Wednesday, April 1st (no! Really!!!) 7:30 PM $8 - 12 donation
Call (360)671-4511 for reservations and directions
At Fl!p and Zeke's house, unless we manage to save the Roeder Home, in which case we'll probably put it there so there is room for everybody....

Together, Hank, Cathie & Frannie are Balkan Kafe Orchestra. With handfuls of acoustic instruments, using time-tested methods of counterfeiting, stealing, and cultural plundering, the BKO presents traditional music of Greece, the Balkans and the old-time South. OK, some of it they made up themselves (that's the counterfeiting), but the sources for the rest are impeccable. Songs are in English (and outrageous). They wake up the music police with "Win the Election", "Hippie Up the Danube", "Blue on Monday", "Pants" and assorted fiddle blues, Romanian horas, and Greek dance tunes.

Hank: Fiddle champion turned bouzouki player. Irrepressible glee mixed with human observation, done up with quirky rhythmic virtuosic skill. Frannie: Musically diverse singer has the guitar seat, and it's no easy feat with this band. Cathie: Long time Bay Area dance player, one of a kind soaring souldful fidde - matching Hand with inventive harmony lines and growly rhythms. I laugh and weep by turns at the outrageous humor and the deeply beautiful music. Come hear them!

The BKO sprang from the imagination of Hank Bradley in collaboration with Frannie Leopold and Cathie Whitesides. Based on the bands Hank saw perform in Macedonia, Greece and the Balkans, they enjoy learning up as many musical languages as possible with the ever-challenging hope they might sidle up to your table at a cozy café and play just the very tune you were dreaming of. Obviously life-work in progress, nevertheless Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, American, Irish and Cajun tunes get a good run, and with sufficient tips original and spontaneous tunes sometimes occur. The BKO has a brand new CD recording with the amazing song "Win The Election" which I've wanted a copy of for years so I could play it for everyone I know.....

Whatcom County has an incredible wealth of folk musicians, many of whom are nationally known. Some of the finest have volunteered to raise funds for the Roeder Home at this concert. Come prepared to sing your heart out, listen with ears and mind open, be moved, amazed, connected.... Let's bathe those old walls in music and make the rafters ring!

We could use a hand putting up some posters if you've got a bit of time in the next few days. Please let your friends know about this great concert! (I'm also soliciting home-baked cookies for this event.) RSVP - flip@breskin.com 671-4511.

TRACY SPRING
Her singing has been favorably compared to k.d. lang, Joan Armatrading, Kathy Mattea, and Yo Yo Ma's cello. She has won regional and national honors for her songwriting, including having one of her songs recorded by Peter Paul & Mary. Tracy has has opened for or performed with Doc Watson, Chris Williamson and Tret Fure, Linda Waterfall, and Greg Brown.
http://www.bima.com/tracyspring/

LAURA SMITH
Laura is in demand as a traditional banjo teacher and back-up vocalist up and down the West Coast. Her song accompaniment in clawhammer style on the banjo is extraordinarily lyrical. She hosted the Home Made Music Society music circles in the early years.
http://www.banjosmith.com/bio.htm

GEOF MORGAN
A former Nashville songwriter involved in social justice, Geof has multiple songs in Rise Up Singing, albums on Flying Fish, and has songs recorded by Peter Alsop as well. He's got a great singing voice, and plays intricate guitar accompaniments. In recent years he's gotten deep into Balkan music with its complex rhythms and suprising harmonies. He's been doing other things besides music and I can't find a website for his songs. Sorry!

MIKE & NAKOS MARKER
Eclectic American traditional folk music combined with composed songs covering the realm of Blues, Cowboy Songs, Union and Labor Songs, Political and Protest Songs, with 6-and 12- string guitars, banjo, and dobro accompaniment. Their songs and instrumental accompaniments are rooted in blues, Appalachian ballads and folk music traditions from the British Isles. Leadbelly, Gary Davis, Elizabeth Cotton, Stephen Foster, Malvina Reynolds and Woody Guthrie. Mike's teenage son Nakos has immersed himself in the dobro with fantastic results. It's a joy to witness.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/hanksmarker

ROB LOPRESTI
When he isn't writing songs about love, guilt, slavery, Passover, and iguanas, Rob Lopresti is generally found at the reference desk of a university library, helping astonished students discover that Google does not yet contain the entire sum of human knowledge. He also writes fiction - his new mystery novel SUCH A KILLING CRIME is set in the Greenwich Village folk scene, 1963. Other musicians like his songs so much that a few years back they put together a concert of other people playing his songs. Usually they only do that for people when they're dead. http://www.roblopresti.com/
http://cdbaby.com/cd/roblopresti

ZEKE HOSKIN
Zeke sees the absurd side of life and puts it into witty songs that have been performed and recorded by Canadian groups from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland. Skewed and humorous songs about war, peace, relationships, duck hunters, ancient Greek rowing ships, and other relevant topics: Valparieso in a Rowboat, Hunting The Duck, I Love Chocolate, and other hilarious and quirky sing-alongs.
www.zekehoskin.com

SELINA DORAN
Some of you got to see this teenage singer, guitarist & ukulele player at age 13 at her debut concert at the Roeder Home. She did a whole solo evening. Her voice and guitar skills draw crowds when she shows up at the Farmer's Market as "the girl in the purple hat." She's been too busy pulling down a 4.0 in high school to do much music lately, but promised she'd make time for this benefit concert.

FL!P BRESKIN
Co-founder of the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop in 1974, host of Mama Sunday's coffee house at WWU in the 1970s, long-time host and mentor for the Whatcom Home Made Music Society, guitar teacher, Fl!p has spent a lifetime making sure music is within reach of us all. She plays music herself too. "Good songs, well sung & well played" - Faith Petrick, San Francisco Folklore Society Journal; "I'd listen to Flip sing the phone book" - Peter Berryman
www.flip.breskin.com