The 1998 WFMA Benefit Festival
Saturday Evening Concert

Saturday, January 17, 1998 - 7:30 pm

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First up for the Saturday evening show were Pete and Maura began their set with two of their own songs, "Common Bond" and "Just Like Henry David", following with the traditional song, "The Cuckoo", and finishing up with the title tune from one of their CDs, "Life is Large".

con98s02.jpg - 5.8 K con98s03.jpg - 4.3 K got the audience laughing with three very funny songs, Rob Carlson's spoof of folk music, "Don't You Hate It" ("Don't you hate it when they make you sing along...Don't you hate it when they make you clap your hands..."), "Hotline", (about the advent of voice mail for the suicide prevention hot line) which David wrote with George Wurtzbach, and David's own composition, "I Still Want It All the Time". He then moved to the piano for his own tribute to John Denver, singing a very beautiful version of "Leaving on a Jet Plane".


con98s04.jpg - 6.0 K was next to grace the stage, beginning with the traditional "Bright Morning Star". She then did "Change of Heart", the standard, "Just In Time", and Sally Fingerett's "Home is Where the Heart Is". She ended her set with her own song, "The Great Peace March".

Next, Tony Sica presented the WFMA Appreciation Award to Damien Einstein (right) for his continuing support of local artists.

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con98s05.jpg - 8.2 K then gave his usual high-energy performance, beginning with two of his own songs, "Ridin' with Me", and the very funny song about the food chain, "The Great Big Star of Life". He then did a medley of two fiddle tunes in memory of John Denver, "Monterey Bay", and "Diving Seagulls" and finished up with "Fast Freight to Philly".
Canadian had no trouble getting the audience to sing along on his first song, one of his early compositions, "Hillcrest Mine". He followed that with three of his more recent songs, "Lazarus", "Cold Missouri Waters" (a moving story about a smoke jumper whose 13 teammates died when they failed to see the only way to survive the fire that had surrounded them), and the up-tempo "Never Gonna Stop This Train", which had the audience joining in again. con98s07.jpg - 9.6 K
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Finishing up the first half was (of ) and his son, (above left). With Dave on piano, they began with the beautiful traditional song, "Lone Wild Bird". Below, Dave then switched to guitar, and they were joined on stage by Chuck Romanoff (also of ) to do the Townes Van Zandt song, "Freightliner Blues". Chuck took the lead on the traditional "Lock Tay Boat Song" and his own funny cat song, "The Cat Named Patrick Finnegan", who was "...always on the wrong side of the door." They then finished their set with Chuck Pyle's "Cadillac Cowboy".
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During intermission, Sandy Lubin (left) tried to sell the last of the raffle tickets, concert goers found lots of performers' CDs to choose from (center), and Richard LeBow (right) hung out with Pudge.
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con98s14.jpg - 10.0 K con98s15.jpg - 9.9 K After intermission, Doris Justis and Dick Cerri (left) drew the names of the evening's raffle winners. Then, on behalf of everyone who worked on the weekend festival, Doris presented Dick with an all expenses paid trip to the upcoming Folk Alliance meeting. (In accepting this gift, Dick said "It is always easier to give these than accept them." He later used the money to host a party at the Starland Cafe to thank all of the performers, staff and volunteers who made this great weekend festival possible.)
led off the second half, doing five of his own songs, "This Town", "I Picture You", "Snowbound", "The Garden Song" and "I Hate to See This Town Go Down".

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It took two people to introduce the next, very special performer. (above left), who was broadcasting her Traditions radio show (on ) live from the concert, took the stage to introduce Sonny Ochs (above right), sister of the late Phil Ochs, who in turn, introduced someone who had been a close friend of Phil's,
With her husband, Craig Doerge on piano, Judy began with "Till the Real Thing Comes Along, which she co-wrote with her husband. Then, joined by and on guitars, and on bass, she sang one of the songs she made famous during the '60s, the traditional "Hookah Tookah Soda Cracker". She finished her set with two more songs that she wrote with her husband, "Dark Angel" and the up-tempo "Tin Star".

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(above left) then had the honor of presenting the Kate Wolf Memorial Award to his good friend, Both Tom and David are board members of World Hunger Year, an organization founded by Tom's brother Harry. In presenting this award named for David said, "..it is given to people who manifest the same spirit, and evoke the same feelings and the desire to make the world a better place for the people with whom they come in contact, and that's the way this guy operates."
con98s23.jpg - 15.0 K con98s22.jpg - 10.1 K After accepting the award, Tom sang the humorous "Two Kinds of Seagulls", which he wrote with His next tune was "Pass the Music On", which he wrote with Si Kahn. then joined him on stage to lead the audience in singing another Chapin/Forster creation, This Pretty Planet". joined him on piano for the last song, "Family Tree", also written by Tom and John Forster.
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As the Saturday night show drew to a close, took the stage and demonstrated why they have been one of the premier folk trios for over 30 years. With Bill Zorn (left) taking the place of the late Lou Gottlieb, the group still had that distinctive Limeliter sound, and began with their high-engery medley of "Hard Travelling/Mount Zion". The beautiful tenor voice of Rick Dougherty (right) was featured on the next medley, "Wayfaring Stranger/Lonesome Traveler". Alex Hassilev (center) kept the pace up leading them in the song that opened many Limeliter concerts, "There's a Meetin' Here Tonight". They next did a song appropriate for aging folk singers, "The Forty Year Old Waltz", and ended the set with another of their trademark songs, Phil Ochs' "Power and Glory".
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To put the finishing touches on a wonderful evening of folk music, all the performers came on stage to give one last tribute to John Denver, singing the John Denver/Bill Danoff/Taffy Nivert song, "Country Roads".

After the show, reserved ticket holders were invited to attend a reception with the performers, in the Birchmere Town Square.