This is what we say on the (Glen Echo) Friday Night Dancers web-site about our Open Band, which plays every month on the 2nd Friday in the month. Band attendance is usually between 30-60 people. Dancer attendance is usually a little smaller than usual (say 25o instead of 275) on Open Band nights, in part because some of the dancers are in the band. My personal view is that the band sounds better (tighter?) when it is smaller, but it is always dance-able.
Michael Barraclough Open Band On the second Friday of each month, the "Fabulous Glen Echo Open Band" provides the music for the dance. Both amateur and professional musicians are welcome to sit in and are admitted free. One of our Open Band members, penny-whistler Jim Stahler, has compiled an 18-year list of tunes played by the Glen Echo Open Band and how many times they were played. Newer members are encouraged to download the shorter list of recently played tunes so they can practice the most frequently played tunes. Both lists are Word .doc files. Here is a podcast that offers the sets of songs along with the page info in some of the popular books such as the Portland Collection and Fiddlers Fakebook. For more information regarding the open band, check out the Open Band FAQ or send email to Jim Stahler: jstahler at earthlink dot net. If you would like to play or call for a Friday Night Dance, send email to FND Booking at: [email protected]
