The Folk Club is an all-volunteer organization led by an elected Board of Directors.
Other members contribute to the functions of our weekly open mike
nights, and our monthly operations.
President:
Ben Hamblin
Treasurer: Dave Hurd
Board Member: Ray
Kaminsky
Ray
started playing folk music on banjo in the folk scare of the '60's,
shortly thereafter switched to guitar. Like Dylan, he moved to
acoustic rock throughout the '70's, playing the 9pm-1:30am bar gigs.
He took a hiatus from public performances in early '80's. Ray
first attended the Folk Club its first night at the Tortilla Factory
in August 1987, which got him into performing again, and also
recording with Classic Acoustic - a popular folk album. Shortly
thereafter blues legend John Jackson convinced Ray to attend Blues
Week at Davis-Elkins college, which resulted in Ray changing to
playing primarily Piedmont and Delta blues. Ray has received three
WAMMIE nominations for Blues Recording of the Year with Barker Hill
Blues in 1997, Ghosts of the Blues in 2001, and Roadhouse Blues in
2003. Ghosts became only the second acoustic blues recording to win
the WAMMIE award since the awards were founded in 1985. Ray started
helping with Folk Club concert bookings in 1989, and booked all acts
from 1990 to June 2009. Ray assumed the role of president of the
Folk Club in 1997.
Board Member:
Ellen Kaminsky
Ellen
Kaminsky and her husband Ray (former Folk Club president) have
called the Folk Club ‘home’ since it began meeting at the Tortilla
Factory in 1987. As Ellen says, “We connected to its goal of
promoting folk music and felt immediately at home with its members.
With little exception, our closest and dearest friends are those
we’ve met on Tuesday nights… The Club has changed little over the
years – a testament to its almost perfect construct. We continue to
see young artists coming through and old friends coming back… It’s a
rare moment when people disagree and the sense of civility shown to
all is cause to celebrate in this ever more contentious world. It’s
comforting to know that no matter where our retirement plans take
us, we can always come home to the Folk Club.”
Board Member: Sue Beffel
Sue was introduced to folk music by the Weavers at Carnegie Hall
albums. A few years later she went to see Joan Baez, and Joan pushed
some kid from the East Village with a squeaky voice onto the stage
(they were annoyed at first, but the fellow had some catchy lyrics.)
She joined the Folk Club in 1992 to reconnect with her musical roots
after 20 years overseas with the State Department (where she is now
an HR Program Manager). As Sue says about the Folk Club, “I really
started to connect after my first camp-out at Dave Hurd’s. It has
become a second family. My husband Ted Moline and I enjoy the
diversity of music - folk, blues, jazz, singer-songwriter, country
and so forth – and the wonderful people.”
Sue and her husband also enjoy spending time with her daughter in
Baltimore and his kids in St. Petersburg and San Diego, and
volunteering in the community.
Board Member: Bill Davis
Bill plays the guitar and is the founder of the Guys With
Monosyllabic First Names Who Play The Guitar Society – which
is so secret it never meets. He has been a Folk Clubber since the
last night at the Red Caboose (sometime in 1986 or 1987) so he is
very old – but a lot of the songs he sings are older, a lot of the
songs he has written are older too. But singing with Pat Chen as Somos el Mar most of the time he is younger than the
audience.
Somos el Mar has two CDs out and has been working on a
multi disc Holiday CD for the past 4 years. Look for it sometime
before the sun explodes. Bill has three CDs of his own & is always
working on another.
Bill writes a lot of his own songs including some that aren’t so bad
and some that are so bad. How bad is that?
Bill has been a pilot and flight instructor, IT guy, radio engineer,
actor, director, theatre guy. Think of something – I’m
probably interested in it.
Board Member: TM Hanna
Board Member:
Chris "Fang" Kramer-Harnage
Board Member: Sue Schier
Board Member: Ron Goad
What can we say about Ron Goad? Born in an elevator in
Front Royal, Virginia, Ron's had his ups and downs.
Illustrious impresario, prestidigitatious percussionist, and
emcee extraordinaire, Ron has been nominated for the WAMMIE
award for Most Supportive of Washington Music the
last 4 years running, winning the honor in 2008 and 2009.
Ron was introduced to the Folk Club by Todd Crowley when
asked to sing The Cowardly Lion part in "If I Only Had a
Brain" from The Wizard of Oz,
along with Rex Wood. The trio presented a rough rendition
but got lots of applause anyway, so that kept Ron coming
back for more.
Prior to The Club, Ron was more accustomed to playing
professionally (i.e. - in tuxedos... for real money!).
He thanks the Folk Club and Dan Grove for increasing his
appreciation of nonpaying gigs.
Board Member: Bob Hampton
Bob
found the Folk Club in August '02 when he happened upon old friends
Fang and Harny (Chris and Ken Harnage) while eating dinner at the
Tortilla Factory on the night of their Showcase performance.
After visiting on Tuesday evenings for a month or so, he decided
this was a fun place to hang out, and joined The
Club. He is now editor of the monthly newsletter, and also maintains the website
for The Club.
Bob performs occasionally at Tuesday night open mikes on one of his
collection of guitars. He has worked in the computer field for
the past 30 years, and is currently Director of IT for a local technology firm. When not playing his guitar at home in the evening, he
enjoys bicycling; watching movies, the Science Channel and the
Boston Red Sox; and playing the occasional round of golf.
Board Member:
Laura Schier
I
began attending The Folk Club at about 14 years old - I am currently
28 (as of April 2010 - ed.). Having spent exactly half of my life
attending The Folk Club as many Tuesday's as life would allow, one
tends to grow up a little differently then others of my generation.
Of course being raised by Sue Schier also has its after effects
(namely knowing all the words to almost all of Arlo Guthrie's songs
AND the stories that he tells at his concerts), but The Folk Club
has definitely made its mark upon me. The most important of which
was to give me confidence in my singing ability. Without The Folk
Club I wouldn't have auditioned for any of the musicals or other
shows that I've done since then. Without The Folk Club I would not
have directed Spoon River Anthology nor been a part of the band.
Without The Folk Club I would still be thinking of the words that my
music teacher in High School told me "You should just stick to
dancing - singing is not your forte" Without The Folk Club my life
would have taken an entirely different path - sure, it might have
been just as good as this one - but somehow I doubt it. Life without
song is no life at all. In the words of one of my favorite artists
often sung at the Folk Club - Bill Staines - "I`ve been moved by
some things that I`ve learned; Met a lot of good people and I've
called them friends.....[So] here`s to the friends that I know; And
here`s to the song that`s within me now, I will sing it where`er I
go."
Publicity:
Felicia Strickland
Felicia first learned of the Reston
Herndon Folk Club from an anniversary party mention placed in a
local Newspaper in August, 2007. She was surprised and delighted to
discover that such an organization existed in her community and
decided to check it out. When she arrived late that Tuesday night,
the Club was already filled to capacity with no seats remaining.
Just then, as luck would have it, an attending reporter left early
and one seat opened up. A simple twist of fate and the rest is
history! The caliber of musicians and variety of performances
impressed her so that she quickly cleared her Tuesday night schedule
and became a member of the Folk Club. After two years of attending
and participating, Felicia began serving as a Publicity
representative, spreading the word about the amazing live music to
be found at the Reston Herndon Folk Club.
Membership in the Folk Club is open to all.
The cost is a nominal $15/year, which includes $1 discount on the
recommended donation for each monthly concert, up to 2 donations per
show (see Concerts below).
Folk Club members are also eligible for the monthly showcase
drawings (see Showcase below). Contact club treasurer Dave Hurd (DAHurdSr@cs.com) about
becoming a member.
FOLK CLUB FEATURES: Open Mike Most Tuesday nights, the Folk Club is an open mike format with a sign-up board. There are ten performer slots and each performer has 12 minutes, which included set-up time.
A $1 donation is suggested to all audience members, to help defray
operating costs and use of the room.
Concerts On one Tuesday of the month, the Folk Club hosts a concert featuring a National or Internationally recognized artist.
Showcase
On the second Tuesday of the month, we feature a “Showcase” of a Folk Club member in a 25-minute performance.
On these evenings, there is a drawing for the next month's showcase
performer. Members are eligible to put their name in the hat
if it they have not performed a showcase in the past 6 months.
Newsletter
The Folk Club publishes a monthly newsletter and Folk Club members
are encouraged to submit performance calendars, classified
advertisements, articles, reviews, artwork and other music related
items to Bob Hampton (BHampton@ossva.com). Information should be received one week before the last day of the month in which you want it published. Items will be published on the basis of music related interest, timeliness, and space available.
Ray
started playing folk music on banjo in the folk scare of the '60's,
shortly thereafter switched to guitar. Like Dylan, he moved to
acoustic rock throughout the '70's, playing the 9pm-1:30am bar gigs.
He took a hiatus from public performances in early '80's. Ray
first attended the Folk Club its first night at the Tortilla Factory
in August 1987, which got him into performing again, and also
recording with Classic Acoustic - a popular folk album. Shortly
thereafter blues legend John Jackson convinced Ray to attend Blues
Week at Davis-Elkins college, which resulted in Ray changing to
playing primarily Piedmont and Delta blues. Ray has received three
WAMMIE nominations for Blues Recording of the Year with Barker Hill
Blues in 1997, Ghosts of the Blues in 2001, and Roadhouse Blues in
2003. Ghosts became only the second acoustic blues recording to win
the WAMMIE award since the awards were founded in 1985. Ray started
helping with Folk Club concert bookings in 1989, and booked all acts
from 1990 to June 2009. Ray assumed the role of president of the
Folk Club in 1997.
Ellen
Kaminsky and her husband Ray (former Folk Club president) have
called the Folk Club ‘home’ since it began meeting at the Tortilla
Factory in 1987. As Ellen says, “We connected to its goal of
promoting folk music and felt immediately at home with its members.
With little exception, our closest and dearest friends are those
we’ve met on Tuesday nights… The Club has changed little over the
years – a testament to its almost perfect construct. We continue to
see young artists coming through and old friends coming back… It’s a
rare moment when people disagree and the sense of civility shown to
all is cause to celebrate in this ever more contentious world. It’s
comforting to know that no matter where our retirement plans take
us, we can always come home to the Folk Club.”
Sue was introduced to folk music by the Weavers at Carnegie Hall
albums. A few years later she went to see Joan Baez, and Joan pushed
some kid from the East Village with a squeaky voice onto the stage
(they were annoyed at first, but the fellow had some catchy lyrics.)
She joined the Folk Club in 1992 to reconnect with her musical roots
after 20 years overseas with the State Department (where she is now
an HR Program Manager). As Sue says about the Folk Club, “I really
started to connect after my first camp-out at Dave Hurd’s. It has
become a second family. My husband Ted Moline and I enjoy the
diversity of music - folk, blues, jazz, singer-songwriter, country
and so forth – and the wonderful people.”
Bill plays the guitar and is the founder of the Guys With
Monosyllabic First Names Who Play The Guitar Society – which
is so secret it never meets. He has been a Folk Clubber since the
last night at the Red Caboose (sometime in 1986 or 1987) so he is
very old – but a lot of the songs he sings are older, a lot of the
songs he has written are older too. But singing with Pat Chen as
Somos el Mar most of the time he is younger than the
audience. 
What can we say about Ron Goad? Born in an elevator in
Front Royal, Virginia, Ron's had his ups and downs.
Illustrious impresario, prestidigitatious percussionist, and
emcee extraordinaire, Ron has been nominated for the WAMMIE
award for Most Supportive of Washington Music the
last 4 years running, winning the honor in 2008 and 2009.
Bob
found the Folk Club in August '02 when he happened upon old friends
Fang and Harny (Chris and Ken Harnage) while eating dinner at the
Tortilla Factory on the night of their Showcase performance.
After visiting on Tuesday evenings for a month or so, he decided
this was a fun place to hang out, and joined The
Club. He is now editor of the monthly newsletter, and also maintains the website
for The Club.
I
began attending The Folk Club at about 14 years old - I am currently
28 (as of April 2010 - ed.). Having spent exactly half of my life
attending The Folk Club as many Tuesday's as life would allow, one
tends to grow up a little differently then others of my generation.
Of course being raised by Sue Schier also has its after effects
(namely knowing all the words to almost all of Arlo Guthrie's songs
AND the stories that he tells at his concerts), but The Folk Club
has definitely made its mark upon me. The most important of which
was to give me confidence in my singing ability. Without The Folk
Club I wouldn't have auditioned for any of the musicals or other
shows that I've done since then. Without The Folk Club I would not
have directed Spoon River Anthology nor been a part of the band.
Without The Folk Club I would still be thinking of the words that my
music teacher in High School told me "You should just stick to
dancing - singing is not your forte" Without The Folk Club my life
would have taken an entirely different path - sure, it might have
been just as good as this one - but somehow I doubt it. Life without
song is no life at all. In the words of one of my favorite artists
often sung at the Folk Club - Bill Staines - "I`ve been moved by
some things that I`ve learned; Met a lot of good people and I've
called them friends.....[So] here`s to the friends that I know; And
here`s to the song that`s within me now, I will sing it where`er I
go."
Felicia first learned of the Reston
Herndon Folk Club from an anniversary party mention placed in a
local Newspaper in August, 2007. She was surprised and delighted to
discover that such an organization existed in her community and
decided to check it out. When she arrived late that Tuesday night,
the Club was already filled to capacity with no seats remaining.
Just then, as luck would have it, an attending reporter left early
and one seat opened up. A simple twist of fate and the rest is
history! The caliber of musicians and variety of performances
impressed her so that she quickly cleared her Tuesday night schedule
and became a member of the Folk Club. After two years of attending
and participating, Felicia began serving as a Publicity
representative, spreading the word about the amazing live music to
be found at the Reston Herndon Folk Club.