The Ripton Community Coffee House Guerilla Showcase

Northeast Regional Folk Alliance – November 9-11, 2007

The Ripton Community Coffee House held its annual guerilla showcase at the 13th Annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference at Kutsher's Country Club Resort in Monticello, NY. This was the fourth year we have done the showcase. Friday and Saturday night the conference has official showcases after dinner, followed by the Tricentric showcases (three stages at once) that run until about 11:30 PM. Then different organizations and people present guerilla showcases in the hotel rooms. These can run until 3:00 AM or so.

Richard Ruane and Rebecca Padula's attendance this year was made possible through two scholarships provided by the "Rachel Bissex White Light Fund." These scholarships to NERFA are intended for Vermont artists developing careers as performers and recording artists. Rachel Bissex was a beloved Vermont singer-songwriter. She won a number of awards, including the New Folk award at the Kerrville Folk Festival. She played a number of times at the Ripton Community Coffee House, always to great acclaim. She was also a dedicated mentor to her fellow musicians, working selflessly to help support and foster up-and-coming talent. She was a fixture at NERFA, hosting and appearing at showcases, often pulling in people she felt needed more exposure. She died of breast cancer in February 2005. The White Light Fund, a title taken from Rachel's final recording, honors Rachel's work. The fund, created by Karl Bissex, Mary Trerice and Lynne Goodson, is supported through the efforts of "Occasional Concerts" - a series of performances in Plainfield, Vermont featuring nationally touring musicians. There will be scholarships offered for next year's NERFA. For more information about this, please contact concerts@bissex.net.

The Ripton Community Coffee House presented a showcase on Friday night at NERFA. This year our showcase featured a number of great performers. The lineup went: Midnight - Rebecca Padula; 12:20 AM - Chuck E. Costa; 12:40 AM - Joe Crookston; 1:00 AM - Patrick Fitzsimmons; 1:20 AM - Bread and Bones; 1:40 AM - Katherine Rhoda; 2:00 AM - Charlie Sohmer.

If you have never heard of these conferences before, they are excuses for acoustic music presenters and performers to get together, attend workshops, play or listen to music and hang out with friends that they only ever seem to see at gatherings like these or at various folk festivals.

If you want to learn more about these sorts of things, visit the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance web site or the parent Folk Alliance organization web site.

We had support from several Vermont businesses for our showcase. Paul Ralston's Vermont Coffee Company again donated all the coffee for our showcase. We kept a couple airpots full of coffee going in the hallway outside our room throughout the weekend. This is very important considering that people stay up listening or playing music until five or six in the morning, then get up between nine and ten the following morning for even more important fun.

Magic Hat Brewery also provided important support. Vermont Soap Organics donated freebie soaps, which was very popular for all the hotel staying public.

Here are some pictures of what it all looked like.

Rebecca Padula with Mitch Barron on bass.

Chuck E. Costa down the hall at the Acoustic Live showcase.

Joe Crookston.

Patrick Fitzsimmons.

Bread and Bones (Mitch Barron, Beth Duquette and Richard Ruane).

Katherine Rhoda.

Charlie Sohmer with Mitch Barron on bass.

Part of the after showcase jam.

Richard attempting to juggle with Kathy Moser (who had been innocently passing by), in front of one of the poster boards.

Mitch in a jam down the hall.

Rumors abound that this may have been the last year NERFA will be at Kutsher's. A sign outside the dining room after the last meal said, "Next year at Kutsher's - Same mold, same mold." It has fallen a little down on its luck. One reviewer who had visited it in the early seventies described visiting there recently as entering some weird science fiction movie where nothing has changed in the decor but everything has decayed and become covered with mold. Its funk is part of its charm, however. If we have to leave, we will miss our glimpse into the Catskills of old, no matter how faded the glory, still the kitsch lives on.

Click here to view the Kutsher's Online Carpet Museum.