Showcase

March 9 Showcase – Jane Tatum & Ben Hamblin

(rescheduled from February due to snow - text unedited)

In February, our thoughts turn to love - love gone wrong, love gone right, love gone away and love that won’t leave.  The quotes below show the varied musings of a great philosopher, rock stars, a noted psychologist and that greatest cultural icon of the 20th Century – Charlie Brown.

• Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.   (Blaise Pascal)

• Love Stinks (J. Geils Band)

• The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. (Carl Jung)

• Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love. (Charles Schultz)

Jane Tatum and Ben Hamblin have performed at the Folk Club (solo, duo and with others), but it’s been a while.  For the February showcase they will examine the dimensions of love.

Jane sings a variety of music ranging from blues to bluegrass.  A Kentucky native, her early influences were the folk musicians of the 1960’s, Appalachian music, 50’s and 60’s rock and roll and gospel music of the mid-20th century.  Since 2004, she has played with Laurel Branch, a musical foursome that includes two college chums (Sara Pitney and Ann Caldwell) and her sister (Julia Sparks).  Laurel Branch has played festivals and other events in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and Indiana (including the annual Bluemont Fair).  In July 2010 they are scheduled to make a second appearance in Jane and Julia’s hometown opening the 20th annual Carter County Shriner’s Club Bluegrass Festival.  Jane has recorded two projects – “How Sweet the Sound” a studio recording of gospel favorites and “Rehearsing for the Big One”, a mostly live 2-CD set that features Jane and many of her local musical friends (including duos with, and solos by, Ben Hamblin).  Both recordings will be available at the event.

Ben Hamblin loves to sing, and always has.  In elementary school he sang in school shows, and he began to listen to top-40 AM radio, learning many songs.  Since Mom and Dad would not get him an instrument (his older brothers wrecked it for him) he jumped at the chance to make a 4-string guitar in his eighth-grade woodworking class.  Then he began to play incessantly, enough so that Mom & Dad had to relent and get him a real 6-stringer for his birthday.  He got some song books and also discovered he could figure out a song's chords by ear.  He has never had a guitar lesson, and enjoys being able to "figure out" a song on his own.  In 1996 when Thom McAn folded, Ben and his wife Gail left Massachusetts - seeking milder winters.  They chose Northern Virginia, and after Ben found a job at E-Systems/Raytheon they moved to Reston.  The Raytheon contract with the Department of Education got transferred to ACS, so now he works in Germantown.  Ben is very glad he found the Folk Club, where everyone shares their love of music.

Jane and Ben are happy to have a chance to sing together again.  Come see and hear what they have to sing about love for the February showcase.
 

SHOWCASE PERFORMANCES:
To be in the Showcase, you must: