Don’t miss our online concert on Sunday, September 13th, at 4 pm Pacific time! We’re hosting Cedar Stanistreet and Donal Sheets from Cloud Ten, who were booked to play at Echo Summit in 2020 and instead will be joining us at Camp Sacramento in September 2021. You can join the concert at https://contradance.link/SCDS, starting at 3:45 pm. Tips are appreciated – see details below.
Please share this information with anyone you know who might be interested. To receive email announcements of SCDS events, sign up at https://groups.io/g/SactoCDS.
Cedar Stanistreet, fiddle
Cedar grew up playing both classical violin and traditional fiddle music, and studied violin performance at the Crane School of Music. For the past ten years he has played for contra dances across North America with bands including Nor’easter, Cardinal Direction, Maivish, and Cloud Ten. His spirited, rhythmic playing and clear tone keep dancers on their feet. In between gigs, Cedar can be found at home in Brattleboro, Vermont, growing vegetables, baking bread, and birdwatching. He also repairs violins, violas, and cellos. (Photo credit: David Frantz)
Donal Sheets, cello and guitar
Donal grew up surrounded by traditional music and dance and played jazz bass and classical cello from a very young age. He has spent many years playing American and Irish music on cello and a variety of other instruments. The resonant chords and percussive rhythms of his cello create an indescribably vibrant soundscape drawing from many different traditions. He has taught and performed at music and dance festivals throughout the United States and is a member of Gallimaufry.
Tips:
Paypal: paypal.me/cedarfiddle or stanis66@potsdam.edu
USPS:
Cedar Stanistreet
130 Belmont Ave
Brattleboro, VT 05301
Upcoming online concerts:
October 11th – Star Thistle
November 8th – Pete’s Posse
Topher Gayle (OpporTunists, Rosin Doctors, Swingin’ Chickens, Mercury Rising, Chaos Wranglers, et al.) has been happily busy playing contra dance music for nearly twenty years. But he’s been writing funny songs and pretty tunes since he was a teenager (shortly after the Fillmore administration). If you’ve seen him playing at a dance, you’ve perhaps noticed he’s usually surrounded by a music store’s worth of stringed, percussive, and unusual instruments. Many instruments, many styles, many grooves! Topher has several CDs and instructional books available at his web site, 
Please join us at 4 pm Pacific time on Sunday, July 12th, for our first online concert, featuring the Syncopaths! From dance floors to concert halls, the Syncopaths bring a fresh, contemporary spin to music and songs rooted in the Scottish, Irish, and American folk traditions. At the heart of the band’s sound are the twin engines of Ryan McKasson’s dynamic, Scottish-based fiddling and the amazing picking of mandolinist Ashley Hoyer (formerly Broder). Jeff Spero provides inventive piano accompaniment, anchored by the driving power of Christa Burch’s bodhrán. Christa also lends her singular voice — warm, supple, expressive, and intimate — to the band’s songs. Together, they create a “chamber folk” sound, characterized by compelling, rhythmic mandolin, rich vocals, and unexpected colors and rhythms from the piano and bodhrán. The exuberant joy they derive from the music and each other is palpable and contagious.
The Big Day of Giving is coming up on May 7th. Thinking of all those who may need help at this time, we encourage you to give where your heart is and as you are able. If you want to help SCDS put on special events and workshops, train callers and musicians, and buy big-ticket items like sound equipment, our 
Special Program: This special English XTRA workshop is a fast-paced afternoon for experienced English country dancers, which will NOT include an introductory lesson before the dance. Caller David Newitt, the Dancing Master for the upcoming Bay Area Country Dance Society 
