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The future of the NorthEast Squeeze-In


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The 2009 NorthEast Squeeze-In finished up yesterday, and it was another great event. As you may know, there is no hired teaching staff or pre-set program. A grid is posted with all the locations and times, and anybody who wants can appropriate a spot on the gris and teach whatever they want.

 

This year a listing appeared for Sunday morning in the dining hall entitled "The Future of the Squeeze-In" with Doug Creighton, the manager of the Button Box. With the recent death of Rich Morse (owner of the Button Box and guiding light of the Squeeze-In) on all our minds, many of us attended the session with trepidation.

 

In essence, what Doug announced was that in order for an event like the NorthEast Squeeze-In to succeed, there must be someone in the lead who has great enthusiasm for the process, and who gets so much out of it that it makes the tedious minutiae of making it happen worth it. That person was lost with Rich, and there is nobody left at the Button Box to fill that void. Doug offered to help in any way he can the transition to a situation where the Squeeze-In is run by some other entity than the Button Box.

 

The ball was picked up quickly by folks there who volunteered to handle registration, on-site management, catering concerns, investigating forming a not-for-profit entity, etc.

 

I'm sure we will be hearing more about this, and that others who were there will chime in here. Perhaps others heard or interpreted things a little differently than I did, and I'd welcome other perspectives. But many of those at the meeting (including some of the above-mentioned volunteers) are not concertina players (the Squeeze-In also caters to accordions, melodeons, etc.).

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I am new to the music "scene" so I'm afraid I can't offer any solutions, and merely want to write in and say...I was at the 2009 NESI too, and loved every minute of it. It was my 2nd year attendance, and it just gets better and better. Since I'm not "fluent" in music yet, myself, I largely go to listen to great great music and to meet very kind, extremely interesting people. If I learn a new tune while there on my borrowed anglo concertina, that's icing on the cake.

I met Rich Morris last year, and enjoyed his company immensely. I was impressed by everyone who attended.

This year I was so happy to meet such exceptional people for the first time as Frank Edgely (please forgive me if I'm spelling names wrong), Dianne, Robin, Juliette and her fiancee (forgive me again for the missing name), Heather, Elizabeth...and many familiar faces from last year.

I think if Buttonbox asserts itself enough to ask for specific help in arranging NESI, there will be plenty of volunteers to make it happen. I'm unfortunately not proficient enough in the business world to understand the ins and outs of how this can be done best, but I think NESI brings together extraordinary exceptional people from all walks of life, and I'm confident that we will pull together, volunteer to help, and keep NESI going in fond memory of Rich Morris who brought us all together....a very fortuitous meeting of great minds. Perhaps many silent followers of c'net are like me, and were not "born to music" but are getting there gradually through such inspiring get-togethers as NESI, meeting "real" musicians (what a thrill!), learning from their wisdom, and feeling welcomed, given encouragement to keep at it until perhaps even we can play a tune or two, amazing as that seems to us today.

Thank you all for attending, it's my favorite weekend all year!

Priscilla

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I enjoyed the NESI I attended one year, and the (not-so-) 'short trips' other years to catch just parts of it.

 

To anyone hoping to organize future/other events -- consider the possibility of something in a more urban setting, like in Boston, Worcester, Framingham.... (okay, yeah, The eastern end of Massachusetts is better for me!).

 

The country setting of NESI so far is great, but I already live in a sort-of rural setting...guess that's why I would sometimes rather 'get away' to a city.

 

What's nice around here (central & eastern MA) is that you can pretty much have both worlds. Be in Boston, but still find a rural setting without much trouble.

 

Just a thot.

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Regarding all the kind suggestions for new locations, my understanding of the discussion at NESI is that there is no immediate need to change the venue. If Bucksteep Manor is sold to a new owner (it is for sale), that could change. The big issue right now is labor, all the work that Rich Morse used to do and is too much for the remaining Button Box staff to do on an unpaid basis on top of their regular work.

 

This year's NESI was another great event for me, and we had one day of good weather out of two, which is better than the average September climate up on that mountain! May all our musical gatherings continue and prosper.

 

Ken

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Here is a message that came through the [bBevent] mailing list, essentially saying the same thing.

 

Dear Squeeze-In Attendees,

 

If you were at the Squeeze-In last weekend, you know that Doug, Bob & Co. sat with a group of some 35 participants to talk with us concerning the future of the SI, which had always been the cherished, gleeful creation of Rich Morse. With Rich gone, they are stretched thin and asked us at the meeting to work out a way that the SI would be organized not by the Button Box, but by the participants....much as the SI classes have always been.

 

Several people expressed an interest in helping to re-organize the administration of the Squeeze-In: Craig Hollingsworth and Lynn Hughes will be taking on registration, R.D. Eno will be coordinating food, Stewart Dean will be establishing a presence on the web and Jennifer Stafford will be the on-site coordinator. More help was offered to look into the establishment of a non-profit organization, graphic design for buttons and flyers, and other jobs. Doug Creighton has volunteered to oversee the various tasks, with Bob Beimers as deputy, and The Button Box will provide any help required to smooth out the transition, as well as the necessary deposits and guarantees for next year's event.

 

There seemed to be a consensus that changes to the event be kept to a minimum, with the focus being on the transition to a committee-run weekend and maintaining the spirit of the Squeeze-In that Rich started over twenty years ago.

 

Further developments will be announced on our new web site http://www.squeeze-in.org

 

Best,

 

Stewart Dean

 

_______________________________________________

BBevent mailing list

BBevent@buttonbox.com

http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/bbevent

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Here is a message that came through the [bBevent] mailing list, essentially saying the same thing.

 

Dear Squeeze-In Attendees,

 

If you were at the Squeeze-In last weekend, you know that Doug, Bob & Co. sat with a group of some 35 participants to talk with us concerning the future of the SI, which had always been the cherished, gleeful creation of Rich Morse. With Rich gone, they are stretched thin and asked us at the meeting to work out a way that the SI would be organized not by the Button Box, but by the participants....much as the SI classes have always been.

 

Several people expressed an interest in helping to re-organize the administration of the Squeeze-In: Craig Hollingsworth and Lynn Hughes will be taking on registration, R.D. Eno will be coordinating food, Stewart Dean will be establishing a presence on the web and Jennifer Stafford will be the on-site coordinator. More help was offered to look into the establishment of a non-profit organization, graphic design for buttons and flyers, and other jobs. Doug Creighton has volunteered to oversee the various tasks, with Bob Beimers as deputy, and The Button Box will provide any help required to smooth out the transition, as well as the necessary deposits and guarantees for next year's event.

 

There seemed to be a consensus that changes to the event be kept to a minimum, with the focus being on the transition to a committee-run weekend and maintaining the spirit of the Squeeze-In that Rich started over twenty years ago.

 

Further developments will be announced on our new web site http://www.squeeze-in.org

 

Best,

 

Stewart Dean

 

_______________________________________________

BBevent mailing list

BBevent@buttonbox.com

http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/bbevent

 

Hi David,

Just a question....will this change at Button Box also affect the Concertina weekend held there in the Spring the last few years? Did they say anything about that one?

Cheers,

Dan

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Hi David,

Just a question....will this change at Button Box also affect the Concertina weekend held there in the Spring the last few years? Did they say anything about that one?

Good question, Dan, and I asked Doug this one myself. Short answer is that the spring weekend should be unaffected. Two major headaches involved in running NESI don't apply: They don't have to deal with housing (assigning roommates, etc.) and they don't have to pack up the shop and transport it to the site. The Button Box web site says a date will be announced soon for the 2010 workshop. See you there again?

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I enjoyed the NESI I attended one year, and the (not-so-) 'short trips' other years to catch just parts of it.

 

To anyone hoping to organize future/other events -- consider the possibility of something in a more urban setting, like in Boston, Worcester, Framingham.... (okay, yeah, The eastern end of Massachusetts is better for me!).

 

The country setting of NESI so far is great, but I already live in a sort-of rural setting...guess that's why I would sometimes rather 'get away' to a city.

 

Just a thot.

Two thoughts:

  • Just considering the distribution ot the total population in the US, I would expect the percentage of NESI attendees for whom "getting away" would mean going to the city would be rather small.
  • I could be wrong, but I doubt it would be possible to find an urban venue that is as inexpensive as even the most expensive rooms at Bucksteep Manor, much less one where one could opt for camping. Add to that the number of locations available for both planned and spontaneous gatherings at Bucksteep, and the cost of such opportunity in an urban setting would likely balk even a major corporation. A third factor is the added security for personal belonging (including, of course, squeezable ones) that comes with exclusive use and the relative isolation of Bucksteep.

Since a lot of folks talk about attending both NESI and Portsmouth would there be a way to combine both into a weekend? I know the folks at the Port Inn (having stayed there many times on business) and I'd wager that they'd give a group like that a super rate!

Let me get this straight:

  • You won't have enough time in a full weekend to participate in everything you wish at NESI.
  • You won't have enough time in a full weekend to participate in everything you wish at Portsmouth.
  • And you want to try to cram them both into a single weekend, or even a single event?

No thanks!

 

If I ever do get back over there to attend NESI again, I certainly hope that it and Portsmouth are on adjacent weekends, so that I can attend both, then catch up with friends and contra dancing in between.

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The Button Box web site says a date will be announced soon for the 2010 workshop. See you there again?

David,

Well, mebbe some day. Amherst is a fur piece from Texas, as we say in these parts, and the barbecue up that way isn't too good. <_<

Very nice people and great music, though. We'll see what the price of gasoline is like next Spring. My wife and I could follow it up with a trip to the coast from some clam chowder...that would be nice. Is it too early in the season to catch any morrisers up there?

I must admit to a big smile when I saw Bellowbelle's post complaining about the distance in having to cross half of Massachusetts to get there....just Houston is bigger than half of Massachusetts! :P

By the way, we'll have John Roberts visiting us for the Palestine Old Time Music Festival (and concertina workshop) March 25-27 2010, along with Mark Gilston on EC, Gary Kurt Steve and Jim on duets and the usual cast of unreformed characters. Our sixth year amongst the East Texas pineywoods dogwoods and bluebonnets, and still growing. We'll have an announcement on that in a few weeks.

 

Dan

Edited by Dan Worrall
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Dan,

 

Greg Jowaisas told me that Palestine was a good place for concertinistas ... or other nonsense names. Have you got a URL that I can look up? E TX is a bit closer than W MA to Tucson.

 

Thanks!

Send me a PM via this site, and I'll put you on the mailing list for when concertina details start emerging, in a few weeks. In past years, we've had Anglo, English and duet wokshops, usually a big dinner all together, as well as lots of concerts and jam sessions and such with the other old time folks.

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Dan,

 

Greg Jowaisas told me that Palestine was a good place for concertinistas ... or other nonsense names. Have you got a URL that I can look up? E TX is a bit closer than W MA to Tucson.

 

Thanks!

 

East Texas and Western Massachusetts are about equidistant for me, Both are too far to get away for a weekend during the semester. I hope these events are still happening some years hence when I retire and don't have to worry about being back for class.

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Further developments will be announced on our new web site http://www.squeeze-in.org

 

Best,

 

Stewart Dean

 

To David, Lynn, Craig, Stewart. R.J, Jennifer, Bob, and all others helping out. Where and how can we all keep in touch to stay up on the transition progress and how we can help in any way.

I just clipped this from one of the above posts. I would guess that the Squeeze-In web site will be the best place for keeping both up to date and in touch.

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To David, Lynn, Craig, Stewart. R.J, Jennifer, Bob, and all others helping out. Where and how can we all keep in touch to stay up on the transition progress and how we can help in any way. Doug Barr

 

I'm not aware that any of these fine folks are regulars on C.net, so yes, try their new site (and reporting a copy back here would be welcome).

 

Ken

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East Texas and Western Massachusetts are about equidistant for me, Both are too far to get away for a weekend during the semester. I hope these events are still happening some years hence when I retire and don't have to worry about being back for class.

 

Yes, I keep thinking we need a midwest event of some sort.

 

Alan

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One other thought, you all aren't that far from Cafe Lena, which went through a similar loss of their founder roughly 20 years back, and set up a nonprofit to take over what Lena had done for years. It probably wouldn't hurt for you to get in contact with their board to see what they did.

 

Alan

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