Date: Friday, June 23, 2000 
Page: D01 
Edition: EIGHTH 
Section: WEEKEND MAGAZINE 
Column: GO GUIDE 

The Morning Call 

`Jazzed Up' at Hugh Moore

Listen to the swinging sounds of jazz and spend a fun-filled day
on the banks of the Lehigh River and Canal as Hugh Moore Park
and Historical Museums presents `Jazzed Up!` -- its 22nd annual
Canal Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Hugh Moore
Park, Lehigh Drive, Easton.

Music will be provided by the Dixie Dandies; the Gary Rissmiller
Quintet; Easton Municipal Band; Dave Fry; Roy Justice; Roger
Latzgo; Bonnie O'Donnell; Andrew Roblin; Jay Smar, and L.A.
Williams and Kris Kehr.

Venture Crew 1776 will stage an all-day encampment with
open-hearth cooking, silhouette cutting and scherenschnitte while
relating stories of 19th century America.

The Trexler-Lehigh County Game Preserve will offer a hands-on
approach to learning about the relationships between wildlife,
people and the environment they share, including a Birds of Prey
program featuring owls, hawks and falcons.

A juried show will offer country crafts, baskets, jewelry and art
work in various media; fest-goers can take a ride on the
mule-drawn canal boat Josiah White II, or rent a canoe or
paddleboat, and members of the Lehigh Valley Region of the
Antique Automobile Club of America will display antique and
classic cars.

Admission: $7 per car. 610-559-6613.
 

`Valley Vivaldi' continues

The second concert of the Valley Vivaldi series, presented by
Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, will be offered at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday in the Tompkins Center Theater at Cedar Crest College,
Allentown.

Baroque works featured in the program include Handel's "Oboe
Concerto in G"; Telemann's "Quartet in E (flute, violin, cello)";
Albinoni's "Trumpet Concerto in D"; Rameau's "Concert II
(violin)" and Vivaldi's "Flute Concerto in G."

A special repeat performance will be at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
especially for visitors to the U.S. 2000 Senior Open. Golf attire is
welcome.

Tickets: $22 and $24. 610-434-7811.
 

Back to nature at Little Pond

Enter the world of Eiko & Komo's "The Caravan Project" at 8
p.m. tomorrow at Little Pond Retreat in Nazareth. The
dancers/choreographers will perform their newest work, which
involves a trailer turned into a light and sound installation.

Longtime partners Eiko & Komo are world renowned for their
nature-inspired and zen-like meditational dance.

A donation is requested. 610-837-2741.
 

Bobby sox and poodle skirts

If that sounds familiar to you, you might want to visit Mount Hope
Estate, Cornwall, Lancaster County, from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Saturday or Sunday when the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire
Acting Company presents the "Blast From the Past Rock 'n' Roll
Revival," a salute to the music of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Joining the acting company will be two national touring bands --
Fabmania and Time Traveller -- who pay tribute to the Beatles
and the Moody Blues, respectively, along with the South Philly
Doo-Wop a capella harmonies of the Street Corner Five, and
Sure Gold, a central Pennsylvania-based group of
singer-musicians.

Admission: $19.95, adults; $9.95, ages 5-11. Anyone dressed as
Elvis, young or old, male or female, enters free. 717-665-7021
ext. 231.

Send information for Go Guide to Pat Bosha, The Morning Call,
P.O. Box 1260, Allentown, PA 18105; call 610-820-6540, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, or fax 610-820-6693. 

Date: Friday, June 23, 2000 
Page: D05 
Edition: EIGHTH 
Section: WEEKEND MAGAZINE 

22ND CANAL FEST 
LOOKS TO THE JAZZ AGE 
SUNDAY 

by GAIL SCUDDER (A free-lance story for The Morning
Call). 

The twilight years of canal life will come alive during the 22nd
annual Canal Festival Sunday in Hugh Moore Park, Easton.

The festival, with the theme, "Jazzed Up," will emphasize music
of the Jazz Age, which helped bring the country come out of its
doldrums, said Susan McDonough, spokeswoman for the National
Canal Museum, which helps run the event.

Visitors will find two new attractions this year -- the second level
of the National Canal Museum at Two Rivers Landing in
downtown Easton, which features "Floating to Prosperity," an
exhibit of river travel in the 1800s, and horse-drawn wagon rides
to the Locktender's House, an authentically restored building
along the canal. Round trip rides are $2 for adults and $1 for
children.

"We wanted to make it easier for people to go to the
Locktender's House," McDonough said. "It's a little walk, and
some people don't make that walk."

Daylong activities 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the house include a guided
tour and children's programs, such as scrubbing clothes on a
washboard and opening and closing the canal gate.

About 100 volunteers and 20 staff members of the museum and
Hugh Moore Park will work the festival, with canal boat
personnel dressing in costumes of the 1830s. Kenneth Koberlein
will portray Josiah White, one of the Lehigh Canal founders.

A living history encampment depicting the birth of the canal era
by Venture Crew 1776 also will be featured.

The group also will serve a breakfast of pancakes and ham, egg
and cheese on a muffin starting at 7 a.m. Homemade pies and
caramel apples will be available later in the day.

A juried art and craft show of 30 regional artists and craftspeople
takes place at the Hugh Moore Park's main grove.

Other programs include demonstrations by Blue Mountain
Antique Gas & Steam Association. The Lehigh Valley Region
Antique Automobile Club of America will display classic and
antique cars.

Shuttles running between the park and Two Rivers Landing cost
$2 per person, round trip.

A canal scene, "Showcase," the fourth in a series of five
canal-related prints donated by Easton artist Joseph LaDuca will
be offered in a free public drawing. Additional tickets for the print
can be purchased for $2.

Roy Justice and Roger Latzgo will perform canal music on the
canal boats. The other entertainment schedule is as follows:

East Stage:  Noon, Easton Municipal Band; 1:15 p.m., Dave Fry;
2:15 p.m., Dixie Dandies; 4:30 p.m., Gary Rissmiller Quintet.
West Stage: 11:30 a.m., Jay Smar; 12:30 p.m., Andrew Roblin; 2
p.m., L.A. Williams and Kris Kehr; 3 p.m., Bonnie O'Donnell; 4
p.m., Dave Fry. Admission is $7 per car for on-site parking. Call
610-559-6613. 
 

Date: Saturday, February 26, 2000 
Page: A37 
Edition: SECOND 
Section: ENTERTAINMENT 

Memo:Special to The Morning Call 
Dave Howell is a free-lance writer.

FOR SOME SINGER-SONGWRITERS, 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE A HOME 

by DAVE HOWELL (A free-lance story for The Morning
Call). 

It is a fantasy many people have had. But only
folksinger-songwriter Bonnie O'Donnell is making it come true
here in the Lehigh Valley.

If you have gone out to see any shows this winter, you may have
wished that you could stay home and have the entertainment
come to you. House concerts, a trend that originated in the
western United States, is now making that possible.

Here's now it works: acoustic music fans host singer-songwriters
in their homes instead of going to see them in clubs.

"People who come generally love it," says O'Donnell, who has
been host of her "Folkbabe Presents!" house concert series in
Bethlehem and tonightis host for Cosy Sheridan.

O'Donnell, who began giving house concerts in 1997 with Bob
Franke and Brooks Williams, welcomes 10 to 25 people into her
home to hear singer-songwriters. That's about the average
number nationwide, although audiences can range up to 60 or so,
depending on the size of the home.

"It's very informal. The performers are right there. They are
eating cookies along with you. And the performers are more
relaxed, says O'Donnell.

Adds Sheridan, who says she's done 10 to 15 house concerts
around the country:

"They are very different. There is more interaction. The
audiences want to know who the performer is. They want to
know why you wrote your songs."

Sheridan, who lives in Moab, Utah, speculates that one reason for
the rise in popularity of house concerts is that "the folk audience
has grown older. They don't want to go into a bar."

The trend is biggest in Texas and California, particularly in areas
where there are no folk clubs. O'Donnell also points out that, "10
or 15 years ago there was a lot more folk clubs. Now, there are a
lot of great performers who have no place to play."

House concerts may not be for all audiences -- or performers.
O'Donnell recalls that at one of her shows, a performer
accustomed to playing on a stage wound up staring at his shoes
all night while he sang.

O'Donnell says her motivations in sponsoring the house concerts
are `actually very selfish.

"There are performers who weren't appearing near me that I
wanted to hear. I thought that if I could provide them with an
audience, albeit small, then I could get them to do a whole show."

The economics work out better than they might appear. "People
are not doing house concerts for money," says O'Donnell. "Clubs
have to make money."

Singer-songwriters can keep all proceeds from a house concert
without any expenses for sound or booking. Also, many are
willing to do them while on tour because they can have free
lodging for a night along with proceeds from "the door."

Tonight's show will be the last in her old house, says O'Donnell,
who chose her new home with house concerts in mind. "It has a
fireplace. I have a fantasy about a fireplace and glasses of wine
and great music," she says.

O'Donnell is familiar with the acoustic music market, because she
is an accomplished singer-songwriter herself. In 1998 she
released a solo disc, `You Come Walking In,` and last year was
coordinator of the songwriting project for the Steel Festival in
Bethlehem. O'Donnell met Sheridan when the latter was teaching
songwriting at a summer camp, the Swannanoa Gathering.
O'Donnell was impressed by her versatility.

Sheridan's songs range from topics such as the closing of a mine
and lost love (from her 1998 BWE Music disc, "Grand Design")
to tunes about PMS, assault vehicles, and the trauma of a dog
being spayed.

"I am on a one-woman mission to make sure that folk music isn't
boring," she says.

Cosy Sheridan will perform at a house concert at 8 p.m. today at
422 Fifth Ave., Bethlehem. House concerts scheduled at 339
Hanover St., Bethlehem, include: Kate Campbell, March 30; Scott
Petito and Leslie Ritter, May 20, and Brooks Williams, June 8.
Admission for each concert: $10. 610-868-4785, or folkbabe.com

2 Contributed photos
CAPTION: Cosby Sheridan,left, will perform at a house concert
at 8b tonight at 422 Fifth Ave., Bethlehem, the home of Bonnie
O`Donnell, above.