansing's twang scene, according to Elderly showroom manager and MMS program supervisor Ray Aleshire.

Come on out and enjoy this benefit concert--it'll be fun!