Tapestry, Dec. 1, this weekend

Well, this has been a pretty sleepy blog this past year. Just a quick note to let readers know that Contratopia, in a special trio form, will be playing this Saturday at the Tapestry Folkdance Center in Minneapolis. Pat, Patrice and the great Tim Reese will provide a fresh look at familiar Contratopia tunes and, I suspect, they will also play a few of Pat O'Loughlin's recent compositions as well.

Erik Sessions and I will remain here in Decorah this weekend for various reasons, chief among them the threat of bad weather.

Looking forward, however, we just received confirmation today that we will be playing at Glen Echo Park next March 15 & 17 for contra dances both nights and the afternoon Waltztime dance as well. We will also be playing in Annapolis, MD on Saturday March 16.

In addition, we will be playing for the 2019 Wintergreen Dance Weekend in Bozeman, Montana, January 25-27. Ted Hodapp will be joining us as chief caller for the weekend and we will also get to enjoy the music of Sassafras Stomp while we are there. There are still a few openings left, so sign up soon if you are interested.

Finally, Contratopia Classic (Patrice, Pat, Erik, John) will be playing for the regular Saturday night dance at Tapestry on Feb. 23, 2019.

Hope to see some friendly faces at these upcoming dances!

Picnic & A Pint in Decorah, June 3

We are looking forward to a friendly group of smiling faces this coming Sunday from 4-7 when we play in the space pictured above as part of the Picnic & A Pint summer series at the Courtyard and Cellar in downtown Decorah. The weather looks promising and it should be a great place to relax and enjoy Contratopia playing an unusual mix of contra dance sets and couples' dance tunes.

If you are in the area already or if you feel like a visit to a lovely small town in the Driftless region (with eagles, bike trails and famous craft beer) we'll be happy to see you drop in. Bring the family or just your thirst, we'll supply the tunes.

Call of the Loon 2018

(photo of Erik Sessions at Loon 2016, courtesy of Trish Finn)

I suppose we could name it "Call of the Frozen Loon" since it looks like we might have some interesting weather this weekend. In any event we're all looking forward to playing for a big crowd at Tapestry from Friday through Sunday as part of this year's Loon.

We are especially looking forward to hearing, and meeting, the members of Elixer and caller Lisa Greenleaf. 

We're also excited that we get to work with the great Ted Hodapp this weekend. This is the first time that we won't have to travel a long distance to work a full weekend with Ted and we expect to hear a ton of new bad jokes. 

Registration for the Weekend has closed but we hope, if you are reading this, that you have already signed up and we will see you in a couple of days. Remember to bring your dancing clothes and your winter weather gear!

Ask us about our ill-fated trip to Takoma Park in March.

Winter to Spring, 2018

We are waking this blog from its long slumber to mention a few upcoming events and opportunities.

First, just two weeks from today we (including our buddy, caller Ted Hodapp) will be in the middle of another long weekend in the D.C. region. We'll be playing the Friday night contra in the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park (check our Dances page for links and details), the Shepherdstown Contra Dance on Saturday night and both the afternoon Waltz Time and evening contra dance at Glen Echo on Sunday.

From April 13-15 we will be the "local" band for the Call of the Loon weekend at Tapestry in Minneapolis, along with the mighty Elixer and callers Ted Hodapp and Lisa Greenleaf. This is always a great weekend and I think there are still a few spots left.

On Sunday afternoon June 3 we will be playing from 4-7 in the lovely courtyard of the Courtyard & Cellar in charming Decorah, IA. This will be a family-friendly "picnic and a pint" event, bring the kids or just come and enjoy the relaxed setting.

Finally, many of the readers of this blog probably already know that Patrice Pakiz, our piano, oboe and percussion player, is a member of Laura MacKenzie's fabulous band Brass Lassie. If, however,  this is your first time hearing about this group you should check them out and consider supporting their Indiegogo CD fundraiser. You'll be glad you did!

If you are able to hear us at one of these upcoming gigs please stop and say hello. We are really looking forward to playing some tunes and hope we'll see you around.