April 2011

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8:07 PM on April 5th, at the home of President Ed Roffman. There was no quorum this evening.

Roll Call

Present were Lois DeRitter, Gloria Friedman, Allan Kugel, Bobbie Rosengarten and Ed Roffman (Trustees), Pat Brangs, Carl Croce, Nancy Kelner, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson, Bob Safranek, Rachel Streich, Rick Thomas and Jean Scully (Other Board Members) and Freddie Roffman (a Guest of the Canine Persuasion). Absent were Mike Agranoff, Connie Crawford, Scooter Ferguson, Jim Gartner, Carolyn Messina, Brad Pryor, Sandie Reilly, Robin Schaffer and Ruth Wolfish.

Secretary’s Report

A number of corrections this month: the proper spelling of “hoo-ha,” corrections to the affiliations of proposed Wayne Day performers, clarifications in Mike’s language around memberships and advance ticket sales for Minstrel, and a refinement of Nancy Kelner’s feelings about the Messages of Love at the Valentine’s Day show. Ed Roffman also amended the language relating to email policy and the importance of having a committee to consider same. (The specific changes are shown with revision marks in the final version, for those interested.)

The minutes were not officially approved, given the lack of a quorum, but those present felt they were OK as amended.

Treasurer’s Report

We're doing well. Our checking account balance is up to about $9,800 with another $23,350 in the Money Market. Rachel distributed the detail reports via email, and there were no questions. (Remember that interested parties can look at the financials and run their own, customized reports, by logging in at QuickBooks Online. If you don't have a login (or don't remember your password), contact Rachel and she can set you up.

KEY DATES

No key dates in April, beyond the newsletter deadline. Taxes will be filed in May.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Administrative Things

Ed wanted to cover several points. To wit:

• • Ruth Wolfish was scheduled to host the meeting in May, but she’s now going to be out of town. Chris will swap, so the May meeting will be at his house in Morristown and June will be at Ruth’s.

  • Liz Pagan will be out of town when she’d normally be laying out the newsletter. She’ll be back in time to wrap it up, but has asked everyone to consider the 8th of April to be a special early deadline this month. Ed is sure everyone will do their best to comply.

  • Ed has had two responses to his newsletter article seeking a volunteer grant writer for the Folk Project. He thinks it would be great if they would approach this task as a team, and he will keep us posted.

  • Finally, he mentioned Lori Falco’s email about her work with Constant Contact, and hopes to see a formal email program defined once Mike Agranoff and Robin Schaffer are both back home and able to participate. Stay tuned.

Young Family Outreach

Ed has had a few expressions of interest to his proposal, but no one who’s ready to step up and take charge of such a program. So he has nothing specific to report, but plans to keep working on it. Some discussion ensued.

Gloria wondered if we should survey the members to see if the interest is there. Her impression is that while our generation tended to haul the kids along on evenings out, her own children tend to get babysitters and leave the kids at home. Pat wondered if we might try something focused on kids directly, like a Sunday Afternoon Children’s Concert. Rick suggest that running an intentionally kid-friendly Evening of Music might be a better way to start, although he conceded the logistical issues involved in both venue selection and risk management. Bobbie and Elizabeth both liked Rick’s idea, and thought it might be something we could start earlier in the day, or even move into the afternoon -- a children's Afternoon of Music.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Special Concerts

Pam summarized the information in her email report. The Craobh Rua concert was a knockout success, with 133 paid (108 in advance) and 150 in the hall. We had lots of great pre-show publicity, too, with an incredible write up in The Daily Record’s TGIF section, as well as coverage in The Independent and The Irish Times. Many, many thanks to Debbie Roeder-Shaw, who brought us together with the band, as well as Liz Pagan, Rick Thomas, the publicity committee and all the volunteers. Special thanks to Bill Henderson for video recording, and the production of DVDs. (Applause, applause, given Bill’s surprise appearance at this point, dropping off copies of said DVDs for Pam.) The band was very happy, since they earned almost double their guarantee.

Minstrel Booking

No report from the absent Mike Agranoff, other than that submitted via email. Jean had high praise for the recent April Fool’s Day show, produced by Andy Koenig. A great job of organization and creativity, and a real hoot for all present.

Minstrel Staffing

No report from the absent Scooter Ferguson, other than that submitted via email. However, Eddie has a very good feeling about the Minstrel these days. Pam also noted that the Open Stage numbers are increasing, and she credits that to Scooter’s flexibility, enthusiasm and willingness to innovate. He’s happy to stray from traditional set structures if it means someone else gets to play. And another thank you to Bill Henderson, who has started making video recordings of the Open Stage performers, which he burns to DVD and sends off in the mail. A great way for novice performers to see how they look on stage.

Nancy Kelner seconded these feelings. She took in her first open stage in several years, and was “pleased and surprised” by the experience quality of the performers. Eddie added that a check at OpenMicNJ suggests we may be the longest running open stage in the state.

Swingin’ Tern

No report from the absent Connie Crawford, other than that submitted via email.

Gloria was surprised to see that the Tern Swings event is scheduled in July, since it’s likely to be hot at that time of the year. Pam said it was a committee decision -- this is not a Special Concerts gig, so it was strictly up to Swingin’ Tern. She also reminded us that there’s a special 5th-Saturday dance this month, sponsored by Ed and Robin Roffman, in honor of their anniversary.

Gloria warned that we might get some push-back from attendees, since in the dance community, “sponsored” usually means free. She doesn’t think people will walk away, necessarily, but she thinks some people will be annoyed when they find we’re charging admission.

Community Services

Pat summarized the content of her email report. She thanked Kathy Moser and Ken Galipeau for saving the day at a recent MUF Workshop when Jim Gartner had to cancel because of illness. And she’s happy to announce that the Fabulous Furry Harmonica Brothers (Ralph Litwin and Al Podber) will be among the performers at the Audubon May Day event.

She’s bought a nice vinyl banner for use at outreach activities, so we will have two available for Wayne Day. For that, she’ll need to borrow the sound system, and Bob suggested Sandie and/or Mat Reilly as sound techs.

Jean Scully reported the sad news that George Mahlberg (a.k.a. Doctor Cosmo) died over the weekend. He was a good friend to all, and a long-time host of a radio program on WPRB.

Membership

Recapping from his email report, Rick explained that he has not yet sent his montly reminders or started his two-years-for-one membership promotion, and that may be the cause for a slight decline in the total numbers this month. He also has an impression that we’re getting more new members from New York City. He can’t prove that out statistically, but it’s interesting.

Publicity

Nancy summarized the information in her email report. Everything that needs to get done is getting done. Debbie Edelman will be retiring from the committee, so she’s looking for some new blood to replace her. She has emailed current members of the committee to see if anyone wants to take on Debby's duties.

Pam added that our Facebook page now has more than 400 friends, and she’d be interested in some help from publicity when it comes to adding events and sending invitations. Nancy will see what she can do. Pam also wondered if we should seek promotion on local radio stations, such as WFDU, WFUV, WNTI and so forth. We may be getting on their Web calendars now, but it would be nice if we could get some mentions on air, too. The group was generally in favor, so Nancy will look into it.

Eddie made special mention of the long-awaited website makeover that went live this month. Many thanks to the Web team, which includes John Lamb, Liz Pagan, Alan Kugel, Cathy Thomas and others too numerous to mention. Jean also stressed the many hours of work logged by Mark Schaffer, who dove in when we needed him despite his lack of experience and technical background. She thinks a lot of what we have today, in terms of both content and architecture, is built on Mark’s work.

There was some discussion of the idea that the Web team deserved a special show of gratitude, with the mention of an Olive Garden gift certificate. In the end, though, we felt this would be a bad precedent. As the only member of the team present, Alan agreed. His motivation for getting involved was to be sure that our Web site was “not awful.” Being part of the effort was its own reward.

Festival

Nothing to report this month, but Carl plans to pull the committee together for a meeting soon.

Newsletter

Carl summarized the information in his email report.

Merchandising

No report from the absent Robin Schaffer. Jean has recently gotten a promotional tote bag (a ChicoBag sling) from WNYC, and wonders if it would be a good item for us. She’ll share the idea with Robin, on Ms. Schaffer’s return from Israel.

Internal Affairs

Last month’s Evening of Music was at Ron Renninger’s, in Teaneck, and Jean described the turnout as “pleasant.” She’s largely booked through the rest of the year, with April at the home of Rick and Cathy Thomas (the last EOM for the Thomas’s, given their pending relocation to Washington State), and May at Nancy Haslam’s. Pat felt the second EOM which Eddie has been hosting is really very nice. Ed has had groups as small as five, and as large as fifty, but Pat thinks it's consistently a warm and inviting evening.

The Fourth of July Party will be at the Roffman’s, and we’ll have another option later that month, on July 23rd. Although not an official Folk Project Event, member Steve Gale has a nice place on the lake in Netcong, with a great view of the fireworks associated with the Feast of St. Cesario. He’s invited folks to come up and make music. (Later in the evening, Carl would let us know that he was personally offended by the laughter invoked by Jean’s inability to remember the name of this saint. He doesn’t think any religion or religious figure should be the butt of a joke, and is bothered by the idea that somehow it’s OK to make fun of Christians.)

Sound Reinforcement

Bob knows that Mike held a Sound System Workshop in March, but can’t report directly on the outcome. Otherwise we’re in good shape.

Horses Sing None of It

No report from the absent Sandie Reilly, but Ed referred us to that submitted earlier by Ralph Litwin, via email.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45. Next month’s meeting is May 3rd, at the home of Chris Riemer, in Morristown.

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Riemer

Recording Secretary