[Santa Cruz Celtic Slow Sessions] Anyone want to try playing for English Country Dancers? Plus new sessions

[Tane' Tachyon]

Michael Long, the guy who put together our tunebooks, was last I
heard also the bandleader for a twice-a-month English Country Dance
group up by UCSC.  To quote from an email message I recently received
about the group:

      Michael (this is Michael King, not Long) is seeking new band
      leaders for their dance group as longtime musicians are leaving.
      There's no pressure to perform at a high standard as these
      dances are very informal but dancing to 'live' music is greatly
      appreciated. The tunes are simple and sheet music can be
      provided. The dances are the second and fourth Thursday or the
      month from 7pm to 9:30pm at The First Congregational Church, 900
      High St. in Santa Cruz. If you're a musician who is interested,
      would like to join in the dancing or merely come along to see
      what it's all about, contact Michael at
      mking at cruzio.com or 831-426-8621

I had talked with Michael King about this once before, but then with
one thing or another still haven't managed to actually get over there
yet, but here is what he said about it at the time:

      Many of the tunes are from a book by Peter Barnes called simply
      "The Barnes Book of English Country Dance Tunes," though Mike
      Long has transposed some of these into different key signatures
      in our book.

      Here are some of the more popular tunes at our dance:

      Doldrum
      Gathering Peascods
      Gray's Inne Maske
      Geud Man of Ballangigh
      Great Uffington White Horse
      Hyde Park
      Jenny Pluck Pears
      Newcastle
      Nightpeece
      Parthenia
      Prince William
      Round About Our Coal Fire
      Rufty Tufty
      Wibsey Roundabout (a.k.a. Hugh O'Donnell)

So, not exactly the same, but some people might like to check it out,
and I see that The Barnes Book of English Country Dance Tunes does
have one song, "The Bonny Cuckoo", described as "to 'Sheebeg and
Sheemore' by Carolan".

p.s. Here's a new session announcement from the Celtic Society of the
Monterey Bay Newsletter:

      A new session has begun at The Coastline Restaurant & Brewery at
      120 Union St. (between Cedar & Center Streets) in downtown Santa
      Cruz. The session runs every Wednesday from 7pm to 10pm, except
      for the fourth Wednesday when it runs from 6pm to 10pm. Although
      it is for experienced players of all ages, everyone is welcome
      to play what you can, to listen or just come along to enjoy and
      help make this a thriving community event. For more info,
      contact Andrea at (831) 427-0624 or andrea at baymoon.com.

-- 
Tane' Tachyon = tachyon at tachyonlabs.com = http://www.tachyonlabs.com/