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CYBERFOLK articles 1,2,3 from "Common Times", 1995

Folks who are fans of unplugged music are now plugging in to the Internet. The Net makes it possible to get information about artists, concerts, venues, and festivals, search databases for songs complete with chords, tablature and soundclips, learn about penny whistles and guitar repair, ask about that obscure songyou're searching for, correspond with other folkies all over the world and yes, even get the definitive list of insulting banjo jokes. The Internet is a lot like the oral tradition, only more so. Here are a few enlightening musical destinations on the Net.

World Wide Web Sites:

URL: http://www.mcs.com/~hammerd/fvfs/fvfs.htmlThis is a brand new site, put together by the people who brought you Folk Phone(708) TGI-FOLK. It has the most comprehensive online listing of Chicago area folklife information currently available. Here you'll find concert listings, dance activities, festivals, lists of other folk oriented organizations, radio listings, as well as a link to another great Web site, the FolkBook.

URL: http://ceolas.org/ceolas.html Ceolas is also available by anonymous FTP to celtic.stanford.edu Ceolas is a service which collects information on all aspects of Celtic music and distributes it over the internet. You'll find information on record companies specializing in Celtic music, sound files of songs in Gaelic, a link to The Thistle & Shamrock home page, a guide to magazines which deal with Celtic music, lists of Celtic music venues from Australia to Illinois, album reviews, artist profiles, festival listings, links to Web sites about harps, flutes, bagpipes, bodrans, fiddles, hammered dulcimers and more.

URL: http://ucowww.ucsc.edu/~sla/morris/sms.html Ever have the urge to tie bells on your shins, hankies to your sleeves andbeat your dancing partners partner with a club? Then this site is for you. It has just about everything you ever wanted to know about Morris Dancing including a lengthy description of the tradition and history of Morris, and links to an amazing number of other Morris related sites.

URL: http://sundry.hsc.usc.edu/filk.html

URL: http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/~mdb/filk/index.html These sites contain a discription and history of Filk, a link to the alt.music.filk newsgroup, and links to other Filk and science fiction related sites including one in Germany. You'll want to check out lyrics to the many filk tunes archived here, like "Klingons don't cry" and the "V-Word Song" (V for Vampire, based on Berrymans' "A Chat with Your Mom").

Mailing Lists:

There are many special interest mailing lists that are great resources. A mailing list means that if you subscribe, e-mail will show up on a regular basis discussing the particular topic that the list is devoted to. You can also put in your own two cents worth and hundreds or thousands of folks out there will know what you think of Christine Lavin's newest recording or read about how you use cut upping pong balls for fingerpicks. All you need is e-mail access to subscribe to these lists.

One very active mailing list is Folk_Music run by Alan Rowoth, at folk_music@nysernet.org. This mailing list is devoted to discussion about modern singer-songwriters. Many singer-songwriters subscribe, including Bob Franke, Cosy Sheridan, etc. Definitely the place to look for new songwriters, touring schedules, concert reviews, etc, for the songwriter side of folk. To subscribe, send the e-mail message" subscribe folk_music yourname" to listserver@nysernet.org Some other Mailing lists of interest:Folktalk is an unmoderated discussion of traditional and contemporary folk music. Scott Hammer is the overseer. To subscribe send thee-mail message "subscribe folktalk yourname" to listserver@leo.vsla.edu, then mail your postings to folktalk@leo.vsla.edu

For Autoharp enthusiasts, there is also a mailing list. To subscribe,send the email message "subscribe cyberpluckers" to majordomo@bga.com.Then mail your postings to cyberpluckers@bga.com The Morris Dancing Discussion List (MDDL) is a listserv-based discussion groups devoted to discussions, debates, and rants on allthings Morris. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe morrisyourname" to listserv@suvm.syr.edu. To send mail to all the other subscribers on the MDDL list, address it to morris@suvm.syr.edu. Hammered Dulcimer players will want to subscribe to the Hammered dulcimer discussion group To join this mailing list send mail to w.b.paulson@att.com

But you're not on the Net, you say? Many people have access to the Internet, or at least to e-mail, at work. Ask your computer department about it, but be careful. Some companies take a dim view of their employees exploring the Netwhen they're supposed to be working. There are many internet providers popping up all over the Chicago area. The typical cost of an account is usually about twenty to twenty-five dollars per month. Most colleges are on the net and if you're a student or alumnae you may be able to get an account a very reasonable cost, if not for free. To learn more about the Internet in general, take a trip to your library or bookstore. You'll find shelves full of books on the subject.

If you're interested in seeing more articles about Internet resources in Common Times, or if you have any favorite Net sites to share, let us know.

Write to me care of Common Times, or e-mail me at chrismac@wwa.com

If you're not yet "plugged in", hang on to this article, you may soon be.

See you in cyberspace.