"The Foolish Fringe of Folk Music" HOLLY TANNEN IN CONCERT

SATURDAY APRIL 28th at 8 pm
Doors open 7:30
CASPAR SHUL 15071 CASPAR ROAD
(Caspar is 6 miles south of Fort Bragg. The Shul is just west of the Community Center)

Folklorist Holly Tannen presents a concert of strange and silly American folk songs, and her own funny songs about Mendocino life.

Plenty of chorus songs: she’ll teach you the words. Come ready to sing! Holly will present local favorites Bonobo Wannabee, Listen to the Dinosaurs, and Email from Norman, plus brand-new songs. Note: there will be a few serious songs as well.

All children and grown-ups welcome. Tickets are $15 -25 (sliding scale) for adults and $5 for children. Snacks will be available.

All proceeds benefit the Caspar Shul Building Fund. For more info contact Harriet at 7007 937-3622.

Tickets are $15 -25 (sliding scale) for adults and $5 for children.

This concert is part of the Mendocino County Arts Council’s Almost Fringe Festival.
Holly Tannen sings to centuries-old melodies, and then you notice she’s singing about the Internet or northern California marijuana growers. Tannen sings these songs as if the ancient ballads were always about things like that (and in a sense, they were.) She also knows when and how to aim for the heart with something more serious. – Dr. Demento
In Mendocino I’m happy, I run with a musical bunch
We like to have brownies for breakfast, we like to have mushrooms for lunch.

Holly Tannen spent five years in England, Scotland, and Ireland, singing in folk clubs and tracking down traditional ballads. In 1980 she returned to California and entered UC Berkeley’s graduate program in Folklore. After completing her master’s thesis on Scotland’s Traveling People, she moved to the north coast to teach anthropology and folklore at College of the Redwoods.

“I always thought there was a folksong for everything,” says Holly. “Then I came to Mendocino. Life was weird here, so I started making up my own songs.” Like Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie, she based her songs on old ballads and blues songs, backing them up on Appalachian dulcimer. People began requesting “Suburban Shaman,” “Humboldt Wassail,” and “Mendo Daisy Chain,” and she realized she was funny.
Holly now teaches mountain dulcimer and SongCraft on the coast and at folk festivals throughout California.

Holly’s program at the Caspar Shul will include old favorites as well as Holly’s most recent songs, “Listen To The Dinosaurs,” “President’s Gone Golfing,” and “A Dybbuk Named Fred.”