April 2007

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8:03 pm on April 10, 2007 at the home of Mark and Robin Schaffer. We did not have a quorum at that time, so we began with the Treasurer’s report, and reached a quorum halfway through it.

Roll Call

Present were Lois DeRitter, Andy Koenig, Evelyn Maurer, Barbara Moo, Bobbie Rosengarten, Mark Schaffer and Jim West (Trustees), Lori Falco, Larry Flanigan, Elizabeth Lachowicz, George Otto, Brad Pryor, Sandie Reilly, Pam Robinson, Pat Rolston, Bob Safranek, Jean Scully, Ken Galipeau (Other Board Members) and Margaret Crowl (Guest). Absent were Bob Isaacs, Jim King, Mike Agranoff, Paul Axel-Lute, Tom Pylant, Chris Riemer and Rivka Willick.

Treasurer’s Report

In the Minstrel Booking report, distributed via e-mail, Mike noted that Folk Project Memberships paid for at the Minstrel are being counted as Minstrel income. He felt that this should be attributed as income for Membership, not the Minstrel. Chris had responded via e-mail.

Chris and Mike were both absent from the meeting, but Barbara asked if there were any concerns about this issue. Lori said that she had some concerns, but really needs more information. She also said that making the Treasurer’s job as easy as possible is an important factor. She suggested that Chris do a tutorial for us to help us understand how the costs were allocated. George also wanted more information. We took a straw poll and the majority said they preferred Mike’s method for allocating income to Chris’. Pat said that Chris’ software is different than what she used and it would be difficult for Chris to do it the way Mike had suggested.

Secretary’s Report

The minutes for March were accepted with the following corrections:

• • The Treasurer’s Report should be corrected to read (changes italicized): “He noted that the new Swingin’ Tern sound system is the only thing currently shown under Fixed Assets. He will be adding the rest of the equipment we own to that category in the months ahead.”

  • In the Festival Committee Report, “John Forster” was mis-spelled as “John Forester”.

Secretary’s Note: Someone reported at the March meeting that WNTI-FM had broadcast a live program that week and we were in it. We would like to correct the minutes to note that person’s name, but I failed to record it in my notes and do not recall who it was. At this meeting, someone suggested it might be Paul, but he says we are mistaken. Does anyone recall making this statement? If so, please let me know.

Key Dates

Tax Return/Form 990 May 15 Treasurer

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Minstrel Booking (via e-mail):

Mike was absent, but submitted a report via email.

Later in the meeting, we had the following discussion, but it seems to fit best under the Minstrel booking report. As Mike noted, the Minstrel attendance seems to go up and down based on the name recognition of the performer and we are becoming less of a social magnet. Is this something we should be concerned about? Barbara said that she misses the after party since we haven’t been doing it. It needs to be held each week in the same place.

Mark mentioned the Rock’n’Reel concert at Swingin’ Tern. This gets the concert and dance communities together. Barbara said that the Valentine’s show and the Birthday Party are magnets for the community.

Brad said that the break is not long enough and he would like there to be more time for socializing. He suggested that we start earlier and make the break longer. Lois said that we can’t brink food into the hall. Perhaps we could re-negotiate this with the Fellowship. If we sold spill-proof mugs, would that help?

Barbara said that we could take 5 or 10 minutes out of the music if we can’t start earlier. Brad said that we do start earlier for open stage but Bob S. pointed out that this is because we don’t need a sound check on those nights. Jean said that break should be 20 minutes. There was a sense that it isn’t always that long, perhaps because the MC doesn’t always keep to the schedule. Jean suggested a workshop on being MC and said that sometimes the performers ignore the MC’s cues. Barbara said that we should ask the head staff to remind the MC’s to keep to the schedule. Mark said there should be a list of approved MCs. He also suggested telling the openers we’re strict about the length of the sets and if they run over we’ll take it out of their second set.

Unfortunately, some performers ignore the cues. Lois said that Mike tends to start the show 5 minutes early with the announcements. She has mixed feelings about that. Evelyn suggested we remind the performer that if they want to sell CDs they need to leave the audience time to buy them.

Special Concerts

The night of the Tommy Sands concert (3/16/07) brought a winter storm to our area, dumping several inches of snow and sleet. A lot of people were unable to make it to the concert. Pam had also submitted an email report in advance.

At the meeting, Pam said that she had gotten a lot of positive feedback about the exchange program for tickets. Bobbie asked if we were publicizing this policy. Barbara said that it will be in the minutes, and Pam said that the committee had already contacted almost all of the ticket holders personally.

Lois said that in future we should have a cancellation clause in our contract. Pam will discuss at the next committee meeting. Mark suggested checking the Minstrel contract, but Bob S. said that Mike said he has no contract. Ken pointed out there is a contract for Festival.

Pam said that including sales at the door, there were 91 tickets sold, a total of $1,820, but of course, much of that money will end up at other venues because of the ticket exchange program. We paid Tommy $1,200 and Pam thinks we lost from $120 - $250 on the concert, but she’s not sure at this point. Pam said Chris will zero out this concert and move the grant money to the next concert and ultimately the Sands concert will show neither profit nor loss on our books.

George recalls that there was a motion passed some time ago that every venue should have a refund policy. He asked that the committees give him their policies so that he can post it on the web site.

Festival

Spring Festival attendance is so-so. As of 4/1/07, slightly better then last fall, less then half of last Spring. Registered yet?

Fall festival is all booked except for 1 more FP performer. Anyone interested in doing Lost n Found, call or mail Ken.

Webmaster

Since Chris is moving our bank account to Wachovia, George is setting up our PayPal account to go to either bank. After the Festival is settled, he’ll direct all our transactions to the new bank.

George set up a way for people to purchase HSNOI DVDs on the web. Within two days he received an order from Australia and has gotten some additional orders since then.

PayPal only allows eight e-mails to be used for alerting account owners to purchases. He had to retire one to add HSNOI and noted that we are at our limit. Some venues have two e-mail addresses.

George put the Performers List on the web and added keywords to identify what people do (singer, caller, etc.) Joe D’Andrea asked him to encrypt performers’ e-mail addresses and he did so. Mike requested that photos be posted and that has been done. George asked if you’re on the list and he doesn’t have your picture, please send it to him.

Since the list is alphabetic, Mike always gets the first hit. If you have ideas that would make this more even, please tell George.

George re-identified the benefits of membership and added nearby storytelling venues. He said that you get a popular site by pointing to other people and ours is a good one for people to come to. Barbara said that the Folk Alliance wants to link to us because we link elsewhere.

We had increased hits for Special Concerts last month, and a little increased for Festival; the rest are the same. With our new mailer the spam has gone way down.

Merchandising

We’re out of some T-shirt sizes, bumper stickers and mugs. We do have guitar picks. Brad asked if he should order new mugs. Some are very small and have a tendency to fall over; larger ones are more expensive. Should he order more of the black T-shirts with the same design and only in smaller sizes? He doesn’t have a record for what they cost. Margaret said that she can find out. These would be for the fall – it’s too late to get new merchandise in time for the Spring Festival.

Lois said the long-sleeved black shirts are good for fall and that Mike DelVecchio had found some good mugs. Jean suggested Brad order everything but size XL T-shirts. We took a straw poll and people wanted to have the black T-shirts again with the same design.

Pam said that mugs are a good item to sell and if they have a cap it should be dribble proof.

Internal Affairs

We had our first Evening of Music workshop last month with Andy Goessling. Jean wasn’t able to attend, but Mark said there were about 15 people and “I got a lot out of it – it was really worthwhile.” We gave Andy an honorarium of $75. The feedback was mostly very positive. Mark and Jean are discussing future workshops. The Eve of Music is at Bobbie’s this month and there is none in May. Jean is booked for the year except for the July 4th party. That might be at Schaffers’.

Community Affairs

Elizabeth thanked George for putting the Performers List up on the website. She said a lot of people still need to register for it “some in this very room”. She wants lots of people to register – we have 60 or 70 people at Eves of Music and having a list of 10 or 15 is not representative. It’s helpful if people are looking for others to play with.

George suggested we distribute the Performers List form at the Eves of Music.

She needs volunteers for the booth at the NJ Folk Fest on 4/28. Jean said there was a good article about the Fest in the Star-Ledger.

Larry Kaufman, former FP Pres, recently had a quadruple bypass. People should contact him through his wife, Robin. We sent him a card. We also sent a card to Cindy Sheward, who missed the Tommy Sands concert because of a severe appendix attack, and to Jim King, who is doing better and hopes to attend the board meeting next month. (More about Jim in Good of the Order).

Ken said he went to the gathering ACMA organized for a photo of local musicians last month. Other FP members in attendance were Joe D’Andrea and Jeff De Smedt. There were about 50-60 people there in all. We commended Pat for getting out the e-mail that notified all members of this event.

Bobbie said that Karyn Grunwald recently had knee surgery and she’s doing well. Elizabeth had not known this, but will attend to it.

Sound Reinforcement

Under control.

Newsletter

Tom was absent, but submitted a report via email.

Swingin’ Tern

Paul was absent, but submitted a report via email.

HSNOI

Ralph was absent, but submitted a report via email.

Sandie noted Horses is always looking for volunteers to train to help out at the taping.

Storytelling

Rivka was absent, but submitted a report via email.

Minstrel Staffing

Under control.

GOOD OF THE ORDER

Jim King is doing well and feeling good. He is very grateful for the cards, calls, e-mails and prayers. Rick Thomas accompanied his 89 year-old Dad (who is almost blind and almost deaf, but very alert) to the West Coast for the funeral of Rick’s aunt. It was rewarding, but exhausting, and Rick and his dad have declared they will never do it again. Elizabeth Lachowicz found a photo of Valerie Vigoda of Groovelilly in an old Time magazine while she was in a waiting room. Evelyn Maurer is now a fulltime instructor with the Dover Business College LPN program. At long last, Lois DeRitter has e-mail. She’ll be checking it at the library, so if you need to contact her with time-sensitive material, please call her. Sandie Reilly’s son, Matthew, broke his wrist and had to wear a cast, so Larry Flanigan helped Matthew clap one-handed for his mother’s opening act at the Minstrel. Larry also recently became the proud recipient of an AARP card. He prepared for the occasion by removing the directional signals in his car. Barbara Moo reported that the Rowan Brothers did a fine job “following Sandie up”. “It was a great show.” Jean Scully’s car turned over 100,000 miles and, on the same day, the check engine light came on. The story told by Ken Galipeau at the New England Story Telling Conference went over very well. Ken’s son, Evan, has received a scholarship to the doctoral program in mechanical engineering at U. Penn. Robin Schaffer is going to Hong Kong on business and if Mark behaves he’ll go along for fun. Mark’s daughter, Rebecca, just got a promotion at work, and his parents recently celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary. Once again, the Schaffers will host a concert to benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on June 30th and have booked the Wiyos and Frank Sole and Fraida to perform. Mark recently ate breakfast at the same restaurant as Gov. Corzine, who greeted him with, “How ya doing?” [Obviously, this was before the Governor was critically injured in a car accident.] The car Bob Safranek has had since 1993 died, but he had replaced it just prior with a 2005 Honda Pilot. Pam Robinson said that Amy Ksir and Tom Rhoads’ new baby is a girl – her name is Laura Ksir Rhoads and she was born on 1/28/07. As of 4/13, Pam will no longer be employed “and that’s a good thing”.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 9:28 pm.

The next meeting will be held on May 1 at the home of Pam Robinson and Bob Safranek.

Respectfully submitted,

Lori Falco

Secretary