Articles about the Folk Music in Ojai Series April, 1999 February 23, 2001 January 25, 2007

Folk tales Going behind the scenes at the homegrown concert series organized by Ojai's Tom and Becky Lowe Maura and Pete Kennedy, above, on stage last month at the Ojai Woman's Club. As presenters of folk music concerts, Tom and Becky Lowe, below, are called on to perform all kinds of duties ­ including checking the wiring on microphones before the performance. At bottom, Tom arranges chairs in the community hall turned concert venue. By Kim Lamb Gregory Staff writer When a well-known singer like Celine Dion or Elton John travels somewhere to perform, he or she gets a chic hotel suite, room service and probably a mint on the pillow. When the traditional Celtic ensemble Battlefield Band comes to Ventura County on Tuesday, band members likely will wind up staying on somebody's sofabed. Unlike mainstream stars who have legions of promoters, booking agents and managers to see to the details of touring, folk musicians often must rely on a worldwide network of folk fans like Tom and Becky Lowe. For 18 years, the Ojai couple have been bringing acts ranging from Silly Wizard to Jean Ritchie and Bill Staines to town as part of their grassroots folk music concert series. The Lowes oversee everything from booking arrangements to finding accommodations to making electrical repairs on the night of the performance. "This plug!" Becky called out to Tom as the couple helped the husband-and-wife folk duo of Pete and Maura Kennedy prepare for a concert last month at the Ojai Valley Woman's Club. "She's not getting any (electricity) out of it!" Tom stopped making coffee for intermission and hastened over to check on the problem. As he tinkered with the troublesome outlet, Tom fielded other questions ­ such as where the CDs should be set up for sale. "At that long table," he called out, still kneeling by the outlet. Informal and unpredictable. Such is the nature of folk musicians' concerts, accommodations, and the music itself. There are no exploding columns of fire or clouds of smoke on stage. No revolving disco balls and thudding bass. Often the folk concert consists of musicians strumming acoustic instruments in a community hall in front of a small but loyal following. In Ojai, the entire process is arranged from start to finish by volunteers like the Lowes, known in folk circles as "presenters." The Lowes describe presenters as folk fans who contribute time, energy and occasionally money to bringing concerts to their hometown. Their duties include coordinating efforts to bake cookies for sale at intermission and calling on friends to find someone able to put up the musicians for the evening. Becky Lowe said many of the folk musicians arrive in town with no idea where they'll stay that night. "They don't know where they're going to sleep," she said. "They just know that we've arranged something for them. There's a lot of faith." (Often, the performers meet their hosts during intermission.) Just as folk music is defined as songs handed down among the common people, the tradition of the presenter is carried from the 1960s, when folk fans held house concerts in people's homes. Presenters would invite performers to play in their home, put them up for the night, and give them all or a percentage of the admission price. "In the early days, it was called a house concert series, but we've never lived in a house (big enough) where we could (hold it there)," said Becky. Instead, the Lowes often rent the Ojai Valley Woman's Club, which holds about 150 people. The couple expects more people than usual to attend Tuesday's concert featuring Battlefield Band, so they made arrangements to have the concert at the 800-seat Buena High School auditorium. "From the very beginning, we've done our concerts on Tuesday nights, because we couldn't compete with (the entertainment offered on) the weekends," explained Tom. It's never been about money and big crowds, he added. "The first concert we did, we had 14 people," Tom said with a grin. "The performers made $12." Performers usually get all or a percentage of the admission price. Presenters such as the Lowes just want to break even so they can finance more folk concerts. That doesn't always happen. If there's a deficit, it comes out of the presenters' pockets, and the Lowes' aren't deep. Tom works at Patagonia, Inc. as an export manager, and Becky supervises students on independent study through a private school. But Tom and Becky say they don't mind when the concerts wind up costing them money. They view their efforts as a type of community service. "Our mission from the beginning was to bring music to Ojai that wouldn't otherwise get here," Tom said. "I have selfish reasons too. I get to hear it!" Tom became a devotee of Celtic music in 1975. After he met Becky, she also embraced his passion for Celtic and folk music, and the two of them sought concerts that were off the beaten beat. "I was always thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great to have this kind of music in Ojai?'" said Tom. In the summer of 1981, a year after they were married, Tom and Becky shared their sentiments with a presenter who had just hosted a folk concert in West Covina. "Within five minutes I was meeting someone," Tom recalled. "He said, `I have someone coming through in 13 days.' Suddenly, it was upon me." "Folk people are like a far flung tribe all over the world," said Pete Kennedy, who with his wife Maura Kennedy performed last month in Ojai. Tom and Becky arranged for the Kennedys to travel to Ojai from their Washington, D.C. home for the concert. "(The folk community) is like family," said Maura. "You can come into town and be welcome." Tom and Becky chose The Kennedys and Battlefield Band using the same simple method they use to select any folk musicians they'd like to bring to Ventura County. "I just listened to their CDs," said Tom. "If I like the music, I say, 'I'd like to have them."' Using the telephone or the Internet, the Lowes then contact the performers' manager or the performers themselves. All parties agree on a concert date, and the Lowes find a place for them to play and spend the night. "One of the key things in putting these on is you've got to like the performers," said Tom. "The great thing about this scene is there is a lot of idealistic people," said Pete Kennedy. "They really believe in the music and we have that in common." But the music can be difficult to classify. The Kennedys call their music "coffeehouse pop" and play an eclectic blend of pop, folk and everything in between. With Pete on lead guitar and Maura on rhythm, they may suddenly branch from a Bach melody into a John Coltrane tune. In contrast, Battlefield Band offers a mix of old Scottish songs and new tunes squeezed and plucked from ancient and modern instruments. "It's a desire for music that is very direct and hasn't been filtered through a marketing campaign," said Pete Kennedy. "It's like you want vegetables and you go to a farmer and he hands you a squash. We grow it ourselves and hand it off directly." The performances themselves are also homegrown. Just before the Kennedys' appearance, Tom hopped up on the stage at the Ojai Valley Woman's Club and dangled a key chain with a Koosh ball attached. "Anybody lose a keychain?" he asked. "What time does the show start?" somebody chirped from the audience. Tom made a few more announcements, then introduced the Kennedys. The audience of about 40 clapped enthusiastically throughout the performance, a small but mighty crowd. An audience member's beeper went off in the middle of the concert, so Pete and Maura grinned and accompanied the interruption with a spontaneous guitar riff. During intermission, they mingled with the audience. It's the exception rather than the rule, but sometimes there's a price to be paid for the laid-back atmosphere surrounding the folk community. "For one performance, only six people showed up," Tom recalled. "We had to laugh more heartily." Another time, the drummer from a foreign band that is well-known in folk circles was unable to get passage into the United States at the last minute. "After they got on stage, they told me (the drummer) was still in Europe," Becky said, rolling her eyes at the memory. "We had to tell everybody at the door. Everyone was furious. People screamed at us." Despite the occasional glitches, the Lowes intend to keep the folk underground pumping through Ojai. "It isn't fair that this music doesn't have venues. You can't hear it on commercial radio stations," Tom said. "... We need to hear what it says ... Often it's music that has a conscience. Music that inspires. Music that remembers the past ... It's a healthy thing for people to understand."

© Copyright 1999, Ventura County Star. All Right Reserved

Fat Saturday By Elena Jarvis Friday February 23, 2001 The county's music epicenter is in Ojai this week, with its annual Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball on Saturday and Tuesday's season debut of the Folk Music Series. Mardi Gras revelers can celebrate the spirit of New Orleans native Lyle Matthews on Saturday during the 11th edition of the Ojai Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball, subtitled "2001: A Circus Oddity." Matthews, who founded the event, died of cancer not long after the second bash. But he'd certainly approve of the carrying-on that's become an Ojai tradition. This year, for the first time ever, revelers can whoop it up and imbibe in beer and wine, courtesy of Calypso's, which is catering the event. On stage, entertainment will be the Juju Gypsies and Innuendo-Out the Other Band, featuring Jim Calire, Jonathan McEuen, Jack Joshua, John Zeretzke, Patricia and Don Cardinali, Rain Perry, Burton Laing and Jesse Seibenberg, among others. There will be a costume contest, a crowning of the Mardi Gras king and queen and the time-honored bead throwing. Before the dancing kicks off, Calypso's will serve vegetarian gumbo and Creole popcorn shrimp. Several dozen Ojai residents join together each year to pull the event off, proceeds from which benefit local charities. A focal point of the Carnival is its elaborate decorations, this year created by Carmen Abelleira-White and her Art Krewe. But it's the outrageous, multi-colored costumes dreamed up by participants that's the icing on this King Cake. Music starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for "2001: A Circus Oddity." The Ojai Women's Club, 441 E. Ojai Ave., will host revelers and admission is $15 at the door, $12 in advance. Tickets are on sale at Cardinali Brothers Music and Ojai Creates!, both in Ojai. Call the Mardi Gras hotline at 646-7843 for more information. The Folk Music Series outdistances the Mardi Gras bash in terms of longevity. The series, possibly the longest-running concert offering in the region, was launched 20 years ago by Tom and Becky Lowe on a shoestring and with the dream of turning locals on to their favorite performers. During that time, they've hosted acts that have become internationally renowned, including Kate Wolf, Bill Staines and John McCutcheon, as well as groups such as the Bay Area's Marley's Ghost, which features Rincon Rambler Jon Wilcox of Santa Barbara. Be they obscure or up-and-comers, the groups' common ground is their Celtic roots. This season is no different, from the opening show with David Roth, the upbeat singer-songwriter, to a closing concert by Englishman Bob Fox on May 22. As Marley's Ghost notes on its Web site, "Venues like this one keep folk music alive. Nice folks, nice hall, great series -- all in Ojai, the hipness center of Ventura County. Any place Bill Yates frequents can't be all bad." Yates, for the uninitiated, is the Web master behind the music series' new site, www.billyates.com/ojaifolk/. He also is a retired physicist with a penchant for the Crimson Tide and old-fashioned American music. Not least, he is part of a large circle of volunteers who keep the music series rolling along year after year. These include locals who loan artists a bed for the night, folks who whip up those fresh-baked goods sold to supplement ticket sales and the people who come out year after year to hear the artists. The most intriguing act in the series will be the March 13 appearance of Belfast group Craobh Rua (pronounced Creeve Ruah). For its debut, the quartet will pull out all the stops, not to mention fiddle, banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, flutes, whistles, Uilleann bagpipes and the bodhran. Two of its members are All-Ireland Champions. This is the first Northern Ireland band to perform in the folk series. Priscilla Herdman calls herself a "songfinder," but Lowes considers here one of America's premier folk vocalists. After a 12-year absence, Herdman returns to Ojai for a April 17 show. The region's favorite Scottish act, the Battlefield Band, is expected to be another sell-out on April 3, so the tickets will be sold far in advance. Joining the band will be new member Katrine Polwart on vocals and guitar. All concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Starting at 7 p.m., advance ticketholders get preferred seating. David Roth kicks things off on Tuesday (tickets are $10 and $12). After that, Croabh Rua performs March 13 ($13 and $15), the Battlefield Band plays April 3 ($15 and $17), Priscilla Herdman appears April 17 ($10 and $12) and Bob Fox is in concert May 22 ($10 and $12). All concerts except Battlefield Band are at the Ojai Valley Women's Club, 441 E. Ojai Ave. The Battlefield Band concert will be at Matilija Junior High School Auditorium, 703 El Paseo, Ojai. For information, call 646-5163. © Copyright 2001, Ventura County Star. All Right Reserved

That's all, folks Lowes plan to end 26-year Ojai concert series on a high note By Karen Lindell klindell@VenturaCountyStar.com Friday, January 25, 2007 The Ojai Valley Woman's Club was not what Silly Wizard had envisioned. The famed Scottish folk band was in town for its first-ever concert on the West Coast, lured in part by a venue that seemed to promise wine and women in addition to song. "It didn't turn out how they had planned; I think they thought it was a bunch of women who they could go out and have a drink with," said Tom Lowe. He and his wife, Becky, presented the show by Silly Wizard in 1981 as part of the couple's premiere season of Folk Music in Ojai concerts. At the time, landing the ensemble, described by Tom Lowe as "the Holy Grail, the greatest Scottish band ever," was a coup for the couple, especially considering it was only the third concert in their fledgling music venture. Now, after 26 years of entertaining the community with more than 300 concerts by folk and traditional musicians, the Lowes have decided to end the series. Americana singer-songwriter Diana Jones of Nashville headlines the final concert, which takes place Tuesday. Audiences haven't tired of the shows, which feature gentler musical souls who lull the ear without amped-up rock guitar. The Lowes simply want to "see what life would be like not doing the concerts," said Tom Lowe, an export manager for Patagonia. Ventura County's concert landscape has changed, he said, offering more options for people to hear folk and traditional music. "It's been an amazing and wonderful experience, but our lives are full and busy," Becky Lowe said. "We're looking forward to hearing music that other people put on." "Our mission was to bring music from far away," Tom Lowe said. The concerts have featured musicians from around the world, including solo singer-songwriters, old-time Appalachian and bluegrass bands, and Celtic, French, Spanish and Swedish artists. Some of the more recognizable names who have performed over the years include Irish band Altan; the Battlefield Band from Scotland; and singer-songwriters Greg Brown, John McCutcheon and Kate Wolf. Tom Lowe said he "went berserk" about folk music 22 years ago at age 27 when he heard Irish band The Chieftains on the radio. He and Becky decided to start the series in 1981 after attending a house concert (in someone's backyard) in West Covina. When they asked the host of the concert how she organized the event, she put the Lowes in touch with Elaine Weissman, co-founder of the California Traditional Music Society. Three weeks later, Weissman called with the name of an act performing at one of her own house concerts that was willing to come up to Ojai: duo Rick and Lorraine Lee. When Silly Wizard performed soon after that premiere concert, "doors suddenly opened," Tom Lowe said. The couple became part of a network of agents and venues known on the folk music scene. The Lowes organized all aspects of the shows‹booking, publicity, sound set-up, finding lodging for the artists and even procuring homemade baked goods for sale at intermission. Attendance has varied, from 14 at the first concert to 350 people for major acts, Tom Lowe said. Most concerts took place at the Ojai Valley Woman's Club, which holds about 130 people. Some shows were took place at the Matilija and Chaparral school auditoriums. Folks that "really helped us get rolling," Becky Lowe said, in addition to Weissman, include Roz and Howard Larman of KPFK's "FolkScene" radio show. Most of the series' loyal audience members are from Ventura County, she said, plus a strong Santa Barbara contingent. Audience demographics have changed, she said. "As we've gotten older, our audience has gotten older. We're from the big folk generation, so there's a lot of people in that 50 to 70 age group. There are still young people that come, too"‹including the couple's daughters, Meghan, 22, and Abby, 24. Becky Lowe said "it feels really appropriate" for Jones to close the series because "she's young, the new face‹a lot of the performers we've known all these years are in their 50s and 60s." Jones' latest CD, "My Remembrance of You," has garnered airplay on folk radio stations in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The Chicago Tribune called the album a "striking acoustic song-cycle, a minor masterwork of depth and grace. Riding an old-timey vibe that never sounds fussy, and singing in a voice subtly shaded by the high lonesome sound, Jones is an Americana gem." Jones also has received two North American Folk Music Alliance Awards nominations, for best song and best emerging artist. Jones, Becky Lowe said, is part of a meaningful musical movement that never seems to go out of style. "My experience of folk music is that it really tells the story of human experience," she said. "It's able to touch on those simple moments of life in a way that popular and rock music don't. And I think that people are longing for a sense of meaning and community. This music speaks to that." © Copyright 2007, Ventura County Star. All Right Reserved

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